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I have UC and I catch EVERY cold that goes around. I am always sick. Is this normal?

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Ulcerative Colitis
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Posted 6/16/2010 5:38 AM (GMT 0)
When I'm not undergoing some horrible flare I still seem to spend 50% of my life sick! I ALWAYS have a sore throat, I constantly get the snifled, I once got 8 chest infections, each on lasting for atleast 6 weeks, 1 after the other with no more than 2 weeks of health in between. I lose my voice a lot, I get nausious all the time, I am constantly annemic and I have more sick days than anyone I know! I am always tired, I get migrains and I am just over it all! I hurt my leg recently and it took 6 months to heal instead of 6 weeks - I still have bruises on my legs from paintballing 7 months ago. I also have a speckled ANA reading of 1:2500

Is this normal for someone with Ulcerative Colitis? Do you have any tricks for boosting your immune system?

Do I actually want to boost my immune system anyway? Colitis was explained to me yesterday as the bodys immune system attacking the bowel.

Help anyone?

----------------------

Ulcerative colitis -  6 years

Alergic to sulfer

Recently put on Colazide 750mg (6 tablets daily)

Using pregnisolone during flare ups.

Speckled ANA Reading of 1:1200 3 months ago, now 1:2500 1 week ago

Posted 6/16/2010 6:01 AM (GMT 0)
I started supplementing vitamin D. I rarely get sick since I started taking it. I take 2,000iu per day. Some folks on this forum take 5,000iu per day. I used to get sick as often as you do.
Posted 6/16/2010 12:26 PM (GMT 0)
When I was first diagnosed, I was constantly sick too. But it wasn't until I started on an immune suppressing medication for my Uc did I stop getting sick. Weird. Now I only get sick about once a year. They say that a certain percentage of our immune system is in our intestines, keep a healthy colon, get a healthy body......supposedly! Are you on any probiotics?
Posted 6/16/2010 1:26 PM (GMT 0)
Get your vitamin D levels checked during your next blood work or cholesterol test. I bet you will find that it is low. For the past 4 years I have taken 3,000 IU of vitamin D3 daily and can barely keep my blood levels at the optimum level. I had only one cold during that time and that was when I was in a flare and my D levels dropped. (During that flare my blood counts were so fouled up that my GI referred me to an oncologist to check for lymphoma. Returned to normal when flare ended.)

Everything that Linus Pauling used to say about vitamin C and colds, flu, cancer, and heart disease was correct, except for one minor flaw: he got the wrong vitamin. Newest research indicates that vitamin D is the panacea. As an added bonus vitamin D is also useful for helping to alleviate IBD directly. Look it up.
Posted 6/16/2010 1:33 PM (GMT 0)
Hmm maybe the vitamin D thing, I rarely get sick since having UC, but been taking more healthy things like lots vitD, and probiotics.
Posted 6/16/2010 1:55 PM (GMT 0)
it could be the meds, things like 6mp and immuran can lower your immune system, but suprisingly, the whole time i was on thost i rarely got sick, i think it was becasue at that time, i was so dilligent about handwashing and making sure everything was sanatized. but after sugery, i wasnt as paranoid about it, so now i get more colds! Of course i also have a child that was in preschool, and you know how great they are at washing their hands, lol.
Posted 6/16/2010 2:27 PM (GMT 0)
I rarely get sick (knock on wood).
Posted 6/16/2010 3:39 PM (GMT 0)
I rarely get sick but when I do it hits hard. My current "flare" started the last time I got sick back in February
Posted 10/12/2010 9:49 PM (GMT 0)
D is great but you are dead wrong. You need to do some more reading on the research of true megadose ascorbic adic(mistakenly called a vitamin when it is actually a metabolite). Megadose of ascorbic acid is 10,000-20,000mg(taken in dynamic flow method) orally or 25,000-300,000mg sodium ascorbate intravenously. If you really want to learn about C, read Hickey and Roberts' book "The Science of Ascorbate" and Thomas E. Levys' "Stop America's #1 Killer. Every thing in both is fully referenced.

