Why do I get sick every time I go back to my family?

[manuel bon]

In my life I've always had a normal immune system, I didn't usually get sick like crazy, or too often. Except this last period, since last September that I have been struggling with my health. I am always sick or extremely weak on and of. I am sick for 1 or 2 weeks, then I'm okay for a week or more, and then I am bad again. I always get sick when I travel back home to Italy (where my family is), or back to the Netherlands where I study. I know it can be psychological, cause I have a difficult family situation (for those who don't know, my dad had an accident, and now he has a terrible brain injury), but I'm tired of feeling like this.

I did blood tests and my doctors say I'm excellent, even tho I don't feel that way at all. I don't take supplements, or medication, I eat normal (no crazy amounts of processed food), maybe not too much meat. I know I should also exercise more (I don't do it anymore as I used to), but it's also true that last time I exercised I got sick again. 

In December my doctor gave me 5 pills of prednisolone and I guess it helped, but probably not enough since now I'm bad again. 

Any advice or thoughts on the situation?

Thanks❤️

[whh2222]

my friend always gets sick before seeing his family on the holidays, and I think it's because he hates seeing his family and it stresses him out

Edited January 11 by whh2222

[manuel bon]

10 hours ago, whh2222 said:

my friend always gets sick before seeing his family on the holidays, and I think it's because he hates seeing his family and it stresses him out

yeah I get it.. actually today I thought that I get sick cause here with my family I can relax away from studies and work. It is stressful, but I have to say that to some extent I am more relaxed, and maybe all the stress from where I live alone comes out, and then I get sick... But idk

I'm pretty tired of feeling like this

Edited January 11 by manuel bon

[Salvijus]

I get sick when I see my family aswell. I didn't know this was a common thing. 

[Buck Edwards]

You might have some inflammation issues. Also depends on the season when you usually visit family. 

Seasonal issues like hay fever for example. 

[manuel bon]

1 hour ago, Buck Edwards said:

You might have some inflammation issues. Also depends on the season when you usually visit family. 

Seasonal issues like hay fever for example. 

yeah, my doctor gave me prednisolone, which should be for inflammation. I don't know if it helped, cause now, 3 weeks later I'm sick again. I return to my family every 50 days more or less, so pretty often.

[manuel bon]

1 hour ago, Salvijus said:

I get sick when I see my family aswell. I didn't know this was a common thing. 

sorry to hear that!

[Michael569]

Was it anything in particular? Did you get a diagnosis?

Corticosteroids aren't usually handed out for a flu so just curious what they thought it was?

[Buck Edwards]

3 hours ago, manuel bon said:

yeah, my doctor gave me prednisolone, which should be for inflammation. I don't know if it helped, cause now, 3 weeks later I'm sick again. I return to my family every 50 days more or less, so pretty often.

The Corticosteroid effect was gone after three weeks and probably the symptoms returned back. 

@Michael569 are corticosteroids given for auto-immune problems? 

 

 

Edited January 11 by Buck Edwards

[manuel bon]

5 hours ago, Michael569 said:

Was it anything in particular? Did you get a diagnosis?

Corticosteroids aren't usually handed out for a flu so just curious what they thought it was?

I didn't get a specific diagnosis, the doctor said that it would help for my immune system

[sholomar]

Any change the the body's homeostasis such as sudden changes in temperature, environment, etc can cause stress, even if you don't psychologically perceive it to be stress. Sometimes people paradoxically get sick when they are most relaxed also, because the body is finally given a chance to relax and "let go" from life's stressors and will then go into rebuilding mode.

Edited January 11 by sholomar

[Michael569]

7 hours ago, Buck Edwards said:

@Michael569 are corticosteroids given for auto-immune problems? 

Among other things, yes. They are also given for severe acute inflammation where a tissue/organ damage is at risk such as thyroiditis or where inflammation is not going away for a while. 

[Loving Radiance]

@manuel bon The mind is very powerful.

[manuel bon]

6 minutes ago, Loving Radiance said:

@manuel bon The mind is very powerful.

That's true. But how to get better?

[manuel bon]

@Loving Radiance I mean, I'm tired of being sick haha

[Loving Radiance]

@manuel bon I've had similar experiences. The first time it happened was when I lived in a community where we did intense shadow work, which changed and matured me a lot. When my family visited me there, I felt uncomfortable because I reverted to my old self when interacting with them.

I found it helpful to confront the discomfort I felt when presenting a false version of myself to my family. Internally, I wanted to be true to who I was, but I feared my family's judgment and rejection. I realized that I cared deeply about their opinions of me. The mask I wore was a defense mechanism to avoid feeling pain and shame from their potential rejection. I discovered that I wasn't grounded in my own identity and wasn't standing up for my boundaries and desires. When I visited them for Christmas, I was able to communicate my boundaries and desires more effectively and show my true self more authentically. Although I did revert to my mask in the last few days, it was a significant improvement from not being able to be authentic at all.

What is your discomfort with your family fundamentally about? Mine was fear and thus hiding myself.

 

In my experience, the protector parts in me made it happen that I developed headache and cold symptoms faster than ever before in order to shield myself from feeling pain & shame.

Edited January 12 by Loving Radiance

[manuel bon]

@Loving Radiance wow, thank you for sharing your story! I'm glad to read that you managed to change and work on yourself. I understand what you're talking about when you say that with your family you get back to the old behavior and personality, it happens also to me quite often. 

I don't have this kind of problem currently, I think my sickness comes from the difficult family situation I have. My dad has a bad brain injury, and everything is pretty difficult. 

[manuel bon]

@Loving Radiance I wrote about my situation a bit better in this post if wanna read about it

 

 

[cistanche_enjoyer]

Your parent's house (and especially your room where you sleep) could be infested with mold and consequently mycotoxins, this is very common in Italy. Are the humidity levels in the house high?

If you have a genetic condition (MTHFR) that makes it hard to detox mycotoxins this could explain your symptoms.

[manuel bon]

4 hours ago, cistanche_enjoyer said:

Your parent's house (and especially your room where you sleep) could be infested with mold and consequently mycotoxins, this is very common in Italy. Are the humidity levels in the house high?

Yeah there's a lot of humidity. We did have problems with mold, we cleaned it up lately so that shouldn't be a problem anymore I guess... Anyways I always stay home with the face mask (even when I sleep), cause I am allergic to dust mites and it makes me feel bad every time.