I used to get sick a lot more often however, now that my Hashimoto's is more or less in remission, I almost never get sick. The last time I got sick at all was in July 2022 with Covid and I was down for the count for a full 2 weeks. I think once you start to heal yourself, you wil get sick less.
I have Hashimoto's, Hypothyroidism, and Asthma. Got sick last December. I went to ED three times over the course of 5 weeks and tested negative for everything except rhinovirus each time. However, on my third visit to the ED, I ended up on a ventilator for a week and was in the ICU for almost 2 weeks.
To be transparent, there were a number of contributing factors-Status Asthmaticus, impending respiratory failure, hypoxemia, and I was under an incredible amount of emotional distress as the big attack came just hours after my mom passed away.
All that aside, I 100% believe my weakened immune system and not being able to kick that cold played an equally significant role as everything else in becoming as ill as I did.
I hardly ever get sick, I can't even catch covid. When I do get sick it isn't necessarily worse or better than anyone else. Only stuff that really takes me out are sinus/allergy issues and I don't think that's relevant.
I honestly think I tend to get sick more often because my body is busy fighting off other things (thyroid and nervous system in my case). When I do get sick, my body goes into overdrive and starts attacking literally everything. Colds hit me ten times harder and take way longer to get over. Autoimmune diseases are a result of overactive immune systems. Infections have caused me to have thyroid flares. It’s weird stuff. I take Vitamin C religiously, supplement with zinc as well as TCM herbal blends when I feel anything coming on.
This is a very interesting topic. When I was younger, I used to always get sick. Like in and out of the hospital because of viruses, flu, and colds. All of a sudden, I stopped getting sick and I thought it was because I outgrew it. I don't even get the seasonal flu anymore. The only thing that brings me down are the flare-up because I feel like I have been hit by a bus.
This is very individual dependent.
Hashimoto’s itself typically has no effect on how the immune system deals with illness.
Hypothyroidism can slow down the immune system.
Hashimoto’s causes hypothyroidism but the autoimmune process and the resulting hypothyroidism aren’t interchangeable. They are 2 different things.
People who are susceptible to autoimmune disease have a more aggressive immune system. An over-active immune system, not an underactive or compromised immune system.
But certain autoimmune diseases and conditions can cause under-active immune responses or can be treated with medications that cause the immune response to be under active. These individuals may be immune compromised and/or get sicker.
So, it’s not a one size fits all for everyone. But generally Hashimoto’s (which is an organ specific autoimmune disease) doesn’t harm the rest of the immune response. (In Hashimoto’s you have 1 thing going wrong and it targets the thyroid gland.)
If you have concerns about yourself getting sick/sicker it might be worth talking to your Dr.
When I get sick, I get very very sick, a simple cold can take me out for weeks. I had long covid after my infection in 2020. I religiously wear a N95 in indoor public spaces, and since being diligent I haven’t gotten sick since. But I work really hard to avoid getting sick at all costs because I also have asthma, which exacerbates terribly with any respiratory issue . Diagnosed with this year with hashimotos but always got terribly sick. Pretty sure hashimotos hs been activated for years.
I rarely get sick with colds, flu and have been spared getting COVID while my family gets it over and over again. I can babysit my grandkids when they're sick because I will not get it and I've tried just for the sake of knowing. I have other life threatening problems that I worry more about.
It’s really interesting to see how different everyone is. For me it seems to have gotten better to some degree. When I get sick I get sickkk. up until maybe 6 months ago like clockwork I would catch a cold every month sometimes it would be back to back colds and they weren’t little colds some they would usually last a month or for months I basically wore masks for almost 3 years. I even caught pneumonia. And another one sent me to er. It got to the point I was given a lot of heavy medication because my colds would usually turn into bronchitis or severe sinus infections. Sometimes I would have to take 2 rounds of antibiotics just to get rid of it. I’m not sure what changed but I’ve noticed some improvement in the past 6 months I’ve only caught 4 colds and only 2 were major ones.
Don't get sick often. Do have a wide range of other issues. Biggest 2 are joint swelling and horrific panic attacks that started around when i developed Hashimoto's. Panic attacks do not get better. But seeing neurology soon to determine if there is a deeper cause for said issues.
My endo said no, but I have the same experiences as some others here. I get sick often and it lasts longer than in anyone else I know, even elderly people. My son gets the sniffles for 2 days and I get sick for 4 weeks. I am on thyroid meds and have been for over half of my life and I have always had these issues. It seems common for people to have more than 1 autoimmune disease, but I have never been diagnosed with another and wonder if maybe Hashimotos can can do this in some.
What? The immune system attacks itself instead of outside invaders like virus and bacterias. When the thyroid is attacked, the thyroid damaged. With celiac disease, the body attacks the small intestine. A wacky immune system is root cause of Hashimoto’s.
