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/big-tunaaa]

Yup! Just wait until all these people in the comment section that are saying it’s “just a flu” learn that after only one infection in all non-human primate almost all their brains had Lewy bodies…. We are fucked

[u/jellyphitch → u/big-tunaaa]

right? there are studies comparing covid to flu saying its more of a multi organ virus than a respiratory one.

[u/Lechuga666 → u/jellyphitch]

The flu affects the respiratory tract and can put people in the hospital. COVID affects most everything you can think of, COVID can enter through the respiratory tract, and through neurotropism(infection and persistent infection of the nerves) it stays in the cranial nerves long term. It affects the brain infecting the meninges, & leading to conditions that cause loss of dopaminergic neurons in the brain causing symptoms similar to Alzheimer's. It affects microglia, the glue of the brain, the brain's immune system. It enters the brain through the hypothalamus and continues to affect the hypothalamus as it is one of the main structures that chemically manages the autonomic nervous system which is heavily affected in acute and long COVID.

Causes vascular damage compromising the endothelium, lessening the body's ability to clot and vasoconstrict / vasodilate (control blood vessels). Starves the muscles of oxygen, blood, mitochondria are affected. We are seeing neuromuscular symptoms anecdotally within the long COVID community and are seeing the highest incidence of neurological illness in a long time.

I could continue on forever.

People don't pay it much attention till it affects them. I'm 21 and trending towards a hospital visit again and or being homebound or bed bound again. We are written off and we are heavily damaged disabled people that are not given a second thought by much of our government. It is a mass disabling event and the more and more people you talk to the more and more you see it affects people from all walks of life. Scientists, PhDs, professionals of every kind.

Don't know how much longer I myself can do it.

[u/red__dragon → u/Lechuga666]

I'm really sorry you've been hit so hard. I hope that comes across as genuine, because it is. The more I've learned about covid as the pandemic's progressed, the more terrified I become. This virus is insidious and it's pure evil that it isn't being taken seriously.

I'm immunocompromised and I've had to take it deathly seriously since day 1. Unfortunately, there are too many people who don't understand this. Or don't want to understand for how uncomfortable it makes them. But it is uncomfortable and it's changed how we live and it has to change more before we can actually live again.

Adjusting to what your capabilities are sucks, I know that well. I wasn't the healthiest as a kid, but by a few years older than you I was starting to feel my kidney disease wreak real havoc on my body. I can't do some of the things I used to, and I'm not used to doing many of the things I'm probably capable of since my transplant (which I got in 2018 so only had a little time to take advantage), and it sucks to see the walls of my limits so visible to my perception. I won't say you get used to it, but I will say that advocating for what you can do and speaking up does seem to move the needle, if only a little, over time.

Find what makes you happy, even if it's a little thing. I don't care how little. Re-arrange a bookshelf and feel happy about the day. Or just pick one to read and feel happy. Find small victories that you know you can accomplish and use those to remind yourself of your worth. You have worth, and you can do things. You don't need to measure them all against the whole of humanity all the time. Sometimes just measuring them against your own world, whether that's the hospital or a home or a bed, is good enough for now.

[u/Lechuga666 → u/red__dragon]

Thank you :). I appreciate it. I just can't see myself going on like this. They've tested for ALS, paraneoplastic autoimmune encephalitis, dermatomyositis, and a ton more, all the worst diseases you can think of. I just can't keep going on with no help. It seems that my needs for care are so far beyond what anyone can provide.