I do now because of the immune suppressing medications I have to take so I have very little immunity. Seems like anything in 100 miles of me I will get. My husband has a very strong immunity which is good and if he does get something he is over it fairly quickly.
I really hate having auto immune conditions and having to take the immune suppressing meds.It opens you up to so many other conditions and illnesses.

Hardly ever.

Yep... 79 and know it well! Altho not colds and flu so much as just wearing out.The bones get soft, muscles loose power and skin, omygosh.... the skin. Suddenly it's .......... really different.

Oh brother, yes! I'm a substitute teacher and am beginning to believe all the germs I was exposed to when my kiddies were little have mutated into new ones. I mostly get colds, sometimes with a little fever. Always get the flu shot. Just getting over a cold/cough which showed itself a few days after my last job.

Generally I don't but this winter has been different. I got the Noro virus followed by a sinus infection and then a cold. I'm beefing up on my vitamins and feel pretty good now.

After retiring from teaching and getting away from all those walking, talking, breathing, coughing, sneezing little germ factories, I've been quite healthy. Of course I also take plenty of vitamins, including colostrum and probiotics. Not being around any little kids any more sure made a difference.

I rarely would get sick, thank goodness. Then 7 years ago the first grandson arrived, and 3 or 4 years later, he started preschool about the time his little brother was born. I catch a lot of colds from them.

No, it's been years since I've had the flu.
My colds always turn into bronchitis, and knock on wood, I haven't had that even, this year, now that I think of it!!! Maybe it's the brutal cold.

This year was the 3rd coldest winter in 50 years.

Hardly ever. Nothing for years but when grandson was little, I was getting colds all the time.

Little kids are germ magnets, no doubt.

I asked my doc (at my last physical) about what were the best things to take to avoid the various winter maladies - vitamins or what? He said "Nothing has been proven to be consistently effective, the best thing to do is wash your hands frequently, use Purell when you can't, and keep your fingers away from your face."

Only when Boss comes in here hacking his lungs out. Drives me insane! There's not one darn reason he needs to be in the office when he's sick. I don't get over stuff as quickly as I did when I was younger. When I'm down, I'm down! And DH usually ends up with it.

I have allergies more than colds. I usually get one or two colds a winter. Overall, I have have pretty good immunity.

I rarely get colds and when I do, I start using Cold Eeze lonzenges right away so I don't feel sick and my symptoms go away. i get a flu shot every September. Precious Finn had a cold that turned into an ear infection last week. His dad had the flu and then an ear infection. His mom had a cold that turned into a sinus infection. I was around all of them and did not get sick.

I never put my hands above my shoulders when I'm not in my house.

Only rarely, than goodness.

Hi Lily 316,

What would you do if I stuck a gun in your back and growled, "Hands up!"?

(I don't have one: most Canadians don't).

AngelaID,

How about giving said Boss one (or half a dozen) of those square gauze masks that cover nose and mouth ...

... from the staff - for Christmas?

Better yet ... before the end of winter.

Hope you all have a reasonably good end-of-winter.

They forecast a cold March around here.

We're expecting rain tomorrow: the civic works guys were chopping away the snow and ice from a drain at this village's only traffic light, a half hour ago.

ole joyful

When i worked in an elementary cafeteria I was sick with a cold several times a year GRRR I would boil fresh ginger, add some honey and drink it all day, seemed to make it go away faster. If I am getting sniffly now, I use my netti pot 2X's daily, drink the ginger tea or my new tea of ground cinnamon, ginger, cardamon and honey ,drink all day~~~I also drink apple cider vinegar daily cold or not. Does not stop you from me getting sick atho sometimes it has, but it all feels good;)

I actually can't remember the last time I had a cold. If I ever feel something coming on, I use EmergenC and that seems to help. I get a flu shot yearly so I haven't had the flu in many years. The last time I was really sick was a little over a year ago and that was a stomach virus. Before that it had been years.

