I have a flu/coldy thing again - really worried how many times I'm getting sick. How often is 'normal' do you think?

[EcoTwit]

Have name changed for this. I don't have health anxiety at all and I rarely go to the doctor but I do seem to have a lot of low level illnesses. I saw one of my ex colleagues last week who asked me how I was and I had a little sniffle and he said 'yes you're always ill, not ill enough to be in bed but not 100% well' and it really got me thinking.

I turned 50 this year and went to have a health check. On the day of the health check I woke up with a horrible coldy virus and when they did the blood test my white blood cell count was low and my inflammation high. There were other things they found (anaemia/folate low, a few other things) so asked me to come back in a few months after taking supplements. When I went back, I had a (what I thought was a viral) chest infection so again low white blood cells and high inflammation but they put that down to my chest infection and gave me antibiotics more as a precaution.

I also have the herpes virus in me and get cold sores on my lip and on a patch of skin on my shoulder. Have no idea why they come there but the doctor, when it first happened, said it's not that unusual. The problem is that they are triggered by the sun so now the weather has got nicer, I got ones on my shoulder a few weeks ago and this morning, I woke up feeling dreadful and achy and fluey and I've got one coming on my mouth :(. We also had visitors to the house last week from abroad, all of whom were ill, so I wouldn't be surprised if I've picked up something from them too.

it's just one virus after another at the moment. I've got Vacyclovir (herpes suppression) on a repeat prescription so I think I will get some and take it over the summer, even if it just avoids cold sores running back to back but is there anything else I can do?

how many viruses a year would you say is normal? I know it sounds odd but I'm hardly ever THAT ill but this low lying illness is really starting to get to me!

I've been once in the last 7 years (other than for the health check)

and that time was when I got the cold sores on my shoulder - they initially thought it was shingles but then it came back repeatedly so they swabbed it and it was herpes simplex

You sound like me, I am (or was) forever a bit ill with colds, sore throats, bad chest, etc.

I did everything right, good diet, lots of sleep, moderate exercise, etc. So unfair. I do think some of us are a bit crap on the health front.

I found my health improved dramatically over covid because I wasn't going into an office using public transport. I still mainly work at hone and am still a lot healthier, realise that's not an option for everyone.

So, do what you can to improve your health. I had terrible bloodwork despite taking supplements so I really concentrate on nutrition and am taking much higher quality supplements in higher doses and bloods are improving. Go nuts on hygiene when out and about, wash hands repeatedly, never eat anything with your hands. Be that person in a mask on public transport in the winter.

Finally, are you sure it's not hay-fever?

yes funny you say that, mine was miles better over Covid lockdowns though I did get Covid twice for my sins. I work FT in the office and do commute on public transport so you may have a point!

I do have hayfever at the moment - but didn't think it could make me feel this bad but maybe that's it?

and sympathies, it's shit isn't it!

"normal" is about twice a year, but since the pandemic I think a lot of people are just getting everything. I'm completely fed up that I'm on my fourth cold this year😢

Yes the commute is a bastard. I'm self employed and overnight I became miraculously healthy after years of being prone to picking up everything and being unwell at least once a month.

A couple of possibilities.

1. Stress. This plays havoc with your immune system. I feel for you on the cold sores as I have the same issue. Mine really flared during a long period of major stress and won’t settle down again.
2. More serious immune issue. Go see your GP and explain what’s going on.

thanks - yes in the last 6 months I've moved house and job so it's perfectly possible that stress is a factor in this. Even though both those things have lessened my stress (easier job, nicer house with faster commute), the actual process of doing them was super stressful!

Have you resolved your low folate/anaemia issues? Do you know why you had those?

Our whole family was ill pretty much constantly between October to April! Maybe a week of feeling half decent between illnesses at most. I think its partly due to covid lockdown and my ds starting reception in my case. Not fun 🤧

@miniegg3 poor you sounds terrible! our visitors had 3 children under 8, all of whom were sick with something in the course of the time they stayed with us. I had forgotten what great germ carriers small children are. They managed to relay their virus to each other, then their parents and then me!

@Pip1402 after taking the supplements for a few months, the folate/vitb12 levels did come back up though my red blood cell count was still under where it should have been as was haeomoglobin. They did feel that if I kept taking the supplements, it would start getting better so I'm on them for 6 months.

thanks - there have been some useful ideas here. I'm going to take some antihistamines too the next few days and see if that improves anything and give myself a few more days to recover but failing that, I will go and ask the GP to check I am ok.