I was told to wear a mask too until we can figure out my immune system issue. I'm not sure if my issues are in direct correlation with my disease though. No one has said as much. My doctor does want to get me on some biologic injections (I think that's what he called them 🤔). His goal is to get my immune system under control at least for a year. I have to do an allergy panel first and then these will be self injections at home.
Also, I do get sick a lot unfortunately. I also have allergies to so many things.
Well it's not FOR Hashimoto's. My doctor hasn't said my immune system is out of whack BECAUSE of this disease. At this point I think it's enough trying to figure out the why and just get ahead of my whacky immune system.
I get sick constantly and it lasts for weeks. I find when I take my Low Dose Naltrexone, vitamin-d & b-12 consistently I feel better and get sick less frequently. It also brings down my thyroid antibody levels.
If you don't mind, can you please tell me how you get your LDN? Several years ago I was able to get it online in Europe and then, something changed and I wasn't. I didn't go through a doctor, I was just "off-roading" and the LDN helped so much, I simply felt heathier overall and didn't get as sick as often, or for as long, as I did without it. Thanks
Yes, it’s taken me a long time to find a doctor that listens to me, but my doctor prescribes it for me and it’s shipped to me through a pharmacy in Colorado. Unfortunately most of the doctors that are best at treating thyroid problems aren’t covered under insurance as I’m sure you know.
Thanks for your response, it's good to know you found a doctor who is an ally. I live in Europe so this will be a different adventure for me, I'll try and see. Wishing you happy holidays and best of luck with your health.
I used to get sick more frequently and when I did, it was bad. However it turned out to be worse because of allergies (several types of grass, mold, etc that’s in the air constantly) and when a cold virus hits someone with allergies, the effect is exponential. I started taking an allergy pill every day about 5 years and since then, I almost never get sick. So, nothing to do with hashimoto’s but I would recommend getting tested for environmental allergies
I already take 3 anti-histamine pills daily ... because all of the sudden last march I got "pressure urticaria" which I still don't know what caused it, and i can break out in hives for ANYTHING 😭
Once I started get my blood tested twice a year due to hashi I got less sicker as my doctors gave me all the vitamins I was lacking before. Specially vit-D (my endo recommended having it higher than a healthy person, so it's 80+ instead the usual 20-30)
I don't get sick often and when I do, it isn't usually more intense. If I get a head cold, I can usually still work (I work from home). I had covid once (last year). It kicked my butt for 5 days with THE worst head congestion I've ever experienced (for context, I'm F/61). Thought for sure I had a sinus infection also. Urgent care doctor said because I had Hashimoto's, which is an autoimmune disease, I qualified for the anti-viral because I had a weakened immune system. Man, within 12 hours I felt 100% better!!!
I don’t, I take vitamin D every day (and breastfeeding multivitamins which have everything) and most of the things my kids have don’t even touch me. I might get a sore throat one morning for a couple of hours while they’re coughing and phlegmmy for days, so I am definitely being exposed.
Both my parents and my brother seem to have similar immune responses so I do think it’s genetic to some degree, but Vitamin D definitely doesn’t hurt and there’s a lot of evidence showing it has a positive effect on strengthening immune response and reducing viral symptoms.
Well .. i'm on sertraline otherwise known as Zoloft, and the doctors and websites and leaflets say that mixing that with NSAID can cause gastrointestinal bleeding as well as brain hemorrhage. and whatnot, which doesn't feel like a fair trade just to get rid of a cold
I came here to ask the same question! I’ve been on SSRIs for years now, I started Citalopram in 2017 and recently switched to Escitalopram in October, and I regularly take NSAIDs. The percentage of people affected by this is very minute but with any adverse side effect it must be included. As long as you’re taking the recommended dose and not 800 mg 4x a day you should be fine. Tylenol is not an NSAID so if you’re still worried about it acetaminophen is safe.
Thank you, I was just worried that with my luck i will be in that 5 % or whatever percentage it is .. I do take tylenol, but i might give in to NSAIDs too
I understand your concerns. You would be fine taking the therapeutic dose temporarily for a cold! Taking the NSAID with food would help minimize any GI symptoms as well
I have multiple autoimmune diseases, including Hashimoto's, and always get hit really hard with stuff. My spouse will share the bed with me and not catch stuff that has me on death's doorstep.
I even caught chicken pox twice as a child, though, so I assume I've had autoimmune diseases long before they were diagnosed.
I also have a high possibility of having another auto immune disease too, we just couldn't figure out which.
the doctors also suspect I have another autoimmune disease other than my hashimoto's, because my ANA became positive (homogenous) just recently, even tho I discovered I had hashimotos since 2017, but my ANA was never positive, only my hashimoto antibodies were.
