Always ill

manxshred

I regularly fall ill and just don't seem to get better compared to others who have a cold or similar.
My recent schedule wa:
Manx E2E in early September, I woke up with a croaky voice but rode anyway.
4 weeks off the bike with a tight chest, coughing and sinus. Didn't get to my lungs, but had the virus in the pipes.
2 weeks later, another week off the bike with similar symptoms.
Norovirus a while later (nothing I could do about this one but at lease it helped my weight loss)
A couple of colds over the Christmas period brought it up to 8 weeks off the bike since sept.

Had another cold last week, and after a stressful weekend decided to take a short break, but the cold wouldn't shift.
Tuesday decided I felt okay, so hopped on the Turk for an easy work out (Black in TrainerRoad)
Crashed Wednesday night with fever, sore muscles, sore skin, totally out of it. Still feeling crap this afternoon (Friday) with cold spells and sore muscles.

I do understand having small kids I will get everything they bring home, but this is getting ridiculous. I use Beconase for some allergies to help keep my sinus clear, but it still takes a long time for any cold to clear.
A lot of other riders and athletes I know get back exercising within days and feel better for it. I try that and just get worse, usually terrible sinus.

I've been to my dr and to a independent dr who did a full suite of blood test and had a ECG with no problems found except allergies.
It is just getting a bit much when I can't get a good block of training done without falling ill and I am training for the Marmotte at the moment, well trying to.
Not sure if there is anything else that can be done, but had to vent somewhere (sorry)

Froomes Edgar

Sounds like you need to tell your body to HTFU. Try drinking petrol - that way it'll know you're serious

ShutUpLegs

Is this Mumsnet :?:

djhermer

AIDS?

imposter2.0

ManxShred wrote:

so hopped on the Turk for an easy work out

er....

chrisaonabike

ManxShred wrote:

I do understand having small kids I will get everything they bring home

Yep, once they move out you'll be fit as a fiddle.

smoggysteve

djhermer wrote:

AIDS?

Cat AIDS?

ut_och_cykla

Think about hand hygeine first. Avoid sick people/crowds after hard sessions. Try adding some protein to your diet (it is important for immune system as well as muscle building) Try taking extra Vitamin C (not silly amounts maybe just 200mg) extra Zinc, extra B vitamin complex for a month and see if that helps. I used to get about a cold a month that lasted two weeks or so and adding the vitamins seemed to help a lot - I still take extra C & Zinc. MAke sure you get good sufficient sleep too and rest between hard sessions; allergy sufferers are already working hard to cope. And my best tip for avoiding sinus trouble - keep your head warm at all times! Good luck!

manxshred

I get the aids thing a lot as I am from South Africa and have lost a lot of weight from when I was there (105kg - 75kg).
Does get a bit boring after a while.

I do take a multi vitamin but will check the make up.
You're right on the hands, thinking about it I do touch my face a lot.

djhermer

ManxShred wrote:

I get the aids thing a lot as I am from South Africa and have lost a lot of weight from when I was there (105kg - 75kg).
Does get a bit boring after a while.

I do take a multi vitamin but will check the make up.
You're right on the hands, thinking about it I do touch my face a lot.

I know the feeling. I spend a lot of time in West Africa. That's the trouble with the aids thing....shaking it off for good!

mamba80

echinaforce - in 6 wk blocks with 4 weeks of none, from Waitrose etc - Vit C and zinc, stay away from ill people, wash your hands all the time and dont pick your nose.
I ve never got a bug from my kids as i v had them all when i was their age, the NoroV is bad and can last weeks b4 you ll be 100% again.
Maybe u picked up a viral in Sept ans that has lowered your immunity since?

Wallywonga

Wash your hands all the time, get a pocket sized hand sanitizer to use also. Drink loads of water, take all the vits mentioned above. Don't train until you are 100 healthy. Get sleep and cut down on alcohol. Oh and wash your hands!

