Why do I keep getting colds, sinus and flu?

Last Updated on July 29, 2021

There’s probably a bug going around in your office and everyone seemed to be either catching the flu or cold. So you may find yourself constantly being down with colds- like up to 3 times a week.

It’s inconvenient, your nose’s puffy and if you cannot cover your nose in time, an embarrassing ‘mini explosion’ where your shocked colleagues may be forced to witness the actual stuff coming out of your nose being all over the place.

Once, at a public speaking course, the speaker asked around the participants about their greatest fear in public speaking. When it came to my turn, as I was having puffy nose that day, I told my fear was to be speaking halfway and I sneezed so hard that some of the stuff landed on someone else’s face.

At first he was totally taken aback by my answer. Then he broke up in huge laughter because he said it’s the first time he heard this from anyone. But hey, for puffy nose folks, I am sure you can relate to me- because if your sinus come so often, it can be loud and ‘explosive’.  And to be honest, because we had to practice coming up to speak in front of everyone, my fear is not due to being frozen with fear or forget my script- it was that my nose suddenly decided it wanted to get some mucus out without my prior consent and I was not able to cover my nose in time….

Img Credit: http://sangrea.net/

I have been suffering from sinus since young. I remember in my teens and my mom consoled me that the sinus will go off as I grow into adulthood.  Hers did.

Well, mine didn’t. And it may be true to some of you who are reading this.

Tried everything but nothing works- now what?

You have tried literally everything that they say could relief your sinus:

• Taking vitamin C supplement,
• take more fruits,
• stay away from cold drinks,
• take medication,
• don’t expose your shoulders, knees and belly button when sleeping

But you still find the episodes coming back on unpredicted days. You thought it was the cold because you washed your hair in the morning because you once had it after a morning hair wash. So you did not do it and still had it.

Why?

In this article, I will not address about the lack of vitamin C or those medically researched stuff that you can read from other websites. I will share from the perspective of someone who’s been there. In fact, it was only recently that I’ve managed to make a connection to the state of the mind that causes health symptoms due to the mind-body connection. Read on if you have tried all sorts of remedies but find that your running nose seemed to have a mind and life of its own…

Making the connection with your state of mind

The next time you keep getting cold attacks, ask yourself these questions:

• was there an event or meeting coming up that you dislike or like to avoid?
• Did you have to deal with someone that you dislike that you are literally having adversion- you know like you are sneezing that your body is trying to get things out of your body- so you are ‘trying to get someone else out of your system’.

According to Vernon Coleman of Mindpower- How to use your mind to heal your body, he mentioned that it is not possible to use vaccines on the common cold because it can be caused by a couple of hundred different viruses and the chances of taking the right vaccine to fight off the correct virus is next to nill.

He said that we tend to get colds when we are frightened, worried, upset or nervous. We get colds when we are feeling low and expect to get them, before important functions and major occasions or when we are uncertain about something. We can also get when we are always bored about life in general- that’s why doctors rarely get colds (even though they are faced with patients with colds) because they work with a sense of purpose.

The suggested way of using Mindpower:

• If you get colds before important functions, ask yourself, do you really want to be involved in those functions or the body is ‘helping’ you out with a cold so that you have an excuse? Because if you really look forward to the events, you will not get cold because your body will help to suppress it.
• Individuals who lack self-assurance are vulnerable to get diseases and infections. Improve self confidence by looking at your good points (the book also provide suggestions on how to improve self confidence)
• Add a sense of purpose into your life- give yourself goals and aims to work for and your body will become much more efficient in combating germs and infections. If you have a dull or unfulfilling job, add purpose and excitement by learning a skill, sport or hobby that you can dedicate yourself to with enthusiasm.

As a kid, I was constantly down with sinus- almost on a daily basis. That time, I also hated school and the whole idea of exams and the pressure to score well. But towards pre university and uni,  I made great friends to ‘go through the battle together’ and my cold outbreaks were very much reduced except when exams are around the corner and I’ve had too many cups of iced drinks.

Then the last few years of my previous job, I was getting horrible explosive colds on quite a regular basis. My nose will be so red, puffed up and sometimes, the skin may peel due to all the sneezing and nose blowing. I’ve tried all sorts of remedies but could never seemed to find a long term solution that works. I never go anywhere without carrying a packet of 3-ply tissue (the usual 2 layer tissues cannot work at all).

But what that had struck me as really odd is that the moment I walked out of the building of my office and be greeted by the smell of the polluted air from the cars that were stuck in a perpectual traffic jam, the cold just mysteriously disappeared even though it had been bugging me the whole day. Seriously, I blamed my air-con’s ventilation system for my suffering.

And after leaving my job, the sinus attacks was reduced drastically. The sinus was very mild even when inhaling dusk when I was cleaning the house that used to drive my nose crazy (in the past I had to wear surgical masks during cleaning and yet my nose will still be all running).

Why you and not them?

Everyone is expose to the same bugs, viruses that are circulating the air con filtering system, and you are getting regular colds and not your colleagues, you need to ask yourself:  Now, why you and not them? 

When you have a cold, your immune is compromised- that’s why the viruses have a chance to overwhelm your defense system and have themselves a gala time at your expense. If you have not been able to overcome the constant recurring colds, even with medication and supplements and doing everything right under the book, it’s well worth exploring how the state of mind influences the health ailments that you are having.

By overcoming your emotional obstacles, not only you will see a much lesser recurrence, you will get better quality of life, happiness and state of mind. I would not have believed it when I see the changes in my state of mind and the connection of my cold, or sinus outbreaks.