I do everything "right" and still get sick once every 5 days

[sarahmorris258258]

Long story short, I have an exceptionally healthy lifestyle but I get sick all of the time. Mostly the sickness is extreme fatigue, colds, coughs, and dripping at the back of my throat.

In terms of doing everything "right", I'm a health nut. I exercise 1 hour, 5 days a week, alternating between a stationary bike and doing body-weight exercises. I am a vegan who eats well over 12 servings of vegetables every day of a wide variety. I meditate 15 minutes 5 days a week and am generally happy and average / slightly below average stress. I have a good set of friends who I see regularly. I take iron and b12 pills, as well as vitamin D because I live in a place with little sun. I wash my hands religiously before eating and after using the washroom, and I wash it for the amount of time it takes to sing happy birthday. I really feel like I do everything you could ask for, and yet, I get sick all the time. I've been tracking it in a spreadsheet, and over the last 1.5 years, I am sick on average once every 5 days.

This didn’t used to happen. Up until 4 years ago, I got sick maybe once a year and I usually recovered quickly. I’m 26 now. The only thing I can think of that changed 4 years ago was that I became self-employed and worked from home, and that I have had more stressful work. Before that however, I was depressed and ate terribly, so it seems unlikely that those were the causes.

I have been to three separate doctors and none have been able to help. One tested my blood and found I was deficient in nothing. One said I might be allergic to something (unspecified) but didn’t want to have me tested. One said it might be because I was touching my face too much, which I’ve tried to stop doing, and now I’m at normal amounts and that still hasn’t changed anything.

I’m at my wits end. Does anybody have any ideas of what it might be?

[Harv_c]

Good answer Niko.  Now that you have this info Sarah, you should try to balance your exercise to your nutritional intake to offset the extreme fatigue.  If your diet for the day happens to be low in protein, weights are probably not a good choice and you can have fatigue based on the time of day you exercise vs when you eat.

I would think allergy as well for the other issues and this could happen because of your change in environment to your home and being around something more than before.  This can be a cat, dog, any plant around your house, or even a build up of dust in your air vents.  Splurge on some more expensive filters if you think this is the case.  If not, change your pillow more often.  Also, we can develop allergies to things we were not allergic to before.  I am not sure how this happens but I have relatives with this case.

Good luck, we are pulling for you.

[sarahmorris258258]

Pillows! That's definitely something I don't change often and should. I'll try that. I often feel stuffy in the morning too, which might imply the pillows for sure. Thanks :)

[TheLightSeeker]

Iron and b12 pills may be inadequate, due to limited absorption and assimilation.
Most people have problems with oral iron supplements.
Being a vegan does not ensure good health.
Please don't take this personally, but having been a vegan myself in the past, married to a dietitian and having a background in Holistic health, I found very little evidence to support the vegan-wellness ideology.
My choices now include pastured grass-fed meat, free-range farm raised organic poultry and eggs, no mercury fish...
I still prefer vegetables and legumes, however, I must admit that my health was not optimized while being a vegan (and having done everything by the book).
I would do a trial of b12 methylocobalamin in sublingual drops , methylfolate (these forms do not need conversion)
Your anti-oxidants may be low, specially glutathione, the master anti-oxidant and detoxifier.
Also  low creatine, carnosine, sulfur, taurine, Omega-3 DHA
are commonly low in vegans.
D3 supplementation must be high and combined with K2, to ensure calcium gets deposited in bones and teeth-not soft tissues!
Best wishes,
Niko

[sarahmorris258258]

Thanks, Niko. I'll get some of the sublingual b12, that could definitely be it. I'll see if there are any tests I can get my doctor to give to see if I'm deficient in the other things you mentioned. And I didn't know K2 was needed for vitamin D! I'll check into it.

Do you know if it takes awhile for deficiencies to start showing up as symptoms, because I've been a vegan for 10 years and a vegetarian for 16, but I didn't start developing symptoms until 4 years ago, so that would be 6 years after I stopped eating animal products.