Why does she keep getting sick?

[fairfarmhand]

My 15 yo has constantly been sick for the last 6 months.

 

It's never anything serious, just colds and sniffles.

 

She's getting sick like every 7-10 days with a 5 day cold. 

 

How can we break this cycle?

 

It's not allergies. 

 

She takes vitamins. 

 

She does have a part time job babysitting and I'm wondering if that's the problem. That will be on hold till after the first of the year, so we;ll see if she stops getting sick without the little kid germs.

[maize]

Could she have a zinc deficiency? Or vitamin D?

[Guinevere]

Add a daily probiotic, and limit sugar consumption. Also, does she sleep well?

[fraidycat]

That sounds like something more than “little kid germsâ€. Even little kids shouldn’t be constantly sick, and someone with a healthy immune system shouldn’t “catch it†every week!

 

If it were me, I’d be getting her on probiotics and elderberry syrup to boost her immune system and also be looking more closely at the environment she spends a lot of her time in. She could have absolutely developed allergies or it could be something more sinister, like mold.

[eternalsummer]

That's not little kid germs.  She's had, what, 20 colds/illnesses in the last 6 months?  I too think there is something systemic going on.  I don't know what, but I'd take her to a doctor and see if they have any insights.

[Ann.without.an.e]

Are you absolutely positive it isn't allergies?  I would have said that about my dd.  If someone had suggested allergies I would have blown them off.  She had sinus flare up, sinus infection, head cold, etc. in succession and spent about a year sick.  She was finally referred to an ENT who discovered that all of her sinus cavities were completely filled with swollen tissue.  She had to have surgery and then she had allergy testing and it turns out she is allergic to almost every environmental allergen there is: cats, dust mites, molds, trees, flowers, there really was very little in her allergy panel that came back safe for her.  She never had typical allergy symptoms - watery eyes, sneezing, etc.  Her only symptom was that her sinuses were swelling on the inside.  The surgery took hours longer than normal because she had been so swollen for so long (probably most of her life) that the bone inside had thickened and was difficult to work through.  So, she had battled these allergies for years and years and didn't know any difference.  Once everything inside became completely blocked by swollen tissue, she got sick and stayed sick.  Now, after having all of the swollen tissue removed and being on allergy meds most of the time, she can actually tell when her allergies are flared but she couldn't before because "flared" was her normal.

Edited December 12, 2017 by Attolia

[gardenmom5]

what's her immune cycle like?

is she getting enough sleep?  enough down time? 

 

but I would start focusing specifically on what would support her immune system.   that is way more than vitamins.

 

oh - and candida can weaken the immune system.  does she have an symptoms there?

 

eta: just a thought. is there a possibly of black mold where she's babysitting?

Edited December 12, 2017 by gardenmom5

[Tap]

Genuinely curious, not being snarky.....why do you think it is not allergies? 

[katilac]

I would bet money on allergies. 

[Arcadia]

Temporarily megadose of vitamin C has been helpful for my family, even my husband who doesn’t have allergies. I have gastric problems since young so I have to be careful when upping the dose of vitamin C supplements. The dosage on daily multivitamins aren’t high enough when we start sneezing.

 

I agree that mold at the child’s home or any other place your daughter goes often can be an issue too.

[Butter]

I'd take her to the doctor and get some blood tests.  There has to be a reason and little kid germs is not likely for this many illnesses.

 

(Admittedly I am a bit alarmist about stuff like this as my daughter has several chronic illnesses and getting sick constantly was one of the things that drove us to get diagnoses... which took forever because her blood work always looked good, but inside she really was a mess.)

[trulycrabby]

My recommendation is to get her in with her doctor.

 

Also, start taking her afternoon temperature to see if she is running a low grade fever. Has she lost any weight without dieting? What is her appetite like?

[Shelly in IL]

Sinus problems are oven fungal. Have them check that route.

[fairfarmhand]

I think not allergies because she really recovers from the illness. So she’ll feel good for 5-7 days and then get a sore throat and two days after that it’s the snots again.

 

I think doctor is probably where we need to go.

