A-tishoo! A-tishoo! We all fall down!
Isn’t it miserable to be ill when you’re ill?
I always get particularly narked when I catch one of those evil winter virus-y, bug-gy things. I think it’s pretty fair to say that I am in a constant state of ‘ill’ – true, some days are better than others, but why should I have to deal with the indignity of a snotty nose, sore throat and raised temperature on top of the constant companion that is M.E.? Don’t I have enough to deal with already?
I feel as though our house should have a sign outside at the moment reading: WARNING! UNCLEAN! Various members of the Giraffe-a-licious household are currently playing host to a variety of colds and viruses. There’s always that extra element of tension in the house when you know that you’re sharing it with a particularly nasty stomach bug. I’ve started to view my parents with suspicion, certain that they are about to get that little bit too close and that the invisible enemy will latch onto me. Every day that goes by without symptoms is a small triumph! I joke, but in reality it’s actually quite a genuine and understandable fear. Catching one of these ailments could really set me back in my overall health. It’s exhausting enough for your average, healthy person to experience and recover from these bugs, let alone little old me with my lack of energy at the best of times!
The line between taking sensible precautions and acting on pure paranoia is a fine one but I think I’m doing OK. I’m just about managing to hold off on buying one of those bubble things!
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Hi there. Same problem, but I have found the fear-busting albeit probably placebo effect of using one of those supposed virus-busting nose squirty things can help. As does an annual flu jab, and most of all in my case, realising that the stress and fear that surrounds the mere thought of catching a cold or virus will surely bring it on by lowering your already compromised immune system. I now drink loads of guava juice if someone close to me has a cold (tons more vit C than oranges and I found megadosing on vitamins was a bad move for me anyhow). I also attend my son's Christmas carol concert without inhaling a large lungful of air outside and trying to make it last half an hour. Breathe easy :-)
Nah, take it from the other direction.
You've got a cold on top of the usual. It happens. Being long-term ill is not immunisation from getting normal short-term ill.
BUT. As a person with ME, you already have the coping mechanisms in place. You know who you can call when you need help. You've got prescription painkillers. You're accustomed to rearranging plans due to being iller than expected. You're not going to 'suddenly' discover you're too ill to lift the kettle to make a cuppa - you're used to that already and have a way around it. You're not going to umm and aah about whether you're safe to drive while sneezing every ten seconds - and you don't need to, because you've probably already accessed some sort of community transport scheme.
Being laid up with a cold might last longer and be more severe when you've got ME, but at least you've got more experience and resources to deal with it.
Also try zinc supplements. I don't know if there's a similar product in the UK, but in the US there's a product called "cold-eeze" (plus some generic store brand variants) that basically incorporate zinc into what looks like a piece of hard candy or cough drop. It's a little easier on your stomach (or so I think) than a standard zinc lozenge. (Or maybe the one I tried before was just too large a dose or something.) They also say that zinc supplements are clinically proven to reduce the duration of your cold (not necessarily the flu) and reduce the symptoms. They don't say anything about prevention, but it makes sense to me that it might help.
I find a big red cross painted on the front door works a treat.
I know it is old fashioned, but ringing a bell whilst out perambulating keeps those pesky well wishers away!
When I got cold in the past, I noticed how it used to effect my RP. I would lose a lot of sight for about 14 days or until the cold had disapeted. Then my sight would return, but only to a certain degree. I had, in effect, lost a good portion of my sight to the common cold. I've got to the stage now where it doesn't really matter. I'm pretty much blurry shapes and shaddows. But I was always puzzled why a cold would often effect my eyes in such a manner. So if you have RP, don't be surprised if you find your eyesight blurry when you pick up a cold. Peter Logue