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General health

Help/Advice needed for someone who is fed up of always being ill

12 replies

moosemama · 22/10/2009 14:08

I know its always rough at this time of year, what with the dcs bringing every bug under the sun home from school and the weather deteriorating and choosing to soak me every time I step outside the front door for the school run, but I have had it with being ill and am seriously starting to feel as if I am literally coming apart at the seems.

So heres the basics,

  • I am 39 years old, have 3 dcs aged 7, 5 and 9 months and am currently bf 5 (and occasionally 6) times a day

  • I am a vegetarian and have been for 27 years. I rarely drink anyway and haven't had a drink since getting pregnant with dd and don't smoke.

  • I have had an incredibly stressful year and it doesn't look like letting up any time soon.

  • In the last five weeks I have had full on flu TWICE! Interspersed with other minor sniffles and colds etc.

  • At the end of July I had an really nasty episode, which I have now found out was biliary colic. I have just been scanned and found to have more gallstones, but as my 3 attacks over the past 8 years have all occurred 6-9 months after childbirth and I don't intend to have any more children, my consultant is letting me decide whether or not to have a choleostectomy (sp?).

  • 4 weeks ago one of my teeth broke in half, I didn't have a dentist, so had a patch up done at the emergency NHS clinic, was given erytrhomycin for an infection in the tooth (that resulted in horrible side effects) and managed to book an appointment to get it sorted properly at a local dentist, but had to cancel the appointment because I had flu!

  • I now have what I think is a sinus an ear infection and dh thinks I have a chest infection as well. I also think the infection in my tooth may have come back.

    I am starting to feel like I do nothing but be ill and moan about being ill and I really am sick of it (as I'm sure are those around me). So, I want to take charge and do something about building myself up. I used to have a really healthy diet and walk up to 5 miles a day (I was doing this back in May this year so its not that long ago) but now I seem to have lost control of my diet (I either forget to eat or grab something rubbish these days) and as a result of being ill all the time, am too exhausted to exercise.

    Basically, I think I have got gradually more and more run down and now I am at rock bottom with no resources left to call on. I need to build myself up and then, when I feel better, restart the exercise.

    I know I should make more of an effort with my diet, but was wondering if anyone has any advice on supplements etc that could help with the process of building myself up and rebuilding my immune system. (I currently take floradix, when I remember as I had low iron in pregnancy and postnatally.)

    I would also like to do something to support my liver function as I believe this can help with gallstones.
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somewhathorrified · 22/10/2009 14:26

I had a similar period a few years ago, constant colds for months on end etc etc. I thought my diet wasn't too bad, turned out I was wrong. After I started to eat more pulses, seeds and nuts it made all the difference, not had a full on cold since. Not saying this is the same for you, but something you should look into. I'm vegetarian too btw.

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somewhathorrified · 22/10/2009 14:28

Sorry just realised you wanted advice on supplements!... oops, persoanlly never found they helped me so can't give any advice there.

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moosemama · 22/10/2009 14:36

No, all advice gratefully received. Thank you for replying.

My diet is lacking in nuts seeds and pulses actually, no you come to mention it, but for some reason I find it hard to incorporate them in the winter (much easier with salads etc in the summer).

We put lentils into stews and curries and I eat the obvious green beans, peas and baked beans and we have wholegrain pasta and rice and granary bread, but that's about it. I was thinking of trying a healthy muesli, as a friend has recommended a recipe, but I'm scared to do too many seedy things just at the moment in case they get jammed in my temporary filling.

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somewhathorrified · 22/10/2009 15:33

pumpkin seeds are great for a snack and don't get stuck in your teeth. Kidney beans thrown in stews and spag bol etc is an easy way of doing it too.

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moosemama · 22/10/2009 15:57

See that's where I get awkward, probably my two most hated foods in the world (other than meat and fish of course) are pumpkin seeds and kidney beans.

I just remembered I eat a fair bit of hoummous. Do chick peas count?

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mumof2000 · 22/10/2009 15:57

Hi moosemama ,I take a multi vit called Berocca comes in effervecent form , i take one a day they are high in Vit B said for people recovering from illness or generally feel they need a boost , i have a break when im feeling ok, then when im tired or know iv not been eating to well i start them again , i can notice a difference in my energy ...i also take spa tone a natural form of iron again you can take once a day to help top up the iron .May be worth a visit to a chemist Lloyds or Boots for some advice to , there both very good and helpful , may be worth trying .

Hope thats a help and you are feeling better soon .

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moosemama · 22/10/2009 16:59

Thanks mumof2000. Berocca sounds interesting, us veggies do tend to be low in B vits. I have had spatone before, but prefer floradix.

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moosemama · 22/10/2009 17:02

What about things like linseed, flax, hemp etc rather than straight supplements. Does anyone have any advice on how to get them into your diet other than just in muesli etc?

Also any advice on other nutritionally dense foods (some people call them superfoods). I don't know if its because I'm so run down, I just can't seem to think what I need to be eating.

I did think of doing some juicing as that worked for me years ago, but I really hate my ancient juicer and its a real pita to clean.

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moosemama · 22/10/2009 17:02

What about things like linseed, flax, hemp etc rather than straight supplements. Does anyone have any advice on how to get them into your diet other than just in muesli etc?

Also any advice on other nutritionally dense foods (some people call them superfoods). I don't know if its because I'm so run down, I just can't seem to think what I need to be eating.

I did think of doing some juicing as that worked for me years ago, but I really hate my ancient juicer and its a real pita to clean.

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moosemama · 22/10/2009 17:11

how did that happen? I only pressed it once, honest.

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somewhathorrified · 22/10/2009 20:44

Linseeds are good but personally I never found a good way to eat them...do not grind them they taste foul! If it's Bvits you want that's actually not hard, cereal, milk, bakedbeans, marmite all are high in b vits. Omegas I find much harder so I have a soya marg high in omega 3 &6. Iron; (beetroot, dark green veg) I stay away from supplements here because you don't need that much and it's easy to OD on it (makes you angry and intolerant). Superfoods are really overpriced for the benefits you get from them. Just a personal view.

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moosemama · 22/10/2009 21:17

Thanks again somewhathorrified. Dh used to sprinkle linseed onto his breakfast to help control his ibs symptoms. It really worked for him.

You have just reminded me that I used to buy Granovita omega oil blend years ago and I do know about the importance of fatty acids so I really should do something about that.

I've been thinking about it today and now I'm not so sure my diet itself is actually that bad, its more erratic. I tend not to eat much all day and grab the odd bit of snack food which is usually just empty calorie stuff, then eat a good meal in the evening when I cook for the family. When I'm being good and have the time, for breakfast I have porridge cooked with dried apricots and raisins and add apple and pear or bananas.

Evening meals tend to be things like wholemeal pasta with homemade pasta sauce (sauce made with passata, 3 different colours of peppers, courgettes, mushrooms, spinach, aubergine, carrots), vegetable risotto, autumn/winter vegetable stew (with lentils), steamed veg and a veggie protein sauce eg quorn, veggie cottage pie, butternut squash soup (with lentils). Occasionally I have a jacket potato with baked beans and cheese and obviously during the summer I eat a lot of salads and salad pittas with avocado and hoummous etc.

I probably need to make sure I eat more regularly and try to have healthier things in the house to snack on if necessary.

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