Ever since I was a child I've suffered dreadfully with colds. They knock me out for weeks and make me look fairly pathetic to friends and colleagues. As a child I had near-constant ear infections and tonsillitis. Had adenoids and tonsils out, and grommets in my ears, and separately had my sinuses widened as I couldn't breathe through my nose or blow my nose.
I still can't really breathe through my nose without consciously thinking about it (makes visits to the dentist a nightmare), and when I'm in bed, if I lie on one side my nostrils completely close, and then open again when I roll onto the other side.
I'm currently on day nine of a cold and I feel as horrendous as I did at the beginning. My ears and nose are blocked so I can't speak or hear very well. I'm on maternity leave with a five month old baby and can barely get up off the sofa to change his nappy (lying on the floor with CBeebies on won't kill him, right?). If I was still working I'd have had to take time off sick. My work history is so patchy because of this. It sounds so pathetic but I just cannot function when I get a cold; it hits me like flu would anyone else.
Now, I also have an underactive thyroid and anaemia which I'm sure both have a detrimental effect on my immunity, but can anyone think of a physical reason why I feel so bloody awful when it's "just a cold"? Or does anyone else experience something similar? I'm so worn down now after thirty years of upper respiratory misery!