BabeintheWoods said...
Everything that Linus Pauling used to say about vitamin C and colds, flu, cancer, and heart disease was correct, except for one minor flaw: he got the wrong vitamin. Newest research indicates that vitamin D is the panacea. Look it up.

Posted 10/12/2010 11:22 PM (GMT 0)
I'm on remicade and I really don't get sick that often(knock on wood) my kids are in school and they started back in September and have been sick between the two about 4 times so far. They are sick all the time. One gets something and the other gets something. I haven't gotten anything. I'm getting a cold now and I'm sure it will be along one because while I don't get sick often when I do it lasts along time. Like weeks, exspecially a cough.

I hope you feel better.

Posted 10/22/2010 12:27 AM (GMT 0)
Same here. On my 3rd course of antibiotics for an ear and sinus infection. Finally had it cultured and guess what - STAPH! At least now I'm on the right antibiotic.

My ENT dr tested my immunity levels and they came back borderline immune deficient. I've added 5000 IU Vitamin D this week.

Hate being sick with everything the kids bring home from work. Getting new allergy testing done this week despite being on allergy shots. Just hoping this Keflex antibiotic wipes out the STAPH for good.
Posted 10/22/2010 2:11 AM (GMT 0)
i get sick all the time. i'm student teaching and i don't think i've gone more than 24 hours this semester without a fever. what generally takes a kid 24 hours to get over takes me a week.
Posted 10/22/2010 2:20 AM (GMT 0)
I used to only get the occasional cold but since I got UC, I have had two colds (in about 6mo) and pneumonia. This last cold has been lingering for several weeks now as well.


How do you get your vit D levels checked? Can a clinic easily do it? I am a student and have free access to one.
Posted 10/22/2010 4:19 AM (GMT 0)
I take 5,000 IU's of D3 (the 3 part IS important, your body absorbs it better)...and that was after doing 3 rounds of prescription stength to get me up to normal. I have had one small cold in 4 years. D is related to so many things it's pretty amazing, they tried to DX me as fibro because I had pain throughout the body..I refused, kept digging & requested a D test..the rest is history...all that pain, fatigue, depression..gone. Now the UC..another story...
Posted 10/22/2010 5:20 AM (GMT 0)
I rarely get sick, and when I do, I always have it less than everyone else. It's gotten to the point in which I have absolutely no fear of being among people who have a bad cold or the flu.
Posted 10/22/2010 9:23 AM (GMT 0)
I also rarely get sick. I go years without seeing my PCP because I am just so rarely sick. That is a good thing because it would be so hard to deal with UC and constant colds. I am sorry you are sick often!
Posted 10/22/2010 7:53 PM (GMT 0)
Interesting article on Vitamin D possibly being more effective than flu shots for flu prevention..

http://www.foodconsumer.org/newsite/Nutrition/Vitamins/vitamin_d_work_better_than_influenza_vaccine_2210100543.html
Posted 10/22/2010 10:42 PM (GMT 0)
Actually my immune system has been great the past couple of years. My husband will always wind up with an upper respitory infection and I won't catch it.  Guess this is becausr my immude system is working OT.  I used to get tons of sinus infections.  I think this also had to do with the area I live in.

I used to take echenacea to bot my immune system but I read now it best to avoid such things with UC.  I did try it for one day but started bleeding so I stopped.

This will be my first winter after being diagnosed with UC..so I'm kinda worried.  But I'm prepared as I got my flu shot and try to exercise regularly and eat healthy.

Stress can also be a factor with getting sick so much. It doesn't help having UC and getting something on top of it.

Since you get soar thoats alot...have you been checked out for allergies?  This could be screwing up your system too!

Posted 10/23/2010 1:27 AM (GMT 0)
I just thought of something. How about trying to detox your body? In Europe they use saunas a lot and there are spa treatment like seaweed wraps that help clean the pores. It's also relaxing.
I also like bath salts and oils. Check out www.spalook.com for bath products. It doesn't hurt to pamper yourself once in a while!
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