How often do you get ill? What is normal?

[Lilyonmars]

I have a nasty cough/cold at the moment, I seem to be getting one every month or 2 at the moment, it's relentless. How often is normal? surely this often isn't! I don't have any underlying health problems or anything.

I usually got a cold once a year. As a GP I was just exposed to so much. Since I retired I had 2 in a year which is awful. Hoping this winter will be better

Im 66 and have been unwell once in 8 years with flu. I dont get colds or d and v. I have no health issues and take no medication

Usually every 2/3 years but I currently haven’t been ill since 2021

At least once a month during term time but I have a terrible immune system, asthma and work in early years in a school. Usually just chesty/cold like stuff, stomach bugs etc fairly rarely (touch wood!)

I can’t remember the last time I was ill. I don’t suffer from colds. Sometimes I think I’m going to get one, but it comes to nothing. One of my sisters is ill more than she’s well. She constantly has colds, sore throats, upset stomach - you name it.

I don't. Sounds crazy and in other health ways I'm not so lucky - I have early osteoarthritis in my knees and back from hypermobility, for example - but in terms of viruses/infections etc, my immune system seems to be incredibly efficient. I've never had Covid. As far as I know I've never had flu. I can't remember the last time I had a cold - years and years ago it must have been. I think I live a pretty healthy life, I swim a lot and a good amount of fruit and veg, but nothing out of the ordinary. On the flip side I've been in a couple of nasty accidents in my life mostly due to hypermobility clumsiness and some bad luck.

My friend said next time there's a pandemic, I'll be the person with natural immunity that's key to humanity's survival then die by falling down a manhole or something 😂

Covid at least once a year. I feel horribly ill when I get Covid, I was exhausted for about 6 weeks after the last one.

I have to wear an n95 mask to go indoors to talk to people otherwise I get gastro bug symptoms every single time, and they last 3 months. It's rubbish. It started after I had long covid twice.

I think it's because I can't find a multivitamin that agrees with me, so I can never get myself built up again before the next thing clobbers me.

I eat liver every week and am hoping that that will help in time.

I can't remember the last time I had a cold. I think it was probably years ago. I just don't seem to get colds.

Every winter I get ill, last year I caught a bad cold that nearly killed me as I kept having asthma attacks & couldnt breathe. Fun times. I dont tend to catch anything in the spring/summer though. I take muti-vitamins dunno if thats help.

About once every two years.

I had flu 2.5 years ago. A few coughs and colds since, nothing that I've really noticed or that has stopped me doing anything.

Rarely, but I don't have kids at school. When they were at school it was all the time.

I get a few colds a year, typically only over the winter months though. Work with kids and have a toddler so it's inevitable really! Went years without any D&V until my toddler was born but now have it once or twice a year at least - that really sucks! Hoping as she gets older that it lessens.

All the time. At least one every 3-5 weeks for the last 10 years. They progress/devolve to more serious things (pneumonia, pleurisy, sepsis) about 3x a year. Had Covid 8x despite all the vax.

It's difficult to cope with to be honest. I've had to organise my whole life around it: get a different kind of job where I can shift my time around, work through illness as much as pos, stop making plans with other people (as it's not fun for them to spend their holiday in critical care with me). But there seems to be no help for it.

I work in the NHS have done for 45 years. I get maybe one cold a year. I've never had covid. I think I've become immune to most things.

A cold? Probably 3-4 times a year. Unfortunately I’m asthmatic so colds always end up with a chest infection which is annoying.

General Ill feeling? Regularly, I seem to have at least one day a month I don’t feel right, if not more. Trying to get to the bottom of that at the moment!

I got Covid quite recently but apart from that hardly ever (touches lots of wood 😉).

This year it has been constant, coughs,colds, covid ,now i have been ok for 3 weeks and today woke up banged up again
I use public transport daily and work with young children so probably thats why, but this is the first year in my life that i have had some kind of illness every couple of months.

I have young children and catch most of their colds. I normally get one every 3 - 6 months.

If I’m in public spaces, I never touch door handles with my actual hand (normally use a sleeve or tissue) or wash hands afterwards if I have to touch something,

Gyms are very germy places - I’m very cautious when touching anything to never touch my eyes or mouth until my hands are washed. I also won’t use the sauna if someone else is in it.

I keep distance when standing near people, queuing or on the train (if possible)

when I used to catch the tube daily, I caught the most colds. I didn’t know you could catch a cold by holding a rail and then touching your eyes, nose or mouth, after - I was young. Now I always have sanitiser and wash my hands at every opportunity.

Oh and touch screens that we use for self service shopping - always use sanitiser straight afterwards

Not very often now the kids are older, but when they were young it was almost constant. Nothing serious, just coughs and colds and some stomach bugs (and hand foot and mouth once!).

I do suffer from migraines now and again (bloody perimenopause!) but that’s about it unless you count just he general exhaustion that never seems to go away.

One cold every year to two years at most. Lasts about a week. Usually only in winter but this year I have had a summer cold thanks to DD catching a cold from a friend. It was a bad one too!

I do have the flu jab every year due next month and hardly ever suffer with colds and flu 🤞

Once every two or three months, very stable

I used to get terrible respiratory illnesses in my teens and 20s. Chest infections 4-6 times a year requiring antibiotics and at one point pleurisy. Since I started working clinically in healthcare I get zero. I don’t pick up d&v, or at least I haven’t in 7 years! The last time I was properly sick with vomiting was 15 years ago when I had Norovirus. I’ve never knowingly had Covid despite working on the Covid wards from March 2020, without PPE in the beginning (and we were testing daily).

I am, however, poorly with long term conditions (endometriosis, fibromyalgia, FND, autoimmune issues and overactive thyroid) daily. I have chronic pain, fatigue, anxiety and sleep issues I wouldn’t wish on my worst enemy.