Mine has improved vastly since I stopped eating wheat and sugar. I used to get a cold 3-4 times a year and now it’s basically never. I hadn’t had so much as the sniffles for 2 years until a couple of weeks ago, when I had a cough for 4 days (which I blame on the crap food I started eating around the holidays, and didn’t completely eliminate thereafter.)
Many people are surprised to hear I have never had a headache in my entire life - and despite many a long night in bars in my youth, also never had a hangover. (Well, there was that one case of “brain freeze” when I ate a snow-cone too fast when I was about 8 years old, but other than that, nothing.)
I have had the occasional minor cold or minor flu over the years - usually gone in a day - but rarely anything longer, and few and far between. I use my sick days at work to just be lazy and go see a movie or whatever.
I get a flu shot every year - just in case - and I do take a single aspirin every day (for over 30 years now!) - so not sure if either of those have helped, but they don’t hurt.
I sometimes wonder if it is because I have been a teacher so long - I mean, with all the cooties I get from students (and thus from their families and friends), I would imagine my body has pretty much come in contact with most common viruses/bacteria and found a work-around. We used to joke that new teachers would get sick about every month, but after awhile the immune system kicks into gear and experienced teachers can survive better and longer than cockroaches.
BTW - I recently went to a doctor for a physical check up (after 8 years) and he gave me a clean bill of health.
I haven’t had the barfing flu since 98. I get the flu shot to help protect my wife, she has auto immune issues. I will get a head cold every couple years. Nothing ever serious. My mother was a nurse and we got our shots but never unneeded antibiotics. I have parts of my body falling apart since I’ve hit 40 but very rarely the common cold.
I just have good genes. I have done precisely nothing to deserve this immune system. My dad is 91 years old and has never had the flu in as long as I can recall. I have not had the flu since I was a sophomore in college, and can count on one hand the amount of times I’ve had it in my entire life. 100% of those few occurrences have been before I was old enough to drink. Since graduating college, I have never had the flu, and have had a cold only twice.
What do I attribute it to? Good food? I guess, but not really. I eat healthyish in general, but I drink more than anyone should, and never shy away from bacon. Exercise? I love to cycle, but during the winter, I happily get fat and lazy because indoor gyms make me sad, and cycling in slush makes me ever sadder. It’s just not in my DNA to get sick. I never get flu shots, and the idea that I could get sick never even crosses my mind.
Two things addressed here. Headaches: I haven’t had one since I was in elementary school. I’ve had hangovers, but even they don’t come with headaches. Germs: I am not a germaphobe at all. I wash my hands after using the john and before I eat and that’s really it. I’m not afraid of door handles or trying on clothes in department stores (some people here are; I’m not kidding), and am generally unconcerned with cooties. I just try to be basically healthy and hygienic, and am grateful that luck has been so good to me.
When I eat well, I don’t get ill. When I don’t eat well, like this winter, I get colds, bronchitis, sore throats, etc. Bleh.
I’m historically very prone to ear/nose/throat infections, like my dad (I also inherited his skinny build, digestive problems and migraines - my sturdy-peasant-type mom never gets ill, can eat anything and has had about 2 headaches her whole life. The bitch) but I’ve had a pretty great 4-year run with almost no illnesses, due to very healthy lifestyle.
I’ve never had a serious flu, that I can recall. Maybe once when I was 17, but that could have just been food poisoning.
ETA: ‘Eating well’ for me means no wheat, moderate carbohydrate, and tons of meat, dairy, and veggies. I’ve tried eating a lot of different ways and this is the best for my body by far. But it requires planning and cooking.
When I was young I had all the childhood diseases and then some, measles, mumps, chicken pox, scarlet fever, strep throat, even pneumonia. The older I got, the less often I got sick, and by the time I got out of school and reached adulthood I didn’t get sick anymore, or rarely.
I am in my mid-50s now and seriously cannot remember the last time I got sick, it has certainly been many years, maybe decades.
And it isn’t from leading a life protected from exposure to germs. I work in an educational environment full of young adults and they are continually coming in and inflicting their germs upon me, and man, they get sick a lot in the winter. But still I do not get sick.
I think part of it is built up immunity from my childhood and part of it is genetic. I chose my grandparents well, they all lived into their late 80s and early 90s with minimal health care. And mom is still clear headed and ornery and hitting 90 soon.
You can add me to the list of people who never get headaches too. Had a couple when I was young but not for a long, long time.
I am not on any medications and I do have a doctor in case I ever need to see one. The last time was about 5 years ago when I had vertigo from an inner ear infection. I have no plans to see him again until something else breaks or goes wrong.
Probably die all of a sudden from something, but I will likely not be sick until then.
I don’t get infectious illnesses that often. I don’t think it’s my immune system, but just that I am very aware of washing my hands. Ever since I developed a nasty gastroenteritis in college, I am very religious about washing my hands after being in a public setting, touching door knobs or keyboards, before touching my face, before eating, etc. It seems to be a big help. I don’t think most people take hand washing seriously enough.
