America, you give me fever

[Jadenjewel 9]

So I've been living in the US for a year and a half now, and I've never been so sick!

A few factors I am aware of:

*The cold and dry weather: We live in Wyoming;

*My working environment: As a substitute teacher, I am in constant contact with kids (from kindergarteners to high schoolers).

I eat healthily, I am active and I exercise.. and in spite of being careful with germs at school, I still get sick quite often (colds with fevers, sinus infections...) and everytime it is knocking me down!

Any ideas why? I used to get a cold once in a blue moon in France, and the symptoms were never as strong as what they are here.

Any tips on getting my immune system stronger and more adapted to American germs/bacteria/viruses?

Thanks a bunch!

Hi,

Even a good move causes stress and it's possible that dealing with the stress and continual exposure to viruses has left you immune system weak . I'm no Dr but you may want to add vitamin D to your diet and look up some info on your adrenal glands and what will build up your immune system.

I had similar issues for a couple of years, you name it I caught it . Had some blood tests done and was found my vitamin D level was close to nil. We use so many skin care products that have SPF 's in them that unless we spend 30 min a day in the sun we will lack this essential vitamin. There is lots of info out there to help our immune systems Oh how I loved France by the way!

Hope this info might help, feel better soon!!!

[C&D 0]

Getting a flu shot each year will also reduce the instance of common cold by 30%. Doctors are unsure why that is, as the flu shot protects against a seemingly unrelated virus, but there you go.

I would like to know more. Source?

[C&D 0]

Hi,

Even a good move causes stress and it's possible that dealing with the stress and continual exposure to viruses has left you immune system weak . I'm no Dr but you may want to add vitamin D to your diet and look up some info on your adrenal glands and what will build up your immune system.

I had similar issues for a couple of years, you name it I caught it . Had some blood tests done and was found my vitamin D level was close to nil. We use so many skin care products that have SPF 's in them that unless we spend 30 min a day in the sun we will lack this essential vitamin. There is lots of info out there to help our immune systems Oh how I loved France by the way!

Hope this info might help, feel better soon!!!

Thank you for your reply and kind words. I will look into adding more vitamin D to my diet and getting a sun lamp as suggested by another poster. Off to research adrenal glands...

[flustered 14]

I am thinking the altitude has alot to do with it..When I lived in Colorado I had sinus infections the first two years and headaches

[The_Dude 1,142]

I haven't found that I get sick in the US, but the strength of the common cold is different. I can still function... anyone who has caught a UK cold will know how that will knock you on your a$s for about a week.

The common cold in the UK is the same virus as in the US. Youre green card just makes you a bit tougher

[Jadenjewel 9]

Hi,

http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2010/03/100307215534.htm Vitamin D info

http://www.adrenalfatigue.org/adrenal-fatigue-related-health-conditions/adrenal-fatigue-chronic-infections.html

These are a couple of sites to look at.

Sunshine sure helps!

[Harpa Timsah 13,258]

I would like to know more. Source?

A doctor in my family, so no web source you can read. I assume it comes from a medical journal, of which I can't cite nor find on the internet.

[Hugglebuggles 60]

I moved to a dry climate and my body definitely went through a transition phase. For the first several months I would have ridiculous coughing fits out of nowhere, which would irritate my throat and give me cold like symptoms. Sore throat, difficulty swallowing, and breathing problems. I started drinking a lot more water and always had throat lozenges on me. After about 6 months this went away. I think change was mostly due to my body adapting to the climate opposed to things I was using to counter it, but it made me feel better at the time.

The temperature here fluctuates so much, I found myself getting colds because I wasn't properly preparing for the conditions. In the mornings this time of year, it can be below freezing, but during the day it can get up to 70 degrees. In the morning I would walk outside in a light sweater and just wait for the temperature to catch up to me. Bad idea. Now I bring out the winter jacket for the mornings, and shed it when it gets warm. It's a much better idea. I'm not sure if this is an issue for you or where you are, but using some common sense (that I sometimes lack ) worked wonders.

A persons geographical location is generally one of choice. Personally, I love my life here in the shadows of the Rocky Mountains. I don't mind cold winters and I actually like the snow. Life in a hot, humid climate would make me absolutely miserable. Different strokes for different folks!

