Constantly ill. Any advice?

[WinterFoxes]

Last August I caught Norovirus. Since then I have had flu (2 weeks long each time, with symptoms being can't eat, night sweats, bone aches, coughing up all day long) three times, tonsillitis twice, laryngitis once and Covid twice. I feel like I have spent the last 9 months being ill constantly.

Blood tests have been what the GP calls normal.

When I look online, the advice to eat very healthily - loads of fruit and veg, not processed food, lots of sleep, low stress, gentle exercise are all things I do. I'm also pretty obsessive about handwashing.

I take Vit D spray, iron and Berrocca as supplements. My job is low risk as most of the time I work from home.

I feel so run down, as though I can't get on with life. All I do is work and recuperate.

Can anyone suggest something else I could do to prevent getting ill again after this current bout of flu finally passes? I'm happy to try anything.

Have you tried pro and pre biotics?? Sounds like you need to give your immunity a real boost!

How much Vitamin D are you taking and what are your levels? I went through 4 GPs until one said continuing cough after flu should have gone. My vitamin D was low and iron was on the cusp of low. They don’t count these things as low or test for them necessarily unless you specifically ask, several times asking I found. My GP finally did every blood test the other GPs hadn’t done and found I was low in Vitamin D. Later I was low in iron. I took extra high supplements of vitamin D (higher than the very low levels recommended) for several months and still take around 4000IU every day. Also low in several types of iron so take iron Bisglycinate, Folic acid 400mg and B12, zinc and a multivitamin. But I can only speak for myself in terms of doing lots of research online in peer reviewed studies and taking my own risks. I feel a million times better now though and haven’t caught a cold in 5 years.

Thanks for this reply.

I do have an actimel most days and have skyr (icelandic yoghurt) most days too. Maybe I need to try something a bit more powerful. Do you have any recommendations?

Thank you. This is really helpful. I had stopped taking Vitamin D until this most recent bout of flu and I think I need to take it every day. Iron too. I use the spray. Maybe will up the dose.

I found chucking goat really good when I was run down. It tastes awful but made a difference! You can get the goats milk kifir from them which is a probiotic and also but the probiotics from them (basically the food for the probiotics). Might be worth a try! Good luck

Probiotics. Symptoms if you can afford it, Optibac if not. Saccharomyces Boulardii from Optibac are very good for the immune system. You can get different branded ones cheaper on Amazon but I would stick with the Optibac version as they’re a trusted brand.

Thank you. I will try these. Especially if they can be bought on amazon as I'm not currently well enough to go shopping.
And I'll try the goat's milk kefir if I can face it. Not great with goat's milk but will try anything.

If you want a specific probiotic for the immune system (in addition to all the healthy eating recommendations) you could try this one. I haven't tried it so I can't personally recommend but it is science backed.
https://smartstrains.com/products/immune-system

Agree about the Vitamin D supplement . Have you had any B 12 shots?

I find allicin pills good, I have avoided a few colds (when everyone else had one in close proximity) by taking about five of these every day. Not every single day but when I've been surrounded by a cold or at risk of catching something.

Also oregano oil capsules.

I hope you are back to full strength soon.

Thank you. I've never even heard of allicin pills. This is the sort of thing I wanted to discover.

@foreverblowingbubbless - no, I've never had B12 shots. I'll look into that, too.

And I'll look into these. Maybe Actimel isn't strong enough. Though it's all so confusing. I read today that people with suppressed immune systems should avoid probiotics as their bodies may not be able to cope with the new bacteria. No idea if catching every virus going around counts as suppressed immunity or if that means people who are undergoing chemo or equally serious medical treatment.

Sauerkraut and kimchi. I make my own which is a cross between them.