is this a thing everyone gets ? or do some people sail through life without any problems ?

every year for the last 10 years i get a bad cold of some kind. it is twice a year. jan feb time and october.
every single year.
i started with a cold last week. this has now turned into a bad chest infection. just come off the phone with the doctor. back on anti biotics. be cause i am in perm AF a chest infection floors me.

thing is a dont know why this happens and it **** me off.
i eat very healthily. loads of veg and pulses. limited carbs. i like a drink, but nothing out of the norm. a couple of pints on a weekend whislt out on the bike.
i ride every day, but not big massive rides or anything very hard. 10 to 30 miles most days at a easy pace.
i sleep 8 hours most nights.
so i consider my lifestyle healthy. so why the regular illness thing.

Ditto :/

Being married to a immuno compromised person, I’ll suggest there’s often all sorts going on which is either under the level for a diagnosis or seriously hard to diagnose. And it does come and go with seasons, viral attacks, diet, hormones etc
Mrs_oab had 3 years of illness and doctors telling her to get on with it….before a locum decided “something’s not right” and did a wall of tests.

Ton, You’re like me & the asthmatic Russian, Ivor Nastychestikoff.
Came to Spain at the start of the month with a bit of a cough (neg covid tests) & me & the Mrs are still as wheezy as owt, went on the bike (eventually) & my inhaler got some hammer.
When I get a chest infection it always lasts ages.

Cant advise, but I take a high dose of vit d (with vit k) and 50mg zinc and i’ve not had a sniffle for a while. My understanding is that both vit d and zinc play important roles in the immune system.

i feel like i am ill much less often over the last few years.

I can only attribute that to two major changes in my life. 1) i ride loads these days, so am physically the fittest i have ever been. And 2) i moved to a plant based diet.

The above may have had no effect on my illness rate and are just coincidence, but as i say, those are the two major improvements to my life over the last couple of years, which tie in with my lack of illness. long may it continue!

i feel like i am ill much less often over the last few years.

I can only attribute that to two major changes in my life. 1) i ride loads these days, so am physically the fittest i have ever been. And 2)

Lockdown and subsequent changes mean I spend far less time mixing with other people to infect me with whatever they’re carrying.

Lockdown and subsequent changes mean I spend far less time mixing with other people to infect me with whatever they’re carrying.

This for me. Plus I’m very careful to keep my hands clean and not touch my face or rub my eyes when I’m at work or around large numbers of people.

If anything I have less colds since turning 40 than before, which is odd as we have 2 boys at school and the wife is a nurse in a nursing home.

Lockdown and subsequent changes mean I spend far less time mixing with other people to infect me with whatever they’re carrying.

yup, i suspect that has also contributed to things a lot.

I do most of my socialising on my bike, so pretty much exclusively in the outdoors.

Nope. 55, never get sick these days, worked like a dog throughout Covid (never got it). Partly down to genes, my dad’s the same and so was his mum, but I also think my immune system took such a sustained battering over 10 years living in the giant petri dish that is China, that it now just laughs at any puny attempts at infection from our devolving nation of institutionalised sicknotes.

Covid (for me) threw a few extras in to the mix of getting older,it gave me a bit of a kicking in 2020. I now have no idea if I am just getting older or if it’s a mix of left over Covid damage and old age.

I haven’t seen anything to suggest it’s age related. In fact I’d say I suffer less from those types of illnesses since I retired, simply because I’m not mixing with so many folk. It probably helped that my daughter left school not long after. Prior to that I also found I suffered less once I’d started walking so much through the Winter. Without evidence I’d just put this down to a healthy intake of cleansing cold air killing off the bugs.

My diet is the same as it’s always been, I eat meat every day, drink maybe 3 beers per week, sleep very little. I’d say I suffer a couple of “snuffly” days every year, maybe 5 days. I’ve had a couple of longer bouts that definitely floored me for a while but that’s spread over the past 9/10 years.

