Worse colds and flu?: Anybody else feel... - Endometriosis UK

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Worse colds and flu?

Nym14 profile image
9 Replies

Anybody else feel like their immune system is affected by endo?

Me and my boyfriend have just had our first cold of the season. He got it first, and coped well with the usual sniffles and sneezes and got on with daily life. I got it a few days later and it seems to of hit me hard! The usual cold symptoms but I am absolutely wiped! Just feel weak and dizzy and exhausted.

Granted he sits in an office and my job is more physical and I’m on my feet, but I also seem to get so many more coughs and colds than anybody else during the winter months.

Last year I had such a bad flu that my boyfriend took me to A&E he was so worried, and I ended up on a drip.

Could this be endo related?

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Nym14
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9 Replies
luthien profile image
luthien

Endo does affect the immune system, I have noticed like you I get "more ill" with colds and stuff than other people.

I find I'm also just generally tired lots, like a kind of exhausted sort of thing.

I ended up on a drip once when i influenza type b, temp of 40 deg C, iv paracetamol, everyone had to wear face masks, kept in for two days, signed off for two weeks. they said that my suspected endo could be what was making mine so bad. So I get how you feel.

Nym14 profile image
Nym14 in reply to luthien

Good to know I’m not crazy! Or just a whimp!

I guess when there’s anything chronically wrong with your body, it’s weakened in general maybe? It’s focusing all its energy on that big problem, and you don’t have enough energy left to fight colds and flu like everyone else. Maybe.

Good to know I’m not alone though x

kittykins7 profile image
kittykins7 in reply to Nym14

Hi Nym, sorry to hear your not feeling too good. But just to totally agree with the other poster who replied to you. Yes the endo really seems to affect my immune system also and I am constantly feeling unwell as if I am getting really bad flu. Then I may have a day where I feel a bit better then the next day really ill again and so on with aches , cold and sore throat ,headache and weakness symptoms.....in fact I’m feeling like that now but also have bad earache as well. You get to the stage where you think is it earache because I have an ear infection, or is it just another endo related problem because my immune system is weak! Difficult to know. I would suggest trying to build up your immune system with some good vitamins. X

MrsDuvet profile image
MrsDuvet in reply to luthien

Hi, it was the fact that I always seemed to be getting viruses and feeling exhausted by them that led me to the doctors initially. I was found to have coeliac disease and then a couple of years later, following a lap, endometriosis. I have also suffered with my sinuses and allergy symptoms all of my adult life. I'm completely convinced that they're all related (either that or I'm just very unlucky!! )

Crackerjack4u profile image
Crackerjack4u

I'm so sorry that you're having such a rough time getting over it. Colds can be horrible. You said you get more colds than others during the Winter months, I can't help you with this cold, but I might be able to help you stop the next one before it really takes off, or prevent it from occurring at all.

Having been a nurse for years, I stayed sick a lot with a cold from being around all those germs, until I discovered this routine. My hubby is also now very ill battling lung cancer, and Sarcoma, so me or him either one getting a cold, and him getting sicker than he already is could end up very bad. I am from the US, so I'm not sure what products are available to you in the UK, or that you can order off Amazon etc., but here is what I do.

At the very 1st sign of a cold- (***This is the most Important Part of it: it has to be done within the 1st couple of hours of the very 1st sign of a cold starting, or else it won't work, and then you're stuck sick for at least 7-10 days until it runs it's course.

At the 1st sign of a slight sore throat, stuffy nose, feeling like I'm trying to get a cold, etc. I immediately start taking either (2) 500 mg Vit C tablets, OR 1 package of Emergen-C along with using Orange Flavored Effervescent Airborne at least 3 x's a day until the symptoms subside. (which if you start soon enough is usually only through 1 or 2 doses of it and then all the symptoms are gone, and you won't get sick. (I like to pour the package of Emergen-C in with the effervescent Airborne and drink them both together, so I don't have to drink 2 different things). (The store brand of both the Airborne and the Emergen-C works just as well as the brand name).

To prevent getting even that 1st symptom of a cold you can also do the same routine 1-2 times per week throughout the entire Fall/Winter season. (I don't do mine routinely because so far the other method has kept me cold free for years now). I really don't know why the combination works so well, but it does. From what I've figured out, the Airborne chewable tablets don't work near as well, or as quickly as the effervescent version does.

Unfortunately, this remedy isn't the cure for the Common Cold lol, but I promise you it is pretty darn close. Give it a try, you won't be sorry. I hope you feel better real soon.

Nym14 profile image
Nym14 in reply to Crackerjack4u

That’s amazing thank you! I will definitely give that a try next time!

Would it not work to take vit C tablets every day through winter? Maybe one in the morning and one in the evening to keep colds at bay?

Though I’m already on so many vitamins and supplements I’ll be rattling 😂

Crackerjack4u profile image
Crackerjack4u in reply to Nym14

Although we all probably need to increase out intake of Vit C throughout the Cold/Flu season to try to help boost our immune systems, and try to help prevent us from getting sick, I have found that, although I'm sure either will help some, but by Just taking the Vit C tablets or Just using the Airborne alone does Not work completely at keeping them at bay, it is the combination of the 2 together that does the trick for some reason. :) Good Luck!!! Signed, Yet another Person who also had Severe Endometriosis for many years.

Nym14 profile image
Nym14 in reply to Crackerjack4u

Ah I seeeee, sorry I didn’t read that properly! I thought it was vit C, or, the other two combined. But I get it now haha!

Thanks for the advice :)

Laylah85 profile image
Laylah85

Now that you say that it's got me thinking.

I've suffered with pnuemonia several times and I've ended up in hospital for anything between a week-to a month! I even had influenza A flu virus and pneumonia at the same time and I ended up in isolation for a whole month - everyone had to wear masks when in the room. It was terrible.

I suspect I've had endometriosis for a long time because I've always had the most horrific periods. I was diagnosed with it 3 years ago after they did an operation and found out I had it.

Now that someone else has mentioned it, I'll be asking my endometriosis consultant when I see him next because I'm intrigued. I never used to suffer with flus like I do now. It would just be the normal sniffles etc.

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