Why does a cold make me feel so awful?!

[Annoy]

Colds never used to really bother me, they’d last a couple days and I’d have a stuffy nose, sometimes a cough.

But over the last couple of years I’ve had colds which have been embarrassingly debilitating!

I’m on my 2nd day off work because of a flipping cold! I feel like shit!

Does anyone else suffer badly from colds? Is it an age thing? I’m 37, maybe I just can’t cope as well with them anymore? I also wonder whether it’s because I work full time in what can be a stressful and tiring environment? A job I’ve only been doing for 3yrs.

Or maybe I’m need to woman up?!

Colds can leaving you feeling shitty but they aren't usually debilitating,do you have any underlying health conditions? I've not missed a day off work in 25 years for a cold, just dose myself up and crack on.

Sounds like you could be run down and so you are coping less well with it. Get some berocca and make sure you are taking regular vitamins to help your immune system.

There could be two things going on here. You could be 'run down' - possie vitamin/mineral deficiencies, not getting enough sleep, that kind of thing which could mean you're being hit particularly hard. The other thing could be purely coincidence that you've the bugs you've caught recently just have a bigger effect on you than ones you've caught in the past. I'm someone who has often been hit particularly hard by cold viruses - not every one but probably every other one or every third one make some quite unwell. Not necessarily ill enough to go off sick from work by I work an office job and have always had some flex to WFH so do that as much as poss when I'm feeling unwell and am undoubtedly a lot less productive than usual. Lots of hot drinks, paracetamol, sleep, and a multivitamin may assist. Hope you're soon feeling better

Yeah happens to my DP. We both currently have colds. Mine is fine, slight sore throat and runny nose. His is like the plague, he’s got loads of mucus, voice almost gone and snoring his head off all night which he doesn’t normally do. He is really drained from it, like a zombie. He had one a few months ago and it lasted over a week and he needed a couple of days off work to rest to get over it. He’s in his 30s with no underlying conditions

@userxx

Colds can leaving you feeling shitty but they aren't usually debilitating,do you have any underlying health conditions? I've not missed a day off work in 25 years for a cold, just dose myself up and crack on.

No underlying health conditions.

I’ve been working for 25yrs and this is the 2nd time I’ve been off with a cold... both times have been in the last 3yrs with this job. I think it might be psychological

I've always had bad colds, so does my DD. DS rarely gets them. DH has the occasional one, but you barely notice.

DD and I always have real streamers - really bunged up, sore throats, hacking coughs, pounding heads etc.

I have always been like this so I don't think it's anything to do with being run down.

Interestingly I saw something about people who react badly to the covid jab are the ones who have bad colds - something to do with your immune system being more reactive? Not sure how true it is, but I was floored by my first covid jab for about a week, DH had a slightly achy arm for half a day!

@Koolandorthegang it seems to have flipped in our house. DH was always the one who struggled, but recently he’s been fine when he’s had a cold.

I’m putting it down to my job... I work 70% outdoors with SEN teenagers with challenging behaviour. I love it but it’s so draining!

I'm on my second day off with a cold too OP. Also have always been a person who rarely takes time off but this one has floored me. Not sure if it's because I'm older now (50s) or because my job is very frantic, fast paced with barely any breaks but there is no way I could safely work right now.
I'm also wondering if it's just a particularly nasty cold bug that's going round at the moment. Perhaps it needs to be to get past the masks and hand sanitiser! Think I got mine from a child who coughed at me!
Hope you feel better soon OP.

Not all colds are the same. It helps if you think of them as viruses as 'cold' can sometimes downplay the severity.
Whilst most cold viruses don't totally knock you out, some do. Sometimes that will be personal to you (run down, not enough sleep etc) but sometimes they're just bastards.
A few years ago I had the proper flu and a 'cold' within a few months of each other. The 'cold' was definitely worse. It wasn't just particular to me as a fair few people I know had the same one - it was just hardcore.

I feel your pain op I have a chonric condition that I am able to cope with every single day and still live a normal life, give me a cold however and I'm done, hopeless, poorly and pathetic, treaming eyes and nose, headache, shivers, the lot, I have 2 brothers who are among the toughest men on the planet, I have seen them with broken bones and pretty serious injury and they cope, laugh and make the best of it but bugger me, a cold will floor the pair of them. we were like it as children too, healthy strong and resilient until a cold hit. very wierd!

I remember when colds were 3 days of feeling a bit rubbish but I would dose myself up and go into uni/work and even go out at night!

