Winter vitamins in your 40’s

[haveanothertea]

I’m mid 40’s with young kids and when they get a cold and I catch it, I go down hard. I have allergies and asthma (controlled with Fostair).

I’m on HRT, I take a Bassetts multivitamin and a probiotic. I’ve got really bad sinuses after a cold a few weeks ago and feel really run down.

Any tips? I eat my 5 a day and drink lots of water. I think it’s lack of rest as we always get ill before the school holidays then I’m ill looking after the kids (I work term-time and DH FT).

Vitamin D, I get mine from British Supplements. D3 and K2, Nothing yucky mixed with it. Also it's grim tasting but Naturya Green Superblend. I take it with Apple juice.

In my view and experience, popping a few pills won't make the difference - but eating a good and varied diet full of nutrition will.

Someone on here recommended Sambucol which helps DH. I can't take it as have Hashimoto's (immune issue) so I just continually squirt Vick's First Defence up my nose instead.

But you're probably right re lack of rest. I'm not sure that anything can really substitute for that, sorry.

Out of interest, does that mean you believe you can only get the required vitamins and minerals from diet rather than supplements?

We eat fresh fruit and veg every day. We all love pasta so whizz up lots of veg into that.

Normally I do First Defence and it does work but I missed the boat this time.

The kids take Sambucol too.

I take Vitamin D and Magnesium (62). We all need Vitamin D in the winter in this country as we don't get enough sunlight. It's very unlikely that you can get enough Vit D form food alone.

It's that you have young kids and asthma. Vitamins are not going to change that.

Having said that everyone in the UK is short of Vitamin D in the winter.

We definitely need vit D in winter and I find the run down tired feeling is helped by b complex.

No it doesn't.

I am 40s, with young dc, also asthmatic and have another long term condition which affects my absorption of vitamins/minerals. I start taking vitamin C and zinc at high doses as soon as anyone in the house even starts to look like they might be getting ill. I rarely am unwell. Last time I was properly ill was COVID in winter of 2022.