Perpetual Cold Illness

[BRUMI1968]

Last September, I got a bad cold. It was not so much in my nose as it was a sore throat and a severe DRY cough, which eventually strained two ribs. I had this for probably two months, to varying degrees. Finally one day, and believe me this was very noticable with strained ribs, the coughing nearly subsided. Man was I excited. Only the next day, I was worse. Suddenly my nose was ridiculously full of goo, and the coughing was back, along with sore throat. So I went on antibiotics at the urging of my regular doc who thought that since I had gotten better then worse, it could be a bacteria taking advantage of a spot that was just devastated by virus. Within three days, the cough stopped. The nose didn't. That went on for some time. Anyway, point is, I'm talking like 4 months more with a cold than without.

So, I finally got "better". Then the new school quarter started and I saw that everyone in my class of 14 was ill. So I started taking this stuff called Honey Garden's elderberry stuff. This really seemed to keep me away from the cold type sickness. I did that for a month or so. But then, as I remembered too late, honey gives me tummy aches. So had to quit eating it.

Now I have a sore throat again, and am damned sure I have a fever (no thermometer that works).

This is so ultimately frustrating. I feel like I can't get well. I feel like my immune system should be better than this. I'm a year gluten-free.

Anyone have any ideas?

[Jo.R]

Wow, that sucks! I know there has been a virus going around my church that comes and goes off and on for a couple of months, but I don't know anyone who has had it for four months. Maybe your system is just week from the first cold and now you are catching and holding onto everything else you come in contact with. I know, I'm not much help, I just sympathize (this is the first winter that I haven't caught everything).

Good luck

[Guest cassidy]

Sorry you are so sick.

Did you take probiotics after the antibiotics? I think that is so important because I had a stool test and I had almost no good bacteria. I felt much better once I got that back on track. Now I drink Kefir everyday and I'm doing well.

I recommend going to your local health food store and seeing what they recommend for you to take. Definitely a good multivitamin but there is always echinachea and something else I've heard a little about - Larix. Maybe you can take something to boost your immune system and keep you healhty until cold season is gone.

I was like that all the time when I was eating gluten, but maybe your body just needs more time to heal.

[RiceGuy]

Whenever there are people around me who have contagious illnesses, I make sure to get extra garlic in my diet. I typically have some on a regular basis anyway, since it is healthy, delicious, and a very good way to boost the immune system. Onion is also good.

One thing that I know gives me cold-like symptoms is GMO corn, which from what I can tell has been making it's way into the food supply more and more in recent years. I can't eat any of the sweet corn on the market, and the extra sweet is totally out of the question. Thus far, popping corn seems ok, though I don't eat that in the same quantity as I would the frozen ones.

I don't know if magnesium would help, but it has done so much for me (as well as others on the board) that I wouldn't doubt the possibility. It helps with a vast number of things, including nutrient absorption. So maybe that would give your system a nutritional boost, and help it fight off whatever it is that has dragged it down.

You said the doctor recommended the antibiotics, but his reasoning doesn't appear to be based on a raised white blood cell count, which would be the data docs are "supposed" to use to indicate the immune system is fighting something. Of course, all through my childhood, doctors would always prescribe antibiotics for me because of the white blood cell count. Little did they know it was gluten which had it on the offense. Ruling out gluten in your case however, I'd want to be certain the immune system was indeed fighting. If it is, my first thought would be another food has become intolerable, which seems to occur for many of us.

HTH