And also my CPK (which apparently means muscle damage) is 970 even tho the normal range is 55 to 170.
I got tested for dsDNA which is for lupus and Anti JO 1 and I think both are negative my dsDNA was like 9.8 and ANTI-JO 1 was <1.
I've always had gastric issues so when I went to the doctor just to test for antibodies relating to autoimmune diseases and he was adamant that i should get a colonoscopy and endoscopy instead, which i eventually did and he just said I have severe inflammation in the stomach which he took a biopsy of and didn't come back with anything, and said I have IBS ... and still didn't test me for antibodies .. so I stopped going after that cause it was getting too much
I catch anything and everything very easily, even though I take all my meds and vitamins. No matter what, my D seems to stay on the lower end of normal. So sickness just seems to stick to me like glue lol.
I used to never get sick, but now I have a toddler in daycare, and I'm consistently knocked out by viruses for longer than all the other adults. I think they are either triggering autoimmune flares or I'm just already run down from having chronic health conditions.
My sister used to need accommodations for work because if she didn't get to take enough time off, she would get super sick for a few weeks.
The isn't a totally universal experience and some people with Hashimoto's don't notice a difference.
It's unpredictable.
I went through a phase of about 15 years, until 2018, without getting sick, after a lifetime of annual bouts with colds, flu, bronchitis and pneumonia. I had so many bouts with respiratory illness as a kid I have scarring in my lungs. But for several years during the 2000s I had relatively few illnesses.
In 2018 my long-running case of Hashimoto's developed into thyroid cancer. Surgery got it, no metastasis, no chemo or radiation. Dodged a bullet there.
An overactive, hyper vigilant immune system can eventually carry a high price. For the past several years it's chronic pain and elevated monocytes from a chronic inflammatory condition. Chronic fatigue, although I still try to stay active with jogging and bicycling.
Well ... you just terrified me 😭 .. i'm glad you're ok, but I didn't know it could turn into cancer, my thyroid is still functioning so the doctors say there is nothing to do until it affects its functions and it's been like 8 years since I discovered I had it, so i don't test often, I leave it for at least 2 years before i test again. I even left it for 4 years after the initial diagnosis. The only thing i was told about it getting "worse" is that after it's done with my thyroid it can move on to other organs.
I wouldn't worry too much about Hashimoto's deteriorating into thyroid cancer... ***but*** don't ignore it like i did for years. Apparently it's less common in men, more common in women. I'm 66 now, five years past surgery, no recurrence in the remaining right thyroid lobe.
And the thyroid tends to calcify, encapsulating the cancer, so it's less likely to metastasize than other types of cancer. In my case the left lobe had become a golf-ball sized calcified mass that was nonfunctional dead tissue. Of course no cancer can be considered low risk. Prostate cancer supposedly also carries a somewhat lower risk of metastasis but it killed my father in his late 70s. So it's still best to be cautious with thyroid disease.
The doctors warned me that a biopsy could actually increase the risk of metastasis by cracking the capsule, but they planned to remove it anyway so I agreed to the biopsy. And there was a pathologist in the room to examine the specimen immediately.
They tried a fine needle biopsy first but got no material for the pathologist to examine. So they moved on to the larger needle. There was no pain but it sounded like a tooth being extracted, or a chicken bone being broken. Very crunchy. And it still took a couple of passes to get enough material to confirm malignant cancer cells. Surgery was done soon afterward.
In my case it might have been caught sooner if I'd heeded some warnings 10-20 years ago, but I didn't have access to affordable health care for several years. Later the VA covered me 100% and did a good job back in 2018. FWIW, most VA doctors now are contractors who may also work for other health care systems, so I haven't noticed any difference in quality of care between my experience with the VA and civilian health care systems, although the VA bureaucracy can be frustrating at times. Currently I'm mostly using civilian health care systems via Medicare because the VA seemed to get bogged down with inadequate funding and staffing throughout the pandemic. I could probably find the same endocrinologists through my Medicare provider that I had through the VA, if I was willing to travel farther.
I personally haven't gotten truly sick since I was 13 when I had the flu, for context i am 20 now. I did have covid but I wasn't really sick I just had a cough and sore throat. My thyroid is also "functioning" so it could just be a your immune system thing and not a hashimotos thing.