[brian-and-aurore 1]

As a new teacher myself, and with the majority of my friends being teachers as well (from Kindergarden to Middle School), we all know that working with kids is hard on your immune system for many years. My best friend has been a Kindergarden teacher for 6 years now and she still isn't acclimated to all their bacterias and viruses (if it helps you, she's French and teaches in Brittany). She is constantly sick and she has been told by many alternative doctors (my close friends, my relatives and myself are all into organic food and natural things - I could write a whole paragraph about all the ####### they put in medication and how it actually destroys your immune system after a few years of taking the same ones so you only end up worse !) that her lack of immunity was due to a little stomach weakness. She managed to cut down to half of the colds she used to get by eating a lot of fresh produce, a little less meat, more fish and more whole grains. I remember she also used to drink some weird stuff that I wouldn't advise, haha, but it worked for her (it was some artichokes and radishes extract that to me tasted like sock juice, but whatever).

Also I would strongly advise you not to eat or drink dairy when you are sick, as the dairy proteins enhance the production of mucus and then delay healing (even regular doctors agree on that fact).

I used to have lots of very bad sore throats when I was a teenager and stopping milk really helped.

Also if you can switch to organic food for some of them, you might eat less pesticides and less antibiotics against your will, so that your body learns again how to correctly fight germs.

I am not at all against vaccination but the flu virus doesn't change enough from one year to another to be in the need to get a shot every year. Once every three year is enough. Remember that it's too young for us to know the consequences and a good doctor should always give you the choice if you don't already suffer a chronic disease, if you're not over 60 or if you're not a premie. The lobbies want you to think that you need it every year but of course they only want to make money, and the so-called companies which investigate on the efficiency are of course paid by the labs !

Not to mention that nobody knows what will lead to getting shots from recent viruses so often. It has already been proven that getting too many vaccines at the same time and/or too many of the same lead to auto-immune diseases (leukemia, cancer...). It's OK to give the flu shot to a 70-year-old patient every year because it's more likely he'll catch pneumonia than he'll live 40 or 50 more years and will declare auto-immunue diseases after 50 years of the same flu shot.

Think about nurses and doctors : they need to get immunized against tons of thinks every year (I went to med school before switching to education, I had to get the shots myself !) and they have such a higher rate of cancer and other auto-immune diseases (meaning your body attacks itself).

My dad is in the military and he also needs to get tons of shots every year... but their doctors "cheat" on the records and only give them the flu shot every three years - they believe it's too dangerous otherwise because the soldiers are too young. Better facing a week in bed with cramps and fever than cancer in 40 years.

Now something even more simple I do (and as my first year teaching was last year, I got sick only once in winter, and once in spring !) : don't talk to the kids too close to their faces. Don't touch your face/nose/eyes after you touched something they did. Get a big bottle of alcohol-free/kids-safe hand sanitizer (Whole Foods sells the best one !) and teach them to always wash their hands after they blew their noses. Hand-sanitize yourself or wash your hands often, of course before you eat or after you used somebody else's computer (very frequent if you're a sub). Teach the kids to cover their mouths and noses.

And just think about everything possibly-sick people touched that you also touched before touching your face or putting something in your mouth.

You might ride the subway : same rules. In a quite warm environment germs survive a whole bunch of hours, even worse if it's a little humid (like a classroom full of kids coming back from phys-ed).

I don't agree with the Vitamin C tablets : whatever isn't naturally in your food is not accepted and proceeded as well by your body. You'll still get the benefice but ...

Eat an orange in the morning, bite a carrot for lunch, cut some fresh ginger and add a slice of lemon and some honey in a mug then poor boiling water on it : here you have a great tea for the afternoon snack... very simple. Ginger, kiwis, oranges, bell peppers, all have a lot of vitamin C. Plus you get the fiber your stomach needs to fight germs :-)

And don't forget that honey is constituted a certain way that the alveolus capture the germs and kill them in a few seconds : useful !

All this is just the opinion of a person raised by an organic and green family and it has worked for me and my relatives over the years. I truly hope I was able to provide help.

[C&D 0]

As a new teacher myself, and with the majority of my friends being teachers as well (from Kindergarden to Middle School), we all know that working with kids is hard on your immune system for many years. My best friend has been a Kindergarden teacher for 6 years now and she still isn't acclimated to all their bacterias and viruses (if it helps you, she's French and teaches in Brittany). She is constantly sick and she has been told by many alternative doctors (my close friends, my relatives and myself are all into organic food and natural things - I could write a whole paragraph about all the ####### they put in medication and how it actually destroys your immune system after a few years of taking the same ones so you only end up worse !) that her lack of immunity was due to a little stomach weakness. She managed to cut down to half of the colds she used to get by eating a lot of fresh produce, a little less meat, more fish and more whole grains. I remember she also used to drink some weird stuff that I wouldn't advise, haha, but it worked for her (it was some artichokes and radishes extract that to me tasted like sock juice, but whatever).