Just chiming in to say I’m jealous! I eat well, work out, wash my hands, and keep my immune system pleasantly challenged (lots of time in classrooms and on subways), and I get every damn cold there is, and it always hits me full force.
All you people who say you don’t get headaches, know that I hate you. I hate you a lot.
Sorry? I’ll buy you a beer when you’re in town if that makes you feel better.
I was also vaccinated for smallpox and have no scar. In fact I was vaccinated for it twice before the doctor determined that I was naturally immune. They weren’t going to let me into kindergarten when they saw I had no scar.
Once I got into kindergarten though, all bets were off. I had every childhood disease known to man; mumps, measles, chicken pox and the flu. I missed most of kindergarten. After that, I made it through third grade without any abscences until I got the 3 day measles the last three days of school. I don’t remember missing any school after that due to illness.
I also do not get headaches, and I haven’t had the flu since I was 5. I just turned 60 in November and take no prescription medications. I do take a multivitamin and a few supplements (fish oil, garlic, calcium, COQ10). Hope it stays this way!
Sorta related question, but I remember reading about some very strange experiments, on human (volunteer) subjects, that were carried out in the early 1960’s. The experiments involved injecting live cancer cells into the volunteer’s bodies-it was an early effort to understand how cancer defeated the immune system. These experiments were carried out on Federal prisoners, and I remember reading that most people with healthy immune systems never developed cancer.
Anybody know more about this?
It would if I had a headache! 
Let’s see… I have a pretty good immune system. Not one of these “gets sick once a decade” kind of things, but rather I average a single cold once a year, and it lasts about 4 days, and typically I get congested and that’s about it. I usually don’t feel bad, or run fever or anything like that.
I very, very rarely get stomach bugs- before this year at Thanksgiving, I hadn’t had serious diarrhea in something like a decade, and I can’t recall the last time I vomited because of illness.
All I can think of is that I make sleep a priority, I eat a pretty good diet, high in vegetables and lean meat, and generaaly make a point to try and reduce stress in my life as much as I can. Based on my observations, the people who complain about being sick all the time, etc… are the same ones who don’t sleep enough, get stressed out all the time, eat poor diets, etc…
From wikipedia:Unethical human experimentation in the United States - Wikipedia
Holy f***! Makes you wonder about the priorities of the American Cancer Society.
Having Multiple Sclerosis gives me a pretty strange sort of immune system. On the one hand, I haven’t had a full-blown cold in over ten years, and rarely catch so much as a sniffle despite living with chronically ill people and working in a pharmacy. On the other hand, my body is eating my nerve coatings. I think I would prefer the colds.
Even so, I take precautions to wash and sanitize my hands and keep my home spotless, simply because I know I can carry germs that other people would be more susceptible to. I eat a fairly well balanced diet and make certain I am not vitamin or mineral deficient.
I don’t know if my overactive immune system is what keeps me from taking ill, but I guess it’s a perk. I suppose it stands to reason that if it identifies even my own cells as alien, it’s pretty good at killing off the true invaders, too.
I had TB about 35 years ago, and fighting it really boosted my immune system.
I spent two years working in an elementary school, during which time I had at least 20 separate bouts of illness (colds, bronchitis, strep), not including about a dozen staph infections that developed from benign things like scratched mosquito bites and razor nicks. The first year I was basically sick with something the whole year with only about 2-3 days’ rest until getting sick again. It fucking sucked, as you would imagine.
In the seven years thence, I’ve been sick maybe 3-4 times. All colds.
I can only conclude my immune system is a battle-hardened veteran that no longer takes any shit.
As I type this, though, I feel a bit of a tingle in the back of my throat…I hope I’m not about to jinx myself.
I’m suspecting to some extent you’re just born with it.
Factors I think might work in my favor:
-I was breast fed
-I played outside extensively when I was young, all over woods and fields and creeks
-I drink mostly water, little soda
-Never smoked
-I try to have veggies or at least one healthy meal (grains, whatever) a day
-I ate/drank a lot of citrus when I was young, still do once a week or so
-Frequent hand washing
I was never sick as a kid. Back in my 20s I ate Quarter Pounders and drank Dr. Pepper, and I started getting fairly frequent colds and sinus infections, and even the flu once. Once I switched to water and Subway I’ve hardly been sick at all since then for the past 15+ years.
Hi,
I am never sick myself. When the family get a cold, I barely feel that it is trying to get me but the next day, back to normal. Never missed a day of work (only once for a hangover…). And I cannot say I am an example of an healthy man. I smoked from 20 till 30, drink wine or beer on a daily basis, eat whatever I want (without putting up on weight), do no sport at all, etc.
I have a theory I would like to test.
Did you have your tonsils taken out when you were a kid? I had not and I have the impression it is one of the reason why I am not sick. I am 42 and in my childhood time, it was almost a tradition to remove tonsils, sometimes for no good reason in my opinion. They have a function of protecting against microbs so why remove them, really.
If you had yours taken out and you are one the “never sick” club members, then I guess my theory is completely wrong. Thanks for telling me.
Cheers
Kema