 

She’s sleeping fine. Plenty of downtime. Has a mellow personality so doesn’t get stressed about much...except the constant sicknesses!

 

I do think the probiotics are a good idea.

 

 

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[fairfarmhand]

And on eliminating dairy...

 

She’s sooo picky.

 

It’s not that she can’t stand to eat other things. It’s that she wants every meal to be a divine experience. So if we’re out of sour cream, she won’t eat tacos. If the right kind of cheese isn’t in the fridge she doesn’t like to switch to another kind.

 

And she loves stuff with cheese. Pizza and tacos are two things that shell always eat. She dislikes sandwiches, eggs, beans broccoli, peppers, cereal, oatmeal, carrots, most fruits. Probably more stuff that she dislikes too.

 

She does eat dinner every day and I try to have leftovers but it doesn’t always work out.

 

 

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[Junie]

I think not allergies because she really recovers from the illness. So she’ll feel good for 5-7 days and then get a sore throat and two days after that it’s the snots again.

 

I think doctor is probably where we need to go.

 

She’s sleeping fine. Plenty of downtime. Has a mellow personality so doesn’t get stressed about much...except the constant sicknesses!

 

I do think the probiotics are a good idea.

 

 

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Is the nasal discharge clear?

 

My ds is allergic to sunflower seeds.  What we thought was a cold that would.not.quit was actually an allergy to his baseball dugout.  He never ate the seeds, but the dust in the air was enough to trigger cold-like symptoms.

 

We realized the problem when baseball took a two-week break and then re-started.  Maybe she's allergic to something in the other house.

[Bluegoat]

What about moms?  It often manifests itself as general draggieness and small illnesses, at least for the first while.

 

But it could be the exposure to little kids - I babysat a friends little boy a few years ago when my eldest was small, and he was in part-time preschool - we were sick so often that year it was insane.  It stopped though when we no longer had him the next year.

[gardenmom5]

I also agree with a megadose of vitamin C.  make sure to use one that contains bioflavinoids.   combine with echinachea - and take every three hours.

[gardenmom5]

Sinus problems are oven fungal. Have them check that route.

 

I just started treating for candida again - and it's amazing how much my sinuses improved . . ;p

[catz]

Add a daily probiotic, and limit sugar consumption. Also, does she sleep well?

This. I’d also consider prophylactic elderberry syrup and regular exercise, prefably outdoors.

 

How are her stress levels?

[Mama Geek]

In the past I caught everything and had multiple sinus infections a year.  I take claritan every day now, I have been doing a low carb high fat diet (no sugar, no grains, very small amounts of diet soda), I am also using a high alcohol content mouth wash daily and I have quit getting the sinus infections and am not getting sick even my daughter has ended up sick a time or 2.  Even if your daughter is getting over it and then getting it again, it could still be allergies.

[mathnerd]

One year, I was sick all the time - I was not sleeping or eating well at that time. It turned out that I had a Vitamin D and Vitamin B12 deficiency. I figured that I might have a few more deficiencies if we could find 2 deficiencies through testing. I was under a prescription dose to up those vitamins. I also added a multi vitamin and a Zinc/elderberry supplement and a probiotic to my diet. 

 

These days, I drink elderberry tea once a day and exercise and eat an orange before I leave the house to meet people.

[katilac]

It might be worth daily Claritin or Zytec for a while, just to see if it helps. Allergies aren't always obvious. 

 

I would wait to see if "no little kids" clears it up first, though!

[Katy]

I'd have her avoid high-histamine foods like cheese for a while.  Fresh or frozen or vegetarian proteins only, no aged proteins (beef, pork, cheese) at all.  I bet the colds go away.

[Hobbes]

Huge allergy issues here, both environmental and food. Symptoms can definitely come and go, depending on exposure and overall load, especially if there are multiple allergies in play. I wouldn't rule it out based on that.

[plansrme]

Health teens do not get colds that often, which means either that she is not healthy or they are not colds.  I would go with Option B and figure out what they are.

