I'm sick all the time! 10 courses of antibiotics in the last 15 months. Please help!

Dear Brother Nate,

I used to get a cold that turned into a sinus infection routinely every winter. Congestion to the point I couldn’t breathe out of my nose. I’d would be down and out 3-4 months out of the year… Same dose of drugs. Neti pot. Flonase. I’ve doubled and quadruple allergy drugs like Claritin. I’ve stopped all drugs except http://www.dymista.com/hcp/Compare/To%20Flonase. None of the other crap worked. Most insurance companies do not cover it but with a coupon it’s 60 bucks. I toss it on the FSA Card so it feels painless.

I had the the same sinus surgery minus deviated septum. However, doc says I need to do so. I ain’t doing that sh*t. As you know, nasal surgery sucks a$$.

I’m off the shots and on sublingual drops for the last 8 months.

At work and home I have HEPA filters. At work I have the Honeywell. Bed Bath and Beyond carries the filters. Home. I use Several Rabbits . The Best Air Purifier Reviews for 2022 | Home Air Guides 3 and 1 in the article.

I change my car cabin filter like it’s going out of style. I used to have a portable HEPA for the car but why have a nice quiet car and a stupid filter running?

I travel a ton as well. Whilst on travel you are well, F’d. That said, Marriott well do low allergen rooms. Feather free. Some will have filters. When I travel to NY I’ll send a filter and replace theirs. Marriott Bonvoy Customer Service and Online Help

Extremely ridiculous but once you have been on the cycle of drugs it’s so worth it.

I’m down and kind of out with a head cold now (little knee injury as well) I’ve ramped down my training. Took some time off. Just lifting but not hard. Pushed down my FTP. I don’t care if I hit the numbers. It’s a plus to get on the bike. Especially, if I can do so without kid interruptions, work calls and blowing my nose. Whilst sick, I actually have to grab a second towel for blowing my nose. Yes, that’s gross but it’s a must. There are times I just have to stop and blow. Life with allergies and head colds bite!

I’m absolutely anal about washing my hands. I will not touch food without washing hands. I will not eat at subway where they touch money and toss on a glove to give me a 12 inch fecal covered veggie sandwich. People around me think I’m out of mind. However, I have skipped the sinus infection for the last 4 years after having them every year since my teenage years.

I’m closer to 50 than 40.
8-9% body fat Tanita.
Vegetarian
I take vegan protein.
I collect wine. Drink it too.

Thanks for posting and good luck. And wash your damn hands and get HEPA filters.

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OT
I loved the various signs in Zambia. Harvey Tiles never failed to amuse.

20111017-152204

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Nate have you ever tried doing the blood type diet ? Do you ever feel sluggish or tired after eating ? this might be something for you and to boost your immune system .

www.dadamo.com: The official Blood Type Diet website

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How about bovine colostrum? It’s initial milk produced by cows within 48 h of calving and contains some mmuno-enhancing substances such as IgG. You can have it lactose free.

In PubMed there are many articles about it, e.g: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC6024018/

Here is also a great site you can read about it: https://www.neovite.com/

WADA does not recommend colostrum because of some quantities of IGF-1 but it’s also not prohibited.

Hope You get better soon @Nate_Pearson

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@Nate_Pearson I don’t suffer from sinus problems to anywhere to the same degree as you, but have had my fair share of health and sleep issues over recent years and have two small children so know how much of a toll it can all take.

I would love to be able to offer some amazing advice on how to remedy your health issues but instead I just want to say a massive well done for everything you have achieved and are doing on a daily basis. That’s no small feat to balance family, health, work and fitness so whilst it doesn’t help change anything I wanted to offer up my encouragement :facepunch:

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Hey, Nate. Re: active dudes taking iron supplements…I did a triathlon in a small town in KS once & there happened to be a very successful Div III xc coach there. I arranged to buy him a meal so I could pick his brain (if you’re a successful Div I XC coach, you’re probably a good recruiter…if you’re a perennially successful Div III XC coach, you’re probably a great developer of talent).

One of the things he told me is that many of his male athletes were taking iron supplements. Of course, all of them were tested, but he told me most dudes that adhere to the type of training volume required to be successful will develop some sort of iron deficiency. Or anyhow that was his experience. So, based on his advice, I stopped training so hard. :slightly_smiling_face: Just kidding…I started getting my iron checked regularly.

Other than that, holy smokes, you’re doing/trying a lot. Try prayer! Ha!