I rarely get colds any more for years. When I was teaching Sunday School I couldn't get well so I had to quit. I get my flu shot every year.
I am 72 and have had type I diabetes for 60 years and at any sign of a scratchy throat I take Zicam and that works for me. My DD takes zinc vitamins. The zinc seems to work for us and my DH, too. I just saw on Dr. Oz that zinc is good for lessening the length and severity of colds ~ which is what Zicam claims. Before Zicam I used to get sick a lot.

I do get stuffy nose, post nasal drip, burning eyes from allergies, especially from VOG which is rhe island version of smog only from the volcano. The neti pot helps.

Vog is a form of air pollution that results when sulfur dioxide and other gases and particles emitted by an erupting volcano react with oxygen and moisture in the presence of sunlight. The word is a portmanteau of the words "volcanic", "smog", and "fog". The term is in common use in the Hawaiian islands, where the Këlauea volcano, on the Island of Hawaiûi (aka "The Big Island"), has been erupting continuously since 1983. Based on June 2008 measurements, Këlauea emits 2,000�"4,000 tons of sulfur dioxide every day.

n Hawaii, the gas plumes of Këlauea rise up from three locations: Halemaûumaûu Crater, Puûu ûÃÂûàvent, and from along the coastline where lava flows from the East Rift zone enter the ocean. The plumes create a blanket of vog that can envelop the island. Vog mostly affects the Kona coast on the west side of the Island of Hawaiûi, where the prevailing trade winds blow the vog to the southwest and southern winds then blow it north up the Kohala coast.

Prolonged periods of southerly Kona winds, however, can cause vog to affect the eastern side of the Island on rare occasions, and affect islands across the entire state as well.[3] By the time the vog reaches other islands, the sulfur dioxide has largely dissipated, leaving behind ash, smoke, sulfates, and ammonia

Here is a link that might be useful: Phots and Quicktime videos of Kilauea Volcoano and Halema'uma'u

No, almost never and I work in a hospital surrounded by illness. I do get a flu shot every year. I did get really sick with pneumonia that started as the flu about 15 years ago--in the hospital for a week on IV antibiotics and off work for 6 weeks. But that's the last major illness I've had.

Dorothy, I remember being in Hawaii in the late 80s when there were limited restrictions on how close you could get to the lava flow. We went right up to it, and it stunk to high heaven of sulfur. Then I started wheezing and we had to get away. I can see why people with asthma or breathing difficulties would have trouble.

I've had asthma since shortly after my mother died in 1978. (MD agreed it was likely triggered by the year of stress.) It's controlled by Advair, a steroid; side effect is lowered immunity. I rarely catch anything from people outside of my family -- grandchildren, DIL who teaches, DH who volunteers at our HS. I don't have to go looking; they bring it TO me.

The vog Dorothy describes is an irritant for me. We've vacationed several times on Big Island of Hawaii -- mostly in the Kohala Coast area, which is affected less by the volcano than the Kona area to the south. We once rented a house above the coast in Keauhou (south) and could look down through the vog/smog/whatever building up along the coast as the day wore on. Lava was pouring into the ocean that year.

We're in South Maui now, with S-SE winds bringing pollution and no Trades for many days. (Still beats Chicago right now, but not as nice as we are accustomed to enjoying.)

ANYWAY! Back to the topic here: I've developed respiratory problems on Maui during four recent visits -- whether from the vog or cane burning ashes or pesticides from the cane fields. (After sugar cane is harvested they burn the fields. Winds brlow ash and pesticide-laden soil right down the valley on Maui.) Clinics regularly treat locals and visitors with respiratory problems. Also, Hawaii's robust tourist industry means that people are constantly arriving with new bugs!

If you have 'stomach flu' often, it is most likely mild food poisoning. "When in doubt, throw it out!"

Be well!

The usual stuff comes and goes, with usual pills and medicinal booze. If your question includes cancer, then I'm on a roll now.

In October 1990 soon after my son was born I got horribly sick-some virus that lasted a couple of days. Since than I've had a few colds, seem to get one every 3 or 4 years, but that's all.