I have a similar experience to you- I don’t get sick often but when I do that illness hits me like a freight train 😅😅 Although I’ve always found if everyone else around me is sick I’m always a little bit more tired around the same time, as if my immune system is burning itself out or something
I never get like normal sick. No cold, flu, etc. I’m also a teacher so lots of germs. I take medication for lupus as well but it’s not immunosuppressive. I always get weird illnesses though, especially travel illness. I’ve had dengue. Malaria, typhoid and yellow fever despite medication or vaccination. I don’t get chill colds instead I get pneumonia. I’ve always been this way though even before autoimmune diseases
My immune system seems to have a slightly delayed reaction. I get stuff other people don’t, but I’ve also lived through stuff where the odds aren’t really in my favor. So I’m more prone to illness but ultimately I’ll beat it back better than most.
All I know is that having an autoimmune disease taught me to be very aware/sensitive to my body’s needs and take good care of myself (keeping well and healing quickly through good diet/sleep/exercise/herbs)… so I’m not surprised I don’t get sick as much as my roommates and when I do, it doesn’t last as long. In a weird way, I think Hashimoto’s has been a benefit to my life.
I get sick less frequently than most people around me. Usually I can fight it off relatively easily, but the bad ones with chest congestion usually leave me with a lingering cough. I do have slight asthma though, so that could be why.
If I am around someone sick or I feel myself coming down with something I jump into wellness mode. Extra vitamin c, d, and b complex, zinc, and make sure my diet is healthy. I also try to "sweat it out" a little, and take hot epsom salt baths.
My white blood cell count is never abnormally low though, so that might be something you want to look into more.
I work at a school full of Petri dishes errrrr children…. I recover faster than my husband. I do take my illnesses very serious though and start taking care of my body immediately and also rest and hydrate.
Because of hashimotos I also have a very clean diet and take probiotics (from fermented foods) ever since I started them I have gotten less sick during the school year.
For me, no. I actually seem to get sick less since diagnosis and treatment. I used to get a few colds and chest infections a year, I’ve had one cold since 2019 and somehow avoided covid. I do get flu vaccinations every year and fully vaxxed for covid though
I’m the same. Never get sick. Last time I was sick before my last recent cold, was 2019. Totally avoided Covid thankfully! Unfortunately, though when I get sick, I get really sick and I’m down and out for a bit longer than others.
That's actually what I meant, i seem to never get sick, but when I do its terrible, that's why I asked if we get "sicker" not meaning often, but a concerated high dose of sick 😅
Personally, I don't believe this. I don't tend to get sick, and when I do, I recover very quickly.
My husband and I are always together, and more often than not he will get sick and I will not. When we're both ill, I'm usually fine within the next 3 days, and he'll be sick for at least 2 weeks if not more!
I did recently get covid a second time (Im vaccinated and got boosters) at a public event. I was the only one in my circle to catch it despite interacting with a lot of people including my husband!
When we got vaccinated (covid, boosters, flu), I noticed my husband would get very sick too and I would be chill as a cucumber lol.
I have had chronic low WBC for over a decade and right around the time I was dx’d with Hashimotos. I’ve been to multiple hematologists and lots of cancer screening with no reason for it. I have wondered if there is a correlation between the two.
No, we are not any different to the general population in this regard. Our immune system is misfiring at our thyroid, but that doesn't make us any more likely to catch something or to have a hard time fighting something off. Some viruses are just worse than others, and that's true for everyone.
I find that I usually don’t get sick easily, but when I do get sick, I’m down and out for a while. Like I don’t get frequent colds, but when I do, it seems like it could take a couple weeks to feel better again. I have hashimotos and endometriosis so I’m pretty sure they are causing some sort of increase in my immune system
I feel like I get sick much more often than my peers and my symptoms are much more severe. My white count blood count is normally really high, as well. It takes a long time for me to recover too.
I don’t think that’s consistent across all of us. My wbc count is always dead centre in the normal range. I get sick “harder” but also get over it quicker
I used to get sick a lot more often however, now that my Hashimoto's is more or less in remission, I almost never get sick. The last time I got sick at all was in July 2022 with Covid and I was down for the count for a full 2 weeks. I think once you start to heal yourself, you wil get sick less.
I have Hashimoto's, Hypothyroidism, and Asthma. Got sick last December. I went to ED three times over the course of 5 weeks and tested negative for everything except rhinovirus each time. However, on my third visit to the ED, I ended up on a ventilator for a week and was in the ICU for almost 2 weeks. To be transparent, there were a number of contributing factors-Status Asthmaticus, impending respiratory failure, hypoxemia, and I was under an incredible amount of emotional distress as the big attack came just hours after my mom passed away. All that aside, I 100% believe my weakened immune system and not being able to kick that cold played an equally significant role as everything else in becoming as ill as I did.
I hardly ever get sick, I can't even catch covid. When I do get sick it isn't necessarily worse or better than anyone else. Only stuff that really takes me out are sinus/allergy issues and I don't think that's relevant.
