My D - a senior in college - has been sick with one thing after another this year. First she had covid in mid-August when she went back to school. Then she has had various colds, cough, etc. since then. She was very fatigued for a long time and finally went in for bloodwork a couple of weeks ago. Everything they ran came back normal. The doctor said they are seeing a lot of that from the college kids and don’t know why. The fatigue is better finally but yesterday she started complaining of a sore throat, chest congestion, a mild cough, etc. AGAIN. It’s actually been rare that she feels OK.
I don’t know if it’s just overdoing it trying to pack everything into senior year after years of shut downs. If her immune system is suffering from covid. Or if she is just unlucky. But a lot of her friends have been sick a lot too. Anyone seeing this?
My kids were always sick in college, all 4 years, even off campus. Last year my 19 year old had Covid twice, the flu (had the shot), mono and various upper respiratory infections and sore throats. She’s home now on break and sick, her 21 year old sister, the same, in grad school.
I guess I 'm just surprised because she is a senior and has not been like this before. I mean she’s had a lot of colds and stuff but not constantly like this year. For about a month she was so fatigued she was having trouble motivating herself to do anything.
Getting other respiratory viruses is not unusual in a normal year. However, the recent years of social distancing, masking, etc. to avoid COVID-19 meant that most people were getting a lot fewer respiratory virus infections generally, so (a) people may be seeing the lack of such as the new normal (which it is not once the COVID-19 avoidance went away), and (b) immune reactions to respiratory viruses that would ordinarily be “boosted” through frequent exposure have faded over a few years of non-exposure, perhaps allowing those viruses to cause more noticeable sickness this time.
Yes! My D22 is a freshman and she’s been sick off and on with upper respiratory stuff since the second week of September. I kind of expected sickness to some extent with dorm life, but I didn’t expect it to start so soon and occur so often.
Yes, with the fatigue I was concerned about long covid. But, that was getting much better, until yesterday when the newest respiratory infection symptoms started. It does just seems like it’s literally been one thing after another. And especially the chest congestion type symptoms - that’s not typical for her. Every time she recovers I think she’s out of the woods for awhile and then a week later it’s something else. I don’t think she’s alone in this though.
I’m a teacher and my students have been passing around one illness after another. Most have tested and it’s not COVID, just other respiratory viruses. It’s like preschool again after social distancing. They’re susceptible to everything and have no natural immunity.
There are a lot of respiratory germs co-circulating the last couple of months, many more than typical. Peds ERs and offices are packed with the amount of illness typical for the peak of flu season and this has been weeks —and now influenza has arrived 1-2mos earlier than most years, on top of everything else. Eventually it should settle out to the normal “seasonality” of different viruses coming around at different times.
The steps that many people and countries took to reduce the spread of COVID reduced the spread of many other infectious diseases as well. As the precautions relaxed, infections grew.
I also think that, because so many people were infected, the mutation rates for these viruses were pretty slow, so that the viruses that spread right after COVID restrictions were relaxed were not highly mutated. Moreover, air travel continued to be limited for a while, so long-distance spreading of viruses was curtailed.
So, in all, people’s immune systems may be a bit “out of practice” at dealing with new mutations of the common cold and similar URTIs.
A lot? No, but they’ve both been recently sick for the first time in years (even pre-Covid). I still don’t know if they had Covid (both tested negative), Flu, or colds. Fortunately it really only affected them for less than a week and despite being in the same house, dh and I didn’t get sick (which leads me to believe that it wasn’t Covid).
My college sophomore hasn’t been sick this year, but first semester of last year was awful! He got Covid for the first time about two weeks into freshman year, and tested positive for the flu at the same time!
He recovered, then came home about 2-3 weeks later for fall break. He was coughing nonstop to the point it woke me up in the middle of the night just hours before he was supposed to fly back to school. I decided I couldn’t send him back without seeing a doctor and turned out he had bronchitis.
But it doesn’t end there. When he came home about six weeks later, he wasn’t feeling well again. Took him to the doctor again, and this time he tested positive for a different strain of the flu! So he had both strains of the flu, Covid and bronchitis in two months.
I chalked it up to the fact that he had spent the previous two years mostly at home, or at least in a mask when he was at school/work. And suddenly he was living in a dorm with hundreds of kids, no longer wearing a mask, very busy with academics and a club sport, not eating as well as at home or getting as much sleep, etc.
I also have a college senior and though he fortunately has mostly been healthy so far this year - he did have a cold (neg for Covid) that lingered for a while but thankfully nothing else so far.
I hope your daughter is feeling better soon. I think it’s so hard to get the rest needed to recover from an illness while a college student - can’t miss class, etc.
Neither D or S have been sick recently. D did have the 24 hour stomach flu back in February of 2022, but nothing since then. She’s out of college, so I don’t know if that makes a difference. S hasn’t been sick in a long time. I was lucky though, neither one of my kids got sick too often and it’s still the same.
My D24 was always the healthiest kid, would bounce back in a day from anything. She caught COVID in spring 21 and has not been the same since. One long bout of unnamed viral infection after another. It’s been a terrible year and a half.
That’s how it’s been here. She had covid in February and recovered fine. Then she got it again in August and has been sick with one thing after another since. I am hoping some rest at home over the holidays will help.
My college son has had extreme fatigue all fall and various other physical ailments. Blood test showed vitamin D and B12 deficiencies. Dr said they are seeing a lot of this and diagnosed him with long Covid. It has been really frustrating for him to be so sick.
Yes, my daughter went to the doc to do bloodwork and her doc ordered a ton (thyroid, iron, etc.) BUT did not do vitamin levels which was disappointing. I’m trying to convince her to call back and ask to have that done