SBezza

ut_och_cykla wrote:

Think about hand hygeine first. Avoid sick people/crowds after hard sessions. Try adding some protein to your diet (it is important for immune system as well as muscle building) Try taking extra Vitamin C (not silly amounts maybe just 200mg) extra Zinc, extra B vitamin complex for a month and see if that helps. I used to get about a cold a month that lasted two weeks or so and adding the vitamins seemed to help a lot - I still take extra C & Zinc. MAke sure you get good sufficient sleep too and rest between hard sessions; allergy sufferers are already working hard to cope. And my best tip for avoiding sinus trouble - keep your head warm at all times! Good luck!

Also to add to this start taking Vit D, we hardly get any in our diet and we struggle to get enough from the sun during summer, let alone in winter. This is an important vitamin for good overall health.

barrybridges

One thing I read a while ago was the importance of washing your gloves.

Otherwise, what tends to happen is if you ride with a cold, you tend to snot on your gloves when you wipe your nose (admit it - I'm sure we all wipe our nose with gloves at least once in a ride) and then get home, put your gloves somewhere nice and warm (on the radiator to dry out)...come back another day, put on the same pair of gloves that have been kept nice and warm for the germs to multiply...go out for a ride AND WIPE YOUR NOSE! And in doing so, re-infect yourself with whatever nasties have been growing on your glove for several days.

smoggysteve

If the worst came to the worst, and you die.

Can I have your bike?

chrisaonabike

barrybridges wrote:

Otherwise, what tends to happen is if you ride with a cold, you tend to snot on your gloves when you wipe your nose ....And in doing so, re-infect yourself with whatever nasties have been growing on your glove for several days.

No, since once you recover from a cold, you're immune to that particular cold virus for a lot longer than the virus survives on the glove.

The viruses don't grow on the glove - they need to be inside your body's cells to do that.

Much more to the point, wash your hands whenever you come home. If you've been touching other people's viruses, then you won't yet be immune to them, so you could easily infect yourself with those.

YourOldNemesis

You're overtraining. Once you're in an overtraining rut the only way out of it is to have a COMPLETE break for a bit. I took 3 months off, then started again training 3 days out of 7 instead of 5. I have more energy, get ill less, am faster and when I do get sniffles from my son's nursery they don't knock me sideways for 2 weeks. You need a change in mindset to recognise that recovery is as important as the training. Start by having a REST!

SBezza

YourOldNemesis wrote:

You're overtraining. Once you're in an overtraining rut the only way out of it is to have a COMPLETE break for a bit. I took 3 months off, then started again training 3 days out of 7 instead of 5. I have more energy, get ill less, am faster and when I do get sniffles from my son's nursery they don't knock me sideways for 2 weeks. You need a change in mindset to recognise that recovery is as important as the training. Start by having a REST!

With the amount of time he has had OFF the bike, I doubt overtraining is an issue. Could be a whole host of reasons, diet, lack of decent sleep, deficient in vitamins etc. My family have had numerous colds, luckily I have had only one in the last 6 months, which I put down to my diet more than anything.

Overtraining is not always linked to having illnesses, and some of the illnesses the OP has had has nothing to do with training like the norovirus, and it slowly creeps up and hits you in many way, normally you see signs related to performance and things like irritability, going off food, trouble sleeping etc rather than constant illnesses (though I appreciate you can suffer from these as well).

manxshred

Even when well, I don't usually do more than 10 hours a week when I am training full out.

It does get me down to see other people talking about doing a FTP while they have a cold. If I do a gentle ride with a cold I end up even worse and off the bike for at least 2 weeks.

peteco

You have not mentioned your diet at all. Multi-vitamins are not a substitute for healthy eating. Would you say that you eat healthily ?

Pete

mustol

Make sure you're eating lots of fresh fruit and veg, wholegrains etc. Pete is right, vitamin tablets are no substitute for healthy eating. I have a good healthy diet, prepare all my meals from scratch and almost got through the winter without a cough or cold. When I did eventually get a cough/cold a couple of weeks ago, it was gone in 3 days and I felt fine. A healthy diet is even more important if you're training hard. Have a rest, get some decent food inside you and you'll be ready to go.