Has anyone else NOT gotten a cold or flu since getting sick with Lyme? I'm not sure when I was infected (Igenex said within a year of test), but I've been sick with Lyme for just over a year and been in treatment for just over 6 months. Within that time, I've not had a single cold. I've got a 4 y/o who constantly has a runny nose or cough, but I've not contracted anything from her.
I assume that this is because my immune system couldn't be bothered with a little cold bug while it's fighting Lyme. True?
Thanks! /CT
Posted by Wimenin (Member # 15294) on :
When this first hit me, I was constantly sick. I caught every cold, flu, sniffle and it just exploded with me. It started as flu like sickness, and for weeks, months, it felt like I just couldnt get well. My immune system was so weak that I caught everything.
If you're not constantly sick anymore, I would take that as a good sign that perhaps your immune system is stronger.
But I dont think lyme creates a body situation where the virus and colds cant flourish... I would think just the opposite. I think with lyme your body is so weak that every bug around can thrive and flourish.
Posted by JasonK (Member # 14071) on :
Its probably because you look after yourself more when you have lyme, i follow a good diet with lots of salad and vegetables (minimal sugar and carbs) and take many supplements including multivitamins. I think that when u do these things your immune system gets stronger and hence why your probably not as susceptable to the colds and flu.
Posted by gemofnj (Member # 15551) on :
Chron,
Same thing for me. I am extremely healthy other than the lyme.
Posted by feelfit (Member # 12770) on :
Same. No colds or flu in years.
Feelfit
Posted by Lymetoo (Member # 743) on :
Do a search on past discussions here. It's basically that we have two parts of our immune system and one part is in overdrive when we get Lymed.
I rarely get colds or flu. Hate to tell you the last time I had the flu because it would jinx me. Posted by MariaA (Member # 9128) on :
Yep, I had no flu or colds for something like 2 years, after having 'normally' gotten sick like clockwork every season.
I wasn't well or taking care of myself at the time, either, so it wasn't my Lyme treatment that was causing this, it was the Lyme effects themselves.
Posted by dguy (Member # 8979) on :
Yup, 10 years and counting without a cold. It's one of the few benefits of having a Th1 disease. Lyme causes the Th1 branch of our immune system to get stuck in overdrive, and Th1 protects us from infectious agents like the common cold. Many of our symptoms reflect the inflammation associated with an immune system working overtime.
Posted by GiGi (Member # 259) on :
A cold or flu once a year is a good sign - immune system is functional. A runny nose once in a while is a good sign. The immune system reacts to intruders, works and cleans up, rather than accumulating.
I remember Dr. K. saying that on their first visit literally all his patients say they haven't had a cold/flu in years. Exactly for that reason - an immune system gone to sleep.
And one has to be careful not to wake it up too fast --- it is too hard for the body to handle.
Slowly remove toxic load, change ways of life, get rid of EMF, take care of emotional problems, eat well, attend to structural problems -- and the immune system will take over again.
Take care.
Posted by dguy (Member # 8979) on :
quote:Originally posted by GiGi: I remember Dr. K. saying that on their first visit literally all his patients say they haven't had a cold/flu in years. Exactly for that reason - an immune system gone to sleep.
To me that sounds backwards. If the immune system were "asleep" then wouldn't we experience colds, or other infectious diseases? That's what happens in AIDS (immune deficient) patients.
Posted by Amanda (Member # 14107) on :
Funny that you bring that up, I have been puzzling over the fact that I have not gottne a cold in a long time.
Especially given my white blood cell counts are pretty low, I couldn't figure it out.
Posted by GiGi (Member # 259) on :
The immune system reacts if it still can to invading pathogens. When it has been overloaded for too long a time, it will not do that any longer. A healthy immune system fights back and we get a fever or runny nose, etc. If it does not react any longer, we accumulate all sorts of undesirables, which in the long run is to our disadvantage.
We are so brainwashed and often try to stop a cold by stopping the runny nose with all sorts of meds and reducing the fever before it has a chance to kill the pathogens. And we hold on to more and more.
Children have a functional immune system - as indicated by the runny nose, the little fevers, etc.
If we had a functional immunity the Lyme would probably not have taken a hold as most of us have experienced. Many people are infected with Lyme, yet do not get ill as many of us do or did.
This is my experience and Dr. K. really confirmed it for me when I first saw him.
Take care.
AIDS = immune deficiency, etc.
Posted by UnexpectedIlls (Member # 15144) on :
I am on my 3rd nasty cold in 2 months. EVerytime my daughter starts with the sniffles, I get a full blown head/chest cold. It always starts with my throat getting sore and than by the next day I have a runny nose, coughing, sneezing and just feel terrible. Before getting (lyme sick) I RARELY ever had a cold... Now I seem to get them all the time??? Makes no sense?
I was just going to have a post on WHY I would get a cold so many times in just a short period...
Posted by Nebula2005 (Member # 8244) on :
When I was first sick, for years I caught every cold, and would get sicker than anyone else. Kid germs were the worst!
Then it felt like I was getting the flu, but it never progressed past the coming-down-with-it feeling, and no one around me was sick, nor did anyone catch it from me.
More recently it got to the point that I never caught a cold or even the flu, even when my husband was sick in bed next to me.
The best I've felt all year (I've been getting treatment since last December) was when my son came home from college in April and I caught his cold. I hadn't had a cold for three years.
When you have a chronic bacterial infection, your body knows there's something wrong, but can't figure out what it is. So it gets super good at fighting viruses.
With AIDS, the cells that fight infection, the T cells, are infected themselves, thus short-circuiting the process at the very beginning.
Posted by catskillmamala (Member # 12536) on :
It's because your body is weak and can't rally an immune response. Remember the fever of flu and mucous of a cold are really your body's immune system working properly.
I found that my dd (infected at 2, treated at 4) did not get any colds or flus during the period of untreated lyme. She just had bad days and worse days and I think the worse days corresponded with being exposed to colds.
Posted by Rianna (Member # 11038) on :
I have just got the flu the last couple of days for the 1st time in 8 years so I assume this is an excellent sign as my immune system must now be stringer and working or has woken up.
Very strange to have this as for the 1st time in a long time I feel ill with something other than Lyme & Co-infections!!!!!
Rianna
Posted by wantabe (Member # 14703) on :
Had my first head cold in years...As horrible as I felt- I knew I was beating Lyme.
Started treatment last December after at least 2 years misdiagnosed.
I had daily fevers (of unknown cause:dizzy:) and figured my immune system was in fighting mode and killing the easy stuff.
Fevers are rare now, about every 4 weeks. Fatigue is slowly lifting around the edges.
Give me a cold any day-take this Lyme stuff away! Posted by Chronic Triathlete (Member # 15245) on :
A cold! That's great!
My wife and daughter were very ill a few weeks back with some sort of barfy flu. For once I was glad I had Lyme. I felt a little stuffy and had a cough, but wasn't driving the porcelain bus like my wife.
Good to hear you're feeling better too, I'm on month 8 of abx and had been starting to feel a touch better. Unfortunately, I just started adding in a heavy mix of herbs and I'm back to feeling achy and foggy. Herxing (I hope).
/CT
Posted by richedie (Member # 14689) on :
I was diagnosed with Lyme almost a year ago and have been under meds since 5 months ago. I rarely get sick anyway because I am a health nut with exercise and nutrition and I cracked down even more once finding I had Lyme, but just last week I was hit hard with a bad cold, chest congestion, running nose, sneezing, you name it! Hopefully I'll kick this soon so I can get back to working on Lyme and getting back to exercising, etc.
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