56 replies to this topic

[Centurion]

Just curious how strongly resistant to common ailments we are as a group of individuals who actively seek excellent health.

[Centurion]

I am a complete idiot, it seems in my tiredness I have incorrectly stated the class boundaries in the penultimate class. If you wish to choose seven times per year please choose the lower class.

I am really not with it lately....

[DJS]

I'm pretty resistant to catching common colds. Over the past year I've had two minor colds (a sore throat and a case of the niffles) but this level of frequency is rare for me.

This is one of those subjective things where incidents tend to blend together, but my opinion is that I get sick about once a year. Usually if I am going to catch one it will be in the fall for whatever reason (there might be a dust allergy connection). However there is getting sick, and then there is getting SICK. The only time I have ever been seriously sick in my adult life was back in 2003 when I came down with walking pneumonia. This was my fault more than anything because I have the "tough it out and give your immune system some exercise" attitude. Usually this is the correct approach (to avoid penicillin), but that particularly nasty bug came on fast and furious and before I knew it I had a very high fever and was seeing stuff crawling across my bedroom ceiling (and no, my apartment didn't have bugs [lol]).

[Lazarus Long]

I am hitting the middle age need for clinical treatment but I do not catch colds or get sick particularly more than once a year. That said my vision is going through drastic age related change and I have BPH, Benign Prostate Hyperplasia.

See what all you guys have to look forward to if you don't get in gear and get some [airquote] real neglible sensescence [/airquote] tech in place?

At least it can be treated pharmacologically and is non-malignant. For now.

Oh and I have been going bald for decades but only my beard is really gray yet. [wis]

Growing old is a bitch but I can still bike for dozens of miles nonstop, canoe for miles, and I am getting back into the standard run in 7-8 minute mile segments.

[Pablo M]

As Pauling said: "Ascorbic acid!" Enough vitamin C taken early in the onset of an illness will often abort it completely.

[Lazarus Long]

Too bad Vit C is not relevant to the issues I must face. A common cold is the least of my concerns.

[Lazarus Long]

You know I was reading my own record of complaints up there and I must say that growing old is nothing I wish on anyone, however all in all I really am of good health, I generally get no more than one cold a year, if that. I should have pointed that out in the beginning because compared to some membeers it is almost offensive to be seen as complaining.

It is the age related stuff that is annoying, and debilitating. The sense of stiffening back and limbs, the decline of skin tension and muscle tone. The need to cover up against the cold instead of just turning up the internal heater and my eyes, god I despise age related farsightedness, I hate wearing glasses to read.

Since the original diagnosis above I have undertaken a procedure to shrink the prostate so I do not have to take those meds for a few more decades hopefully . I am considering eye surgery of the serious kind to replace my lenses internally. I can't tell you how glad I am of the many opportunities to improve life as an aging person medicine now provides.

If they can grow hair from stem cells soon that is one procedure I may opt for too. I hate getting bald. I just want to share my rage at age not just my fear of mortal disease.

I still have my appendix and tonsils though and strong bones.

[bacopa]

for the rare exception of my brain fog/ memory loss problem I have not been physically ill in years! Knock on wood

[Johan]

I rarely get a cold or flu-like symptoms of any kind. Often I'm the only one in my family who doesn't get a cold. I sometimes experience very mild cold-like symptoms during the winter - that's why I voted "once per year". There are exceptions, though - just recently, for the first time in something like ten years, I had stomach flu. It only lasted a day or two, though, so I think I recovered pretty quickly.

Edited by Johan, 06 December 2008 - 11:54 AM.

[VictorBjoerk]

I'm not sick a lot, Maybe 2-3 times a year I can feel a slight cold but I have not had any fever since I was a child. I've never been hospitalized for an illness.

[Matt]

Even though I had a little spike off 3 colds in a row almost 2 years ago (because of other known reasons), I haven't been sick since, and was rarely sick before that. So if I average it out definitely less than 1 per year. I think I was most immune to colds and other things back in high school, because I don't ever remember being sick. I am more susceptible to stomach viruses, but I haven't actually been physically sick/vomited in over 6 years. So they're mild and transient if I do get them.

