I take prednisone. The warnings included with prednisone caution about live vaccines: " Do not receive a "live" vaccine while using this medicine. Prednisone may increase your risk of harmful effects from a live vaccine. Live vaccines include measles, mumps, rubella (MMR), rotavirus, typhoid, yellow fever, varicella (chickenpox), zoster (shingles), and nasal flu (influenza) vaccine." Perhaps I should avoid the flu shot ?

Hi, William! I would talk to your doctor about receiving the flu shot. I know my doctor encourages me to get a flu shot every year. You can get a flu vaccine that is NOT live. Here's what the CDC says about the flu vaccine :

Hi @William - it's the Flumist nasal flu vaccine that has the live virus. The flu shots do not. It's always good to discuss with your own doctor what treatment is best for you. Are you always on Prednisone? Or just when you have an asthma flare?

Up until 2 weeks ago, I took prednisone only for a cold or flu symptoms . Also I had started on Stiolto 3 months ago, replacing Alvesco and Spiriva. My doctor recommended the change. I should have researched it. I had used Symbicort, then Advair, then Breo all with the same results: quite pronounced chest pains after a few weeks on the new med. The first time resulted in extensive testing, focusing on potential heart problems, but with numerous other tests for physical, chemical, even...

Thank you, Kathy P for the heads up on flu vaccine. Very informative.

William, that's a tough road you've had to travel to figure out what was causing the chest pains. Here's hoping that your doctor can help you figure out the next step. In the meantime, feel free to post a new topic or join in on our online support community.

Why not share your situation on our Asthma Support Forum so you can get more feedback from other folks in a similar situation? If you're on desktop view, just follow the link above, and click on the big green POST. On mobile, click the three horizontal lines in the upper left hand corner, and you'll see POST. Click that, and you'll be able to type your comment as a new post.