Are You ALWAYS Getting Sick?

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Executive Producer: Doctor Mike
Production Director and Editor: Dan Owens
Managing Editor and Producer: Sam Bowers
Editor and Designer: Caroline Weigum
Editor: Juan Carlos Zuniga

* Select photos/videos provided by Getty Images *

** The information in this video is not intended nor implied to be a substitute for professional medical advice, diagnosis or treatment. All content, including text, graphics, images, and information, contained in this video is for general information purposes only and does not replace a consultation with your own doctor/health professional **

[geoffmooregm]

Most people don't realize that your body is almost CONSTANTLY fighting bacteria and viruses. Most don't lead to noticeable symptoms, but if you ever have little kids, you do see it. As they grow, most get a healthy immune system and you stop seeing the mild fevers, runny noses that seem to pop up for no reason.

[rvdb]

I had major surgery a few weeks ago and got to experience a weakened immune system first hand for the first time. I was only in contact with my mother and brothers. First I got a cold, 2 days later an UTI, followed by a bad stomach flu with high fever that lasted a full week. The rest of my family didn't even have a drippy nose. I'll never complain about my immune system again. As long as it never does anything like that to me again.

[Ponder_Wonder]

Although I'm happy to not be in the hospital, I would also like to not be mildly to severely miserable the majority of the time 😂

[makeritualnoise]

not to mention THE BODY KEEPS SCORE! if youre under a lot of stress, as many people in the us and the world are, that can manifest as physical symptoms. i know i had friends worried i had an autoimmune disease because i always seemed to be sick, and sick for long periods of time. it really began to impact a lot of other aspects of my life. most of it was gastrointestinal and i finally got with a wonderful gi doc who, after doing some tests and a scope, sat me down and told me it was stress. stress means cortisol, and cortisol can really mess with your gut. the stress was so much i was having an immune response causing painful lymph node swelling. its important to look not just at your immune system but EVERYTHING around you that can impact that system, from vectors for infection to facets of life impacting your mental and physical health.

[kibaelunal]

For a while, I was getting flu like symptoms almost weekly and for days at a time. I was miserable. Medicines weren't working, I was missing huge amounts of work, and everyone thought I was faking it, because "no one gets sick that often". Turns out, I've got a nuerological condition. Because of my anxiety, I'm always stressed, and when things that are supposed to be stressful would happen, my body signaled it with flu-like symptoms. I was talking to my therapist about it because I genuinely feared I was going crazy and imagining having the flu, and she just pulled out a book of nuerological disorders and began reading an entry and was like "Sound like you?" I was floored. Basically, I'm on disability now. Left my job, and while I'm still stressed about money and such, I'm happy to say I only get the *actual* flu now and even then it's maybe twice or three times a year.

[Michelle_Lynnn]

And we aught not to underestimate the power of the mind-body connection. Depression, stress, poor sleep, seasonal affective disorder, and other various extraneous factors impair our immune system.

[finishthebattle]

My mother regularly has pneumonia when I was a kid, I remember one time she even took me to hospital when I had a stomach bug while she had pneumonia.

She gets regular infusions because her immune system doesn't work, and she's told me that if things get bad for her, just tell them to stop the infusions because she'll just die from some infection with a couple months at most.

If you get a sore throat, a cough or a runny nose a few times per year, you're probably just around too many people and are being exposed to viruses and bacteria all the time, if you're going into hospital or getting boosts to your immune system on a regular basis, THAT'S when you know your immune system is weak.

[SupremeTvman]

goal: if you think your immune system is weak but you have not went to a hospital, your okay.

[surreal-wanderer]

Helpful to know how much more descriptive I need to be when telling doctors I get sick all the time. Bc it's not just a runny nose, every time I get some kind of flu or covid I'm struggling with my breathing and wondering how bad is bad enough to go get checked out. Plus I get body aches that can be as bad as a 9/10

[tieganmccusker]

But why are some of us always getting these little colds and whatnot and there are others who NEVER get sick?? Is it an immune system problem or something else?? And how can we change it (if we can)? 🤷‍♀️

[yourteardrop]

First year of highschool so far:
September: cold
October: pneumonia
December: flu

[omiai]

I have a friend who is ill literally every other week. And with some serious infections. She has been hospitalised a few times for things like pneumonia. Her immune system just seems to be so bad, but her doctors won't do anything to help, which makes me so sad. They just dismiss her as a hypochondriac when she's coming down with tonsillitis repeatedly, and a multitude of other horrible things.

[richardmcintosh]

I’d be curious to hear your thoughts on long term covid impacts. Specifically around brain fog that seems to affect quite a number of people and just doesn’t seem to go away.

[toxicallypink]

I work from home. I dont commute, don't see a lot of people outside my social circle daily. I very rarely get sick. Can't even remember the last time I needed something stronger than OTC to get better.

[stevencurtis]

That information was out there. Not to make it political, but after the election, there were people asking why Biden wasn't on the ballot. Some just don't pay attention at all.

[addiepage]

Mental health can be related to getting sick. I got five colds in the span of 8 weeks. I was having a period of major depression. Even tho otheriwse very healthy, i kept getting sick.

[lklobs]

I do want to point out that if you have weird, unusual symptoms and they persist, it's worth taking your cute lil self to the doctor.
In 2021, my whole family got covid, sick for weeks. All of us got better eventually except for my dad. He had no voice for another 3 or 4 months after that, and when he finally agreed to see a doctor, it was discovered that he had cancer on his vocal chords.
The timing with us all being sick already definitely made it more confusing, and he also ignored symptoms that were very unusual for such a healthy person.
I am very thankful that they were able to treat it successfully with radiation, even though it was really not an easy process. I had a hard time looking at his neck and listening to him breathe, it was painful to watch.
My point here is that *you know yourself* better than any doctor, and if you think something is wrong then DONT wait, consult a doctor, advocate for yourself and your loved ones.

[tishtishtish]

Nah this is WILD. I was ‘sick all the time’, doctors brushed me off. Turns out I had a very serious undiagnosed genetic disorder and that combined with back to back ‘simple colds’ left me bedbound for 3 years. If the goal is to stay out of the hospital I sure cleared it but wow, what a low bar

[saltyivy]

My mum was hospitalised twice with Covid. Being an immunocompromised person, the vaccine made no difference for her. She continues to get her booster shots, but having no B cells it’s a waste of time. However to receive Hizentra she has to keep up to date with boosters, and is fortunate that funding for this immunoglobulin therapy was approved.

Greetings from New Zealand

[andreanae]

To the people who keep getting colds: WASH YOUR HANDS OFTEN AND ALWAYS WHEN YOU HAVE BEEN IN PUBLIC SPACES