Sick every few weeks for years
32/M/US
Sorry in advance for the length of this post, but I wanted to give as much information as possible. Since about 2013, I have been getting sick once or twice a month, with the sickness lasting about a week. The symptoms are a sore throat for the first day or so, sinus pain in forehead and below eyes, full body aches, fatigue, post nasal drip, and an increase in joint pain. These illnesses don’t seem to be contagious as I have never gotten someone else sick from them. When I do catch a regular virus, it seems to be much more severe than normal, and takes weeks or months to recover fully.
These episodes occur pretty reliably after I stress my body in any way, such as exercising, lack of sleep, or exposure to allergens such as dogs, cats or dust.
Originally, I and my doctors thought these were sinus infections, as ct scans showed mild sinusitis, and a skin prick allergy test showed that I was allergic to almost all common allergens except for mold. (It took me a while to notice I had allergies, as my allergy symptoms presented as sinus pain, aches, and fatigue as opposed to the traditional runny/stuffy nose and sneezing.) I was on allergy shots for years, but did not see a dramatic improvement in symptoms and I felt terrible for a few days after every shot. I recently switched insurance and received a blood allergy test and my doctor said that none of the results were high enough to show an allergy. When referred to a new ENT, they said that from my CT scan they are almost positive that my illnesses are not sinus infections as they would see more damage, but they did not have any ideas of what they could actually be.
I have had a few medical tests that seem to suggest something wrong. My thyroid levels have been in and out of the hyperthyroid range my whole life. Two years ago my allergist tested my pneumococcal antibodies and they were extremely low. I thought this was the answer to my problems as my symptoms seemed to align pretty much exactly with Specific Antibody Deficiency ( I am almost positive I have had pneumonia twice in the last five years, once after COVID and once after the flu, and when I believed my episodes of illness were sinus infections, this made a lot of sense). After receiving a pneumonia vaccine my antibody levels came back normal, and I was not sick for four months. After the episodes of sickness returned, I was retested and the antibody levels were still normal.
Another confusing factor is that there were two years during the pandemic where I was not sick at all, and also did not seem to have any allergies. A lot of things were different during those years, so it is hard to pin down what was making a difference. I moved to a new apartment, was masking 12 hours a day, and was not eating or drinking while I was at work. The episodes of sickness came back after our basement flooded, but again I have never tested as allergic to mold and it could also be a coincidence as that is when my life was returning to normal, I was masking less, and stopped fasting during the day. Any time I have tried fasting since then, I immediately have an episode of illness.
It feels possible that this is an autoimmune issue as I have had a positive antinuclear antibody result about 9 years ago, that originally made my doctor suspect lupus, but since I did not have an elevated CRP, they ruled that out at the time.
If you have any ideas of what this could be or questions I should be asking my doctor please let me know, this greatly affects my quality of life.