snot nosed kids

[TopDocChick]

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So, two of my kids, ages 5 and 3, have a cold - no fever. This morning I woke up with a sore throat - swollen glands. It seems that even though I am a compulsive hand washer and utterly disgusted at sharing food or drinks with my children (I love them, but they are soo germy) - I seem to get sick every time they get sick. Strangely enough - my husband never catches their ailments. He thinks that I am too 'clean' and not exposed enough, and while I can understand his reason for saying that, I think that the amount of colds, fevers, stomach viruses etc that I have caught over the years should start to make my immune system stronger at some point.

Why am I telling you this? Because, what the heck am I going to do when I start working with sick patients? Am I going to get sick every other day? I am an otherwise very healthy person, blood work is always excellent for me, I eat well, etc. Are there other med students that get sick all the time? How do you handle rotation and residency. I can't imagine that I will magically have my husband's immune system.

 

[Nanon]

I puzzled over this immune system mystery in my own home, and here is what I've come to believe. When my kid gets sick, he tends to be "on" me a lot - sitting on my lap, wanting to be cuddled and held. Not saying he doesn't go to my husband ever, but he tends to want his mama. And then he sneezes or throws up. Also, I think I end up doing a lot of the cleaning up after him when he's sick, too, although my husband is pretty fabulous about doing his share around the house. So, I'm just a little more exposed to whatever the kiddo has than my husband is.

I work in a hospital, and I have never caught any ailment from a patient, although I've heard that working in peds will make you pretty ill. Just take multi-vitamins and be happy in the knowledge that your kids (unlike mine) will have mostly outgrown their need to sneeze and cough, sans hand covering their mouths, toward your face when you start rotations.

Aaaaaaaaachoooooo!!!!

😀

 

[189362]

Load up on vit. c thats wha I do. There is this great drink mix call Emergen"C" gives you like 1000mg of vit c along with other B-vits and plenty of other good stuff. Gives me energy and keeps the cold away.

 

[Handyman73]

There are something like 800 adenoviruses, aren't there? Catch one, you become immune to that strain.

Look on the bright side, you probably have 100 down already!

 

[DrMidlife]

Two things changed in the last five years and I don't get sick anymore. Used to be sick all the time.

First: nasal irrigation. Sounds gross but it works. You don't have to buy some product, just get a rubber syringe. Mix 1 part salt with 1 part baking soda, put a teaspoon of this in warm water, and gently hose yourself out. Google it for more instructions.

Second: placebos. I'm religious about taking Airborne every day even though I know there's no clinical basis for it to work. I also eat as much garlic as possible.

Also never touch your face.

 

[Law2Doc]

Load up on vit. c thats wha I do. There is this great drink mix call Emergen"C" gives you like 1000mg of vit c along with other B-vits and plenty of other good stuff. Gives me energy and keeps the cold away.

Science doesn't support this. Linus Pauling strongly advocated this position (taking mega doses of Vitamin C for the cold) in 1970, and after over 3 decades of fairly extensive research by many trying to validate his beliefs, the consensus is that this is merely a wive's tale with no demonstrable basis in reality.

 

[CultureDoc]

Science doesn't support this. Linus Pauling strongly advocated this position (taking mega doses of Vitamin C for the cold) in 1970, and after over 3 decades of fairly extensive research by many trying to validate his beliefs, the consensus is that this is merely a wive's tale with no demonstrable basis in reality.

Yeah, my husband and I subscirbe to Nutrition Action Healthletter, and they have a section summarizing the lit that debunks myths like this in each issue. For mega doses of vita C, they said that there were a couple of studies that showed that if you mega-dose right when you feel a cold coming on, you might lessen the duration/severity, but there's no evidence to support the notion that it will ever prevent a cold. In fact, they cautioned again prolonged megadosing, as there is some evidence it could cause kidney stones (the support for this point is not very strong though).

As DrM pointed out, though, never discount the placebo effect. 😀 (Although I can't believe you actually support the Airborne folks by giving them your money! 😱)

 

[ChairmanMao]

You may have your immune system compromised. If I was getting sick every time someone in my household gets sick even slightly, I would be worried enough to go to the doctor. While it may be nothing, I recommend going to the doctor and getting a few tests done to check for any blood born diseases - just for good measures.

 

[pianola]

Science doesn't support this. Linus Pauling strongly advocated this position (taking mega doses of Vitamin C for the cold) in 1970, and after over 3 decades of fairly extensive research by many trying to validate his beliefs, the consensus is that this is merely a wive's tale with no demonstrable basis in reality.

Literature suggests that vitamin C doesn't prevent you from getting sick but it DOES significantly reduce the number of days you feel horrible. And also you will feel less bad when you ARE sick.

Personal experience supports this, too. It's worth giving it a try.