I think a lot is to do with genetics and underlying health conditions. I’m rarely ill – last time I was ill of any sort was October 19 and December 19 – flu (picked up from work – a UNI – freshers flu) then something else when two of my managers came back from that, at the time, little known Chinese City. Nothing else in 3 years. I’m 53 soon. I have slight sniffles now, wife has covid – I’m testing negative and feel fine.

Diet fine, do drink, cycle loads, but I recon loads is genetics – my dad is rarely ill and he’s mid 70’s

Ton blame it on the grand kids.

I never used to get ill, since my kids came along we all seem to go round in viscous circle of colds and stomach upsets!

At a population level: yes we all become more vulnerable to illness as we age. Results my vary on an individual level.

Ton blame it on the grand kids.

I was just about to suggest the same.

Certainly feels like it since the pandemic started, not helped by reactions to three Covid jabs last year (but I’d rather deal with that every time than risk serious infection), plus posties were given “key worker” status to work through the pandemic delivering essential tat while having diabolical implementation of h&s protocols in place inside depots.

Ton blame it on the biohazards

fixed it for you. i’ve never been so ill, so regularly as when my son was in nursery.

At a population level: yes we all become more vulnerable to illness as we age. Results my vary on an individual level.

And individual actions and changes can also impact those results.

Personally, it’s not illnesses as such (mental health aside), but more physical aches, pains and niggles.

Yeah, i had a period when both of mine were at nursery and then early years at school when they were bringing back mucus by the bucketful.

Thankfully the COVID stuff has (finally) taught them that big hugs for every friend, every morning, then at random intervals all day isn’t really ideal and leads to Mummy or Daddy having to spend three days in bed dosed to the eyeballs on something unpleasant.

At a population level: yes we all become more vulnerable to illness as we age. Results my vary on an individual level.

I would suspect genetic / environmental variation have more effect at an individual level, but as we get older our bodies function less well at just about everything…

Immunity wanes with age. Vaccine response is one measure of this and easy to demonstrate in trials (see COVID vaccine responses for example). It’s one reason for accepting those vaccinations as you are offered them. People start from different levels, but the trend is downwards. Sorry.

I was generally fine until 55, then had a DVT and pulminory embelism with a double dose of pnuemonia thrown in, since then have turned into a highblood pressure high cholesteal AF beating old man ! and then this summer finally caught covid, still suffering the effects of that

to be honest I’ve mostly stop stressing about it all now, have accepted that my horizons are somewhat lower and filed it into the ‘getting old sucks’ box

still out riding most days, still enjoying a drink and decent grub

oh yes almost forgot, a dose of gardia also triggered IBS that means I’ve always got a supply if toilet paper and a keen eye for a secluded bush 🙄

In simple terms everyone. Our immune systems weaken as we get older and then we often are battling other conditions, so our bodies are fighting that too.

I still don’t get particularly ill, I put that down to years of exposure. However, my heath in general has got worse, I take 3 prescribed meds a day and pain killers regular. I’ve just had confirmed this am what I thought would be the case and I have osteoarthritis in my hip.

Still overall I’m good and enjoy life as much as I can.

**** hell Steve what happened to us? At least we still enjoy the pub.

MCTD +1

57, haven’t had more than 5 or 6 days off sick in my working life. I suffered more when I was young than now. Colds have never been anywhere near as bad since giving up milk close to 40 years ago. I still get the odd one but they are never enough to stop me doing whatever I want to do. Fitness wise I’m pretty good, did the SDW this year in one go and went out for a 21km cross country run with a lot of hills last week and did it in a minute under 2 hours. I’m probably a lot slower than I might have been able to achieve when I was young but endurance still seems ok. I give a lot more thought to recovery now though. I push myself at times but do plenty of easy exercise.

I’m sure at some point it will change but I’ll just keep enjoying what I can do while I can

I think the guys above have nailed it with the grandkids comment.

