Why is my wife ALWAYS ill?
Discussion
Hello all
Im after any ideas, tips, tricks, voodoo, or hoodoo anyone here can suggest we look at because my wife is at the end of her tether.
Before we met my wife went to India (may or may not be relevant)
then in 2011, she had two bumps removed from her neck. Tests showed they were non cancerous, but were inconclusive as to what they were. these bumps could best be described as "fatty and juicy" if that is any help....
From then until now, she has been almost intermittently sick, e.g every few weeks or months.
By sickness, I mean she gets every virus going... flu, colds, stomach, leaving her bed ridden for days.... then after a week or so, she'll be fine.
Over the years, we have had to cancel "once in a life time trips" to Thailand, various holidays have been interrupted because shes had to stay in bed or visit doctors etc...
The latest (over the last few days) has been the flu, which has seen her confined to bed and at times unable to move.
we went to London recently (live in Austria) and again she was ill... we paid to go to a private doctor who gave her antibiotics. Back in Austria and the doc said "Thank God you got that because you had a liver infection".... by wife believes there is an infection or something that is present in her body, but she cannot get rid of it, It seems Antibiotics will help for a while and then it will come roaring back.
She is having tests for tuberculosis ( xray results didnt show anything, blood tests coming back next week)...
but until we have those, i'm beginning to wonder what else could be wrong or what other things we should be looking at...
hopefully someone here will be able to guide us to look at something?
Thank you
ET
Im after any ideas, tips, tricks, voodoo, or hoodoo anyone here can suggest we look at because my wife is at the end of her tether.
Before we met my wife went to India (may or may not be relevant)
then in 2011, she had two bumps removed from her neck. Tests showed they were non cancerous, but were inconclusive as to what they were. these bumps could best be described as "fatty and juicy" if that is any help....
From then until now, she has been almost intermittently sick, e.g every few weeks or months.
By sickness, I mean she gets every virus going... flu, colds, stomach, leaving her bed ridden for days.... then after a week or so, she'll be fine.
Over the years, we have had to cancel "once in a life time trips" to Thailand, various holidays have been interrupted because shes had to stay in bed or visit doctors etc...
The latest (over the last few days) has been the flu, which has seen her confined to bed and at times unable to move.
we went to London recently (live in Austria) and again she was ill... we paid to go to a private doctor who gave her antibiotics. Back in Austria and the doc said "Thank God you got that because you had a liver infection".... by wife believes there is an infection or something that is present in her body, but she cannot get rid of it, It seems Antibiotics will help for a while and then it will come roaring back.
She is having tests for tuberculosis ( xray results didnt show anything, blood tests coming back next week)...
but until we have those, i'm beginning to wonder what else could be wrong or what other things we should be looking at...
hopefully someone here will be able to guide us to look at something?
Thank you
ET
India might be a red herring, can you give an idea of the timeline, and what she's been tested for, and what has been ruled out. Any ongoing symptoms, no matter how small.
I might be pissing in the wind here, but if this all started 6-12 months after the trip to India, the susceptibility to infections could be anything.
What tests were done on the fatty and juicy lumps?
Op, this is screaming parasites to me. Your best bet is a specialist in tropical diseases and parasitology. It is possible the lumps were oocysts and if they only did biopsies for things like cancer, and had no reason to suspect they were oocysts then it would have gone undiagnosed.
The whole thing, India, oocysts (the fatty, juicy lumps) the liver infection, the low immunity.... if she's also having diarrhoea/constipation, weight loss or poor weight gain, or equally - bloating and watery flabbiness...
All together, this SCREAMS parasites.
I might be pissing in the wind here, but if this all started 6-12 months after the trip to India, the susceptibility to infections could be anything.
What tests were done on the fatty and juicy lumps?
Op, this is screaming parasites to me. Your best bet is a specialist in tropical diseases and parasitology. It is possible the lumps were oocysts and if they only did biopsies for things like cancer, and had no reason to suspect they were oocysts then it would have gone undiagnosed.
The whole thing, India, oocysts (the fatty, juicy lumps) the liver infection, the low immunity.... if she's also having diarrhoea/constipation, weight loss or poor weight gain, or equally - bloating and watery flabbiness...
All together, this SCREAMS parasites.
cat with a hat said:
Whats her diet like?
This ^. The common denominator in all the things you've listed is her immune system, something that diet plays a big part in. Does she throw out food that still has days to run before its 'best before' or 'use by' date? Is she eating crap with no nutrients in any of it? A couple of things to start with.Thank you all for the varied (and cynical) responses.
India isn’t a red herring- this trip was before we met and The regular illness started afterwards.
I’m being vague on the symptoms because, as someone mentioned, it could be down to her immune system; she gets everything going around.
Diet is ok, but tendency to put weight on ( which I suppose lends credence to the parasite theory)
I also believe it’s her immune system, but after so many tests etc...and everything has come back negative. I’ll mention the parasite theory...
India isn’t a red herring- this trip was before we met and The regular illness started afterwards.
I’m being vague on the symptoms because, as someone mentioned, it could be down to her immune system; she gets everything going around.
Diet is ok, but tendency to put weight on ( which I suppose lends credence to the parasite theory)
I also believe it’s her immune system, but after so many tests etc...and everything has come back negative. I’ll mention the parasite theory...
