Why are my colds so bad?

[Merryoldgoat]

I get a lot of colds as I have two primary aged children and work in a school. I get at least 4 colds a year and they are always really bad.

DH shakes them off fast and gets half the ones I do. Kids middling, one off school - but other nothing more than a sniffle.

I’m currently home with sore throat, blocked ears, nose streaming and a hacking cough.

I wfh today (for obvious reasons) and had to stop at 1 as I was feeling so wrecked.

My boss said I looked awful (Teams meeting) and told me not to come in tomorrow.

Im just feeling a bit sorry for myself I suppose.

I’m very overweight, however I’ve changed my diet massively and have lost 21lb in the last 4 months (which I found hard but I’m still going).

I’m also asthmatic but it’s very well controlled and I don’t need daily steroids.

Do I just have a shit immune system?

Possibly Vit D deficiency? Dose up on all the vitamins but especially C and D. Might be worth getting levels checked?

Do you have any autoimmune issues OP?

@Merryoldgoat do you have plenty of good fat in your diet? I used to get so many colds and chest infections when I was on a low fat diet.

How long do your colds normally last OP? I also seem to have worse colds than others. I see others plodding along with a bit of a runny nose and I'm full blocked, streaming nose, sneezing so much to the point of sneezing some blood. It always happens to me. But the terrible parts are normally 2 days long and the rest is much more tolerable. I've always assumed it was within the realms of normal though.

@Wishihadanalgorithm

Sorry - I should’ve said - I take 4000iu Vit D daily, a vitamin supplement and fish oil

@Cazzovuoi

Not as far as I know.

Yes - I’m on a clean keto diet and loads of healthy fat and vegetables and oranges and berries (one orange a day doesn’t knock me out of ketosis).

It depends but usually 3 full days of feeling crap.

In July I had a cold that lingered for over a week and I ended up on antibiotics with a sinus infection.

Dose up on immune system boosting supplements (unless you have autoimmune issues (which you said you don’t), as that’s the last thing you want to do!)

@PerspiringElizabeth

What do you recommend? Happy to try anything!

do you take the time to rest and get well when have a cold? in my experience those who rest up once they start with a cold get better quickly. those who insist on soldering on not only spread their germs to others but also take weeks to shake it off.

I don’t rest much to be fair as I have two children with SEN (one with high needs) and I work as well.

However I do not go into work with them as I can wfh if I’m well enough to.

I also take sick leave as necessary as I am paid in full for sick leave and have a great workplace.

I've found zinc helps reduce the severity of my colds, but only if I start taking it as soon as I feel it coming on and I take it religiously until I feel better

Any kind of keto ( and indeed diet) isn't long term healthy and your body is under dieting stress which could be enough to make it less efficient at bug fighting

@Foodie6

Thanks - I’ll get some

Nothing to do with that. There’s an awful bug going around. I’m rarely, rarely ever ill get the same bug has had me (and my family) wiped out for weeks. I work in a school and it seems everyone has had it at some point since early September. I’ve literally had the same symptoms as you. The sore throat was so bad I lost my voice!

I’m very happy with my diet and there is no way it’s worse for me than what I was eating before.

Plenty of research shows it’s very good for lots of health conditions and my blood pressure and cholesterol decreased in the first month with very modest weight loss.

I’ve been doing Keto since June and been like this long before starting keto. My DH is on keto and doesn’t experience the same.

I don’t know why Keto invokes such panic.

It's dieting == eating less than your body is asking for == placing body under stress == less energy to fight virus

And keto is reducing the easy access fuel aka carbs

It seems you don't even want to consider it could be having an impact

On the bright side once your weight is stable if you keep a healthy diet you should be better at fighting viruses

But there is also some randomness

I’m not overweight and don’t have any health conditions but I’m in the same boat so I don’t think there’s a reason for it. Just unlucky I suppose.

DP often complains when he has a cold, but it’s 2-3 days of minor sniffles and a bit of a sore throat, then he’s fine. Meanwhile I’ve gone through a box of tissues in a day, eyes streaming, thumping head, unable to sleep, etc and it goes on for at least 2 weeks.

And because it’s ‘only a cold’ you feel like you can’t take time off work as people don’t realise that not all colds are created equal.

@midgemadgemodge

I’ve been like this long before I started Keto.

And keto is reducing the easy access fuel aka carbs

This just isn’t true. Once you’re in ketosis the cells that run on ketones do that with no trouble, and those that prefer glucose take it from the glucose produced by the body.

Of ketosis stripped your body of glucose everyone would die very quickly.

I’m happy to consider lots of things but a medically recommended diet which is very clearly healthier than what I was eating previously is not causing these issues given I’ve been doing this 4 months but have been like this all my adult life.

@Frostyloz

Thankfully my workplace is really good about sick leave. I take more than average I think but it is what it is.

Mine have always been terrible. I see other people on here chirping 'of course you go to school/work with a cold, it's just a couple of days of feeling a bit off colour and needing paracetamol!' and it drives me mad because actually it's a week of struggling to breathe, terrible headaches and two broken hours of sleep a night, followed by a week of coughing, also causing headaches and no sleep. No odd diets or conditions, especially not in childhood, that's just how it is for me and why there's no 'of course' when it comes to spreading it around.

I disagree with pp who thinks Keto isn't healthy. It's much more likely that excess weight is putting strain on your lungs, and that you will be generally much healthier and more able to shake off cold germs once you've lost more weight. And well done, BTW.

I really just wanted to say, do you eat a lot of dairy? My son was getting terrible colds and we realised it was partly because of his cheese addiction. It's very mucus forming.

Well at least that’s something. To be fair, mine isn’t bad and I can WFH, but it’s more the perception of others that causes me to feel bad about taking time off.

Anyway, you have my sympathy!

My DH has well-controlled asthma. He's exactly the same whenever he gets a cold. Always has been.