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I thought about this also, but found hand sanitizer and not touching my eyes/nose/mouth was sufficient. FWIW when I’m on an airplane or bus/train, I avoid deep inhalation’s to limit probability of me inhaling airborne nasties.

When my kids are sick, I pay extra attention to not touching eyes/nose/mouth. Not sure I’d want to wear a mask around them - might send the wrong signal :grin:. I also pay particular attention to making sure the kids don’t drink from my glass, use my fork, etc.

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You might have a tooth infection in the upper jaw. This can cause sinus infections. Is it always on one side or on both?

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I read through all the things you’ve done and it seems you’ve done most everything I could think of.

I moved from a humid climate to a dry one and had a lot of trouble at first. I’d go mountain biking here and warm up then stop and blow my nose for 10 minutes because it bothered me so bad, and I’d never really had allergies.

One thing that I’ve done here, in addition to some of what you mention, is added plants that are known to be good for purifying air to the rooms I’m in the most. I’ve got two in my bedroom and four in my living room. It’s just an apartment so that covers it. Don’t know if it helped or not but I was much better this year and luckily able to get off of allergy medication. Certain some of it was adapting to the new environment though.

There are several different types of plants that do really well indoors and all of mine thrive on just the light coming through the blinds.

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Nate,

I am amazed at how you put all this out there. Others have mentioned local honey. Go with it for honey use. Why? It helps with allergies. My wife used to have all sorts of allergies and we have gone with local honey and her allergies have lessened their effect. The change was made 6 years ago when we got married. Buy it in gallon containers to be most cost effective (though another supplier here provides in 5 gallon and even 55 gallon containers).

FYI - you can have a viral count done. Where the actual number of those little buggers are counted to know how infected you are.

Reach out like this through your other networks. Find the best and go visit them. Like Johnathan did for his knee.

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My girlfriend had a very similar experience to you. She was always needing antibiotics for sinus infections and it more or less consumed her life - worrying if a little sniffle was going to result in another sinus infection. There was never any rhyme or reason as to how they came on. We now live in the Czech Republic, where she got incredible help and didn’t need surgery. After learning that she’d been over-prescribed antibiotics in the US (it’s only a sinus infection when you have a fever and it’s a very dark yellow/brown mucus; when it’s light yellow, the US docs often prescribe antibiotics too, but that’s not actually a sinus infection [yet] and that’s your body trying to fight it off, so by taking antibiotics then, it doesn’t help your body build up any immunity against future ‘attacks’). So, here they prescribed her Brocho-Vaxom after she did a million tests and they still couldn’t figure out what the trigger was. She’s around a lot of people and children of all ages as a teacher of children and adults, but in her blood tests, Xrays, etc etc. they couldn’t find anything concrete that suggested why she couldn’t fight off these colds that always turned into sinus infections. Broncho-Vaxom isn’t in the US yet as it’s not approved by the FDA yet (they take forever), but it’s available here (and likely across Europe) and it’s changed her whole life. It’s an immune-boosting ‘vaccine’ for the ears-nose-throat-respiratory system. You get 30 pills and take it in three doses: one pill every morning 30 minutes before eating for 10 days, wait 20 days, do it again, wait 20 days, do it again. She went from sinus infections 6-7 times per year to zero in the 6 years since she took Broncho-Vaxom. Prior to taking it, they were talking about surgery for the polyps (not sure what that involves, but doesn’t sound pleasant), as well as on her sinus cavities. Luckily, the Broncho-Vaxom cleared it up (seemingly for good). Happy to talk to you more about it. So come on over to Czech Republic for inexpensive effective health care, nice beer, and good riding!

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The only thing I haven’t seen mentioned yet is your teeth… I thought all my dental problems were fixed and dental checkups showed no issues, but I was having recurring headaches and sinus problems that were wearing me down (didnt feel like teeth at all) and eventually, after an X ray at Dentists, they found a very slight infection in a root that obviously flared up now and then when I was worn down. I seemed to get colds a lot more easily when going through a period of these headaches.

Root canal treatment and I now seem to get sick a lot less.

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Broncho-Vaxom is a mix of all the “bad” bacteria you usually try to avoid like Streptococcus Pneumoniae but in a weakened form, so that your body is able to fight them easily. It also helped me.

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If I can not get sick all the time I think I can get around 4.5 watt/kg :smiley:. Thanks for the suggestions.

It’s a team of doctors that know about my history and what I’m taking. So far the answer has been “There’s no way around this other than REALLY expensive weekly infusions”.

