Sick of Being Sick Already

I got sick a lot the first year I had a job doing home visits to families. You probably are exposed to more stuff. We also had more colds my son's first year of preschool. Now that I have 2 young kids I keep hand sanitizer in my pocket all the time in the winter.

In the past I took Airborne, a vitamin you dissolve in water. This year I started giving my kids gummy immunity plus vitamins. It has helped them a lot so I started taking them as well.

If you aren't able to get the neti pot to work there are some alternatives to use for a saline rinse. I just use saline in a nasal spray bottle.

Ask if dust/dust mite allergies could be playing a part. It seems that all offices have lots of little spots that never get dusted - not to mention paper dust.

Wow! Your immune system is low. Very low.
Don't know how you feel with "alternative ways" but here is a web site to go to... http://www.essentialformulas.com/efi.cgim?template=probio...
and
http://www.enzymatictherapy.com/Products/Immune-and-Respi...

I don't sell anything, just into keeeping my family and myself healthy. Hope this helps! Just taking these two supplements will surely help!

Hi H.---So sorry to hear that you are miserable. I believe that I have some suggestions that can help. I am working with and taking a series of wellness classes taught by a Naturopath who has her PhD in Nutrition. She teaches, based on long term research, that our good health begins with our diet and lifestyle. First, I am not suggesting that you have a poor diet, rather one that is not able to keep up with what your body demands of it. Plus, with what I am learning, I really wonder if the food we eat really has enough nutrients in them anymore to keep us healthy.

These things are very important for optimal health: diet, lots of filtered water, plenty of sleep, exercise (done regularly actually helps to strengthen the immune system and ward off colds) and stress reduction (lol, but seriously needs to be dealt with or it leads to chronic inflammation and then disease). An optimal diet consists of LOTS of fresh fruits and veggies, whole grains, legumes/beans, nuts and seeds. Minimize animal protein (www.thechinaproject.com) and eliminate dairy (see www.pcrm.org and put dairy in the search box...dairy is highly allergenic and can then make you susceptible to colds, etc...but don't believe me, read the website).

I would be honored to share with you what I am learning to see if it makes sense for you. I am very passionate about helping others to learn how to optimize their health. I also work with a group that promotes health education and we offer lectures, free to the public, in order that you learn why and how to take care of your health. In fact, there is a great talk on Friday night at the Stonegate Conference Center in Hoffman Estates featuring Dr. Candace Corson, Integrative Medicine (looks at natural methods of health care and disease prevention first or along with traditional medicine), graduate of Yale medical school. She is great, open and will answer any of your questions. Let me know if you would like more info and I would be happy to send it to you.

I wish you much luck. With my family's lifestyle changes, we never get sick any longer. Sometimes we get sniffles, feel like we are getting a cold but nothing ever materializes. You most likely will need some intervention to get this under control, but with dietary and other lifestyle changes, both you and your daughter will suffer fewer and fewer colds. BTW, if you drink sodas and indulge in the occasional candy bar now and again, rethink that. A can of pop and a candy bar makes the immune system lazy and sluggish for up to 6 hours. Germs are everywhere. Just a thought. And, if on lots of antibiotics, a probiotic is essential. Those good bugs in your intestines are a very important part of your immune system. Find a good one that has good bacteria in the billions. This you HAVE to do immediately. Isolated vitamins, even C, will not help. They actually cause damage in the body if not balanced with the tens of thousands of other nutrients found in whole food.

Please contact me if I can be of further assistance. Can't hurt to talk. This info, as important as it is to avoiding colds in the flu, has more important ramifications. This type of lifestyle will also reduce your risk of diseases such as cancer, cardiovascular, autoimmunes diseases as well as diabetes. That knowledge right there made me want to do the optimal thing for me and my family. Just to let you know, I can document all of what I've shared. Take care, and drink lots of water. Helps to flush those nasty bugs out of your system. D.

Boost your Vitamin D intake and/or have your doc check your Vit D level.
I can completely relate to your experience. For years, my daughter and I would catch cold after cold every fall-winter. Last year my daughter missed five weeks of school due to illness! But this fall we started taking extra Vit D. I started taking 4,000-5,000 I.U. daily (more if I feel a tickle or a hint of getting sick) We also both gargle with a solution of lots of salt in water and take "Sambucus" an elderberry extract when exposed to others who are sick. My 9 y.o. daughter takes 400 - 1,000 I.U. of Vit D daily. This has made a huge difference in our health. So far, my daughter has had only one cold this season and she has not missed any days of school due to illness. I've had a couple of throat "tickles" but not really gotten sick. (knock wood)
Take care & feel better soon!