 

I took my then-14 yo in to the pediatrician once because she'd been diagnosed with cellulitis three or four times in as many years (red streaks make health providers nervous, I'd found out).  My point was that healthy teens do not get cellulitis on an annual basis.  I, Dr. Mom, decided that that meant it wasn't cellulitis; it was, instead, a reaction to ant bites.  I just needed the pediatrician to agree with me and note it in her file for some eventuality I couldn't ever quite figure out.  The ped agreed that it was an odd reaction but that I was right.  My daughter has gotten the red streaks from this particular variety of ant since then, and we've not treated with anything other than cortisone if it itches.   

 

For what it's worth, my son had a bad sinus infection diagnosed by an ENT who scoped his nose and found pus pockets.  It looked just like a cold, but with no fever, no green discharge, no nothing but cold symptoms.

[Seeking Squirrels]

I haven't read all the replies, but has she been fully allergy tested? My 9yo was tested for seasonal allergies when she was 5ish and it came back negative. Last winter she was sick all. the. time. She would be down for several days, apparently with a cold, then she'd be better for a few days, then turn around and be sick again.  We went back to the allergist and they expanded their test and it came back highly allergic to dust mites of all things. Something so simple and sooo hard to do anything about; they're everywhere. She's on singulair now and doing so much better.  

[fairfarmhand]

I'd have her avoid high-histamine foods like cheese for a while. Fresh or frozen or vegetarian proteins only, no aged proteins (beef, pork, cheese) at all. I bet the colds go away.

Crud. She would eat nothing.

 

I swear she’s been the “sickliest†of my kids.

 

But she’s cute and funny. I guess I’ll keep her anyway.

 

 

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[KaleSprouts]

I think the Zinc and Vit. D will help whether the problem is pathogens or allergies, so that might be an easy starting place.  

We use a liquid zinc sulfate supplement here from time to time and if you use something like that you can actually do an at home test for deficiency (explained here: https://blog.radiantlifecatalog.com/bid/59012/Are-you-Zinc-Deficient-A-simple-DIY-test-from-Premier-Research-Labs ).  I haven't used the supplement sold in the link - there are plenty of options to shop around from.  

[Carol in Cal.]

Those are the symptoms I had when I got Mono.  

There is an easy blood test for that--it's worth checking.

[three4me]

I kept getting colds. At the recommendation of my doctor I started doing Flonase daily and life has been SO much better.

[wonderchica]

I would agree with considering mold, at home; where she babysits; any other place she spends a lot of time.

[Harriet Vane]

When this cycle happened to my son, we thought for certain it was allergies and had him thoroughly tested.

 

It was NOT allergies.

 

He had a colonized bacterial infection of the sinuses. In other words, he had a chronic sinus infection that had been there so long it was rampant (colonized).

 

The protocol to treat it was unusual but really, really effective. I appreciate the amazing allergist who prescribed this approach, as I have not met ANY other doctors who do it this way. But when I described it to ds' GP and to other doctors, they have been impressed and intrigued.

 

 

 

SO, here's what ds had to do for 6 weeks:

 

 

Dr prescribed Muriprocin antibiotic cream AND a Qvar inhaler.

 

We dissolved 3 inches of Muriprocin into warm, distilled water in a Neilmed bottle. (Squeeze a line out on a slip of wax paper and then scrape with a butter knife or chopstick off paper and drop into the warm water.) Also add one Neilmed dissolvable packet to the warm water. Stir/shake until all is dissolved. Then shoot medicated, warm water through nose/sinus cavities per Neilmed instructions. (We found a Youtube video to demonstrate that was very helpful). Do half through one nostril and half through the other.

 

Then, take a rubber baby bottle nipple and cut the end off. Place the wide part of the nipple (the part that would normally be ON the bottle) OVER the mouth of the Qvar inhaler. Insert the cut end of the bottle nipple (the part that would normally go in the mouth to suck) into the nostril. Dispense Qvar while inhaling, one puff per nostril.

 

 

 

Why this works:

 

The antibiotic is placed directly on/in the site of the infection. Also the Neilmed dissolvable packet cleans/sanitizes the infection site as well. The Qvar inhaler disperses the medicine in a finer mist / smaller droplets and with slightly more force than nasal steroid bottles so the Qvar medicine reaches all the nooks and crannies more effectively.