Every man for himself this autumn and winter

[Icecreamcoffee]

I got ill last summer. First it was COVID. I was sick with it. I isolated for a week with it in order not to pass it on.

A week after feeling better, I was exposed to a 24 hour bug or a norovirus. There was a small family gathering. One person was sick the night before and then after that many if us there became unwell. I was able to isolate in my room for a weekend with bottles of water and lucozade. One person had to go to hospital and it was confirmed norovirus.

Within the past 24 hours I was exposed to two different viruses. Time will only tell what way any of this is going to develop in me. If I get sick. My issue is noone cares. No one cares about spreading their sicknesses onto others. No one knows manners coughing all over the place. No one knows how to contain their germs. No one knows just how to minimise spread of sickness and illness. I was asked to babysit yesterday and the parents left and I discovered the child was sick with D&V. They could have minimised that exposure for me by staying at home with their sick child and allowing 24 hours to pass.

I came home last night to my mother coughing her dose all over the home.

It hit me - it's going to be every man for himself this winter to fend for themself against other peoples sickness and illness.

I would like to get some help from Mumsnet. What can I do, to mind myself as much as possible?
Like vitamins and supplements. Someone mentioned probiotics. Will probiotics help minimise sickness if I take them? Drink plenty of fluids. Vicks first defense. Is there any other tips and tricks or life hacks to minimise sickness and illness from other people.

Especially now when children are going back to school.

Have you posted about this twice already over the last few days?

It was different questions.

It hit me this morning it will be everyone out for themselves this year.

I am asking what can I do if there's any tips or tricks to minimise illness and sickness.

• vitamins and supplements?
• probiotics?

Any thing else?

I read a good post by Zoe yesterday about how antibiotics destroy your good gut bacteria and how to restore it. Their website might be worth a look for keys to good health.

Goodness, I think you need to enhance your immune system. So good diet, exercise, no smoking, sleep well etc etc.

Apparently cold showers help you with immunity.

No one knows manners coughing all over the place.

While I think it's disgusting when people don't cover their mouth when they cough you do realise that not everyone coughs because they are ill? I spend the whole summer coughing but it's due to allergies, not illness.

sleep well
wash your hands regularly
air the house
plenty of fluids and vegetables.

Generally- make sure you have a good immune system and are as well as possible.

Many people are deficient in vitamins especially vit D and many women are low in iron. Taking a multi-vitamin cannot harm and could help your body and immune system be on better form.

If you have money you may be able to get tests to see if you are low in anything.

I take echinacea through the winter. Not sure if it really works or not but I take it anyway.

Best advice is the cheapest - stay away from ill people and wash your hands very regularly!

Avoid being near people? I guess that's the only real way of minimising the risk. Other than that, really good hand hygiene, wearing a mask in crowded areas, a good multivitamin and mineral supplement, fresh air in your home (don't hermetically seal your windows and doors), probiotics and taking regular elderberry extract (clinical trials show as effective as a conventional antiviral) can help. I make my own syrup from the elderberries that I collect.

We very rarely get sick, but we don't mix much with others though, so that might explain it. We also have tons of fresh air in the house and the multifuel stove draws air through the room, so it's warm, but never stuffy.

Some people believe that finishing your daily shower with a cold water rinse can help too.

Thank you. I will explore this. It's been a few months since I was on antibiotics for an infection. I wanted to start on probiotics but they are so expensive. I focus on prebiotic foodstuffs. I will explore this later and thank you.

Wear a mask and wash hands regularly. We wear a mask when we are around people especially in shops, doctors etc. hubby has a lung condition and was seriously ill with flu so we take precaution as everybody did with covid. I don’t care if people think we are stupid wearing a mask. People in Japan wear them all the time

Thanks for the replies. Some of this I am already doing but I will add more in too. I'm interested in the cold showers. Daunting but it will be worth a try. Anything so that I don't have a repeat of last summer.

You've had covid already so your immunity will be low (there are so many variants and there's a new one just sequenced in London) so your best bet is to avoid exposure and the best way to do that is to wear a 3M Aura mask or similar FFP2 when you are in a shared space with someone else. It's really the best way to avoid many sicknesses.

Vitamins and cold showers are not going to stop you inhaling a dose of covid or flu or RSV, a respirator will. You can rewear it numerous times if you air it out between uses - it doesn't touch your mouth so it's much more hygienic (and effective, obviously) than a baggy surgical mask.

Also, ventilate ventilate ventilate. Open all windows and avoid being in an enclosed space with other people.

@Dodie66 you are doing the right thing, and if you wear an FFP2 standard mask even better. I wear a 3M Aura 100% of the time indoors outside my home.

I have no idea how I stay so healthy in my mid 60s...I wash hands post toilet but not at any other times. I work in a school and don’t avoid crowded situations.
My diet is excellent but I also drink wine regularly.
I take vitamin D in a spray...all my bloods are fine.
Luck? Genes? But I was last ill 9 years ago with proper flu...off work 2 weeks. My life was very stressful at the time ...I have removed all stress from my life since then. I think that affects your physical health

My post wasn't referring to you and your type of cough.

My mother has a viral dose and she's coughing into the open and it's very far from a smokers cough or allergies. It's an infection and no doubt about it and no manners to minimise the spread of her germs.

You can increase the good bacteria in your gut with fermented foods like sauerkraut, kimchi, and yoghurt.

Not trying to be unkind, but you sound a bit OTT. Assuming you've got no underlying health issues, being exposed to bugs and viruses is part of every day life.

I'm a 56 year old overweight woman who exercises moderately. In the last 15 years the only time I've had to be off work sick is when I caught Covid last summer. If I get a bug I carry on as usually it's not bad enough for me to stop working. I think most other people are the same.

I agree that spreading germs by sneezing everywhere if you've got a virus is gross, but when I have a cold I use plenty of tissues and wash my hands frequently.

If we all lived in an aseptic environment then we'd have no immunity to anything.

Minimise stress if you can; I'm convinced it makes a difference.

I had COVID last summer. Would my immunity still be low from then?

I had have a bad few months after COVID where I caught everything unfortunately.

I don't know how my immune system is now. There's something not right though. I am down with psiorasis now and I never had a flare in 30s years and that can be connected to the immune system I think. I think it's an auto immune conition. I find it bizarre how I had it mild as a teenager and I never had problems in over 30s and it's flaring up now. Maybe it's connected to hormones as well.

Hasn't it always been every man for himself? Illness has always been around us and we've just had to get on with it or we'd just stay at home. What's different about this year?

Just because you're around someone who is ill doesn't mean you will necessarily catch it. DH and I don't isolate from each other if we are ill (it's not possible) and don't always catch what the other one has.

Is your DH coughing into your face and around the home?

Another thread where I wonder how people cope with daily life when they carry such fear about catching a cold / other people.

Masks, hand hygiene, plenty of fresh fruit and veggies and not challenging your immune system with highly processed shit. Fresh air wherever possible. Wipe anything you touch with antibac wipes. (Public transport, seatbelts, handles, etc.) Flu shot. Home made chicken soup. (Full of fresh veggies). I suspect warming foods like soup, stews, curries, etc, also tea, help raise your body temperature which also helps kill off bugs.