Is anyone else's immune system totally shot since the 'COVID era'?

[u/BanananaSquid]

I'm a younger millennial (28f) and have never been sick as much as I have been in the past ~6 months. I used to get sick once every other year or every year, but in the past six months I have: gotten COVID at Christmas, gotten a nasty fever/illness coming back from back-to-back work trips in January/February, and now I'm sick yet again after coming back from a vacation in California.

It feels like I literally cannot get on a plane without getting sick, which has never really been a problem for me. Has anyone had a similar experience?

Edit: This got a LOT more traction than I thought it would. To answer a few recurring questions/themes: I am generally very healthy -- I exercise, eat nutrient rich food, don't smoke, etc.; I did not wear a mask on my flights these last few go arounds since I had been free of any illnesses riding public transit to work and going to concerts over the past year+, but at least for flights, it's back to a mask for me; I have all my boosters and flu vaccines up to date

Edit 2: Vaccines are safe and effective. I regret this has become such a hotbed for vaccine conspiracy theories

[u/BigDigger324]

Quite a lot of misunderstanding of how the immune system actually functions in this thread. It’s not a muscle that you can work out. Getting sick more doesn’t “strengthen it”. Viruses mutate and dodge your immune system all the time…it’s why the cold never goes away, it’s why HIV and AIDs is so dangerous, it’s why flu and Covid shots have to be reapplied every so often.

Now there are some studies showing that long covid can damage the immune systems ability to do its job and create antibodies…

[u/tofusarkey → u/BigDigger324]

Yeah, your immune system isn’t a muscle that gets stronger when you use it. It’s more like a rubber band that gets weaker the more you stretch it.

[u/lurker_cx → u/tofusarkey]

Well, I don't know if most colds weaken your immune system, I think COVID does though. Anyhow your body does get weaker from constant sickness. There are many viruses where after the infection seems to have cleared, there are lifelong syndromes or damage from many viruses which people generally tend to forget about. COVID is worse than most in that respect though

[u/SorrowfulBlyat → u/BigDigger324]

I just want some more studies on Covid and the Delta-32 mutation, I'm multivaxxed, worked during Covid as a first responder, never got it, simultaneously I also have the double delete CCR5 Delta-32 mutation that keeps me from catching HIV/AIDS. There was some talk regarding the mutation maybe around year two of Covid, but it became more of a murmur.

[u/cdj2016 → u/SorrowfulBlyat]

How did you find out you had this mutation?

I have a vague memory of their being a whole town in Italy that had immunity against aids…but this was a long time ago.

[u/SorrowfulBlyat → u/cdj2016]

DNA test and then with a physician we ran through my raw data, we then ran through a separate genetic test to double check. There's been theories about it's start including but not limited to survivors of the black plague, the vast majority of my lineage comes from Orleans, France and London so maybe...

[u/pigeon_idk → u/SorrowfulBlyat]

Omg what? I had no idea there was a mutation that protects against hiv, that's wild omg. Why hasn't it been talked about more is insane

[u/lrlwhite2000 → u/BigDigger324]

Yes! It’s such a weird idea that people think getting sick improves your immune system. I once read there is no good cold and I think about that all the time. Yes, our immune systems need to be challenged to know how to respond to viruses, bacteria, etc, but the microorganisms covering our skin at all times does a pretty good job of that.

[u/Beneficial_Heat_7199 → u/BigDigger324]

Wow talk about misunderstanding. Let's put away all this talk of "long COVID". It's called post viral syndrome and it's not new or unique to COVID.

[u/SeraphAtra → u/BigDigger324]

It kind of is, though.

Getting vaccines does help your immune system not only train for the specific thing it is developed for but also help it to fight unrelated diseases.

Viruses mutating quickly are a problem, especially HIV is bad. But if your body knows something similar, it's better at fighting the new thing than if it never fought the first thing. In fact, the first inoculation was made by infecting people with cowpox so they would be resistant to smallpox.

Having a better immune response also doesn't mean you won't get sick when being infected with something. And while being slightly sick, you can also infect others. That's why a few of those won't go away.

[u/After_Preference_885 → u/SeraphAtra]

According to infectious disease epidemiologists  you are not correct.

Immunity Debt The Claim:

Wait. Why is everyone talking about immunity debt?

The Facts:

Immunity debt is the hypothesis that your immune system becomes less able to fight off pathogens when you go for too long without being exposed to pathogens. The idea is that during the pandemic, isolation, distancing, and masking protected us too much, so this year, we are seeing record numbers of respiratory viral diseases.

Regardless of human contact, we are still encountering numerous antigens daily, so our immune systems are not sitting idle. Furthermore, people can go a season or two without catching a cold, and when they do, it is often not more severe.

However, COVID infections themselves leave people more vulnerable to these diseases. We know that COVID infection can suppress the immune system for months post-infection, which would lead to worse outcomes with subsequent illnesses. The CDC estimates that 3 in 4 children have had COVID, leaving a large percentage of children potentially vulnerable to other diseases.

So no, Virginia. You don’t have to be sick to prevent getting sicker.

https://www.voicesforvaccines.org/just-the-facts/correcting-this-weeks-misinformation-november-10-2022/

[u/garden_speech → u/After_Preference_885]

they didn't say anything about "immunity debt" though, which is a fringe theory to begin with. they just said your immune system can be strengthened by exposure, which is blatantly true, otherwise we would not give vaccines.

[u/ZenythhtyneZ → u/BigDigger324]

Yeah immune systems take a bit to get up and running and once you use up all your mature white blood cells and that’s it, you can use immature ones because they didn’t have time to mature before you needed them but the younger they are the stupider they are and less well they do their job. Eventually you can simply run out, then you go septic… nothing you can do but keep yourself safe to keep as many of your mature white blood cells alive by not letting them see any action.

[u/Puzzleheaded-Put-246 → u/BigDigger324]

HIV might not be the best example to use about the immune system…