Poor immune system

[Wasted Talen]

This year I have been plagued with illness (2 stomach bugs, 2 bouts of tonsillitis, plus colds).

Does anyone know of any immune system booster tablets I could buy, to hopefully reduce my illnesses?? ( I have heard Echinacea is good)

Are there any dis-advantages to taking immune system boosters??

[carlton23]

I take 2 A.C.E. tablets per day, and can`t remember the last time I had a cold. These were recommended to me by an nurse about 5-6 years ago.

[LazyGun]

I am not a big fan of the phrase "boosting your immune system", primarily because it is pretty meaningless, scientifically speaking. There are very few medical conditions where the immune system is not working properly, or the patient is immunosuppressed. In those specific circumstances, maybe finding some way of stimulating the general immune response might be a good thing - but we dont really have any agents that can do that.
If you think about it,strengthening the immune response might actually be a bad thing, since most of the symptoms of a cold that you suffer is a direct consequence of your immune system fighting your infection.
For the vast majority of folks, catching colds is less a failure of their immune system and much more down to bad luck.
You will get fans of various medications who feel that such cures have helped them - Vitamin C, Echinacea etc - but the scientific evidence for either being truly effective in aiding the body to fight colds is poor. They are unlikely to do any harm though, so its down to you.
Some links for you:
http://www.nhs.uk/liv...reventionandcure.aspx

http://www.sciencebasedmedicine.org/?p=1828

[tiggerblue10]

Maybe you just need to increase your fruit and veg intake. Berries and grean leafy veg should do the trick. You might want to try Actimel or a live yogurt to combat stomach bugs.

[Sqad]

I agree with Lazygun.if there was such a thing as an "immune system booster" why isnt it recommended foe everybody on a daily basis?

[ummmm]

I've never had a cold....neither have any of my 3 children. I did think my Daughter had one once and it just didn't go so I took her to the doctors. She has hay fever...lol

[Pollypeptide]

I there. Sorry to hear about your various infections this year. Have you been to see your Doctor about this? I ask because I had a similar problem about 4 years ago. Frequent infections and then I began to feel really tired all the time. Finally went to see my GP and she ran various blood tests. After various tries/tests she found out what the problem was and I am now receiving treatment - if she hadn't been so persistent I would be really ill by now. So, if you haven't been to your GP I would urge you to go as soon as possible.

[milly143]

I don't believe in the old fruit and veg myth. My whole life I have been a terrible eater. The only veg I like are carrots with a bit of broccoli sometimes and I can't remember the last time I ate a piece of fruit. Yet, I also can't remember the last time I was ill, not even a cold. In theory I should be extremely unhealthy and sick all the time but I geuninely do not know the last time I was even remotely poorly (other than for eating a dodgy bit of chicken). It must be years.... clearly it's working for me.

[David H]

I'd go along with the 'nothing you can do before the event' school as nothing has yet been proved to perform such a miracle. But I had the same as Pollypeptide a few years ago, following a tummy bug of some sort was then tired for a year and caught all sorts, including chicken pox and an ear infection that needed four courses of treatment. I'd like to know what was wrong with Polly as although I did finally recover after a couple of years (the doctor thought it was stress and didn't try testing anything) that sounds close enough to what I had to maybe shed some light after the event.
Normally it would be a deficiency of some type of essential nutrient but of course many blood diseases would have the same effect but definitely not go away on their own.

[jaydah]

Vitamin C tablets would help

[Answerprancer]

A bicycle.

[Pollypeptide]

In response to David H, this is what happened to me, starting at the beginning of 2005 when I went down with the flu, for the first time in my life. Shortly after recovering from that (which took ages) I began to suffer from unusual fatigue, followed by a sore throat which was difficult to get rid of.

My then doctor did a blood test and said that I was anaemic, so put me on a course of iron tablets and I made sure that I was getting iron in my diet. During the next few months or so I had a number of colds, sore throats etc - most unusual for me and I felt generally tired and run down.

The next problem was a bout of shingles early in 2006 and then in the summer a really nasty tummy bug.

During the early part of 2007, still feeling generally unwell, I visited my GP (a different one as I had moved to another town the previous year). She did a blood test and said I was anaemic again, so gave me another course of iron tablets.

Then in April I became constipated, lost my appetite, had no energy and just felt unwell whilst on holiday in the Lake District. Things seemed to improve after returning home and I thought no more about it. However, at the end of May I developed a very sore throat and again suffered the loss of appetite and became extremely tired. One morning, at the beginning of June, I was ready for work but felt so tired that I sat down on the sofa for a few minutes - I immediately fell asleep and woke up half an hour later! I managed to get an appointment with my Doctor the same day, who arranged another blood test.

This showed that my haemoglobin levels had dropped again and she asked for stool samples to see if I was bleeding from my gut. This proved not to be the case and luckily she then asked for further blood tests, as she had something else in mind. She was right - what I had was Multiple Myeloma, which is cancer of the bone marrow.

This treatable, but incurable form o

[tigerlelly]

I've always eaten loads of veggies and fruit in season, have never smoked and only drink in moderation. I hardly ever get colds and have never had a cough in my life. I walk my dogs about 7 miles a day and I can out walk and out-run most people of my age. It didn't stop me getting two different kinds of cancer (not genetic apparently) first in my 30s and one in my 40s when I was given a short time to live. I'm still here 11 years later and feel as fit as a fiddle. I don't think you can boost your immune system very much and agree with the poster who said it is down to luck. Just look at poor Linda McCartney.

[David H]

Thanks Polly, that is bad news indeed, and was unfortunately the sort of blood disease I was thinking of. Hopefully they account for a fraction of chronic symptoms of tiredness and immune problems, the rest still appear to be largely unexplained. I had all sorts of tests the previous time and they couldn't find a thing.

[TTG]

Get plenty of fresh air. Do you work/live in an air con or stuffy environment?