Help - I get every bug going and I'm fed up with it....

[Sonnet]

Why is it a seem to get every bug going around at work....
To make matters wores i have tow healthy children and DH - it's just me.
A week ago I started with a mega cold - today, cold much better but have been throwing up since 5am this morning....this appears to be the sickness ug going around school and work at he moment.
It is the same every Autumn/winter/spring
I am aslo very tired all the time and have no energy whatsoever...
Do you think it's my diet?. I am very concerned what my children eat, but run out of energy when it comes to me and just grab whats around....
Would vitiamins help??
I would love some advice, I cannot face another winter like last year...please....

[CountessDracula]

Try taking Echinacea and Propolis - both boost the immune system - along with vitamin C and zinc.

Holland and Barret make something called Wintervits which is a combination of all of these plus a few other bits which seem to work for us (when we remember to take them!)

Hope you feel better soon Sonnet xx

[Karen99]

Hi sonnet, since being pg and now bf I've really changed my eating habbits and still get those 5 fruit/veg in a day. Personally it's made me feel alot better and have only had one cold so far this year. The vitamins the Countess has suggested are good too. I take a daily supplement.

Maybe start with a glass of fruit juice in the morning, with a banana at 11am, an apple in the afternoon and then atleast two veg with the evening meal? I found it hard giving up my elevensy choc biccy and to pickup that banana instead, but I think I'm reaping the benefits (mind you I haven't tried this theory through the winter yet! )

Hope you feel better. x

[CountessDracula]

Must say when I was pg was the healthiest I have ever felt. Sure due to not drinking and making sure I was eating healthily. But then it's easy to do that when you are doing it for someone else isn't it?

[Sonnet]

Thanks both of you...
CD: I'll try those vitiamins
Karen99: I agree, I use to be a healthy eater, exercise and take care of myself...until DD2 that is

To be honest I think it's more than that - I find working ( only 3 days), and 2 children leaves me no time for me at all. I have no family near here and while Dh is great he does seem to think I have a cushy number coz i only work 3 days. I've stopped exercising , put on 16 ibs in 2 years and I did loose all my post preg weight....it's since then that the weight has crept on again....

When i feel better I'll stop seeing life as bad I know.....I'll try those vitamins and make a challenge of how much fruit and veg I can eat in one day!!!

Thanks again....

[Northerner]

Sonnet I could have written your post last winter. I felt exactly the same. Always tired, always ill, always run down and never enough time. I ended up in hospital on a drip for 48 hours after a really bad dose of tonsilitis/quincies (sp?)I never gave myself enough time to recover properly and ended up feeling worse and worse. Friends and family suggested vitamins etc, but like me it sounds a bit beyond taking vitamins.

I went to my GP and told her how I felt. (I actually ended up bursting into tears I felt so crap)She signed me off work for 2 weeks with exaustion and it's the best thing I ever did. Ds still went to nursery and I had 2 whole weeks to 'recover' It recharged my batteries and did me the world of good. Perhaps you should do the same? Sometimes us Mummy's think we are super women - and we're not. Sometimes things get on top of us, and our health is always a telling sign as your resiliance becomes low.

Look after yourself.

[CountessDracula]

Oh, Northerner's post has just reminded me, I felt like this a few years ago too and my cleaner told me that she had been really really ill, colds every other week and ended up thinking she had ME. She bought a juicer and juiced organic fruit and veggies and she really did look so healthy. Dh bought me a juicer (about £30) the next day and I started using it and the results were amazing. I used it when I was pg and had morning sickness and didn't feel like eating (though you have to beware of veggies like carrots with too much Vit A in them).

I can't recommend it highly enough!

[bobthebaby]

Sunlight and endorphins. I believe that if you get enough fresh air, and do some exercise that leaves you rosy cheeked you get stronger physically and also mentally. Get those children outside, run around, jump up and down, play tag. Even if its only 10 minutes a day and something else gets left undone, that's over an hour a week of not only being active, but also being silly. Laughing is good for your immune system.

[Sonnet]

Thanks all...
Northerner - I think you're right...I was crying writing that thread but felt rather pathetic about it....I am very tempted to get signed off ( never done it before) but just coming up for an importnat fortnight at work - culmination of a years project work....mmm, the problem will still be there after the fortnight..will have to ponder this one.
I'd love a juicer, CD, I'll look into that as well - thanks
I'm also a firm believer in exercise - howerver little (DD1 use to tel us it was time for "Fresh air and exercise" at 2 and my friends use to laugh that I'd rainwashed her!!) BUT do not have an energy at he mo, even tho iI know the more i exercise the more energy I have.