Edited by Matt, 06 December 2008 - 12:57 PM.

[Mixter]

Nice poll. Voted less than once, assuming that colds 'stopped dead in their tracks' within 24 hours don't count...

Meanwhile as soon as I feel a cold coming I start an aggressive regimen of: ecgc- and saline nasal wash,
gargling with NAC or salt, oral green tea extract, olive leaf extract, dhea, nasal zinc gel, 2g/hour Calcium
ascorbate, 5.000 IU/day Vit D3, several hours of immediate rest, selenium and others. I keep some speciality
supplements just for antiviral/antibacterial purposes. So, this happens about 1-2 times per year so
all the stuff is on stock. It always happens after stressful days and/or being exposed to second-hand smoke.

Seems like a lot of effort but much less inconvenient than sick in bed for 3 days. The key factor is listening
a lot to your body and doing more for your health when exhausted or when the cold season starts, etc.
Also due to life extension, healthy lifestyle and all I got very used to feeling well in my body, at times I
can't imagine how to bear the 'not healthy' for a longer time...

Still, I sit around way too much at college and while working. Whenever I don't find time to exercise more than
2-3 hours per week, IMO only reason why I don't get muscle pain are short and frequent stretching sessions.

[kismet]

nasal zinc gel

How does this work? Aren't the pathogens in your throat too, or does the gel go from the nose to your throat? Or is my anatomical knowledge of the upper respiratory tract way off? I've read many positive studies about lozenges, though.

If you're interested in cold prevention & zinc you should read this study, because judging by the recent Cochrane reviews on zinc, there was quite some controversy on efficacy (probably due to bad formulations used). This study seems like a very elegant, credible and definitive study. The Chicago Journal of Infectious Disease is pretty reliable as far as I've heard.

Duration and severity of symptoms and levels of plasma interleukin-1 receptor antagonist, soluble tumor necrosis factor receptor, and adhesion molecules in patients with common cold treated with zinc acetate. Prasad AS et al. J Infect Dis. (2008)

Edited by kismet, 07 December 2008 - 12:21 AM.

[forever freedom]

Less than once a year and i don't take that much care of myself currently, but of course i'm on my prime (20 y.o.) so i would give much more credit to a 40+ y.o. that almost never gets sick.

[brokenportal]

This makes me think, I wonder if imminst could give all new members a blood test that shows everything in your blood. New members could be charged extra to cover the costs. The added fee would be considered just standard and the blood test would be advertised as a bonus, as an incentive to get members to become paying members, and to help ensure the health of all the members. I mean, what if some of our members are dying of things we could easily help them over come right now?

Something else just occured to me, maybe its been talked about, but why cant imminst formulate a variety of multi vitamins with nootropes added and sell them under the imminst name? If say, custom capsules could do it and make up labels then a percetage of profits split could be negotiated. I would buy those for sure.

[yoyo]

I hardly ever get any full cold/flu, but i'll get mild throat irritation and ear aches (both symptoms together)

[DukeNukem]

I'm in the less than once a year category -- in fact, only once in 7 years (a stomach virus late last year that wiped me out for two days of vomiting). What's amazing about this is that I'm not especially sanitary, in fact, I often peel my fingernails with my teeth. Plus, I air travel a LOT, and therefore come into contact with hundreds of people a week in confined spaces. Something special must really be going on for me to be so resistant to getting sick.

Before I turned to the healthy side of living 7-8 years ago, I got pretty sick 2-4 times a year.

[Mixter]

How does this work? Aren't the pathogens in your throat too, or does the gel go from the nose to your throat? Or is my anatomical knowledge of the upper respiratory tract way off? I've read many positive studies about lozenges, though.