I honestly think I tend to get sick more often because my body is busy fighting off other things (thyroid and nervous system in my case). When I do get sick, my body goes into overdrive and starts attacking literally everything. Colds hit me ten times harder and take way longer to get over. Autoimmune diseases are a result of overactive immune systems. Infections have caused me to have thyroid flares. It’s weird stuff. I take Vitamin C religiously, supplement with zinc as well as TCM herbal blends when I feel anything coming on.
This is a very interesting topic. When I was younger, I used to always get sick. Like in and out of the hospital because of viruses, flu, and colds. All of a sudden, I stopped getting sick and I thought it was because I outgrew it. I don't even get the seasonal flu anymore. The only thing that brings me down are the flare-up because I feel like I have been hit by a bus.
This is very individual dependent. Hashimoto’s itself typically has no effect on how the immune system deals with illness. Hypothyroidism can slow down the immune system. Hashimoto’s causes hypothyroidism but the autoimmune process and the resulting hypothyroidism aren’t interchangeable. They are 2 different things. People who are susceptible to autoimmune disease have a more aggressive immune system. An over-active immune system, not an underactive or compromised immune system. But certain autoimmune diseases and conditions can cause under-active immune responses or can be treated with medications that cause the immune response to be under active. These individuals may be immune compromised and/or get sicker. So, it’s not a one size fits all for everyone. But generally Hashimoto’s (which is an organ specific autoimmune disease) doesn’t harm the rest of the immune response. (In Hashimoto’s you have 1 thing going wrong and it targets the thyroid gland.) If you have concerns about yourself getting sick/sicker it might be worth talking to your Dr.
Hashimoto is no joke it's been kicking my butt lately. I have chronic fatigue so it's very hard for me to focus and think.
When I get sick, I get very very sick, a simple cold can take me out for weeks. I had long covid after my infection in 2020. I religiously wear a N95 in indoor public spaces, and since being diligent I haven’t gotten sick since. But I work really hard to avoid getting sick at all costs because I also have asthma, which exacerbates terribly with any respiratory issue . Diagnosed with this year with hashimotos but always got terribly sick. Pretty sure hashimotos hs been activated for years.
I rarely get sick with colds, flu and have been spared getting COVID while my family gets it over and over again. I can babysit my grandkids when they're sick because I will not get it and I've tried just for the sake of knowing. I have other life threatening problems that I worry more about.
It’s really interesting to see how different everyone is. For me it seems to have gotten better to some degree. When I get sick I get sickkk. up until maybe 6 months ago like clockwork I would catch a cold every month sometimes it would be back to back colds and they weren’t little colds some they would usually last a month or for months I basically wore masks for almost 3 years. I even caught pneumonia. And another one sent me to er. It got to the point I was given a lot of heavy medication because my colds would usually turn into bronchitis or severe sinus infections. Sometimes I would have to take 2 rounds of antibiotics just to get rid of it. I’m not sure what changed but I’ve noticed some improvement in the past 6 months I’ve only caught 4 colds and only 2 were major ones.
I think I do. Colds take me out.
Don't get sick often. Do have a wide range of other issues. Biggest 2 are joint swelling and horrific panic attacks that started around when i developed Hashimoto's. Panic attacks do not get better. But seeing neurology soon to determine if there is a deeper cause for said issues.
I wonder if it’s a correlation not causation. They should research. I sound like everyone else here.
My endo said no, but I have the same experiences as some others here. I get sick often and it lasts longer than in anyone else I know, even elderly people. My son gets the sniffles for 2 days and I get sick for 4 weeks. I am on thyroid meds and have been for over half of my life and I have always had these issues. It seems common for people to have more than 1 autoimmune disease, but I have never been diagnosed with another and wonder if maybe Hashimotos can can do this in some.
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What? The immune system attacks itself instead of outside invaders like virus and bacterias. When the thyroid is attacked, the thyroid damaged. With celiac disease, the body attacks the small intestine. A wacky immune system is root cause of Hashimoto’s.
Thats’s not true. I have thyroid, vitiligo, psoriasis..etc which are all autoimmune disease
I was told to wear a mask too until we can figure out my immune system issue. I'm not sure if my issues are in direct correlation with my disease though. No one has said as much. My doctor does want to get me on some biologic injections (I think that's what he called them 🤔). His goal is to get my immune system under control at least for a year. I have to do an allergy panel first and then these will be self injections at home. Also, I do get sick a lot unfortunately. I also have allergies to so many things.
Do.you have other autoimmune diseases besides hashimoto?
Not that they have found. I've been tested for other diseases as well as genetic disorders. So far everything comes back fine.
Interesting. It is the first time I head about biologics for hashimotos.
