I was pretty sickly in High School, and shortly after around 18 and 19. Looking back on it, I think it was mostly stress that caused the illnesses. I really hated my store jobs, and I think my body responded by lowering my immune system. Also, the house we lived in had some serious MOLD issues, I bleached the walls several times where the mold was in the wall panels but it was to no avail.
Since we've had kids, I've been sick, I mean really sick, only a handful of times. I can not remember the last time I vomited, I think it was at Joan's bachelorette party. I was infected with the tequila virus. I was VERY sick, once, when we lived with Evan. I was so sick that I swore I had a flu, but it was just a nasty common virus. I was so physically affected by that illness, so many white blood cells built up around my spine and caused a paralysis. Since THEN, I've had a few boughts of sniffles. Nothing more than "similar to allergy symptoms" type stuff, and nothing more than a few days. Kenny gets a cold about once a year, no biggie, and the kids are super healthy. We go to the Dr. for the occasional broken arm and corn kernels in the ear!
What brings this on, is the stark realization (from FaceBook status messages) that many of my closest friends fight seemingly endless cycles of illness. I'm not sure why we don't suffer from weekly colds. We don't keep a clean household, I'm not concerned with germs, and we seem to have a pretty high constitution around here. I wonder if we just don't let colds keep us down... maybe they don't bother us as much as they bother others, and we just shrug them off as minor annoyances. Maybe since we're not freaky about cleanliness we have been exposed to many different baddies and have built up immunities. (I'm sure that super bug I got at the Felix house probably built up my immune system for years to come.)
I have kids in public school... a 5 year old... we don't take vitamins (though we don't eat a lot of packaged food)... we have a messy household with poor hygiene, it should be ripe for germs.
I wonder how many people actually just have allergies to indoor things like: foods, dust, chemicals, molds, pet stuff etc... and label it sick. Nic and Chloe have this spring nasal drainage every year, which causes some sniffing and a little morning cough... it's all allergy induced, we give them benadryl when the symptoms are really bothersome, a majority of the time it's not. If Ainsley doesn't eat properly in the evening, lethargy, fever and vomiting are sure to happen the next morning, it is a guarantee (I know some of you readers have witnessed this phenomenon). If she has low blood sugar it is physically apparent. If I feed her shortly after the "illness" she perks up a few hours later and is just fine. (it really makes it hard to say, eat your dinner or go to bed).
Anyway, just an observation. I see a lot of "Sick kid, sick husband, sick again" posts on FaceBook. It just prompts me to consider why in the heck the same people seem to get sick over and over.
1 comment:
I suspect that some of my posts recently are part of what's prompted this blog. The strange thing for me is, I'm the opposite of you. Until I had kids, I *never* got sick. Like you now, I only got sick enough to puke once in a rare while (like 6-7 years). - I still get sick less than the rest of the family. - You've also prompted me to pay more attention to what my kids eat at night. Nathan has hypoglycemia issues and it's entirely possible that the kids do too. I had no idea that could cause them to puke. Nathan was always sick as a 'kid' as well, so maybe that's directly linked. Hmmmm
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