Many times I saw this post and I thought someone more experienced than me would give a better answer.
But, I think this is a fear I have too. I also had to stop taking HCQ at end of January because of side-effect, which then required 6 weeks of prednisone to counteract that. I also find I?m king of side-effects. I?ve been off work in that time, but I feel pressure from the company to come back asap.
From my understanding, the worst of the bunch for suppressing the immune system as it relates to covid is Prednisone, particularly higher doses. The others seem to be ok once you are vaccinated. Getting my first shot today.
My GP gave me a bit of a hard time as to why I wasn?t back to work when I was taking Prednisone. She seemed to infer that HCQ is the one that suppresses the immune system, but Prednisone wasn?t, so I should have been working. Seemed strange a doctor wouldn?t know that. But I suppose this is more a Specialists domain. Hard to find any sympathetic GPs in my town. Thankfully my Rheumy is awesome.
The drug my rheumy wants to put me on is Azathioprine. Still not sure what to do, as it can increase risk of cancer, much worse GI issues (than even HCQ which was hard to tolerate on that front), hairloss, and messed up blood count . HCQ was fantastic in that it didn?t compromise my immune system and still got rid of all other debilitating side-effects like chronic fatigue and joint pain.