One forum doctor already emailed me and gave me another suggestion that would be prophylactic antibiotic nasal rinses. He also had a lot of great questions that my current doctors have never asked me…so I really do think I need to look outside the area for treatment.

And yes, it’s really sinusitis. My ENT even had me scanned while I was infected once to see everything.

That’s a good suggestion! Since the THC is removed then I shouldn’t get popped by WADA :smiley:. It’s totally legal here now in Nevada so there are lots of shops with all sorts of products.

We are twins! I also had imaging show nasal polypes and I had surgery and they were removed (confirmed by a second surgery). I do a daily cortisone spray and do nasal showers. My day to day allergy symptoms are very mild to non-existent as long as I avoid allergens (especially offseason).

I do have higher levels of protein in my urine. I did tests at home that showed this (based on Chad’s urine strips) and then I had urgent care do this again and the doctor said: “Yeah, they are a bit high but nothing to worry about”. I have a pretty low protein diet now and have meat only once every 1-2 days.

I’ll add this to my medical history. thanks!

Thanks! I have also tried dymista and did that for a few months earlier in the year. I also wash my hands a ton (maybe not to your extent) and I have super good air filters in my home and car. The biggest issue is when my kids get sick and they ask me to hold them because they feel bad…then they sneeze directly into my mouth.

I don’t have to heart to tell them I can’t comfort them because I don’t want to get sick.

I haven’t tried this but I will look into it.

That’s interesting and I will look into that too!

I’ve heard that too, but because you can store too much Iron and that can be very bad for your health I wouldn’t want to take it without constant testing. I’ll make sure I get iron levels on my next blood panel. They were low earlier in my athletic career when I was doing triathlon. Now-a-days I’m doing so much less training relative to that I would think my body can keep up.

Switches around. I had to get full x-rays for my dental device and I think it would have shown up on that. Good thought though.

Oh yes, it’s pure green or dark yellow and lots and lots of it. I freak my wife out. I’ll look into Broncho-Vaxom. I go to Portugal in the spring and if I haven’t solved this by then I’ll see if I can pick some up.

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Have you read this?

I had not but that does check a lot of boxes. I will bring it up with my doctor(s).

Hi Nate,

I have 2 small kids and they are always passing along colds/virus’s. They seem to pick everything up. I usually have minor allergies in the summer, and this year was the worst. A sleep doctor told me I was always tired because the reaction from them impeded my breathing while sleeping. Easy to imagine this is true. Since normal medications didn’t solve anything, I’ve been experimenting with meat only diet. Not trendy and trendy at the same time. Within days my breathing got better.

Maybe the cumulative effects of all the plants you eat doesn’t allow your body to rest, it’s always dealing with high levels of inflammation. We all “know” that plants are healthy to eat, but is there science to back it up? Lots of MD’s in the USA aren’t convinced that the studies showing plants in diets are actually required. If you can find an MD who can test for inflammation, maybe resetting your diet and adding material back in gradually could work? For a probably biased set of testimonials, see meatheals.com.

I was desperate to stop being sick, but I thought logic would dictate starting from scratch with no assumptions, rather than consistently add more and more into life to see if there was a magic bullet. I would think a diet that reduces inflammation and increase’s insulin sensitivity would be a good place to start.

Good luck, keep us informed!
Steve

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I read your initial post and am replying (did not read the entire thread). I had very similar issues when I lived in TX. I was on continuous antibiotics for over 12 months with a constant sinus infection and related illnesses. For me it was allergies. I got to the point of allergy shots and Prednisone just to get a brief break from the symptons. I was also on a similar regimine of daily allergy meds (Flonaze, etc) to no avail…

It turned out there is a certain pollen that exists in the South (and SW I believe) that I was allergic to that did not exist in the northern climate from which I came (MN). I cannot remember what pollen/plant was the irritant. I do recall the Doc saying that this particular pollen can take time to build up to the point it elicits a reaction in people (especially transplants from the northern climates). I had lived in TX for about 7 years before I started having the problems. He indicated he had seen this in multiple patients that had moved south to the area…

We ended up moving back north and all of my symptons went away. I am no longer on any allergy meds and rarely have a sinus infection. Not suggesting this is your issue, but may be something to look into further…

I feel for you @Nate_Pearson and don’t have much meaningful to add. I suspect an immune deficiency, perhaps caused by the gross reduction in gut flora from all the different antibiotics and the cocktail of other remedies you take in addition to stress. Others have mentioned this.

