This area of Virginia is one of the highest allergy/pollen/mold/mildew areas
in North America. It's a terrible place for asthmatics to live.

I think our damp winters are not cold enough to kill the germs. We've had
weird weather this year but it's also been cloudy most of the time so no one
can actually enjoy the warmer temps. Today was sunny with a high of 44F/10+C
and with a warm top I didn't need a jacket until the wind blew and then I
froze. I had to run an errand so I kept my coat in the car (just in case)
but most of the time I didn't need it. What I wanted was my warm fur trapper
hat on my head to protect my ears - then I would have looked like a freak!

Dec was more like Jan around here and Jan is acting more like late Feb.
Wonder if Feb will be warm or will we go back to freezing our butts off
again? At least it has been cool enough to keep the trees from budding. I do
have some dandelions blooming. I know they are weeds but how do you kill
something that smiles so brightly when everything else looks so blah?
Bev

ah yes, the allergy, I'd forgotten about that. What's things doing down there?
Z said lots of people having allergy problems due to weird mild winter weather.
Things are sprouting long before they're supposed to.

He'll learn if there's no dishes. Hide some clean ones for u ;
( ( ( Bev ) ) ) Hope you feel better soon.
J

In the fall I am plagued with an allergy that seems to be linked to
harvesting the peanuts around here. I wind up with terrible sinus infections
if I'm not careful.

I rarely ever catch a cold unless a 2 year old sneezes right into my face
and since I'm not working my chances for that has decreased tremendously. (I
am such a compulsive hand washer.) But flu? I think it has been about 8
years since I had the flu.

But if I get sick - I seem to get sicker than anyone around here. And then
it takes me forever to get better.

Today I actually feel like a human being again instead of the zombie I was.
I'm not 100% better and I do feel compromised, as if I could pick up some
other germ very easily. So as you say, hiding out from the world and still
taking care of myself is my only priority for right now. My energy level is
low and my house is ......OMG! Today my only attempt is going to be dishes.
I don't think there is a single, clean fork, cup or plate in the house.
Thank goodness I have a dishwasher! Hubby should have switched to paper
plates and plastic forks but didn't. (And of course he never seems to know
how to use any appliance in this house!)
Bev

in theory, someone who has lupus (or autoimmune) has a ramped up immune system
and gets less infections and colds (if not on immune suppressing medications).

You've been getting these several times/year and the story is always similar.
Maybe your doctor's right about layering others' colds on you.
Most colds run their course in a week or 10 days, no need for antibiotics, but
you seem to get hit especially hard. maybe there's been sinus damage?

A friend of mine's similar to you, she gets sick, she doesn't stop, colds go
'round and 'round in her family and friends and neighbors. It's been that way
for them for many years.

When I've gotten a cold (not for many years now), I'd lock the world out (keep
other potentially sick people away) and take care of me. And keep my hands away
from my eyes, nose and mouth.
It's worked for me for years now and just the way I like it, because colds and
cough medicines and sinus medicines made me feel sicker, so I got fed up and
dealt with things differently.

PS I used to take Vit C orange flaboured and zinc lozenges when I did get
colds.
.
Hope you feel better soon and you can put a stop to this.
Hugs
J- knock wood I don't get any colds this year.

LOL

Sex = Energy  I don't have any energy.

I just don't understand why I'm not getting better faster. How long am I
going to stay so darn dragged down? Is the lupus behind this in some way? I
know that is a rhetorical question.
Bev

I'm sorry you're feeling so lousy Bev.
Chicken soup?
sex sometimes clears out the sinuses. :p
gargle warm water and salt for sore throat.
Yes, a person can do severe damage drinking too much water.

Sorry you'll have to go to court.
Hope you feel better soon.
J

Hello Everyone.

I've been sick as a dog since about the 3rd of the month. It started with
the old "I don't feel so great" routine and by that night I had a 103F temp
and my ears hurt. The next few days were a blur except that my daughter kept
stopping in to check on me. I went to the doctor on the 9th and he gave me
an antibiotic and some other stuff. Throat was dry and raw but
didn't/doesn't really hurt except when swallowing and I had an itchy rash
across my chest (maybe from the Motrin my daughter kept giving me to keep
the fever down to a reasonable 101?) and a nasty cough. Then I had the
granddaughter here Sunday - Monday (15th- 16th) and I took her to her doctor
as she had a sore throat, stuffy nose and a cough. (Mom had to work,
step-father away on a business trip and the kids were off from school.) The
17th my husband had a routine colonoscopy. So I had to be well enough to
drive him home and that was on the other side of the metropolis where we
live, about an hour's drive. So here I was still dog sick with him in a
germy hospital. I'm not saying the hospital is not clean but I think that
doctor's offices and hospitals are about the germiest places I know. They
could not complete the colonoscopy on my husband as they could not get the
scope in very far. So now he has to return next week for a barium test. They
did say they saw nothing just couldn't make the turn in the intestine with
the scope.  Wed. (18th) I'm back at the doctor's office for me. Fever
dropped to low grade but still feeling like I'd been dragged through the
dirt for a few miles. Throat was no better, glands swollen and I could
barely walk as my ligament/tendons/muscles in groin and legs were killing
me. You would have thought I'd just done a 100 deep knee bends. If a chair
didn't have arms I couldn't stand up. Think about that - potties don't come
with arms. LOL And cold symptoms along with a nasty case of diarrhea (maybe
from the antibiotic?). Okay, now I had the doctor stumped. He swore he was
trying very hard to wave his magic wand over me and fix my problems but it
wasn't working. He gave me a low dose Sudafed - dangerous Rx for me with BP
problems. So it is take BP and then take Sudafed. So far so good. He called
me late Fri night to make sure I was going to survive this weekend. His
thought is that I layered my granddaughter's cold on top of my already
compromised physical condition. So rather than taking more antibiotics he
just wants me to stay on the Sudafed and Musinex , cough med, Pedialyte plus
take steamy showers and stay in bed and if I have to I can use a saline
solution for my nasal passages. He wants me back in there either Mon or
Tues. I have no energy. The Sudafed is drying my mouth and throat and I
think that is keeping my throat raw. I'm drinking so much water he thinks I
got my electrolytes out of balance thus the leg pains. The good news is I've
lost 10 pounds the last time I checked.

Life does go on so in the wee hours of Sat (21st) morning  I am awake and I
hear this strange noise. I'm thinking "what the heck are our neighbors
doing?" (Doesn't everyone have at least one neighbor like that?) So I looked
out the window but then realized that it wasn't them it was on the street
and it was a drunk driver hitting cars. I grabbed the phone and dialed 911
and told them. I hollered to my sleeping husband that our car was about to
be hit - as if his being awake was going to prevent it? Was my superhero
going to leap from our second story window and stop the on-coming vehicle
and save out poor little Ford Escort? LOL With the phone still in my hand I
went down the stairs with adrenalin speed and out onto the porch just in
time to see our neighbor's car being shoved within a few feet of our Escort
before coming to a stop. The drunk then backed up and drove away but I got
his license plate and told the cops where he went. Yep, they got him but he
managed to wipe out 4 cars on our street - just not ours this time. Since
I'm the only one in the neighborhood who actually saw the cars being hit
guess who will be subpoenaed to court?

Oh, and my clothes dryer has to be replaced - it's in bad shape. Washing
machine is not far behind it. They are both old. That's okay as I'm too sick
to do laundry anyway.
((Hugs to everyone!))
Bev