How to stop getting frequent colds

May 3, 2016 10:21 PM

I get colds a lot. How can I stop getting them so frequently? Also, how can I make the duration of them shorter?

I think in general I am healthy. Considering a cold is the most of my health issues. Varied diet with lots of veggies, exercise 3-5 days a week (3 of those are "hard" exercise days), drink a lot of water, mayyyybe could go to bed a little earlier (my days are very busy, late night is my ONLY me-time), wash my hands regularly, etc.

I think I know why I get minor illnesses so frequently. I now live in a hot climate where everyone has the A/C on at home, so you're going from hot outdoors to cold indoors all the time, which everyone tells me is apparently conducive to catching a cold. I also spend a lot of time in the hospital (elderly parents with health problems). Not unconnected to that, I'm also under a fair bit of emotional stress.

But even when I used to live in the UK, I caught colds relatively frequently. My colds generally consist of general malaise/grossness and lots of coughing and snot.

Honestly, this wouldn't even be a problem except that right now I am caring for my parents and it's just a pain in the ass to get sick because it compromises my ability to look after them. Also, one of them is undergoing chemotherapy so I am afraid to infect them.

I can't take complete rest during minor illnesses because of my responsibilities. But I take paracetamol, try to catnap during the day, don't work, cancel all non-essential engagements, and don't work out at all (even though this makes going back to regular exercise routine after I get better, insanely hard). Sometimes I even "call in sick" from parental care responsibilities, but I always feel very guilty about it.

Should I be taking supplements? I don't know much about those and am a little sceptical. Previous Asks on this topic have ended up a little fighty on the efficacy of Vitamin C in cold prevention. What's the consensus on that now? Any other tips on how to be a picture of health? BTW, I am in Asia with no access to brand-name drugs or anything too "exotic". Can probably find generic stuff.

posted by Ziggy500 to Health & Fitness (31 answers total)

Go to bed earlier. I think that's the really important one.
posted by OCDan at 10:24 PM on May 3, 2016 [1 favorite]

Not only wash your hands often, but don't touch your hands to your eyes, mouth, or nose between washes. If you bite your nails, stop. Your skin does a great job of repelling virii, but don't give the bugs a shortcut.
posted by JoeZydeco at 10:36 PM on May 3, 2016 [10 favorites]

If you're in denial like I was 2 months ago, quit smoking.
posted by saveyoursanity at 10:46 PM on May 3, 2016 [2 favorites]

It sounds to me like the heart of this is that your days are too busy and you need more you time, but I have an anecdote that you may find interesting anyway:

I eat a lot of fresh garlic. By which I mean, I was just nibbling on fresh garlic like half an hour ago. So I pay some attention to claims about eating garlic. If I recollect correctly, one of the only "we're pretty certain about this" benefits of eating fresh garlic is that you will get colds less frequently and that are shorter in duration. Based on my personal study of two - myself and my partner who doesn't eat tons of garlic as a control, this is actually true.
posted by aniola at 10:49 PM on May 3, 2016 [1 favorite]

Cancel all non-essential engagements even when you're not sick for a while and see if that helps.
posted by aniola at 10:50 PM on May 3, 2016 [1 favorite]

Washing your hands correctly and avoiding touching your eyes and mouth are the easiest and most effective lifestyle changes you can make to avoid catching colds. Wash for 20-30 seconds. Be thorough. Use a nailbrush if you have long nails.

Keeping your immune system healthy is also helpful. Adequate sleep, exercise, and nutrition are all important.

Science still hasn't decided if vitamin C, echinacea, zinc, etc. do a thing to prevent colds or reduce their duration. But that doesn't mean that those things can't make you feel better thanks to the placebo effect.
posted by xyzzy at 10:52 PM on May 3, 2016 [2 favorites]

going from hot outdoors to cold indoors all the time, which everyone tells me is apparently conducive to catching a cold

This is untrue. Wash your hands more, don't touch eyes or mouth. And tbh most people just treat colds symptomatically and don't call in sick for minor colds. Perhaps get a full workup from your doctor to make sure there's nothing else going on. And check for allergies; when hay fever hits me I beg for death.
posted by feckless fecal fear mongering at 10:52 PM on May 3, 2016 [10 favorites]

Reduction of stress contributed hugely to my reduction of getting colds and you are clearly under a lot of stress :( I know you're in a tough family situation right now, but taking the time to reduce stress through exercise as well as getting more sleep may help.
posted by raw sugar at 11:03 PM on May 3, 2016

This is admittedly anecdotal, but every time I have moved to a new geographical location, I get sick a TON within the first year or two. Maybe related to exposure to new germs? Stress from moving? Not sure, but it's happened without fail. Could you be acclimating to a new place?

