Why do bacteria and other bugs absolutely LOVE me??

[StrawberryJellyBean]

I’ve spent most of the last 2 years infected with some sort of bacteria or other infection. I’ve had multiple and recurrent ear infections, tooth infections, sinus infections, skin infections, UTIs, BV, and other infections on top of this too. It feels like over the last year I’ve spent more time infected with something than uninfected! Each infection has been severe enough to require antibiotics, and I’ve had a range of different types and doses over the last year. Off the top of my head, in the last 12 months I’ve probably had around 13-14 separate antibiotic prescriptions. Probably more actually! Sometimes they work and take away the infection and other times they don’t and I need a stronger or different dose.

I don’t understand why this is happening! I’m healthy, BMI 20 and have a fairly active and healthy lifestyle. I had full bloods taken for something unrelated and my immune system was good. I shower everyday and brush my teeth and use mouthwash and floss. I’m fairly young (University age) and I can’t work out why this is happening suddenly!

Is anyone else like this? I never used to get any sort of infection and now it’s like I’m never off antibiotics!

When they did your bloods was any comment made on your blood sugar levels? High (pre diabetic or even high"normal") blood sugar levels can predispose you to infections

I was like this until I strayed taking probiotics. They really helped me since all the antibiotics were killing off the good bacteria. I haven't had anything needing medication for years now

Diabetes would be my first thought as well. There are also other things that can cause susceptibility to infection that need checking out that many infections is in no way normal! That amount of antibiotics will also have really upset your normal biome which plays a role in immunity. I suggest a GP consultation about that amount of infectious you've had and some decent pre and probiotics whilst you try and get some answers.

Low vitamin d levels can affect immunity, have you had these tested? They're not always included in standard bloods.

Most people in the UK are deficient anyway during winter months, if you're especially low on it then it'll be an easy win

I think my blood sugar was checked in the blood test and they said all my results were fine. It honestly just feels like non stop, I’m on metronidazole right now and can almost guarantee I’ll have some other infection in the next 2-3 weeks and end up on something else! It’s so annoying and only seems to be in the last year or 2 it’s started. Not sure why as previously I got a cold once a year which self resolved and that was about it. Now it’s like non stop infections in every part of my body.

Another thing is have you actually seen the GP in this time or have they all been phone consults? I was treated for recurrent UTIs for months while GP surgeries weren't seeing patients. Turns out it was eczema!! In the meantime the antibiotics gave me an exotic strain of thrush and a subsequent clotrimazole allergy so caused more problems than they solved! I'd definitely go back to them and highlight how many infections you've had though.

Do you really need antibiotics every time? How long are you waiting to see if you get better before taking them?

@FruitToast

Another thing is have you actually seen the GP in this time or have they all been phone consults? I was treated for recurrent UTIs for months while GP surgeries weren't seeing patients. Turns out it was eczema!! In the meantime the antibiotics gave me an exotic strain of thrush and a subsequent clotrimazole allergy so caused more problems than they solved! I'd definitely go back to them and highlight how many infections you've had though.

That’s a really good point actually! There’s been a few phone consultations but mainly in-person as it had to be checked over, eg a urine sample or skin swab. It’s annoying because my immune system is good so there’s no real reason for all the infections!

@OfstedOffred

Do you really need antibiotics every time? How long are you waiting to see if you get better before taking them?

I don’t know but I suppose so- the doctor or whoever I see will usually say if it’s bad enough to need antibiotics or not and I just trust them because they know best. I usually give the infection some time to self resolve but it never does and I end up at the doctor with the infection bad enough to need antibiotics x

I'd guess either a vitamin deficiency (many people are deficient in vitamin d and it is rarely checked), too much sugar in your blood, vicious cycle of antibiotics causing other problems or an underlying issue they haven't found yet.

@RagzRebooted my point exactly.
Op - find out exactly what they've tested with your bloods, they won't have tested everything

Thank you for the advice, I’ll try and find out.

Although it’s possible it’s just nothing and I’ve just had bad luck for the last year and picked up a lot of different infections, it just seems like a lot when I think about it in terms of how many antibiotic prescriptions I’ve needed. 14 in a real seems excessive although I wasn’t sure exactly what the ‘normal’ average amount is- it’s not exactly the kind of thing you can ask people!