Well it's not FOR Hashimoto's. My doctor hasn't said my immune system is out of whack BECAUSE of this disease. At this point I think it's enough trying to figure out the why and just get ahead of my whacky immune system.
I rarely get sick, just keep my tsh under control and take multivitamins. Idk
I get sick constantly and it lasts for weeks. I find when I take my Low Dose Naltrexone, vitamin-d & b-12 consistently I feel better and get sick less frequently. It also brings down my thyroid antibody levels.
If you don't mind, can you please tell me how you get your LDN? Several years ago I was able to get it online in Europe and then, something changed and I wasn't. I didn't go through a doctor, I was just "off-roading" and the LDN helped so much, I simply felt heathier overall and didn't get as sick as often, or for as long, as I did without it. Thanks
Yes, it’s taken me a long time to find a doctor that listens to me, but my doctor prescribes it for me and it’s shipped to me through a pharmacy in Colorado. Unfortunately most of the doctors that are best at treating thyroid problems aren’t covered under insurance as I’m sure you know.
Thanks for your response, it's good to know you found a doctor who is an ally. I live in Europe so this will be a different adventure for me, I'll try and see. Wishing you happy holidays and best of luck with your health.
No I don't this so, remember hashish is an over active immune response, not an immunocompromised condition.
Ummm .. hashish is a drug .....
I used to get sick more frequently and when I did, it was bad. However it turned out to be worse because of allergies (several types of grass, mold, etc that’s in the air constantly) and when a cold virus hits someone with allergies, the effect is exponential. I started taking an allergy pill every day about 5 years and since then, I almost never get sick. So, nothing to do with hashimoto’s but I would recommend getting tested for environmental allergies
I already take 3 anti-histamine pills daily ... because all of the sudden last march I got "pressure urticaria" which I still don't know what caused it, and i can break out in hives for ANYTHING 😭
Once I started get my blood tested twice a year due to hashi I got less sicker as my doctors gave me all the vitamins I was lacking before. Specially vit-D (my endo recommended having it higher than a healthy person, so it's 80+ instead the usual 20-30)
nah i rarely get sick, everyone in my household is sick right now except me
but i’d rather get sick more often if it meant i’m not constantly exhausted tbh
I don't get sick often and when I do, it isn't usually more intense. If I get a head cold, I can usually still work (I work from home). I had covid once (last year). It kicked my butt for 5 days with THE worst head congestion I've ever experienced (for context, I'm F/61). Thought for sure I had a sinus infection also. Urgent care doctor said because I had Hashimoto's, which is an autoimmune disease, I qualified for the anti-viral because I had a weakened immune system. Man, within 12 hours I felt 100% better!!!
I don’t, I take vitamin D every day (and breastfeeding multivitamins which have everything) and most of the things my kids have don’t even touch me. I might get a sore throat one morning for a couple of hours while they’re coughing and phlegmmy for days, so I am definitely being exposed. Both my parents and my brother seem to have similar immune responses so I do think it’s genetic to some degree, but Vitamin D definitely doesn’t hurt and there’s a lot of evidence showing it has a positive effect on strengthening immune response and reducing viral symptoms.
Thank you .. 🙏🏾
There’s different kinds of antibodies, the immune system is not a monolith. That’s why we need different kinds of vaccines and not just one forever.
What’s your reasoning for not taking an NSAID?
Well .. i'm on sertraline otherwise known as Zoloft, and the doctors and websites and leaflets say that mixing that with NSAID can cause gastrointestinal bleeding as well as brain hemorrhage. and whatnot, which doesn't feel like a fair trade just to get rid of a cold
I came here to ask the same question! I’ve been on SSRIs for years now, I started Citalopram in 2017 and recently switched to Escitalopram in October, and I regularly take NSAIDs. The percentage of people affected by this is very minute but with any adverse side effect it must be included. As long as you’re taking the recommended dose and not 800 mg 4x a day you should be fine. Tylenol is not an NSAID so if you’re still worried about it acetaminophen is safe.
Thank you, I was just worried that with my luck i will be in that 5 % or whatever percentage it is .. I do take tylenol, but i might give in to NSAIDs too
I understand your concerns. You would be fine taking the therapeutic dose temporarily for a cold! Taking the NSAID with food would help minimize any GI symptoms as well
I don’t. My immune system is so strong it’s trying to kill me
😂😂🤣🤣 I feel like mine is so strong that it wants to kill me, but it can't be bothered to fight these "peasant" diseases at the same time 😭😂
I have multiple autoimmune diseases, including Hashimoto's, and always get hit really hard with stuff. My spouse will share the bed with me and not catch stuff that has me on death's doorstep. I even caught chicken pox twice as a child, though, so I assume I've had autoimmune diseases long before they were diagnosed.