Rhinovirii (i.e. common cold) incubates mainly in your velopharynx (connection between nose&throat) and nose, which suitable zinc gel definitely reaches... sore throat comes later, then of course lozenges make a lot of sense. Thanks for the paper

[didierc]

I voted "Less than once a year". The last time I was not able to go to work due to health problems is almost 20 years ago (I am 46). But more or less once a year, I have something like cold or flu. If my work was a blue-collar work, I would probably have to stop work one or two days.

Didier C.

[kenj]

Lately I think my immune system is pretty good, so TBH I just don't expect to get sick! Had a sore throat ~2 y/ago and some problems with the respiratory system from high dose carnosine a while ago. Healthy eating etc. does much, but being outdoors in fresh air on a frequent basis helps also, IME.

[DukeNukem]

Here's something I posted in another forum a few days ago, relevant to this topic:

I mentioned a page or two back that I went to a Life Line Screening to get images of my carotid artery and other areas (6 total) they scanned. Got the results finally. Cutting to the chase, I scored in the best category for each of the tests, labeled the "Normal" category, meaning "essentially minimal plaque build up". Frankly, I think there's NO plaque at all, but they don't have that category. What this means is that any plaque I once had is now completely removed and gone. (My wife had the same results -- she eats the same as me, and takes 30 supps daily.)

And yes, this is on a high-fat/low-carb diet (with lots and lots of saturated animal fats). 99% of doctors and nutritionist will tell you I should be a walking heart attack based on what I eat (fatty animals proteins out that wazoo, tons of whole eggs, not to mention spoonfuls of coconut oil each day, which itself is mostly saturated fat).

Edited by DukeNukem, 13 December 2008 - 06:35 PM.

[forever freedom]

Here's something I posted in another forum a few days ago, relevant to this topic:

I mentioned a page or two back that I went to a Life Line Screening to get images of my carotid artery and other areas (6 total) they scanned. Got the results finally. Cutting to the chase, I scored in the best category for each of the tests, labeled the "Normal" category, meaning "essentially minimal plaque build up". Frankly, I think there's NO plaque at all, but they don't have that category. What this means is that any plaque I once had is now completely removed and gone. (My wife had the same results -- she eats the same as me, and takes 30 supps daily.)

And yes, this is on a high-fat/low-carb diet (with lots and lots of saturated animal fats). 99% of doctors and nutritionist will tell you I should be a walking heart attack based on what I eat (fatty animals proteins out that wazoo, tons of whole eggs, not to mention spoonfuls of coconut oil each day, which itself is mostly saturated fat).

Whichs shows us how little we know about what the best diets are. It's very likely the ideal diet for each person is unique, and it differs greatly between people, or am i talking gibberish?

[Shepard]

It's very likely the ideal diet for each person is unique, and it differs greatly between people, or am i talking gibberish?

It's very likely that is the case. The problem is that all the studies that may indicate this that I've seen can't say which comes first. Lean people respond better under higher carb diets: is it because they are lean or they are lean because they respond better. Same with overfat people and high fat diets, etc.

These are generalizations, but these are the general trends that I've seen regarding substrate oxidation.

Edited by shepard, 13 December 2008 - 07:36 PM.

[DukeNukem]

It's very likely the ideal diet for each person is unique, and it differs greatly between people, or am i talking gibberish?

I don't think we're all so different that we need radically different diets -- I strongly believe we're all pretty much genetically extremely similar, with maybe 1% difference between the vast majority of people (pretty sure I read this somewhere). After all, we all need the same vitamins and minerals, we all need proteins and fats, drugs work on all of us to more or less the same degree (any variability can be explained by too numerous reasons, including diet and general well-being), and so on. People who move from a long-standing local diet to a Western diet all react the same way: their bodies deform with fat.

So, I see it as a cop-out to say we are different and therefore one person can do better on a low-fat diet while another can do better on a high-fat diet. While this might appear to be true, there are too many other factors at play. The fact is this: all else being equal, a particular diet (good or bad) should have nearly an identical result for the vast majority of people on earth.

It's a myth that we are unique, with very very rare genetic exceptions. For the most part, a good diet for one person should be a good diet for every person on earth. That's how genetically similar we all are.