If I get a cold now it goes straight to my eyes so they water all the time, I am snotty, have a raging temperature, earache and headache. A rotten cold rather than just a cold.

One top tip I was given is to drink lots of orange juice. It will give you fluids and eventually your stomach will give because when you are healthy you cannot drink loads of orange juice without an upset tummy. So even though you will have an upset tummy you will be on the mend.

I hope you feel better soon

@Seeline

I've always had bad colds, so does my DD. DS rarely gets them. DH has the occasional one, but you barely notice.

DD and I always have real streamers - really bunged up, sore throats, hacking coughs, pounding heads etc.

I have always been like this so I don't think it's anything to do with being run down.

Interestingly I saw something about people who react badly to the covid jab are the ones who have bad colds - something to do with your immune system being more reactive? Not sure how true it is, but I was floored by my first covid jab for about a week, DH had a slightly achy arm for half a day!

That’s interesting as DH had no issues with the jab! Also worrying as I haven’t had mine yet 🙈

@Macaroni46

I'm on my second day off with a cold too OP. Also have always been a person who rarely takes time off but this one has floored me. Not sure if it's because I'm older now (50s) or because my job is very frantic, fast paced with barely any breaks but there is no way I could safely work right now. I'm also wondering if it's just a particularly nasty cold bug that's going round at the moment. Perhaps it needs to be to get past the masks and hand sanitiser! Think I got mine from a child who coughed at me! Hope you feel better soon OP.

Maybe it is a tougher one as there have been less around due to masks and sanitiser.

I caught mine from a TA in work who came in to the staffroom streaming and looking like shit, she sat next to me blowing her nose.

That’s another reason I think that I wanted to stay off... it’s not fair on others

I don't get colds often so I don't think there's anything wrong with my immune system, but when I do get them, they're awful. There have been times when I just couldn't work, even though I hate having time off (and I work from home, so it's not like it's as much effort as going to an office).

I've been like that since I was a kid. Rarely got colds but when I did it completely knocked me for six.

Ironically, I had covid last year and that was very mild - so it's not all viruses that I react badly to!

Thanks @Level75 that’s a goof way to think of them! Makes me feel better 😀

I think it’s floored me @thebabessavedme as I too am pretty tough with most other things!

Thanks @user1471538283 for the advice, will give it a go today

@LindaEllen

I don't get colds often so I don't think there's anything wrong with my immune system, but when I do get them, they're awful. There have been times when I just couldn't work, even though I hate having time off (and I work from home, so it's not like it's as much effort as going to an office).

I've been like that since I was a kid. Rarely got colds but when I did it completely knocked me for six.

Ironically, I had covid last year and that was very mild - so it's not all viruses that I react badly to!

Maybe this is like me too, as I rarely get colds. Maybe once a year/18months.

Whereas my dh gets a good few a year... he doesn’t even work with children!

Yep - me. I’m 36 and I would say I’ve been like this the majority of my adult life. I sneeze like crazy, to the point it often makes me feel sick and look and feel terrible. I find it exceptionally annoying. DH and DS get a bit blocked up and tired and I basically act like I have plague.

I think with me it’s linked to things like my allergic rhinitis and a tendency towards allergic responses. It’s like my body goes into overdrive. Hormones are definitely at play too. I accidentally found that steroids massively helped my horrible cold symptoms (whilst taking them to control something else), which leads me to believe that it’s my immune system to blame.

There seems to be a horrendous virus going round that isn’t Covid.
Starts off with a cold and snotty nose then goes onto your chest, I got it from looking after 2 year old Dgs and gave it to DH, who has been off work for 12 days, he had antibiotics for a chest infection that have done precisely nothing ( probably because it’s a virus 🙄) . Neither of us have slept properly in 2 weeks, the cough has been worse than with Covid.

I feel like utter death and am praying for half term ( DD is a teacher) .
We can’t fathom where DGS got it from as nobody in the wider family had it.

I get terrible colds. Often with a fever (even though they’re meant to be rare with colds). I’m pretty stoic so usually dose up and still go to work. Haven’t had a cold since last February so not sure what I’d do if got one of my usual colds now!

On top of the fever and overall grottiness I usually get a cough that lasts for weeks. Once my boss insisted I see a doctor it was so bad. As suspected it was just a post viral cough but I also have suspected cough variant asthma so no use an inhaler when I get a cold which improves the coughing but doesn’t stop it.

When Mumsnetters say it’s wrong to take a day off with a cold I think they imagine someone with the sniffles.