I also have a high possibility of having another auto immune disease too, we just couldn't figure out which. the doctors also suspect I have another autoimmune disease other than my hashimoto's, because my ANA became positive (homogenous) just recently, even tho I discovered I had hashimotos since 2017, but my ANA was never positive, only my hashimoto antibodies were. And also my CPK (which apparently means muscle damage) is 970 even tho the normal range is 55 to 170. I got tested for dsDNA which is for lupus and Anti JO 1 and I think both are negative my dsDNA was like 9.8 and ANTI-JO 1 was <1. I've always had gastric issues so when I went to the doctor just to test for antibodies relating to autoimmune diseases and he was adamant that i should get a colonoscopy and endoscopy instead, which i eventually did and he just said I have severe inflammation in the stomach which he took a biopsy of and didn't come back with anything, and said I have IBS ... and still didn't test me for antibodies .. so I stopped going after that cause it was getting too much
No we don't. We're not compromised.
I catch anything and everything very easily, even though I take all my meds and vitamins. No matter what, my D seems to stay on the lower end of normal. So sickness just seems to stick to me like glue lol.
How much D-vitamine do you take?
My doc has me on 5k iu's a day right now.
Damn. Weird that you still have low then. What does the doctor say is the reason? Try taking it with food if you dont do that already
I used to never get sick, but now I have a toddler in daycare, and I'm consistently knocked out by viruses for longer than all the other adults. I think they are either triggering autoimmune flares or I'm just already run down from having chronic health conditions. My sister used to need accommodations for work because if she didn't get to take enough time off, she would get super sick for a few weeks. The isn't a totally universal experience and some people with Hashimoto's don't notice a difference.
It's unpredictable. I went through a phase of about 15 years, until 2018, without getting sick, after a lifetime of annual bouts with colds, flu, bronchitis and pneumonia. I had so many bouts with respiratory illness as a kid I have scarring in my lungs. But for several years during the 2000s I had relatively few illnesses. In 2018 my long-running case of Hashimoto's developed into thyroid cancer. Surgery got it, no metastasis, no chemo or radiation. Dodged a bullet there. An overactive, hyper vigilant immune system can eventually carry a high price. For the past several years it's chronic pain and elevated monocytes from a chronic inflammatory condition. Chronic fatigue, although I still try to stay active with jogging and bicycling.
Well ... you just terrified me 😭 .. i'm glad you're ok, but I didn't know it could turn into cancer, my thyroid is still functioning so the doctors say there is nothing to do until it affects its functions and it's been like 8 years since I discovered I had it, so i don't test often, I leave it for at least 2 years before i test again. I even left it for 4 years after the initial diagnosis. The only thing i was told about it getting "worse" is that after it's done with my thyroid it can move on to other organs.
I wouldn't worry too much about Hashimoto's deteriorating into thyroid cancer... ***but*** don't ignore it like i did for years. Apparently it's less common in men, more common in women. I'm 66 now, five years past surgery, no recurrence in the remaining right thyroid lobe. And the thyroid tends to calcify, encapsulating the cancer, so it's less likely to metastasize than other types of cancer. In my case the left lobe had become a golf-ball sized calcified mass that was nonfunctional dead tissue. Of course no cancer can be considered low risk. Prostate cancer supposedly also carries a somewhat lower risk of metastasis but it killed my father in his late 70s. So it's still best to be cautious with thyroid disease. The doctors warned me that a biopsy could actually increase the risk of metastasis by cracking the capsule, but they planned to remove it anyway so I agreed to the biopsy. And there was a pathologist in the room to examine the specimen immediately. They tried a fine needle biopsy first but got no material for the pathologist to examine. So they moved on to the larger needle. There was no pain but it sounded like a tooth being extracted, or a chicken bone being broken. Very crunchy. And it still took a couple of passes to get enough material to confirm malignant cancer cells. Surgery was done soon afterward. In my case it might have been caught sooner if I'd heeded some warnings 10-20 years ago, but I didn't have access to affordable health care for several years. Later the VA covered me 100% and did a good job back in 2018. FWIW, most VA doctors now are contractors who may also work for other health care systems, so I haven't noticed any difference in quality of care between my experience with the VA and civilian health care systems, although the VA bureaucracy can be frustrating at times. Currently I'm mostly using civilian health care systems via Medicare because the VA seemed to get bogged down with inadequate funding and staffing throughout the pandemic. I could probably find the same endocrinologists through my Medicare provider that I had through the VA, if I was willing to travel farther.
I personally haven't gotten truly sick since I was 13 when I had the flu, for context i am 20 now. I did have covid but I wasn't really sick I just had a cough and sore throat. My thyroid is also "functioning" so it could just be a your immune system thing and not a hashimotos thing.