You need plenty of variety in your diet, it should contain at least 30 different plant foods each week, including veg, beans, whole grains and fruit. Your gut needs to breed a wide variety of good bacteria, which takes a wide variety of foods containing different fibres and prebiotics. Especially after a course of antibiotics, which kill all the good, bug-fighting bacteria in your gut and leave you susceptible to infection. Prebiotic and prebiotic supplement will help as well but there is no substitute for a varied diet.

I was getting recurrent thrush, uti and had a dodgy tummies and read up online about microbiome (gut bacteria/fungi) which play such a huge role in our health. I did the 12 week course of these bacteria supplements designed to grow you a robust gut flora and haven’t suffered since. I was getting a uti every other month before and it’s been a year now! www.symprove.com/

I’m not a doctor but none of this sounds normal to me. I think I’ve only had three courses of antibiotics in 15 years and all of these were for dental problems ( one for an abcess and the other two after surgery).

I have two student aged kids and neither of them have had oral antibiotics in the last 15 years.

So I think that 14 courses of antibiotics in 12 months is very far from normal for a young and supposedly healthy person.

You really need to ask your GP to investigate this or refer you to a general medical consultant clinic at the hospital.

Have you ever been tested for insulin resistance ?

Vitamin deficiencies.

In your position, I'd ask for blood tests to check on autoimmune diseases and vitamin deficiencies, plus thyroid.

Do you give yourself time to recuperate after an infection?

I think you might need to call the GP and say that you're concerned about the number of infections. That's a lot. I've been averaging out 3-4 a year for the last 3 years and I thought that was bad. Poor you. You must be feeling so dreadful for so much of the time.

Immune system? Gut health?

Do you eat lots of whole grains - porridge, wholemeal bread and pasta? What about brown rice and a good mix of veg and nuts
Can you avoid processed and white flour goods?

Have they checked your white blood count? It's v v rare but I was similar (I've had over 70 antibiotic courses) and mine was my neutrophil count being very low

Do you bite your nails?

Sounds odd but are you too clean? We all need a good dose of general household germs to keep our immune systems healthy.
Reasearch points to the rise in allergies, eczema, asthma, hay fever etc being connected to over cleaning things eg antibacterial hand wash/surface cleaning, you can even wash your clothes in anti bacterial products now.
Farmers children have long been found to be the healthiest due to their exposure to germs at an early age creating a super charged immune system.
You have to eat a peck of dirt before you die…

Thanks for all the advice!

It just feels like one thing after another. I’ll get a bad ear infection, and wait to see if it goes away on its own which it doesn’t so I’ll go to the doctors and get it checked out and find out I need antibiotics. I’ll take the antibiotics and then at the end of the course my ear will be better but boom, a bad UTI starts and again, it won’t go on its own and I’ll need more antibiotics for it. Then I’ll get over this and suddenly I’ll get impetigo again and it won’t go after 2 weeks so I’ll need some more antibiotics. Then I’ll be ok for a few weeks and get impetigo again. And just when I’m over this I’ll get an ear infection along with BV and an infection in a dental root.

Then I’ll be fine for a few weeks and wake up with impetigo again. Or an ear infection. Or both!

That’s basically how it’s been over the last year.

The pharmacist probably thinks I’m addicted to antibiotics at this point!!!! Before the last 2 years, I’d probably had 2 courses of antibiotics in my entire life.

Yeah I try to be as healthy as I can. I eat some sugar and junk food but generally I eat healthily and don’t eat processed or junk food. I don’t smoke or drink and go out running everyday and try to go to the gym when I can but realistically that’s not very often. I think my blood sugar was checked and they said all my blood cell count was normal which is a big relief but I’ll double check if my blood sugar was checked or not. I’m fully vaccinated against everything and anything I could possibly be vaccinated against and I never used to be like this, it just feels like a lot of bad luck over the last year. It feels like I’ve spent more time on antibiotics than off them recently

For BV, I stopped going to the GP as I was sick of being on metronidazole all the time. Started using the Balance Activ gels to treat it at home and it’s gone within a day or two.