Immunity to colds etc.

Oh Anno- what a tough question and hope this condition is in check.

I got a bad cold when in UK last, in Jan- and have still got it. Yesterday I gave in and went to the doc's and now on antibiotics (which I hate taking)- so hopefully my sinuses and chest will begin to clear. Not had such a bad cold for yonks- but it has left me feeling very low, exhausted and yuk...

Managed to get some energy together last week to welcome DD1, sil and grandchildren for a week- and loved it- but the energy levels are now at minus lots! Onwards and forwards... Perhaps all the stress of recent months, with DD2 coming back from Spain in difficult circumstances, and other very sad events- all coming up to the surface at once- in the form of that yuk cold.

My GP told me there is good evidence that a combined vitamin C and Zinc supplement supports the immune system. Last year, I had a series of colds, sinus infections, viruses that left me me no energy - this year, I've been fine..

Thank you for reading the book anno I think the answer is that nobody knows yet. Auto-immune diseases are vile and the scientific answers are very complicated. Scientists are beavering away, trying to unravel incredibly complex molecular processes so as to understand them and why the go wrong.
I guess the simple answer is that the ability of the immune system, the part that learns to differentiate between "self and non-self" and "friend and foe", can get it wrong now and again, identify a kind of cell in your body as an enemy and start attacking it. For the moment the only treatment is to use steroids etc to damp down the immune response.

I have read your book, Jess, but am still not very clear about why my immune system should have turned against me, giving me polymyalgia rheumatica. Does this mean that I have a strong immune system or just a spiteful one?

Yes it is absent but there is a faction aligned to naturopathy that talks about "acid and alkaline" in the diet that class lemons as alkaline.
You obviously have a youthful immune system (or at least that aspect of your immune system) overthehill, which is not a good thing. Please don't start getting febrile convulsions (the ones toddlers get because they are running excessively high temperatures)
Are you drinking neat cider vinegar??

Isn't vinegar acid rather than alkaline?

Thanks for all your postings. Unfortunately, everything that has been said I have tried apart from the mouthwash.

I believe what JessM says could be true that it is all getting weaker now I am 66. Mind you colds have plagued me all my life, I think normally I get less of them but they are very severe.

After extensive searches on the internet I believe I may be suffering from Laryngopharyngeal reflux (LPR). As although not ill, at the moment anyway, I have excessive mucus sometimes especially after eating. This will cause fits of coughing. Apparently it is like hiatus hernia but in the upper region of the throat. Any mucus should go downwards but instead of that if comes up and causing coughing. I have discovered a tip of gulping down water before eating which opens the throat area to facilitate this. Also alkaline drink such as Apple Cider Vinegar stops the coughing.

Well, my husband is eleven years older than I am and he doesn't seem to have developed immunity to colds - he still gets stinkers that last for ages. I'm still sticking with my mouthwash

Not in my case Jess. The stinking colds I contracted started in my 50s hence the reason for starting VitC which as I said worked for me.

Soutra the cold symptoms are caused by immune system molecules called cytokines, not directly by viruses. In small children the immune system reacts very strongly as we know - streaming noses, raging fever etc. As we get older it reacts less strongly and infections by cold viruses may pass unnoticed or "just a sniffle". The other thing that happens as we get older is that the immune system builds up antibodies to all the variations of colds and flu that we have ever had. So two reasons why we tend to get fewer bad colds in middle age and onwards.
Then as we get even older the aspects of the immune system that protect the lungs get weaker and we become more prone to chest infections and pneumonia.

There do seem to have been a couple of viruses around this winter that have lingered on and on, nearly go then start off again for just a day or so. I don't think the wet weather has helped, but jessm's advice re handwashing is the best way to avoid germs spreading.
We sometimes take a multi-vitamin and vitamin d.
I thought I must have had all the cold viruses that were going by my age, but suppose they mutate.

Maybe it's the vin du pays?

I hardly dare say it, but since coming to live in rural France 13 years ago neither of us has had a cold or 'flu (TG.)
Before that in urban NE England every winter there were several bouts.
Whether it's because our resistance is better, or very little sharing of germs in confined places eg public transport I don't know.

I took 1000mg of Vit C for 5yrs and never had a cold. For some reason I stopped taking it for about 3yrs and had colds and for the first time, flu's.
Started taking VitC again after a cold 5 months ago and so far, despite DGDs coughs and splutters, I have not caught a cold so will continue with this regime.

I think we do build up a degree of immunity, but then as we get older surely it diminishes again? And then of course the darling DGC with one finger up their nose, sneezing all over us, or dripping "candles" ? My poor little DGS2 never sees Granny without her whipping out a tissue and attacking his dear little (runny) nose

There is always that stuff you bung up your nose as soon as you get a cold - it's supposed to help shorten the duration of the cold.

Most people become less reactive to cold viruses as they get older. I cannot imagine how mouthwash could kill off the cold viruses bellasnana - maybe it is just the maturing of your immune system.
Getting out in the fresh air for a walk every day if you can, overthehill. Zinc I think should only be taken briefly when you have actually got one. No evidence that I know of that it is preventative.
Also - lots of hand-washing can reduce infections. Many viruses are picked up on hands and then infect us when we touch nose or mouth. When you come home from the shops etc, give your hands a thorough wash, without fail.

I've said this before but I have found that using a certain mouthwash beginning with 'L' has prevented me from catching a cold for the past seven years. I have no scientific evidence to prove it, but I used to be plagued with one cold after another and this is the only thing I can think of which could have made such a difference. It is worth a try.

Zinc has been shown in extensive tests to be the only effective supplement in shortening the duration of a cold.

Hadn't had a cold for quite a few years, then suddenly, 2 in a month. Putting it down to the lack of frost and ice that (might) kill the germs and the dreich, damp weather.

I do not know if she now has colds because we are not in touch to that extent

I do not know if she now has colds because we are not in touch to that extent

Perhaps I was stressed before she left me

Zinc - a friend swears by it.

I am always 'bragging' that I haven't had a cold, cough, sore throat, headache for about 30 years and it's true, I haven't. As a child, I had one after the other, so maybe I have become immune.