Constant illness!

[Missjaysays]

My whole life I've been really 'sickly' as my mum would say. If I catch a cold off someone I get it 10x worse.

I am 21 years old, normal diet, work full time in a fairly physical job (work with 3 year olds!) but I am just constantly ill. Through college, university and still now I have constant colds, flu, tonsillitis, ear infections, sickness, fever, headaches, dizziness. This is every 2/3 weeks and when I get it, I really do suffer.

I have had 2 lots of bloods taken over the last 2 years and all came back normal apart from my iron/folate level was on the low side of normal which I now take a multi vitamin for daily. Still no change though!

The company I work for has a 48hr sickness policy so I am currently off work, I don't get any sick pay till sickness day 3 so I am constantly down money as well as my attendance making me look bad, I hate to be made to look unreliable or like I don't care!

Just been to the doctors where she said it's viral and the usual rest, fluids bla bla all of which I am of course already doing. She said I've already had bloods done (last ones done about 7 months ago) so no point doing more.

This really is affecting my day to day life now, the last 3 months I have just been none stop poorly for, first tonsillitis, then a really bad, really painful ear infection, then I lost my voice and had a terrible cough, then now I have this throat thing that she says isn't tonsillitis but viral.

I know I work with small children, but I have always been like this even before that!
All of my friends and family are quite concerned and say 'how are you just constantly ill!?' 'I've never known someone be so poorly so often' etc.

Would it be worth me going somewhere private for a different opinion do you think? Or would they just say the same that I am 'unlucky.' I don't want to waste money that I don't have!

Double check your bloods. I was similar and it turned out I was neutropenic when they actually looked and plotted my bloods. But because I only went to the doctors when ill, my neutrophils were naturally higher!
Saw a locum GP who did bloods and then sent me to haematology as an emergency
Neutrophils should be between 2-8 (ish) and mine were 0.3 at diagnosis (under 0.5 is severe)
Mine was constant chest infections, tonsillitis, etc etc

No answers im afraid but I could have written the same post. Been ill almost constantly since September and really struggling

I say this a lot on here but have a look at the Coeliac UK website and see if it’s worth being tested for that. My only symptom was low iron. Some doctors don’t take it seriously if you don’t have the typical digestive issues but it’s becoming widely accepted that actually most Coeliacs don’t have typical symptoms. Hope you get some answers - keep pestering

It could be the children. I was always ill when I was a sahp

It may sound a stupid question but do you touch door handles/taps/rails/ lift buttons etc outside of your home?
Not doing this made a huge difference!

Have you had your immune system checked to make sure you haven't got any problem with your antibodies

TBH if you are fairly new to working with small kids, this is pretty much par for the course! University is the same (think Fresher's flu)
Little kids are walking germ fests, and as a TA of 15 years plus, it took my immune system at least 5 years before I stopped going down with every virus and bug there was. These days I rarely get ill...maybe a couple of bad colds a year, but the first few years were awful.

I carry sanitiser everywhere!

@BeerBaby and @StillMedusa I've worked with children for 4 years now, the last 3 in a really busy setting. These constant poorly spells pre date that as I've been like this for years and years now☹️

Thanks for all the advice I'm going to look into all of it and see what I can come up with.

My sister is a nurse and has panicked me a little bit as she seems really concerned. She keeps telling me to go back to the GP but they don't seem bothered at all!

Thanks all! X

Are you fastidious with hand washing?

Children are little germ breeders and Nurseries and Schools are a haven for germs.

I would take vitamin supplements, a probiotic and I would be very strict with handwashing. Not only my own but also the children’s.

Ex Nursery Manager here.

Hope you feel better

I have a similar experience and I went back and forth to the GP and even an immunologist to no avail. However I recently went private and had another round of blood tests and a saliva test and that shows that something called Secretory IGA, which is the immunoglobulin found in the mouth nose and stomach so the first line of defence against a lot of these illnesses, is so low in my case it’s undetectable.

I don’t yet know what this means but I am going back to an immunologist next week. I’ve also cut out gluten as it seems the two issues can be related.

So the bad news is your GP probably can’t help. If it is something like this you’ll need further testing and even then you may need to see a couple of specialists before you make much progress.

@Itchytights yes of course, we're constantly washing our hands then also have hand sanitizer pods all around the building. Thanks though!

@Backingvocals that's really interesting thanks for that! I'm going to look into it further. Hope you get some answers too!

I'm the same. It's a constant round of illness and one day is never the same as others. It frustrates me so much as I don't smoke, drink, do all the right things...gp found I was very low on vitamin D. A supplement helped a bit with lessening the frequency of colds Etc.