!

I didn't read all the responses, but I could've written this post. We, as a family, are usually very healthy, with the occasional cold, etc. This winter has been AWFUL!! We eat well (lots of fish, berried, fruits/veggies) and I drink at least a mug of green tea each day. So, I know it's not my diet that's lacking. I just couldn't figure out why we are all so dang sick this year!

I just ordered and received an 8 oz. container of Prefenz hand sanitizer. My SIL is a nurse in California, and says they use it in the hospital. It has no alcohol in it and it lasts 24 hours! It says through 10 hand washings and some of the literature states that on some people, it actually lasted 60 hours. So, this is what I'm trying right now. I figure, I'll put some on the whole family each morning and see if that helps from spreading the germs around to each other all the time. I had tried to remember to get the kids to wash their hands or sanitize when they walk in the door from school, but that was harder than I thought. I kept forgetting. Anyway, I'm hoping this helps! I hope you find something that helps you, too!!! Good luck!

Buy only organic food. Eat lots of fruit and vegetables. Take vitamin C,
D, E and B complex. Eat fish and a moderate amount of red meat. The meat must be biologically grown without hormones. Drop milk products from your diet until the weather is warm and you are healthy.
Your immune system is compromised. No additives in your food and no sugar especially high fructose corn syrup.
I've eaten health food since I was in my 20's. I NEVER get sick. For many years I had asthma and used homeopathic remedies for bronchitis. No longer have asthma.
Eat well, have an exercise regime and be optimistic.

I was sick so much the first year I worked as a police officer that they threatened to fire me. I had my tonsils out and I was sick less often.

We do tend to be sick more often when we first start a new job and when our children enter school because we are exposed to new viruses. Our body does build up an immunity to each virus we catch so that eventually we're sick less.

Taking certain vits and minerals as well as herbs will help to build up your system. I took and still take Emergen-C. It comes in a powder form to mix in water and is similar to Airborne but much cheaper. I find it in the health food section of Fred Meyer.

Vit D.is newly discovered to play a role in our immune system. I've found that echinacea, taken daily during cold and flu also helps. I've gotten rid of a cold in just a few days by being more faithful with the Emergen C and adding echinacea. Zinc helps with sore throat symptoms and I think with prevention of colds too.

I also suggest carrying a hand sanitizer and using it often during the day. Be very careful to keep your hands very clean. Do not put them anywhere near your face or eat until you've sanitized or washed them.

I was depressed when I was sick all the time. Normal! Be sure to take supplements and get plenty of rest. Exercise will help too.

Just try to make the doctor believe that you really have been sick, over and over again, since September. It sounds like something is wrong with your immune defense (and being on a lot of antibiotics is kind've a catch-22)...a good diagnostician will be able to help. It isn't normal to be sick for five months straight.

Don't know where you work, but look around you while you are working. Do you have proper ventilation? does it get dusted? Are there windows that open that get fresh air? Start checking, it could really be affecting you as well as other things in the job environment.

I dont have any advice but just wanted to let you know I feel for you! Im sick right now with bronchitis, ive been sick since Nov with this and that. It must really be going around this year and it's no good!! Ive started to feel a little depressed this week too. Probably bc Im sick, my kids are sick, no one is getting any sleep or leaving the house. Hope your new dr can fix things up for you!!

We feel for you! My house of 4 has pretty much been sick since late Sept/early Oct (even my poor kitty has been sick!). Coughs, runny noses, bronchitis, sinus infections, croup, ... Seems to be something about this winter because we haven't had any changes to our lives in the past year. Coughs have been the worst! Just trying to live with it (eat healthy, go to the chiropracter, vitamins, probiotics, humidifiers, vapo-rub) and counting down the days til spring (when we can start allergy season!)