Edited by DukeNukem, 14 December 2008 - 12:06 AM.

[Shepard]

Of course we're genetically similar, we're all human. We're very genetically similar to some non-humans. There are certainly general arguments for a low-carb diet and health, but using genetics as an argument for every human to follow a low-carb diet isn't a strong one. Until nutrigenomics really gets off the ground and branches out some, we probably won't know anything more than we do now (which currently seems to be a chicken and egg predicament).

[Matt]

Just after I said I almost at 2 years of not getting sick, there was severe cold virus, or the flu (symptoms were more similar to flu for others here) going around in my house and I had a mild illness for about 30 hours. Fine now... at least I wasn't ill for a week or two

Interestingly, the days before I come down with the virus I only had about 5 hours sleep a night because I kept getting woken up from noise.

Edited by Matt, 14 December 2008 - 03:44 PM.

[DukeNukem]

Of course we're genetically similar, we're all human. We're very genetically similar to some non-humans. There are certainly general arguments for a low-carb diet and health, but using genetics as an argument for every human to follow a low-carb diet isn't a strong one. Until nutrigenomics really gets off the ground and branches out some, we probably won't know anything more than we do now (which currently seems to be a chicken and egg predicament).

I never used genetics as an argument for a low-carb diet. I used it as an argument that there should be one best diet that works for practically everyone on Earth. I personally believe that that diet is a high-fat (but low omega-6), moderate-protein (mostly animal source), low-carb (no grains or starches) diet. This diet seems to be working wonders for everyone I know (personally and online) who's adopted it. And the science seems to support it as the best diet for humans, too. For example, the paleo diet trumps the Medditeranian diet, and high-fat diet improves lipid readings significantly better than a low-fat diet.

[Shepard]

I never used genetics as an argument for a low-carb diet. I used it as an argument that there should be one best diet that works for practically everyone on Earth.

You're right, in that post you didn't mention the low-carb diet. I assumed that is what you were talking about since that's the diet you currently seem to favor. But, I would still put forth my argument on any specific diet. There are basic truths for nutrition (requirements for fat and protein), but beyond that it's just speculation.

In another post, you said

I shouldn't have to state the obvious that apes are a different species, genetically far removed from humans.

Not quite true. The genes of humans and chimps only differ by a little over 1%. The majority of the differences are in the non-coding region of the genome, which affects regulation. All-told, there is approximately a 5% difference between humans and chimps.

Anyway, my point is that genes are powerful. We don't know enough yet to say anything conclusive about nutrition and the genome. Small differences in the genotype can drastically change phenotype/proteins of individuals.

Edited by shepard, 14 December 2008 - 04:31 PM.

[JLL]

I tend to think that due to genetic variation, some people will thrive even on sub-optimal diets (such as high-carb diets IMO), but all people will thrive on an optimal diet (which I currently think is close to the diet Duke mentioned). I've never seen anyone who didn't do well on a low-carb, high-fat, moderate-protein diet.

Edited by JLL, 23 December 2008 - 06:33 PM.

[Luna]

Last time I was sick was in a family vacation at my grandmother's birthday about 2 years ago.

It was a warm weather and we were at a beautiful vacation place next to a beach

Then I started having headache and a bit later I instantly lost all appetite, I been shivering in bed all night and my mother called a doctor.
My grandmother replaced wet towels all night.. not fun ruining the first day of grandmother's vacation with a illness!

The morning after, I woke up refreshed and healthy as if nothing happened ^^
Was one of the greatest vacations ever after that my grandmother and I fell in love with an orange tabby cat which was wandering around the houses in the vacation site

About physical health, I'm a bit over-weight, have a very low muscle mass and I doubt I eat healthy, though I don't eat much. (I have a thing for chocolate!)
My body refuses to sleep for more than about 6 hours per night, which sometimes concerns me, even though I wake up quite energetic and "awake".

And my foods craving are weird! I get a headache after eating meat and never feel like eating meat! O_o

Edited by Winterbreeze, 27 December 2008 - 08:06 AM.