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.

[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.

[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.

[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!

[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.