I’m feeling very old, decrepit and slightly ill just now, and have been for a couple of months. Didn’t realise at the beginning of this thread:

Exercise addicts, how do you cope with getting old?

But realised in the last fortnight that I’m simply avbit ill. Nothing bad enough to keep me off work but enough to suck the joy out if each day.

got to be honest, both the youngest grandkids are always full of snot.
the little lad has asthma which dont help him either. and the little lass is one of those kids with constant dark green snot coming from her nose.
so it could be that.
but i dont think it is. i have been getting the twice a year thing for about 10 years or so.

@stevemakin keep well mate, you sound worse than me. ;o)

Yes. Although the last 2 years I’ve been lucky due to not mixing with contaminated people (only getting one bad virus, which may have been covid when on holiday in France).
Wearing masks and washing hands, coughing into the elbow crook have all helped. But, usually I’ve had colds and viruses that last for many weeks.
Also with my body ageing and feeling as though I’m falling apart, it’s trying to fight off certain lurgies and not winning.

Also wishing Steve Makin well.x

Op – do you have any mold in your house? Do you suffer from hayfever.

I have scaring on my lungs from Pneumonia a few years back. I am now very careful what I do when the weather changes in terms of exercise / colds etc. I dont exercise if I have a cold etc.

You can get hayfever at this time of year that can lead to chest infections.

All those avoiding contact with people, there is a genuine concern that people are going to get seriously ill as because of COVID and not mixing with other people, peoples immune systems are not that strong.

I pretty much get a cold/virus/flu once a year, this has been the way for as long as I can remember. Now in my mid forties so not too old but I do feel daily aches and pains that I didn’t even have last year.

I do seem to feel fatigued with tight muscles every 3-4 months where I find myself having to take a few days off the bike and going to bed at 9pm until it passes. Has been this way for about the last 3-4 years.

Getting old sucks ass.

I seem to get far fewer colds & chest infections than I did when I was younger but to be honest I’m even more unsociable now than I used to be so mixing with fewer people is probably the main reason for that 😅

As for the rest of me, constantly painful finger & knee joints and a knackered back makes life pretty bloody miserable. Riding bikes doesn’t even slightly appeal.

Oh, and hello @stevemakin 👋

54 here, generally fit and well. I usually get colds 2 or 3 times a year, sometimes symptoms have mostly gone in 3 or 4 days, sometimes the cough in particular lasts a couple of weeks. Rarely take time off work, or stop riding, just slow things down a bit until I feel better.

Growing awareness of aches in joints, muscles etc. I suspect my left knee is starting to become a bit arthritic, and sometimes have some stiffness in a couple of my fingers. Leg muscles seem more fatigued and tired these days if I’ve been riding/running (especially running) regularly, noticeably so compared to just 2-3 years ago …

And increasing ‘old man grunts’ when bending down or getting up from the sofa!

constantly painful finger & knee joints and a knackered back makes life pretty bloody miserable

Who We Are

Rich Saxton

Though I appreciate it ain’t cheap.

Age 60 Not getting any more illnesses as such though I have been on medication for Trì germinal neuralgia every day for 18 months.lMust be getting more stupid though as I have twice tried to lift things that are too bulky and too heavy and clearly labelled to say so. I now have a dodgy knee. Recovery from illness, injury and exertion takes a lot longer than it used to.

Tony, Jane and Simon, I’m fine ta 🙂

62 and physically ok but the current state of the country is having a seriously detrimental effect on my mental health, finding it very difficult to see how we can escape from the mess that the government/Tory party have created.

I think it’s genetic. I get hit with a cold that develops into a chest infection every year, sometimes twice.

Generally Oct- March is miserable for me illness wise, been like this for years.

My partner who lives with me gets the occasional ten day cold and that’s it.

I think the guys above have nailed it with the grandkids comment.

Me too. COVID was a walk in the park compared to the last cold I caught off my snotty grandkids.