Why can’t I just have a cold and power through

[Otterslovecrabs]

Every single time I get a cold I’m floored by it.
DH gets a cold and powers through, just gets on with it. He may feel extra tired but he never takes to bed unless he’s extremely poorly.
Me, the bare minimum is I’ll feel lightheaded, exhausted, feverish and have full body aches. I never get light colds that I can just do everything I need to do and just take a few painkillers and power on.

I always feel floored, have to laze around, want to sleep all the time etc.
I eat healthily, take a multivitamin, don’t drink alcohol, I am overweight (size 18) but never get out of breath and can walk long distances. I’m 52 but have always been a bit hopeless when I’m unwell and have to cave into it.

Is there a reason for this or are some people (me) are just less resilient?

Or it could be that when you get less severe colds you don’t really notice them, but when you get a heavy cold you are understandably more affected by it.

They don’t come with a label, so no way to know if you have the same cold as your DH does. You can’t compare really.

OP, I have powered through all kinds of injuries and illnesses, but when I get a cold I am the whiniest, most pathetic specimen known to man. I don't know what it is, but when I have a blocked nose and can't breathe easily I get very panicky. I lose a lot of sleep through not being able to breathe and that makes me worse. I've been perfectly all right during MUCH worse illnesses - with one that actually hospitalised me I was out running until the day they admitted me!

So, solidarity.

My DH and I are exactly the same. He will cough and sneeze a bit but carry on as normal. I'm lying on the sofa with all over body aches feeling that all I want to do is sleep. I think it must just be genetics and how good your immune system is - there's no other reason in my case to be worse affected than DH, he is also more than 10 years my senior (I'm in my 50s but colds have always affected me like this).

Glad I’m not on my own. It’s embarrassing at times. I have colleagues who just get on with it, I’m a moaning, shivering wreck struggling through the whole day. I tend to WFH now when it happens at least I get a little more comfort. Weird isn’t it - I’ve had spinal surgery, broken bones but give me a cold (which always seems to want to go onto my chest immediately) I just crumble.

I think viruses affect me severely as my immune system overreacts and then I have to deal with a lot of symptoms which feel very inflammatory and like a severe infection type of feeling. Covid is the worst for causing this reaction. With colds it can be similar if it goes to my sinuses and then I’m out of action.

I’m always jealous at those who just carry on as normal with a bug, but I guess those are often the ones who spread it to people like us who end up in bed!

Strangely and I don’t know if it’s connected but I have allergies, hayfever, hives etc. I’ve struggled to make HRT work for me - I get a reaction from oestrogen even. Maybe antihistamines would be good for cold symptoms too

I felt less unwell recovering from a hysterectomy than I do with a cold 😆

Same! I did a similar thread recently.

I'm the same, OP. I got pneumonia last year then shortly after got scarlet fever that went to my lungs. I've never really been the same since and a cold floors me.

I had pneumonia in March. I was horribly unwell for the best part of a month. Pretty much every cold I have goes to my chest. I’ve never smoked but my parents did all the time I was growing up. My mother smoked through her pregnancy, I was only just over 5lb in weight. I wonder if that has had a lasting impact.

Do you take paracetamol when you have a cold? Sometimes people think “It’s just a cold. I’m not ill enough to take anything.” But really, if you’re suffering so much, take something! I prefer paracetamol for a cold, but if you prefer ibuprofen or aspirin, take it. It makes such a difference. If you take a prepackaged remedy, check whether it contains paracetamol. in which case, take ibuprofen or aspirin. If it contains one of the other two, take paracetamol.

I used to be totally floored by colds for a different reason: turns out I have asthma, and colds cause it to flare badly. Treat the asthma, and suddenly colds don’t last as long and don’t knock me down so badly, probably because I can now breathe when I have a cold.

I’m not great at taking meds admittedly. I may take paracetamol once or twice a day when unwell. Or sometimes just before bed to try and sleep. I shall take some more now!

Try Night Nurse. This should help you sleep. I am exactly the same and suffer badly with colds. Hope you feel better soon.

It probably is connected. I have similar. Chronic inflammation and an elevated histamine response. Try taking an antihistamine when you get a cold, along with paracetamol. Works for me!

If you don’t take meds then yeah it will hit you hard.

i can power through but that’s because I take paracetamol and ibuprofen and interleave them. If I didn’t take meds I’d feel like shit.

I hate colds too. I have no choice but to power on as I have young children but I feel panicky at how weak and ill I feel when I have one. I take lemsip max and loads of echinacea and count down the days through it but when I feel one coming on I start to panic!

I agree with taking the cold and flu medications- they are the only way for me to carry on functioning and they do help with sleep.

I'm not floored by a cold, but I will say that any illness will take strength away from my legs so even a head cold will leave me having trouble walking and also any illness will hurt me where I'm already weak so if you have some existing health problems, they'll flare up when you're under the weather. Is there maybe something else going on?

I'll also say that at the moment in my late 40s, colds are generally less bad than they were in my childhood and teen years, despite what I wrote above. Maybe they'll get worse again as I get older..

Can I ask what your fibre intake is like please OP?

Me too - I am allergic to colds! I can’t just have “a cold” - it has to be the full monty of roaring temperature, aching throat, terrible blocked nose, insomnia, six tissue boxes on my bedside table…

And as for flu: I am the original sufferer who when struck down wouldn’t be able to crawl out of bed even if the postcode lottery person was at the door.

Probably not enough, I can’t eat cereal (it upsets my stomach) but I eat a couple of slices of seeded sourdough a day, 2/3 veg portions, a piece of fruit usually orange or banana. Apples also upset my stomach. I’m often having loose, orangey stools as though food goes through me too quickly. Perhaps I’m not absorbing vitamins very well

I was going to say the same! I powered through the recovery of an emergency c section and looking after a newborn but if I have a cold I’m completely dead for days !!!!!

That’s probably worth investigating. If you are intolerant to something you eat, you may not be absorbing nutrients well. That might contribute to you not fighting off infections easily. Having had pneumonia could also affect your ability to cope with a cold. Allergies - aren’t they also an indication of an immune system going a bit haywire? Trying antihistamines can’t do any harm, I think.