Why do some people get I'll more often?

[Haribopip]

I've always got ill a 'normal' amount.

Since September I've had three awful colds with fever and feeling awful, a chest infection, chicken pox (despite having already had it!) and now COVID.

There's been a covid outbreak in work all my colleagues and their families have it, most people have mild cold symptoms. Whereas I've been bedridden with a fever of 40 degrees. Day 14 today and still totally exhausted and wiped out.

What can I do? We eat well lots of variety and plenty of veg. Don't drink to excess I exercise and sleep is ok.

Feeling pretty fed up now

I think it's just bad luck to be honest ! I'm the complete opposite and never ever get ill, I had shingles of all things a few months ago! But other than that, I'm around my snotty son all the time, my partner currently has a virus etc, nothing touches me !

Sorry forgot to say, I hope you feel better soon. It must be rotten being so poorly the last few months

I was quite a sickly child (lots of ear and throat infections) but as an adult I almost never get anything. I don't know if illness as a child helped me build my immune system. I am also a primary school teacher and caught everything going the first year or two and nothing much since so that might have boosted my immune system too.

Have a look at gut health and its relation to the immune system

Some people have better hand hygiene? How often do you wash your hands properly? Could be a reason.

Luck, diet, genes.

I was I’ll all the time up until about 4 years ago.
Had covid 2020, the odd sniffle since then but nothing since.

I don’t know why but I think maybe having 4 children with a range of 22 to 11 meant that in the past I’d caught all thier bugs and now I’m immune to most things.

I hope

DH is rarely ill. I seem to get every bug going and, more than that, it drags on and on.

For example, he gets a cold maybe once every couple of years. He takes painkillers and can power through. I get a cold 2-3 times a year and it will invariably turn into sinusitis, then a chest infection, then just as it starts to clear up my face will break out in painful coldsores for a week.

Any time DH is ill, I will 100% catch it. However, he NEVER catches what I have. Even when I had norovirus and was so ill I was curled up on the floor wishing I could disappear, he was fine

Immune systems are not all created equal, some react mildly others go crazy.

You might not encounter the same virus as others (luck).
You might experience more discomfort from symptoms.

Some people experience more exhaustion from symptoms (maybe different metabolisms).

There are so many factors!

Thankfully I rarely get ill but strangely I get a cold every Oct! That's it.
I'll get an odd scratchy throat and think oh god I'm getting a bug then then next day it's fine? Was barely ill as a child too.
2 of my dcs are like me. But the youngest gets a cold and ends up on antibiotics as ends up on chest and lasts 3 to 6 weeks a time.

I did read once if you but your nails you have a stronger immune system.. Not sure how true that is but I bite my nails daily. Even the height of covid i did it without thinking. Touch wood never had covid either... Yet.!?

I think a big part is luck of the draw. In saying that, when I worked in childcare I spent my first year almost always sick. I picked up every single bug going. Ever since then (10 years ago), I've been lucky to rarely get sick. I get a cold for a couple of days every 2 or 3 years but even those are mild and at worst I have a bit of a runny nose and mild muscle pain. I haven't had a day off sick from work in about 5 years. I think my immune system took such a hit in that year that it's ready to fight most things but I wasn't a particularly sickly person before that so it's still a bit of luck.

I worked with children for over 25 years. My immune system was amazing. Then I stopped. And a few years later it’s nowhere near as good. Got the Norovirus a few weeks ago and it floored me. So I’m guessing now it’s not as good as it was.

I think it's luck mostly and exposure. I've not been ill at all for about 3 years but don't have young kids at home, wfh and don't use public transport so don't come into contact with the great unwashed much!

In general I'd say there's a huge variety, my DH never gets anything whereas I'd say I get an average amount of colds etc.
That does sound like a change in your case though, esp getting chicken pox twice. I read a really interesting article that measles is so dangerous because it wipes your immune memories and so you are left with no immunity to anything you have previously encountered and so you have to relearn immunity as you encounter bugs again.
I wonder if something like that has happened in your case? Is it worth asking your doctor if there is anything you can check?

Normal amount of illnesses as an adult but when I developed a vitamin D deficiency after having DD I caught every illness going and severely too.

If you’re a sickly type I suggest getting vitamin D levels checked.

I seem to have a pretty robust immune system: rarely get bugs or colds . I have 3 children and work in an ICU so I think that probably counts for some of it.

I do take daily vitamin d and vitamin c with zinc so maybe that’s worth a try?

@Changethetoner

Some people have better hand hygiene? How often do you wash your hands properly? Could be a reason.

Or they sanitise too much and dont build up any immunity

I hardly get sick. Same as PP, get a tickle in back of throat, next day it's gone. Never catch my families colds.

I also think it's to do with gut microbes.

Eat more fibre and fermented foods.

I don’t know. I think fiat and home hygiene plays a big role. As a child of a rather dirty ingested house and crappy food, I was Constantly ill. Stomach bug, pneumonia, asthma, colds, flu, etc

Barely had a sniffle since I moved out 15+ years ago

*diet not fiat!

I rarely catch colds, & when I do I seem to recover much faster than DH & DD. They’ve both had vomiting bugs at least a couple of times each in the past few years, I avoided them. I’m a frequent hand washer & eat a diet high in vegetables, whereas they eat a lot of beige food, more processed stuff, more meat etc. DH suffers the most & his diet is by far the worst, DD will eat a normal amount of greens but likes her beige food... I’m the odd one out due to food intolerances & don’t eat much processed food at all. We’re not a house that use a lot of antibacterial sprays & bleach though, & I don’t (can’t) use hand gel whereas DH & DD do. I suspect it’s basic hygiene, gut bacteria & luck.

@lumpofcomfort

I was quite a sickly child (lots of ear and throat infections) but as an adult I almost never get anything. I don't know if illness as a child helped me build my immune system. I am also a primary school teacher and caught everything going the first year or two and nothing much since so that might have boosted my immune system too.

Exactly the same and I mean so I'll I was hospitalised quite a few times with overnight stays and flu, glandular fever etc so bad I was bedridden for a week with very high temp (sometimes so high hence the hospital admittance) last thing I got like this was swine flu which knocked me for six for at least a full 2 weeks and that was my early 20s. Since then I don't seem to catch anything and haven't had Covid yet despite working with children full time and it's been very close lots of times! I wonder the same about childhood illness.

hygiene, diet affecting immune system, mixing with other people that may be carrying x virus ect

@Changethetoner

Some people have better hand hygiene? How often do you wash your hands properly? Could be a reason.

In my experience the opposite is true.

People who are over careful tend to be the ones who get most ill when they do get a bug, be it viral or bacterial.

Regular exposure challenges the immune system to work and strengthens it. So when it gets a bigger challenge it works more effectively.

Obviously not the only or whole reason as luck, genes and having a sufficiently nourished immune system are also factors

My 8 year old used to drink out of the downstairs loo as a toddler. Anyone who left the toilet door open got yelled at as it would be guaranteed that he would be in there, head in the bowl. He now has the constitution of an Ox. He can have a stomach bug, a proper one that lasts half a day.

One time he managed to sleep through vomit and diarrhea, we cleaned him up and the bed. He woke up in the morning, completely well and had no memory of the incident.