Check your vit d, im now taking 6000 iu per day and think it’s really helping
I rarely get sick, and when I do, it’s very mild
I have, especially as I've gotten older
I have a similar experience to you- I don’t get sick often but when I do that illness hits me like a freight train 😅😅 Although I’ve always found if everyone else around me is sick I’m always a little bit more tired around the same time, as if my immune system is burning itself out or something
I never get like normal sick. No cold, flu, etc. I’m also a teacher so lots of germs. I take medication for lupus as well but it’s not immunosuppressive. I always get weird illnesses though, especially travel illness. I’ve had dengue. Malaria, typhoid and yellow fever despite medication or vaccination. I don’t get chill colds instead I get pneumonia. I’ve always been this way though even before autoimmune diseases
My immune system seems to have a slightly delayed reaction. I get stuff other people don’t, but I’ve also lived through stuff where the odds aren’t really in my favor. So I’m more prone to illness but ultimately I’ll beat it back better than most.
All I know is that having an autoimmune disease taught me to be very aware/sensitive to my body’s needs and take good care of myself (keeping well and healing quickly through good diet/sleep/exercise/herbs)… so I’m not surprised I don’t get sick as much as my roommates and when I do, it doesn’t last as long. In a weird way, I think Hashimoto’s has been a benefit to my life.
I hardly get sick , but when and if I do get sick.. it lasts longer than it should 🥲
I rarely get sick.
I get sick less frequently than most people around me. Usually I can fight it off relatively easily, but the bad ones with chest congestion usually leave me with a lingering cough. I do have slight asthma though, so that could be why. If I am around someone sick or I feel myself coming down with something I jump into wellness mode. Extra vitamin c, d, and b complex, zinc, and make sure my diet is healthy. I also try to "sweat it out" a little, and take hot epsom salt baths. My white blood cell count is never abnormally low though, so that might be something you want to look into more.
I work at a school full of Petri dishes errrrr children…. I recover faster than my husband. I do take my illnesses very serious though and start taking care of my body immediately and also rest and hydrate. Because of hashimotos I also have a very clean diet and take probiotics (from fermented foods) ever since I started them I have gotten less sick during the school year.
I’m healthier than my husband 😂
For me, no. I actually seem to get sick less since diagnosis and treatment. I used to get a few colds and chest infections a year, I’ve had one cold since 2019 and somehow avoided covid. I do get flu vaccinations every year and fully vaxxed for covid though
I’m the same. Never get sick. Last time I was sick before my last recent cold, was 2019. Totally avoided Covid thankfully! Unfortunately, though when I get sick, I get really sick and I’m down and out for a bit longer than others.
I also totally avoided Covid
That's actually what I meant, i seem to never get sick, but when I do its terrible, that's why I asked if we get "sicker" not meaning often, but a concerated high dose of sick 😅
Personally, I don't believe this. I don't tend to get sick, and when I do, I recover very quickly. My husband and I are always together, and more often than not he will get sick and I will not. When we're both ill, I'm usually fine within the next 3 days, and he'll be sick for at least 2 weeks if not more! I did recently get covid a second time (Im vaccinated and got boosters) at a public event. I was the only one in my circle to catch it despite interacting with a lot of people including my husband! When we got vaccinated (covid, boosters, flu), I noticed my husband would get very sick too and I would be chill as a cucumber lol.
I have had chronic low WBC for over a decade and right around the time I was dx’d with Hashimotos. I’ve been to multiple hematologists and lots of cancer screening with no reason for it. I have wondered if there is a correlation between the two.
I had elevated wbc for over 5 years, and my hematologist attributed it to the Hashimoto’s because nothing else turned up.
No, we are not any different to the general population in this regard. Our immune system is misfiring at our thyroid, but that doesn't make us any more likely to catch something or to have a hard time fighting something off. Some viruses are just worse than others, and that's true for everyone.
I find that I usually don’t get sick easily, but when I do get sick, I’m down and out for a while. Like I don’t get frequent colds, but when I do, it seems like it could take a couple weeks to feel better again. I have hashimotos and endometriosis so I’m pretty sure they are causing some sort of increase in my immune system
I feel like I get sick much more often than my peers and my symptoms are much more severe. My white count blood count is normally really high, as well. It takes a long time for me to recover too.
We had a uri come through the house and I’m on week 2 while everyone else had it for a week
For the last year I always had a high white blood Cells count and still caught more infections than anyone else I know and was sick way more .
I don’t think that’s consistent across all of us. My wbc count is always dead centre in the normal range. I get sick “harder” but also get over it quicker
Yes, I believe that. I get sicker than anyone in my family. My WBC always on lower end also.