I'm curious about all of your thoughts on this; I have been a nurse for five years. I have a very healthy lifestyle -I do not drink alcohol, I do not smoke, I eat very clean, I exercise, I'm not ever around small children, I should be the picture of health. I do everything right. For the past year and a half I have caught debilitating colds on average every 2-3 months. I have changed nothing in this time frame, I live in the same area, I'm diligent about hand hygiene - I work on a PCU floor 2 to 3 times a week and I even wear a mask year round (seems a lot of patients tend to cough all over me with no regard covering their mouth).
I'm considering leaving patient care because of this I can't think of any other rhyme or reason as to why I get knocked down every two months with a nasty cold, sore throat headache congestion that last 7 to 10 days. My pcp is hands-off, says it's bad luck & all my test are negative. When I'm well I'm 100%- I feel great I have no ailments & everything is good, and then boom I get knocked down.
my question to you -if you give direct patient care, how often do you get sick? my nurse friends that have left patient care comment about how their immune system was so strong and they had built up such immunity when they were giving patient care. Now they feel they get sick all the time because they're not in the hospital anymore which I think is odd. any tips or advice is much appreciated:)
I'm with the good-bugs (I love kefir and my SO is a huge kombucha fan) and challenge the immune system group. Have a few kids and get the norovirus every year. Come work at the facility I was at. I constantly had patients coughing in my face and then hours later be in isolation for the flu, TB, etc; And don't forget the vast amount of incontinent stool explosions I was exposed to which later was isolated for C. diff.
I had a cold a couple years ago, but grew up constantly sick from living in a cloud of cigarette smoke and then spawning those lovely two-legged germ incubators. I use bar soap and (gasp!) reuse my washcloth for a couple days. We only use hand sanitizer outside of work if we are going to eat and there is no bathroom to wash hands.
Interestingly enough, every nasty cold I used to get (childhood through adulthood) would turn to pneumonia (which we always attributed to my asthma). Since working in a hospital, that one cold I had cleared up in a few days. No pneumonia. Yay!
I am on the probiotics, I just wonder if you can overdo the probiotics? I take Kombucha and have a greek yogurt a few times a week.
It's my understanding that more than 2 billion L. acidophilus swimming in your colon at once makes a bad day unless you're taking antibiotics or trying to light your house on fire.
Here's the thing though... you're eating a minimal amount of culture, and you're taking an antimicrobial. The question isn't if you're getting too much probiotic, it's whether you're getting enough. It's really tough to know because kombucha's microbial composition varies depending on the source of inoculum. I guess you're just going to have to listen to your bowels, ha!
I have been in pt care for years and have been sick MAYBE once a year?? Make sure you are getting plenty of rest. Sleep in. Take vitamin C like crazy. I know you don't want to call in, but if you wake up at 3 am with a sore throat, don't press your body and go to work anyways. That's my slogan. And you can ask my boss, I never call out. If I do it's legit and it works out better to nip it in the bud rather than go to work and drain your body until you are full blown, slam sick.
zenitude: If not already, have you considered seeking evaluation by an immunologist? I graduated from nursing school mid 2009, and became pregnant with my 2nd child in 2010. Since giving birth in 2011, my health has undoubtedly taken a nose dive to the point that I've had to seriously contemplate giving up nursing completely.
I began seeing an immunologist earlier this year who's been able to find the cause of my deteriorating health: specific antibody deficiency (SAD), a primary immunodeficiency that was likely triggered by pregnancy which prevents me from producing protective pneumococcal and tetorifice antibodies. Left untreated, SAD is considered to be a precursor to a potentially disabling primary immunodeficiency, common variable immunodeficiency (CVID).
This has been an eye opening experience! It's thought that primary immunodeficiencies are significantly under diagnosed in people of all ages; CVID in the 3rd to 4th decades of life.
I received my first Ig infusion last week, and am already feeling an improvement in the constant sore throat that I've lived with everyday for the last 2 years and markedly increased amount of energy! The real test will be this winter, but I'm hopeful!
*update* after I wrote this eight months ago I was evaluated by an RN who is also an acupuncturist and practices Chinese medicine. She healed me! Turns out I had the lowest levels of gut bacteria she's ever seen. (apprx 80% of the immune system is in the gut- a lot of new research and several studies are coming out about this) could have been from being on birth control pills for 15 years or possibly a round of antibiotics...we don't know, but I was on heavy doses of pre-and probiotics for six months and now I take a maintenance dose. I'm happy to report I have not got a cold since (they were debilitating) and it is unbelievable to me. I feel better than ever. I also take a magnesium supplement and I know longer get the bad headaches I used to. I wanted to share this incase anyone is also suffering from similar problems this may help.
I get sick when kids usually cough on me. It is always the kids most of the time. Although this year I think I had a norovirus after taking care of a sick kid in the ER. That was a rough week. I have found the magnesium supplement helps my headaches too.
SwampCat, BSN
310 Posts
I'm with the good-bugs (I love kefir and my SO is a huge kombucha fan) and challenge the immune system group. Have a few kids and get the norovirus every year. Come work at the facility I was at. I constantly had patients coughing in my face and then hours later be in isolation for the flu, TB, etc; And don't forget the vast amount of incontinent stool explosions I was exposed to which later was isolated for C. diff.
I had a cold a couple years ago, but grew up constantly sick from living in a cloud of cigarette smoke and then spawning those lovely two-legged germ incubators. I use bar soap and (gasp!) reuse my washcloth for a couple days. We only use hand sanitizer outside of work if we are going to eat and there is no bathroom to wash hands.
Interestingly enough, every nasty cold I used to get (childhood through adulthood) would turn to pneumonia (which we always attributed to my asthma). Since working in a hospital, that one cold I had cleared up in a few days. No pneumonia. Yay!