Have asked DH to get me vitamins recommended by CD - those plus a multi-vit, plus fruit and veg make work enough to make me exercise and so it will go on.
Whilst writing this I've promised mysef if I still feel C**p in a fortnights time I'll visit the Doc...
Thanks all - I feel so much more positive just talking to you all....

[Northerner]

Sonnet, I too felt guilty about being signed off work. Like you I had never done this before and felt a bit of a fraud in the fact that some colleagues would probably think 'exhaustion my arse!' But it sounds to me like you really do need it. Afterwards you will feel more equipped to deal with everyday things, and exercising and stuff will not be such an uphill struggle.

Do it girl. (if not now, at least in 2 weeks when important work thing is out of the way!)

[prufrock]

Sonnet - try visiting a homeopath instead of your Doctor. They tend to be good at helping fix the non specific things, and will encourage you to sit down and talk about every single little health niggle you have - just having somebody listen to my moans helped me imeasurably. She hasn't been able to stop my morning sickness yet, but she did help dd, who was picking up every bug going. After 1 visit and 3 doses of a remedy she hasn't had a cold for over 6 months!

[doormat]

Hi Sonnet, some really brilliant suggestion for you here. Also have a look on an aromatherapy website. If you use lemongrass oil(i am sure but just check to be pos) in a burner at home, it kills all the germs floating in the air.

[robinw]

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[Sonnet]

Just logged on again.
Thanks Doormat will try aromatherapy....sounds interesting..
WOW - that heomeopath would do for me Prufrock - I'll check that out...
Northerner - Thanks - I think I will go and see about being signed off as eery 6 months i seem to come crashing down and can't cope......I need to nip it in the bud once and for all..

Thank a lot everyone - I apprecaite all your replys...

[Karen99]

Sonnet, just picking up on the juice thing again - when I couldn't stand eating another piece of fruit when pg that's all I'd drink. Chuck in a banana, nectarine, and apple juice and bobs your uncle - 3 fruit in one go. Some how a drink is much easier to stomach than lots of individual fruit and veg.

Rather than a juicer, which you may not have room to have permanently on the counter, we bought a Braun Multiquick which I whip out of the drawer when I need it. Its a hand blender, used for juicing or chopping, and is really quick to wash up - one rinse under the tap.

Braun website

Also agree with the others about getting signed off. Did that when I suffered from stress last summer - again another dubious reason - but friends at work were just concerned not reproachful (is that the word I'm looking for?).

[motherinferior]

Juices/smoothies officially only counts as one helping of five a day - however many you have; but nutritionists do admit that there's a difference between a couple of 'proper' juices/blends and endless slugs of diluted concentrate (I write about this stuff from time to time).

Me, I'm an acupuncture zealot...

[Angiel]

My dd has an immune deficiency and according to what I have read, the best foods to boost your immune system are beef, mushrooms, sweet potato, tea and yoghurt.

Hope you feel a bit better soon.

[Sonnet]

Thanks Girls... - I have an electric juice extractor( Orange squeezzer) and a hand blender - maybe I could whip something up...I have freshly squeezed OJ and Grapefruit today.

I'll also eat those other foods suggested by Angiel - thanks.....

[lisac]

Sonnet, a few years ago I was in a similar position to you - I just seemed to pick up every virus that was going around. I decided to give up caffeine, (which inhibits the absorption of certain vitamins) and haven't looked back. I had had nearly 4 weeks off work with viruses that year, and I haven't had a day off since. Even when the rest of the family get colds, I either don't get anything or have a very mild version.
I also believe in plenty of fresh fruit and veg and exercise!
HTH

[XAusted]

I've been drinking Actimel (pro-biotic yoghurt drink) for nearly a year and haven't had a cold in all that time so it must be doing some good! And it tastes nice! You can grab a little bottle from the fridge and down it in 2 secs so not time consuming! Tried Yakult once but it was disgusting.

When I had flu a couple of years ago I found Metatone tonic quite good (B vitamins and minerals). Comes in big bottles, I got it from Boots.

If you don't have much time to prepare food then keep a well stocked and varied fruit bowl to snatch snacks from.

I've noticed that my immune system seems weakest just before a period - could there be some link?

[Sonnet]

Thats a co-incidence XAusted - I picked some up in Tesco yesterday. I must admit I don't think they taste great - but if it stops me being such a wimp I'll do anything.

I picked this thread up again to thank you all for your advice. I am feeling so much better mentally and a lot more positive. Still got a runny nose, cough, headache 10 days later - but if I feel positive I can cope with all that!!
Thanks again..
S xx