Reoccuring Cold

[scoobysoo]

Hi - please help me as I'm at my wits' end!! I started a new job about 7 weeks ago, and since then I have had 3 really nasty bouts of the flu withing a couple of weeks of each other and have had to had time off. My bosses are really annoyed with me, and I don't know what to do. I don't want to be sick but it keeps knocking me down like a tonne of bricks. This time round I was sick all weekend and have a really bad cough which makes me sick. I went to work yesterday, but went home in the afternoon as I could hardly stand for all the coughing, and I'm off today. I feel like I'm in a really hard situation, and getting quite stressed about it. Firstly I'm worried why I keep getting sick, and secondly I'm woried about getting a reputation for being a skiver. My doctor has no free appointments until Thursday and I really need to be back tomorrow. I've taken medicine, but I can't shake this horrible feeling that I'm doing something shameful by being off work sick! I'm also supposed to be on a work related course tonight, and there's no way I can be off today then go to that as my boss will be there, but I'll also get into trouble for not being there!!! I don't know what to do...help me please

[Ethel]

Just a thought - is the work place air-conditioned?

I cannot be in an air conditioned environment for long - it always makes me ill.

[MAXHAY]

don't get stressed about it that will make it worse!! believe me i've been there. do you like your job? look if you are ill you are ill, you wouldn't want everyone else to get it would you? try ginseng it always works for me, u mite have caught a really bad virus, try asking docs for antivirals (expensive but they do have them!) good luck,

[gammaray]

Regular sleep habits help. so does Vitamin C Your body is prone to virul infection when you are tired and stressed. If you stay up late and only snatch a few hours sleep a night your body's defences will run down long before you show any physical signs of sleep deprevation. Some people (like me for example) can exist quite happily on about 3 - 4 hours sleep a night. I've not had a cold or flu for years. Other people on the other hand need more sleep it's a case of trying to work out how much you need and getting it!

[asciwhite]

Oh....scoobysoo, you sound possitively exhausted and quite poorly. There is a very very nasty bug going round and most people have needed bed rest for a week and antibiotics, it's one of those delightful hanger onners!!! Are you allowed to take day nurse? or those type of remedies over the counter? also, echinacea is good for immunity systems. You really need to ring back the docs and insist that you need an appointment or a telephone conversation with a doc TODAY! do you have any walk in centres near you as these are useful in emergencys too.

Good Luck and I Wish You Well x

[mullein3]

try taking some echinacea i havnt had a cold for nearly 7 years since i started taking it...buy some in tincture form for a fast result and take it every two hours for two days then start taking the tablets for three months and take a break for a month then restart ...try to build your immune system up plenty of vitamin c is also needed take it morning and evening...and you should notice a difference..

[jno]

can you get a flu jab from your doctor? Did wonders for me.

[tanzanya]

don't blame yourself for being sick! If employers really want productive employees through the winter months they would pay for everyone to get the flu shot - though you probably would not have been there in time to get the jab.

As long as you are truly sick you have every right to stay home and take care of yourself, also its better for the company that you aren't there spreading your germs! take lots of honey and lemon tea (loads of lemon), vitamin C and stay out of the cold dank air for that cough, you'll never shake it if you keep going out and early morning air is the worst!

[CT]

It also sounds a little like freshers flu from university. i.e. you're catching all new germs from new people, and haven't become immune yet. If this is the case, these should ease up and become less frequent the longer you stay there.

[Steve_Luts]

Hi Scooby, sorry you are not feeling chipper. As Ethel says, do you work in an air con'd office, or more specifically, right under an air con unit? I did, and also had a recurring cold. I've moved within the same office - only 30ft, and in two years have never had so much as a sniffle. My girlfriend notices that I no longer snore!!!!

I'm sure somebody might shoot this answer down in flames with a scientific response, but I can certainly say moving away from air-con worked wonders for me.

[119576]

ScoobySoo: get vitamin D3 from the pharmacy, vitamin section of your local supermarket or from an online vitamin retailer. If you are not out in the sun with exposed skin daily you likely have a defiency. You need to take 4000-5000ui
a day.
I was sick with colds/flu-like symptoms for 2 months. Anitbiotics, allergy remedies, cough medicine, antihistimines, nothing worked.
One week of D3 gel tabs at 4000 units and I was over the sniffles and cough. Its been 2 months and the tired is gone. I'm a new person. You get your D3 from the summer sun and then get sick in the winter from the defiency.
Its very inexpensive.