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

When I was young every time I got a common cold it would wipe me out. It would last for ages and I'd end up with a secondary infection - sinusitis, ear infection, chest infection. But I cannot recall the last time I had even a mild cold. It must literally be longer than 10 years. Yay!

I think so much of it must be luck. I have 4 children - from 20s down to early primary school age. I am fat, I smoke, my diet is shit, I am not active active enough yet I literally never get poorly - never had Covid. My sickness record at work is flawless - I can’t remember the last time I felt ill. I am sure my crap lifestyle will catch up with me but I am almost scared to change things now in case I jinx things 😳

Genes.

Lifestyle - I don't have children, I WFH - I just don't come into contact with many germs compared with familes with a couple of schoolchildren and adults who work in busy, public-facing roles.

Immue system strength -
A friend had a stroke and then came down with a series of abscesses, chest infections, bad colds and similar. I think some of this was because he was still healing, then antibiotics knocking out good bacteria as well as the bad, and he just didn't have any resistance any more.

I sometimes think culture can play a part, too. German colleagues seem to get signed off gor a week, even if it's just a cold that many in Britain would either carry on with, or only take one or two days sick.

I think how we deal with illness plays a big part and mind over matter. If I get a cold I start taking every tablet I can - I use nasal sprays and day cold relief tablets to get through the day then night time tablets to make sure I sleep. I take high dose vitamins and I just get on with things. For stomach bugs I have a supply of anti-nausea tablets and antidiarrheal s and i eat foods that will help. I have friends who take to their beds at the mildest sniffle and will not take anything to help themselves, preferring to wallow in their misery. I typically get over most illnesses within a day or 2, others are off work for a fortnight.

@FoamBurst

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.!?

That's interesting about the nail biting. I bit my nails as a child and was hardly ever ill. I still tend to 'worry' at them a lot (don't bite though!) and am never ill apart from the odd sniffle/sore throat.

I don't get ill very often, I think this is partly as I'm disabled and don't go out very much, and my dc are adults and so don't catch every little cold. Occasionally dh will bring something home from work (he's a GP), that he doesn't actually catch but I do.

Apart from UTIs. I'm horribly susceptible to them after having kidney problems in pregnancy twice. I wash loads and drink pints of water every day. Always empty my bladder and wash after sex, drink cranberry juice. Still get one every couple of months.

Luck of the draw, unfortunately.

I have a tendency to colds, sinusitis and sore throats, and we were once staying with DH's family in another part of the country. SIL took great pleasure in smugly telling me that I was obviously not eating the right diet or taking all the right vitamins like she did, because she never got ill. I was slightly consoled when some time later she got a case of shingles that lasted for months.

Do you have pets, or did you as a child? I have the constitution of an ox, as does my ds. I firmly believe a lot of that comes from having pets around out entire lives.

I get every bug going. I wash my hands fastidiously but I'm an infant school teacher and there's a cloud of viruses following me around all day

I think it is down to immune system exposure to bugs. The more obsessive with cleaning and killing all germs, the worse you make it. I'm not saying that is in your case OP, some people are just more susceptible. Certainly over the last 12 months I have had an almost continuous cold. I know that's down to a lack of exposure to bugs, through low social contact, mask wearing, distancing and far more rigorous cleaning. That is probably the case for you and many, many others. We are making things worse for ourselves, and that is why I think that exposure to the Omicron variant is a good thing, even if you can catch it again, just like a cold.

I think it's nature and nurture. It's incredibly rare for me to be ill, and even when I do pick something up it's generally short lived or mild.
I can trace my family tree back hundreds of years, and even back when child mortality was common it appears to be astonishingly rare for anyone to have died of anything but old age, accidents or war. So to some extent it seems to be genetic.
However there's also an abundance of evidence to suggest we were all outdoors types and obsessed with animals, plenty of farmers or similar, and the majority appear to have been crack on types. Which suggests it's also nurture.
Certainly ime those given to ott hygiene and/or lacking determination always seem to be ill more often, regardless of natural constitution.
Eg my bf from childhood has an immune condition, but from a farming family was raised on the theory that a bit of dirt was healthy and you carry on with your responsibilities unless you physically can't.
Whereas an ex colleague with no underlying conditions was obsessed with hygiene and loved to play the invalid. Eg wanted codeine and a sick note for a very mild sprain and was irate the nhs wouldn't give it her. Not surprisingly the latter had far more time off sick in a few years than my friend has had in 20yrs.

Well I think a certain amount of it is going to be down to how many people you're exposed to in the first place. I noticed a massive difference in how often I was ill living in London, taking the tube most days and working in a huge office building, compared to where I live now (vastly smaller population, commute by car and work in a smaller office). So some of it is going to simply be down to the numbers of exposures you have to others.

I think it’s luck. My DTs go to nursery together. DS ended up in hospital with rsv, DD had nothing at all. I’m prone to catching a cold at least twice a year, but never get tummy bugs. Weird!

The people I know who almost never get sick all work outside all day (outdoor sports coaches, gardeners, tree surgeons, postman)

It seems being in enclosed spaces with other humans adds most risk. Public transport, offices etc

Saunas and cold water bathing also really help the the immune system.

For me echinacea really helps nip any virus in the bud. Helps within one day!

Immunity is far more about genetics than people realise.

I'm fortunately one of those people that gets these kind of illnesses but I did get Covid and it floored me!

But that's a new disease which my ancestors won't have been exposed to prior to my conception

Hope you feel better soon, take your time about it usual fluids and lots of rest and treat the symptoms with otc stuff if that is working and ride it out.

I was knocked out for 3.5 weeks and it took me about 7-9 weeks to really get back to "normal" (for me - my health in other ways is shit!)

I've managed to swerve a cold/ Covid or flu for 2 yes. I am susceptible to lumps and cysts all the time though, having had many large infected ones removed surgically. I don't know why I keep getting them?

@NandorTheRelentlessCleaner

The people I know who almost never get sick all work outside all day (outdoor sports coaches, gardeners, tree surgeons, postman)

It seems being in enclosed spaces with other humans adds most risk. Public transport, offices etc

Saunas and cold water bathing also really help the the immune system.

For me echinacea really helps nip any virus in the bud. Helps within one day!

That’s interesting - I posted upthread about how sickly I am compared to my hardy DH and he is a postie. I’ve always worked in offices.

Offices are bad especially with windows that don’t open and airco , all that stale air pumped around…

I have never been so ill as the past year. It is a merry go round of bugs in this house. We actually can't remember when the whole house was well at the same time. It's been worse since September when our child started reception, but she was at nursery since 7 months old so we thought she would have some immunity to bugs. She has had about 12 days off school ill since she started. It's awful.