But yes - get more Z's, drink lots of water and wash your hands plenty. Stress is probably playing the biggest role of all here though (let me know when you figure out how to manage that one!).
posted by chestnut-haired-sunfish at 1:44 AM on May 4, 2016 [6 favorites]

I noticed I got sick a lot less during my kids first year because I was religiously dousing my hands in hand sanitizer.
posted by PenDevil at 2:05 AM on May 4, 2016 [2 favorites]

maybe you're working out too much or too hard. Ease back into the workouts when you come back from illness. If you're overtraining its not uncommon to get hit by minor illnesses.
posted by missmagenta at 3:21 AM on May 4, 2016

I take the usual non-pharmaceutical treatments - vitamin C, zinc, herbal tea, etc - when I get colds. I don't know if it helps but it gives me a feeling of "doing something about it" which is nice.

Agree 100% with the "more sleep" recommendation. I find it much harder to resist or fight off colds when sleep-deprived.

If I need to perform during a work day with a cold, I typically use pseudoephedrine timed-release tablets (decongestant), ibuprofen (pain/anti-inflammatory), and cetirizine (antihistamine). That helps a lot with symptoms, but the pseudoephedrine can sometimes make it harder to fall asleep. Generally I don't want to use that combination for more than a few days.
posted by theorique at 4:34 AM on May 4, 2016

Take medicinal mushrooms. You can cook with some (shiitake, maitake) and take others in pill form (reishi since they're so bitter).

One source is Fungi Perfecti. They have different blends for different purposes, including an immune-enhancing version.
posted by mysterious_stranger at 5:23 AM on May 4, 2016

Sleep, down time and multivitamins. I act like I'm sick when I'm not sick; that is, I'll take a night off and lay in my bed watching Netflix, or take a weekend day and not see anybody... things like that.
posted by ramenopres at 5:28 AM on May 4, 2016 [1 favorite]

Are you sure you are getting colds and it isn't an allergic reaction? They symptoms can sometimes look the same. You could keep a journal of when you are sick and what is in bloom at the time. Allergies can also be triggered by, well, anything. I get sick when someone sprays lysol around me. It puts me in bed with flu like symptoms for a few days. You could try taking zyrtec every day, even when you don't think that you need it, and see if things improve.
posted by myselfasme at 5:32 AM on May 4, 2016

Can here to say the same as myselfasme. Are you sure this isn't allergies? Have you gone to see a doctor about this?
posted by Brittanie at 6:37 AM on May 4, 2016

If it's winter, or the end of winter, where you live, then you're probably low in Vitamin D. Take a good quality, high dose supplement for a while and if possible get your levels tested by your GP.

Citation: I was diagnosed Vit D deficient during tests for a medical condition. When I started taking the prescribed supplement, it improved a lot of things (the condition, my mood in general) but the biggest shock was that I caught no colds at all from November through to March. Which for me (sickly child, asthmatic, allergies, caught every cold going ever until that point) was very very exciting.
posted by greenish at 7:01 AM on May 4, 2016 [3 favorites]

don't touch your face. No nose scratching/picking, eye rubbing, leaning on cupped cheek, etc. This is hard to do at first but it becomes automatic over time.

Also make a habit of washing your hands scrupulously as soon as you walk in the door. But the face touching is the biggest part.
posted by fingersandtoes at 7:39 AM on May 4, 2016 [3 favorites]

Nthing more sleep and washing of hands. More water.

Agree about raw garlic, also raw onions and raw ginger. I actually can't stand to eat those foods completely raw, so I make a bowl of chicken soup and once it's warmed and in the bowl I throw the raw ingredients in at the last second before I begin eating. It works for me.

There is a ton of research coming out about getting more vitamin D as a preventative for all sorts of illness. You can get a blood test to check your levels, but you'd be fine if you added a 2000iu supplement each morning (and after you're done thinking about preventing colds, do a little reading about vitamin D as part of a protocol for the prevention/recurrence of cancer. Lot of interesting stuff coming out. I learned that from my doctor who is a breast cancer survivor).

I am one of those people who believe in vitamin C, however I believe in getting it in it's most natural form, ie seasonal fruits and veggies. In the fall and winter we eat as much citrus and gourd squash as we can muster. In the summer its all the berries. I mentioned more water above. Add lemon to your water, over your fish, over your salads. Anecdotally, my 4yo gets sick the least out of all of the little petri dishes in his class. So we'll keep going with extra vitamin C.

Over the last few years while I was pregnant or nursing, and while my hubby has had problems with back pain, we've hired people from Craigslist to help, including a handyman to come around every other week or so to do honey-do chores, and a lady who cooks a few meals for us one day a week. In each case it never cost us more than $50/day, and the free time and peace of mind have far exceeded the cost, and kept our little family sane and healthy. One person being the caregiver for three people (I'm including you in there) can easily get overwhelming. Don't be afraid or embarrassed to ask for help, even if you think you shouldn't need it. It's okay to need help before you need help, if you know what I mean.
posted by vignettist at 7:57 AM on May 4, 2016 [3 favorites]

