I don't know if anyone else with FM or other chronic pain conditions has experienced this, or if there is a medical explanation. (At this point, I haven't found one.)
I understand that when a person or a body is under stress it is more susceptible to infection; however, there seems to be a collapse in my immune system with the onset of my period. Nine times out of ten, when I catch a cold or flu, it coincides with my menstral cycle. Why is that?
Last night, I barely slept at all. I had a very sudden onset of a cold; my coughing would wake me up. Also, choking on my own nasal mucous caused me to sit upright in the dark. Not pleasant at all.
Sometimes I wonder with the fibro immuno supression why I chose to go into teaching. It is hard to stay healthy when you are surrounded by sick students who come to school because their parents won't let them stay home or ailing colleagues who pride themselves on never taking sick days, meanwhile they bring their germs to work for the rest of us to catch. The only work environments that would be worse would be day-care or hospitals.
Some of you might say, whine whine, it's only a cold! With fibro, there is no such thing as "only" a cold, flu etc. Every illness gets amplified by the fibro. The body pain, the interupted or non-restful sleep... it's a viscious cycle already but add to that an illness and everything gets ramped up big time!
Many people liken fibro pain to the weakness and aches caused by flu. That's an understatement! For some though, that is the only comparison that they can possibly understand. With a cold, I get sinus headaches which frequently blossom into migraines, body aches and chills plus all over body pain that is much worse than on a regular, non-sick day.
Sniff, sniff! I just want to go home, crawl under my covers, and sleep until this cold is gone.
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