Thread: Orapred & H1N1

My son is 6 and has asthma too. We are going today to get the vaccine. Most doctors offices DO NOT have the vaccines. You need to be checking your county health department. That is where they are sending the vaccines to first. Look on their website too. They are setting up clinics at the schools. Our health dept. has a list of dates and schools they will be at. Keep your daughter on vitamin d supplements (sunny gummies) and have her eat lots of antiviral fooRAB like mangoes, garlic, coconut oil, cranberries and dandelion root. Do this until the vaccine becomes available. Also keep hand sanitizer in your purse and car and use it often. Good luck to you!

My daughter was prescribed 5 days worth of Orapred for her asthma this weekend. I read that it can weaken your immune system and make you more suseptible to viruses. My doctor said probably not 5 days worth, but I'm concerned because there is H1N1 in her school now. Have any of you ever heard about Orapred weakening your immune system in such a small duration?

My daughter is an severely asthmatic. She received the H1N1 vaccine just one day after she finished a 5 day dose of Orapred. Now i'm reading she shouldn't have had the vaccine that close to her Orapred. Does that render the vaccine useless? Is she protected against H1N1? Does anyone know?

I'm not sure where you're reading this, but there is no evidence that a 5 day course of Orapred (or any other steroid) would impact the effectiveness of the vaccine.

The only potential concern is that patients on long-term steroid treatment may have a suppressed immune system so their body may not have a full immune response to the vaccine, but even that is not completely clear. In those people he vaccine still gives some protection (so that if someone gets sick the illness would be milder and they would have fewer complications).

A 5-day course of Orapred is unlikely to suppress your daughter's immune system in any significant manner, and as soon as she finished the medication her immune system would have rebounded, so there's no need to be concerned about the effectiveness of the vaccine for your daughter.

A normal 5-day course of oral steroiRAB should not suppress her immune system to any significant degree.

Thank you!

I am freaking out about the swine flu. My daughter has bad asthma, and there is no vaccine for our area. They arehoping to get more within a month or so. H1N1 is going around our schools. Has anyone watched their children or themselves go through this with asthma?

In regard to the comments about orapred and the H1N1 vaccine, my daughter will complete a 5 day course of orapred on Sunday and she has her 5 year wellness checkup on next Thursday - is it okay to go ahead and get the H1N1 vaccine?

Just this past weekend my good friend took her son to the ER for really bad respiratory flu symptoms. He is four years old, but was born at 24 weeks gestation; a micro-preemie. He stayed all weekend and now is on the mend.

The key is to take them in at the *first* sign of respiratory distress and don't take "no" for an answer. My fried waited a day too long and as such, her son was admitted for a few days. Thankfully he is ok now.

Not with asthma,but have heard about it with people who have cystic fibrobis. At the first SIGN of symptoms -- fever, aches, burning lungs they need to get on Tamiflu asap. Issues are with the lungs filling up with crud, so keeping the lungs clear if they do get it with nebs and chest physiotherapy.