I am a firm firm believer in using zinc lozenges as soon as I start feeling a little bit of itchy-throat that indicates onset of a cold. They aren't delicious, can upset my stomach if I haven't eaten lately, and they make food taste funny for 15-20 minutes after, but they are practically magic. My symptoms are always milder than my husband's and my colds last less time, despite the fact that I tend to go to work anyway and he's more likely to rest up. But he says they taste funny, and he only ever takes one or two, and then says they don't make a difference (note, one every couple of hours on day zero when I'm not 100% sure I'm really sick, plus less frequently once I'm actually taking cold medicines; I go through almost an entire packet every time I get a cold).
So, Cold-Eeze are hard-candy style cough drops, Zicam tablets are more like fast-dissolve chalk. Both have worked well for me.
posted by aimedwander at 8:13 AM on May 4, 2016

Spending a lot of time at the hospital seems like a good way to get sick pretty often :/ Nth washing hands, not touching your face, etc. Also 2nd vit C & D, and enough food in general (in case your appetite's down). Maybe iron (but only if you're low, have you been checked?). Definitely sleep.

Do you have anyone you can unload to, is there any of that kind of support for family members at the hospital?

Are you travelling a lot, as well? Any way to make that easier, if so?
posted by cotton dress sock at 9:01 AM on May 4, 2016

How long are your 'colds' lasting? Anything longer than a week, especially if you've got a fever, or muscle aches, is probably influenza. Getting a flu shot every year will reduce the frequency and severity of flu infections.
Anecdotally, my mum picked up a flu-ish thing on a recent family vacation. She took a couple of days of skiing, and toughed it out. I didn't get anything. My brother and my Dad were sick for weeks afterwards, with many entertaining descriptions of multi-coloured kaleido-snot. Guess who got their flu shots this year.
posted by Kreiger at 9:01 AM on May 4, 2016 [1 favorite]

Use of a neti pot might reduce the reactive congestive symptoms in particular, which might also help you sleep better. If you've got allergies that might be exacerbating your colds, it might help to use it daily. If it's not allergies, it might just help to use it at the onset of a cold, and it might reduce the symptoms and severity of the colds.
posted by vunder at 9:53 AM on May 4, 2016 [2 favorites]

Carry hand sanitizer and spray peroxide or peroxide wipes at all times. Use them like you are a hypochondriac. If someone coughs or sneezes within 50 feet of you, clean up promptly.

In addition to garlic, onion and ginger, hot peppers have medicinal value. So, generally, eat a spicier diet than you currently eat.

Some people swear by lysine supplements. You can also buy tonic water and sip on that. I find that adding more lettuce to my diet also really helps.
posted by Michele in California at 10:54 AM on May 4, 2016

chestnut-haired-sunfish's experience chimes with mine - when I moved halfway around the world, from a tiny island community to a much bigger one, it felt like I got loads more colds, for several years. That seemed to improve when I got the flu jab one year - I had no colds at all that year. I haven't had the injection in subsequent years, but I now seem to be back to about normal now (for me - one or maybe two colds per winter).

Might just be coincidence, but possibly worth a try.
posted by penguin pie at 4:07 PM on May 4, 2016

I recommend Jarrow Formulas Sacharomyces Boulardii & MOS-- which I use when I am travelling to avoid intestinal and respiratory illnesses.

Also the neti pot with salt water. Prevents the growth and spread of opportunistic infections on top of the virus immune reaction.
posted by ohshenandoah at 5:24 PM on May 4, 2016

Good friend of mine had similar complaint "so many winter colds" - after years, discovered he had seasonal allergies, and after began taking Claritin regularly, is much healthier.

Sometimes, you can tell the difference between a cold (which is a viral infection) and an allergy by taking your temperature. I would say it's more common to have an elevated temperature when you are fighting a virus, than when you are just having allergies. (But this is not universal).

Also, cold viruses are generally contagious, and if you are the only person getting the "cold" and nobody else catches it, this might suggest it's actually an allergy that you have.
posted by soylent00FF00 at 5:33 PM on May 4, 2016

Strong allergy shots have significantly reduced my "colds," so seconding soylent00FF00.
posted by vegartanipla at 10:42 PM on May 4, 2016

Response by poster: Interesting that so many of you think it's allergies! I get HORRIBLE hayfever in the UK which feels very different from my colds or "colds") over here and I never thought to connect the 2. It is VERY dusty over here. So you guys may well be onto something. I shall speak to a doctor here and see what they think.
posted by Ziggy500 at 1:05 AM on May 5, 2016

Allergies is good point. I have a friend from Germany who lived in the US for a few years. He had a runny nose the entire time he lived here, but as soon as he went home it went away.
posted by vignettist at 9:07 AM on May 5, 2016

I feel like I always used to catch everything. This year I'm in a new job (teaching and university at the same time and definitely not getting enough sleep) and I started taking this oral probiotic (that also has zInc) and since then I haven't been sick once. Personal anecdata subject to error of course but now I happily shell out for it.
posted by Salamandrous at 1:18 PM on May 5, 2016 [1 favorite]