Petrus1983 said:
Kinda silly response. My partner is a senior clinician (thoracic surgeon) who would be able to give a better answer than mine (honey) - but she’s currently in surgery so I can’t ask her. If she was next to me I’d happily have written her response and I’m quite sure she wouldn’t mind it was a car forum either.
Just spoke to her myself and she said this:Hi
Firstly, please ignore my husband saying to eat some local, and he does mean local, honey. Homepathy would be as useful.
Secondly, apparently I’m a thoracic surgeon so while I’m a doctor, I specialise in removing and fixing things in the thorax - an area your wife has no issues with so I’m not sure why he’s asked me to comment, probably just proud of me :blush:
Anyway, just because someone’s a doctor it doesn’t mean they’re an expert on everything, that’s why we all specialise, he knows this but always pushes me forward, it drives me crazy!!
Start with your GP, they are the gateway to NHS specialists, and expect to be seen by an endocrinologist, immunologist or oncologist depending on what is found. I’d be surprised if you’re referred to a thoracic surgeon for this as we’re not diagnosticians. Xx
My wife used to always catch everything going, it used to be a running joke amongst our friends that if something was planned; out for dinner, meeting up etc, we would cancel as she'd be ill, she also had no energy and was always tired.
Her general diet was pretty poor, apart from dinner as I cooked and made sure we always had something decent in the evening, but she rarely had breakfast or would grab something crappy to eat on the go and lunch would be similarly rubbish, she never ate fruit or fresh food.
She then started to take Berocca or multi vitamins to see if that made a difference which would annoy me as they aren't cheap and there is no need for them if you have a decent diet.
Something then changed a few years ago, I can't remember exactly what and when, possibly when she invested in a Nutri Bullet as they were all the rage at that point and being a woman she loves to spend and loves a fad, she got into healthy smoothies which were packed with goodness and weird and wonderful ingredients, she was eating more fruit and fresh food and quite quickly she started to become less ill, she also dropped the multi vitamins and her energy improved.
The smoothies have tailed off a bit, however in general her diet improved as she became more mindful of what she was eating, even she made comment about feeling better and hardly ever being ill.
Yesterday she was telling me about some spinach and tomato omelette which she had made for lunch; how wonderful it was, a couple of years ago she just wouldn't have entertained something like that.
So perhaps OP, diet could be a factor.
Her general diet was pretty poor, apart from dinner as I cooked and made sure we always had something decent in the evening, but she rarely had breakfast or would grab something crappy to eat on the go and lunch would be similarly rubbish, she never ate fruit or fresh food.
She then started to take Berocca or multi vitamins to see if that made a difference which would annoy me as they aren't cheap and there is no need for them if you have a decent diet.
Something then changed a few years ago, I can't remember exactly what and when, possibly when she invested in a Nutri Bullet as they were all the rage at that point and being a woman she loves to spend and loves a fad, she got into healthy smoothies which were packed with goodness and weird and wonderful ingredients, she was eating more fruit and fresh food and quite quickly she started to become less ill, she also dropped the multi vitamins and her energy improved.
The smoothies have tailed off a bit, however in general her diet improved as she became more mindful of what she was eating, even she made comment about feeling better and hardly ever being ill.
Yesterday she was telling me about some spinach and tomato omelette which she had made for lunch; how wonderful it was, a couple of years ago she just wouldn't have entertained something like that.
So perhaps OP, diet could be a factor.
extraT said:
Diet is ok, but tendency to put weight on
What does that mean? Does she have a well balanced diet and get all the vitamins she needs? Quite surprising how run down you feel when you don't get the right support (and conversely, how healthy you feel if you start feeding your body properly!)Also what hours does she work? Varied hours and especially shift work can make you very susceptible to infections.
Brainpox said:
extraT said:
Diet is ok, but tendency to put weight on
What does that mean? Does she have a well balanced diet and get all the vitamins she needs? Quite surprising how run down you feel when you don't get the right support (and conversely, how healthy you feel if you start feeding your body properly!)Also what hours does she work? Varied hours and especially shift work can make you very susceptible to infections.
Forgot to ask what her sleep pattern was like.
extraT said:
Diet is ok, but tendency to put weight on
Define ok. 
There are so many definitions of a 'healthy diet' from the NHS Eatwell Guide pushing starchy carbs, vegetables and fruits to vegetarian/vegan to full-on carnivore.
The one that seems to cause most issues is the one most people consume, the eatwell guide. Go figure...
extraT said:
Thank you all for the varied (and cynical) responses.
India isn’t a red herring- this trip was before we met and The regular illness started afterwards.
I’m being vague on the symptoms because, as someone mentioned, it could be down to her immune system; she gets everything going around.
Diet is ok, but tendency to put weight on ( which I suppose lends credence to the parasite theory)
I also believe it’s her immune system, but after so many tests etc...and everything has come back negative. I’ll mention the parasite theory...
Maybe she is allergic to you? India isn’t a red herring- this trip was before we met and The regular illness started afterwards.
I’m being vague on the symptoms because, as someone mentioned, it could be down to her immune system; she gets everything going around.
Diet is ok, but tendency to put weight on ( which I suppose lends credence to the parasite theory)
I also believe it’s her immune system, but after so many tests etc...and everything has come back negative. I’ll mention the parasite theory...
ks, beaten to it! 
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