I was dx with CFS 10.5 years ago and all the time I have never had a cold or a bad flu..just rhe CFS flu like symptoms....I did used to get sinus and sinus infections.....not anymore...I used to get regular cold before that..it is certainly interesting I don,t why it happens....

I've been the same - had CFS for 5 months now and no colds in that time, whereas I was really run down before and got them all the time. My nutritionist says it's because our immune systems have gone into overdrive.Did get a nasty bug last week though that knocked me for six.

Generally with CFS people are susceptable to infections, and colds more than normal healthy people. CFS is an autoimmune disorder. I personally just got over a cold. I got two last winter.

At my one year mark I gt everything the Kids braught home without question.
I still have sore throat 4 years later but far less susceptble to colds, thank goodness.
Al

I have the flu about 4 times a year now.. unless the "flu" is just terrible CFS symptoms. HOWEVER I usually feel better after an illness with high fever because I feel like my immune system has kicked in. I usually feel better for about 2 weeks after a fever breaks but then it starts all over again.

this is the second time in 4 months that I have got swollen lymph glands and sore throat, and cold..

My immune system has always been low, however I am particularly vunerable at the moment after going through a series of stressful assessments...and it is spring...

In the 2 years that I have had CFS I have not had a cold. Many people around me have and I dreaded catching their yukky germs. So far, fingers crossed, no cold !!!
Sue

In the first few years I had ME I did not catch the colds my family had, a bit of congestion, but nothing really.
But later on any virus would make my ME symptoms worse, for weeks.
I now use Colour Therapy to help knock these viruses out, and other viruses that have been in my body for many years.
It works it is gentle and amazing.

Although I have a sore throat most of the time, I RARELY get "sick" or have a cold. Although I did test positive for strep this fall ... a month later I'm still not where I was before I got it!

Ya know, this is really interesting. Right now I have like a stuffy head and sneezing, like allergies. No big deal...I'm functioning right through it.

But since CFIDS I have not had even one virus, or the flu, or a fever...nothing. I have a constant sore throat and often glands are swollen, but I believe that to be from the CFIDS.

ALSO>>>>> the weirdest thing. I've had four warts (small ones) on my right index finger since I was in high school. Tried everything for many years to get them to just be gone. Nothing has ever worked.

Got CFIDS, warts went away...not even a sign of them for the last fifteen months....go figure.

If I didn't have this hideous disease, I'd feel better than ever!

I know you guys understand what I just said there.

I rarely get regular colds--maybe one every two years or so. I got the flu once last year (despite getting the shot), but not for years before that. My CFS was extremely slow onset, but as those symptoms increased I seemed to get regular "stuff" less and less. Maybe I was being more careful, too--my old office was just disgusting, so every time someone was sick we'd all make a huge effort to wash hands, wipe down common surfaces, etc.

I have hayfever type allergies, and I get the sore throat/swollen glands/low-grade fevers common to CFS, but a regular old blow-my-nose cold is rare.

PaulaLB: I've had CFS for 18 months now, and I haven't had a cold in all that time. I used to get maybe two a year. I don't know why I get fewer colds now, except that maybe I'm home 100% of the time and therefore less exposed to the cold germs.

i've goten constantly sick since childhood. getting cfids 14 years ago didn't change that. the condition just makes it harder to tell what's a simple 'flare', what's a 'flare plus infection'.

i just found out my immune system is overactive in one area (Ig G most likely from ebv) and underactive in Ig A and E... (partially due to preemie birth/heredity)... adding cfids makes it a perfect storm.

glad to hear you are at least getting a break from infections. hope this continues for you as you use precautions to try to avoid flares (from stress, overwork, diet, sleep, pacing etc.). it's so hard to predict what will set us off into the 'zone' of cfids purgatory. hugs and best wishes :)

elderberry extract limits getting upper respiratory tract infections for me, at least. but i still get sinus and uti issues like it's going out of style.

I get worse & worse every year. I was always getting a cold as a kid, but now I have a cold more offen than not. Winter usually is the worst, even with a flu shot I had respitory influenza 2 x and had to be hospitalized both times. Once in total isolation- even the staff had to wear clean room clothing. I also avrage 3-4 x of pneumonia- usually pneumocystic. That has a hit or miss for hospital time.
I survived advanced cervical cancer and was told the one thing that will kill my is my lungs giving out.
When I go out in public in the winter I wear latex gloves under my normal gloves and keep them on. I also wear a mask over my mouth. I refuse to ouch a shopping cart w/o latex gloves and washing the hand part of the cart.
Children are germ factories and in public I avoid them like the plague. Even my own children go to my husband when they're sick. They know I just can't be around them because I will probably get what they have.
I wouldn't work in the same cubical as a sick co-worker and asked to be moved because I couldn't afford to be as sick as she was. He denied me. When I was out for 4 days and then put in isolation for pneumonia, and respitory influenza he sent an I'm sorry & flowers. I did request and get workman's comp for it though.