Having antibiotics and prednisone on hand for when you can't get to the doc or for weekends and other times when you know you need something but don't want to go to the emergency room is considered good practice, but only when there's some way of communicating with your doc or some other medical professional for follow-up and closure. The original poster made it sound like there was no follow-up with her doc, and I think that needs to be addressed, if indeed that's so.

As for her question about whether she would have gotten well all on her own if she'd just tried to ride it out, the answer is that probably wouldn't have happened. One of the issues with colds and flu is that in those of us with COPD they tend to morph into pneumonia and other really bad things if we don't treat with antibiotics. In my case, I have both antibiotics and prednisone, but I have yet to have to take the prednisone because the antibiotic usually does the trick early enough in the game that prednisone isn't needed. Trying to "tough it out" is one of the fastest ways I know to a hospital bed. I don't want to go there. You can get really sick there!

With COPD, you want to avoid getting sick at all if possible, and if you do get sick, you want to catch it as fast as possible. So use your antibiotics and the prednisone if necessary as quickly as possible. Then talk with your doc about next steps.

my pulmonologist has me keep prednisone on hand in the event that when I get a cold, I can take it, if he tells me to. I hate steroids and do everything I can not to have to take them, but as I speak, I am on a prednisone taper. If it keeps me out of the hospital, then I will do it. The only drawback are the side effects of the steroids, but in comparison to what you can catch from the hospital, it is worth it

I take a z pack when I start feeling sick
I stay far away from the steroids
They ate the joints out of my best friend
She passed
Slow and steady we go

I used prednisone and a antibiotic and got thrush, be careful. the antibiotic kills all the good and bad stuff in your body.

I have been on a low dose 2 mg of prednisone a day for 4 years and I haven't had any antibiotics in over 2 years. I not happy that I'm on prednisone everyday but if it helps I'll keep taking it. Before my doctor would give me a prescription to have on hand for the antibiotics. It's important that we are proactive with this disease