Also I would strongly advise you not to eat or drink dairy when you are sick, as the dairy proteins enhance the production of mucus and then delay healing (even regular doctors agree on that fact).

I used to have lots of very bad sore throats when I was a teenager and stopping milk really helped.

Also if you can switch to organic food for some of them, you might eat less pesticides and less antibiotics against your will, so that your body learns again how to correctly fight germs.

I am not at all against vaccination but the flu virus doesn't change enough from one year to another to be in the need to get a shot every year. Once every three year is enough. Remember that it's too young for us to know the consequences and a good doctor should always give you the choice if you don't already suffer a chronic disease, if you're not over 60 or if you're not a premie. The lobbies want you to think that you need it every year but of course they only want to make money, and the so-called companies which investigate on the efficiency are of course paid by the labs !

Not to mention that nobody knows what will lead to getting shots from recent viruses so often. It has already been proven that getting too many vaccines at the same time and/or too many of the same lead to auto-immune diseases (leukemia, cancer...). It's OK to give the flu shot to a 70-year-old patient every year because it's more likely he'll catch pneumonia than he'll live 40 or 50 more years and will declare auto-immunue diseases after 50 years of the same flu shot.

Think about nurses and doctors : they need to get immunized against tons of thinks every year (I went to med school before switching to education, I had to get the shots myself !) and they have such a higher rate of cancer and other auto-immune diseases (meaning your body attacks itself).

My dad is in the military and he also needs to get tons of shots every year... but their doctors "cheat" on the records and only give them the flu shot every three years - they believe it's too dangerous otherwise because the soldiers are too young. Better facing a week in bed with cramps and fever than cancer in 40 years.

Now something even more simple I do (and as my first year teaching was last year, I got sick only once in winter, and once in spring !) : don't talk to the kids too close to their faces. Don't touch your face/nose/eyes after you touched something they did. Get a big bottle of alcohol-free/kids-safe hand sanitizer (Whole Foods sells the best one !) and teach them to always wash their hands after they blew their noses. Hand-sanitize yourself or wash your hands often, of course before you eat or after you used somebody else's computer (very frequent if you're a sub). Teach the kids to cover their mouths and noses.

And just think about everything possibly-sick people touched that you also touched before touching your face or putting something in your mouth.

You might ride the subway : same rules. In a quite warm environment germs survive a whole bunch of hours, even worse if it's a little humid (like a classroom full of kids coming back from phys-ed).

I don't agree with the Vitamin C tablets : whatever isn't naturally in your food is not accepted and proceeded as well by your body. You'll still get the benefice but ...

Eat an orange in the morning, bite a carrot for lunch, cut some fresh ginger and add a slice of lemon and some honey in a mug then poor boiling water on it : here you have a great tea for the afternoon snack... very simple. Ginger, kiwis, oranges, bell peppers, all have a lot of vitamin C. Plus you get the fiber your stomach needs to fight germs :-)

And don't forget that honey is constituted a certain way that the alveolus capture the germs and kill them in a few seconds : useful !

All this is just the opinion of a person raised by an organic and green family and it has worked for me and my relatives over the years. I truly hope I was able to provide help.

Thank you so much for your in-depth reply. Your advice will be really helpful.

[Saddle Bronc 124]

Take a road-trip to Coutts or Moose Jaw and stock up on Neo-Citran!

[slangofoil 50]

I can sympathize on the sickness. I had nary a sniffle in the year before I moved to Ireland for my masters. Over the year and nine months that I lived there I had two cases of tonsillitis, a vomiting bug, and countless colds. There was a period where I was getting sick about every six weeks. I largely blame the pervasive mold in rental accommodation there. It's out of control. Even when I wasn't "sick" I was still blowing my nose constantly.

I'm so much healthier since come back to the US. The few times I've been sick have been mostly after going back there for a visit! And recently after my now-husband moved over. Maybe I'm just allergic to him....

[Married2009 32]

This doesn't do anything to prevent colds/illness, but when you start feeling bad, you can take echinacea. Here are a couple of links to tell you more about it. Hope it settles down for you!

http://www.umm.edu/altmed/articles/echinacea-000239.htm

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Echinacea