We had the same issues with my daughter last year. Probiotics every day in her OJ and a little extra Vitamin D have really worked for us this year. (D is one you have to be careful not to overdose, though) I also heard that gargling with warm salt water helps knock the germs out of your throat/tonsil area where they often first congregate. You can Google this -- they did some study with the armed forces and it decreased illness significantly. We've added that to our arsenal and my 6 year old gargles in the tub on bath nights. I think doing it every night before brushing teeth would be awesome, but we haven't gotten that good yet. Sleep is huge, as is diet. Anything you can do to boost your immune system. Oh, and sorry about this -- avoiding sugar! It decreases your immune system significantly and immediately and keeps it depressed for some time after consumption. When we feel the first signs of illness, we gargle, cut out all sugar, take xtra vit C and D and go to bed early. So far we've had 100% success rate with this combo. Not sure what exactly is working, but I'm keeping it up since it's all relatively easy. Good luck to you! I know it's awful to be sick so often...

I'm right there with you.

In fact, I know A LOT of people who seem to be there, too.

My son started preschool and I've been sick every since, lol.

I just keep thinking that once this passes, I'll never ever be sick again! I've had to have all the viruses out there right? Right??

Feel better!

When I put my son into daycare I was sick for 6 months straight. I would feel better for 5-6 days or so, and then I would come down with something else. For 6 months!!! It was so awful and just plain defeating. A co-worker was on the same schedule as me (putting first child into daycare for the first time) and he, too, was sick for about the same length of time. The uptake is that now I rarely get sick. I think your body might be working on getting over the (horrible) hump of having your immune system catch up with the double whammy of everything the public brings to you at work and everything your daughter brings home from school--even if she's just a carrier, rest assured she's got germs from every kid and (by association) their whole families on her hands. Hang in there, Mommy! You're be super-immune soon!!!!!

Hello H., That class recommended by Diane M. sounds really great! With all of the antibiotics that you've had, you need to get it right the first time around. You really should see a nutritionist to determine exactly what and all you are missing. I work with the public for over 30 years now, and I haven't contracted an illness, even a cold, from a client for about 15 years. Some vitamins and minerals can be counterproductive or even toxic when you take too much--but you need something!

Google Oil of Oregano. You can buy it in capsules at GNC. A couple of years in a row I too was taking antibiotics 3 to 4 times a year. I started taking oil of oregano capsules everyday as an immune booster & I have only had to take antibiotics 3 times in the past 2 1/2 years. I also am constantly exposed to lots of people & germs...

Don't know what to tell you, but my hubby, who's shadowing a doctor as part of his pre-med certification said he noticed that doctors hardly ever get sick and they NEVER touch their faces. If they itch or sweat or whatever, they rub/wipe their faces on their sleeves. Eyes/nose/mouth are mucus membranes where the germs get to us from our hands. Washing a lot with regular soap and avoiding touching the face (which is REALLY hard) may help. Good luck, and I hope the doc can help!

Sorry to hear that you are sick a lot! Some of it is that you are body is building its immunity between your new job and your daughter starting school but there are some steps that you can take to boost your immunity.
As most other posters have suggested get your Vitamin D levels checked out and also possibly your Zinc & Copper levels as well. Vitamin D and Zinc are very important in boosting your immune system and if you live in an area where you are not exposed to much sunlight the chances are your vitamin D level is low. I found out mine was low while I was nursing my son and ended up taking a high dose slow release vitamin D over 12 weeks to boost the level up.
Sambucus/Sambucol is an elderberry extract that is an excellent source in helping your body fight off those nasty viruses. My son started daycare at 8 months in September and was getting sick quite a bit. We have started him an additional dose of Vitamin D along with his multivitamin drops and probiotics, which help regulate your digestive system - very important for your gastrointestinal health. He also gets some sambucus when I suspect that he is getting sick or I take it myself when he gets sick or when I am around sickness.
HTH...Feel better and stay well!

I agree with Jane. The Sambucus is awesome. My MIL first bought this for my husband last year when he was fighting a cold. I am not a homeopathic kind of person. Just this past month I was starting to feel a cold coming on. I started taking them (2 at a time) and it stopped the cold before it ever really got started. My 4 year old that has asthma is the one that I worry about the most. When she gets a cold it lingers and then I have to up her asthma meds. She started this past weekend. I gave her one of the pills (they are grape in flavor) twice a day and what normally would have been a full blown cold, was stopped dead in it's tracks. I am out of them now, but my MIL said she bought them at GNC. I am going to get more for sure. Good luck. Being sick, sucks.