I am now thinking the combination of being around sick children plus a full time commute plus hayfever season plus cold sores triggered by the sun is what is making me ill!

much sympathies to everyone else who is suffering too!

Are you looking after yourself in general - eating healthy with real food, lots of fruit and veg; getting enough sleep; trying to get at least a bit of fresh air and exercise?

Also, sounds silly, but do you change your toothbrush regularly? That can harbour germs and contribute to lingering colds.

You sound a bit like me and in my case, a lot of it was, I finally realised, because my sinuses were almost constantly giving me a hard time or would flare up if something else happened. So it might be viral, but could turn into a low level bacterial infection and just keep me constantly not right.

But it presented as constant low level illness than sometimes flared up. I got a course of antibiotics and it helped... but only for a bit. Went to see a doctor and he was sympathetic, but basically told me that post covid and with young children, it is what it is.nothelpful

I then got Covid and it was BAAAD. And after the Covid, after which my sinuses were horrendous and clearly I landed up with a massive infection. I rang the doctor again (a different one) and pointed out I was taking more codeine than when I'd had my c-section.... He agreed this was bad and decided that clearly the original course had not done enough to sort me out and prescribed me a double dose antibiotic as well as steroid spray for my sinuses. I also started using a sinus rinse and did that daily for about a month. That all helped a lot in the short term.

Longer term, I've been trying to be better about my iron and taking that and am currently on another round of vitamin D because I stopped taking the daily OTC ones (totally my bad and I feel a bit guilty that the DR had to prescribe the big dose again).

It took quite a while and it was incremental, but I realised the other day that a year on, and I've been feeling a LOT better for quite a while now. I had a bit of a set back in March where I got covid again and while it wasn't as bad as the time before, it did knock me out for a few days and it was another few weeks before I was properly back on my feet, but overall, I feel better than I have in years.

Oh, and make sure you wash your fruit and vegetables.

Do you have a restricted diet in any way? I'm just wondering if there's an explanation for the low haemoglobin.

I imagine that could contribute to you being run down anyway but it would be good to look at what caused it in the first place.

I used to be like this, although I didn’t have the Herpes virus. I was always getting colds throughout winter, one after another. My son, who is 31, suffers a lot from allergies but never gets a cold. I pondered why that might be and thought about how he uses a Beconase nose spray every single day. So I started using one - not every day but if I start to get that tickle in my throat, or am exposed to someone with a cold. I will use it for several days, three times a day. I’m not claiming that it definitely works…. but I haven’t had a proper cold since January 2020. I may feel slightly out of sorts for a couple of days but it never takes hold.

You mentioned anemia/low iron? I was like you for a bit, and I think the culprit was low ferritin (iron stores). It does take a long time to bring iron stores back up though. And your iron levels can be "ok" according to the GP, but can still be too low for health.

Do you live in England? What kind of health check was this, that you got data points like white blood cell count, iron levels and inflammation markers? Sounds like full blood tests, not usual NHS "health check". NHS health check doesn't even happen at GP surgeries in my area. Private contractors do them in community centres & workplaces instead.

If I follow the story right, the most recent visits to GP surgery were:

x) "that time ...when I got the cold sores on my shoulder - they initially thought it was shingles but then it came back repeatedly so they swabbed it and it was herpes simplex" (OP had to see someone to get swabbed, right?)

1. "went to have a health check"

2. went "back in a few months after taking supplements. When I went back... had a ... chest infection so again low white blood cells and high inflammation ... gave me antibiotics more as a precaution."

What supplements did you start taking between 1) & 2) ?

How do you know most of your recent illnesses were caused by viruses and not something else, unless you were swabbed each time & the swab went off for lab test?

Yes I'm in the UK. The herpes on my back/shoulder was diagnosed about 7 years ago when I went to the GP, they thought it was shingles, I went away and it came back a few weeks later, I went back, they swabbed it and said it was herpes over the phone. That all happened around 7 years ago in the space of a month or so.

Had the health check earlier this year. They called me in for it. I didn't determine the blood tests but they did. They put me on a high dose of folic acid, vitB12 sub lingual and vitD high strength. Asked me to come back to have the anaemia re checked a few months later which I did.

Have no idea what recent illnesses were caused by. I'm assuming viruses but I guess they might not be. I can tell when it's cold sores as I recognise the symptoms/get the rash. The rest I don't know.

No it's only really been this year. The more I think about it, and someone prompted this in the thread, it has coincided with me being full time back in the office and commuting again full time which I started at the beginning of the year.