Why do I get sick less often?

[mattbell]

I'm mildly sick today.  Not enough to knock me out, but enough that I'm moving more slowly. 

This is the first time I've been sick at all since last October.  It's also the first time I've become sick after starting to take daily zinc supplements (50mg) at the beginning of November on a friend's advice.  Apparently this friend got several of his coworkers to take daily zinc supplements all winter as well, and none of them got sick.  It's informal citizen-science, for what it's worth.  In any case, zinc supplements are cheap, so I see little reason not to continue, though apparently there is some danger that I may be getting too much zinc and thus I should have my levels checked. 

My girlfriend is sick as well, presumably with the same virus.  It sounds like she's substantially worse off than I am, though that may be due to differing immune systems. 

Last year, when I was running around third world countries, getting exposed to new local bacteria, eating strange food from restaurants with limited kitchen hygiene, sleeping in different beds in proximity to lots of different people, I got sick around once a month. 

In previous years, I typically would get sick around three times in the winter months and once in the summer months. 

So I'm getting sick less often now.  Is it because of the zinc?  Or because I'm in daily contact with fewer people?  Since sickness only comes along a few times a year, it's hard to gather enough data to know for sure.

Comments

[eccentrific.livejournal.com]

I recommend learning something about nutrition and eating a properly balanced diet every day (mypyramid.gov is a good place to start). I haven't been sick in years. I used to get sick 3 or 4 times a year.

There are lots of things you could be deficient in that might be weakening your immune system. Zinc is (or was) one, but definitely not the only.

[nasu-dengaku.livejournal.com]

I'm generally fairly balanced with my diet already, but thanks for the advice!

[eccentrific.livejournal.com]

You're probably not as well balanced as you think you are :-) I still recommend it.

[nasu-dengaku.livejournal.com]

Also, no more blue hair? :-(

[eccentrific.livejournal.com]

Fish hat is cooler than blue hair :-) Well, I think so anyway.

Also, my hair is not currently blue, because I've been too lame to actually figure out where to buy hair dye around here and do something about that.

[integreillumine.livejournal.com]

Not to be annoying, but as said gf who's been spending a lot of time with you over the past year, you have actually been sick since getting back from your trip. =) You were crazy sick for a few days, almost a week, last year. And you've had a couple of days were you've been a little under the weather, which good sleep to the next day mostly fixed. One nice thing about not working is that you can sometimes flexi-set your own schedule around self-care, and don't have the stress of as many external variables/deadlines/expectations.

I had the same sore throat you did, but didn't get stupid-sick until not getting enough sleep two nights in a row, plus super-stressy day + 2 glasses of champagne on Sunday. My bandwidth level is low, so more than a couple of factors can often push me over; emotional stress will trump other things exponentially.

[nasu-dengaku.livejournal.com]

I have been sick other times since returning from my trip, but they were before November. I know b/c I write down what I do every day. :P

[integreillumine.livejournal.com]

Oh, I missed the 'since last October' part! Sorry, I am, uh, sick.

You might consider cutting your zinc in half on a normal basis, just to see. Even Kurzweil doesn't recommend supping more than 30 for men. Ray and Terry say 15 min - RDA is ~10, and you get it from other sources; absolute max 'tolerable' recommended by the US research council is 40... though the reason why you're probably not dying is that most people don't absorb it all, or well, from sups. Even though you don't eat much red meat or cheese, I'd be surprised if you didn't get your min of zinc from all the nuts, almond butter, etc you seem to eat daily, which your body absorbs better than most supplements anyway. (Well, if you're eating it daily.. or does your intake go in spurts? Maybe those days let up on the supp?)

Zinc absorption tests are uncommon I think, but ODing on zinc will cause metabolic interference (decrease copper, iron, magnesium, good HDL levels, kidney failure). At slightly-overdosy levels you'll notice it from things like stomach upset/acids or nausea, and actually, sore throat to eventually decreased immunity, and them more serious stuff... Actually, the same fiber or nut-fat that helped your stomach might help slow down zinc absorption? Or was that something you were doing more in the summer?

Part of the reason why zinc is awesome immune-wise is because it's actually squeezing max amounts of vit A from your liver, which most people really don't get enough of. It's a lot harder to OD on beta carotene than it is on zinc, though, so it's actually a safer choice. (Or, eat a LOT of carrots - you'll know you're over if you turn orange, but it's unlikely to be toxic. ;)

I read a study once that showed animals deficient in zinc needed twice as much food for the same amount of weight gain as animals getting sufficient amounts in their diet. Most Americans get enough because they eat a lot of red meat. :p

[serolynne.livejournal.com]

Not that I want you to be sick or anything.. but part of me is relieved that you are sick at a time when we didn't have plans together :) (As the last two times we had plans together, you got pretty sick). Was starting to think it might be me.


The zinc is likely helping.. but I imagine some of it might have to do with a stronger immune system due to travel and exposure to stuff, and you seem to have taken a great deal of general health awareness into your life.

[nasu-dengaku.livejournal.com]

Hmm... well the last time I saw you I had recently crossed several time zones and had stayed up till 6am (in the opposite direction to the time shift) two nights in a row. That might have made a difference.

Your conjecture about exposure to stuff made me think that I'm now hip to all the new viral trends coming out of Asia and the Middle East before they hit America. It's some dubious hipster badge of honor.

[dixiemouse.livejournal.com]

Getting sick builds your immune system, so getting a little "Yuk" every so often helps to make sure you building your immune system to new stuff...

Zinc is good, just not in huge doses... people got on the zinc bandwagon and started to over do it... but it is something you don't want to over do... whereas too much Vit C just gives you the runs, zinc can start to be counter effective (if what I am reading stuff correctly)...

Also, Lysene is a protein that also helps with immune system, and is more challenging to get, even in a very good diet... I would recommend adding a supplement.

[easwaran.livejournal.com]

I'm going to guess that daily contact with fewer people is going to be a much bigger factor than supplements of one random mineral.

First of all, for most nutritional supplements, we have no idea how exactly your body metabolizes it, so the supplements may be providing it in the wrong form or wrong context. And given that immune function is such a complicated thing, it also seems implausible that a single nutrient deficiency would be the limiting factor unless our diets were specifically unnaturally low in that one nutrient rather than any other.

Meanwhile, contact with many people is probably the biggest factor in getting sick.

But yes, more data would be good.

[aaangyl.livejournal.com]

Lack of workstress, leisure time to handle other stresses calmly, thus reducing cortisol which actively inhibits the immune system, is huge. The other stuff probably helps but it will be interesting to see if it holds up when you go back to working.

Also, why does your girlfriend have a deleted account but still post comments? How confusing!

[nasu-dengaku.livejournal.com]

Also, why does your girlfriend have a deleted account but still post comments? How confusing!

It's not confusing once you know that she's a zombie.

[aaangyl.livejournal.com]

Coffee's good for fixing that.

[peristaltor.livejournal.com]

What kind of sick are you? Is this a sniffle, bad pepper poppers, or full-blown Hamthrax? That might have something to do with the reason.