At 41, I’ve found I generally feel better with less “stuff”. Currently only take fish oil + D when I remember. Everything else from food. Ive been down the oversupplementation road myself and have tried a few of the things you’re on with little notable difference. I cook with turmeric a couple times a week, and may start supplementing with ashwagandha shortly to help with general stress and anxiety, as well as improving sleep.

I occasionally use potato starch mixed with water as resistant starch before bed, and believe that helps with my sleep as well as improving gut health. Might be worth a shot at $4/bag at any decent grocer. I’m not a regular with this one either, but it has been effective for me in the past.

That said, I have struggled with my sleep for years, and also with sinus infections and general inability to breathe clearly through my nose. Your podcast and your specific case helped push me over the edge to see an ENT. Said ENT referred me to a sleep study where I was diagnosed with moderate sleep apnea and I’ve since started CPAP treatment. While I generally can’t wear the nose mask more than 5:30 in a given night, it has made my sleep more restorative in general, eliminated snoring, and seems to be helping.

In addition, said ENT performed a Septoplasty and turbinate reduction five days ago, from which I’m still recovering. Stents were removed this morning, and so far I am breathing better through my nose than at any point I can remember in my life, and I’m still swollen and healing. I wish I had done this sooner, and look forward to the myriad benefits in the future.

I wish you luck in solving this problem that I’ve heard you talk about since episode 5 or whatever it was. Thank you for sharing your story, as I think you have helped make a positive impact on my health beyond making me a faster cyclist.

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Sorry to hear of your ongoing issues! I would like to add to the comment re: CBD and to add a suggestion re: sleep quality & structured napping.

1. CBD:

I just (over the last 3-4 days ) started looking into using CBD to help treat my insomnia issues. There isn’t a lot of reliable research out there right now on CBD and its effects specifically on sleep or sleeping disorders. But from what I gather so far;

  • CBD as a therapy for mental health disorders: CBD may be a great therapy for anxiety, depression etc. These disorders cause sleep disorders/insomnia (or sleep disorders/insomnia nearly always lead to these disorders), so if that’s what is causing sleep issues then CBD is likely going to help.
  • CBD effects on sleep quality: There is a study done on rats where it looks like it decreases nREM and suppresses REM.
  • Label accuracy/dosage: Read a study that 1 in 5 products are not labelled with the correct amount of CBD, and that a lot of products can contain some amounts of THC. So you might still have to worry about WADA.
  • CBD microdoses for daytime wakefulness: I’ve come across claims in multiple articles/blogs that taking very small amounts of CBD throughout the day induces wakefulness and decreases daytime sleepiness. None of them were sourced.
  • CBD microdoses as therapy for anxiety/stress: Same as last point - have read it in a few places, but the claims don’t have any research behind them (though it makes sense to me

CBD is definitely something that I’m actively looking into for my insomnia - it takes hours for me to fall asleep (regardless of level of stress), I’m a light sleeper and I experience early morning awakening. But since you’ve stated that you have these issues (particularly that you easily fall asleep), I am curious to see if it does anything for you.

However - I did come across Cannabinoids as novel anti-inflammatory drugs. Other than a 10s scan, I haven’t read it, but I thought you may find it useful. The review “will focus on the potential use of cannabinoids as a new class of anti-inflammatory agents against a number of inflammatory and autoimmune diseases that are primarily triggered by activated T cells or other cellular immune components.”

2. Sleep Quality & Structured Naps

Have you experimented or looked into structured naps?

Looking at the chart where you note the amount of sleep you get each night, I’m wondering if the quality of your sleep could be improved if you had consistent amount of sleep each night and structured 1 or 2 naps into your day.

Most articles that I read on cognitive behavioural therapies for sleep disorders mention keeping a consistent wake time, even if you can sleep past it. That, combined with short naps might be worth considering?

PS

Also - check out Matthew Walker. He’s a professor of neuroscience and psychology. His research focuses on the impact of sleep on human health and disease, (rather than how to sleep better). He’s done a Google Talk which is great and written a book (which I ordered last week). I highly recommend giving his Google Talk a listen to.

Sorry this was long and apologies for not including many sources!! I’ve just started looking into CBD for myself and I haven’t consolidated my research properly yet, and happing isn’t a therapy that will work for me so I wouldn’t have kept tabs on research for that.

But I hope this is useful and best of luck :slight_smile:

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