Why do I keep getting sick? How can I improve?

I know what started this. From March till June, I was working 50-60 hours per week, and some other stressors came into my life, such as health problems with friends, deaths in the family, and other family turmoil. In June, I had a sinus infection that kept me nearly bed-ridden for three weeks. Two rounds of antibiotics later, the primary symptoms had subsided, but I suffered from major depression -- a symptom of the type of sinus infection I had -- for a further two months, seeing a psychologist and all until we noticed the symptoms of my sinus infection seemed to be coming back.

The doctor explained that this was not uncommon, and it often takes around three months to recover from a sinus infection. She started me on a nasal steroid and had me try a bunch of holistic approaches, such as eating more organic vegetables, raw nuts, plain yogurt, etc. A couple weeks on the nasal steroids, and I caught pityriasis rosea -- a rare virus that has my skin covered in itchy hive-like sores that itches so bad it wakes me up in the middle of the night even with Benadryl, has given me a sore throat, nasal drainage, headaches, fatigue, possibly a mild fever, and which tends to last between two weeks and six months. I've had it for three weeks so far, and if I would guess I would say I'm about half way through it.

I left the job that was working me so hard -- and which provided such a horrible health care plan that I paid well over a thousand dollars out of pocket for these doctor visits -- and I have since started with a company I used to work for. The problem is, I'm still suffering from a lot of these symptoms, but they likely won't go away for several more weeks, at least. What I have is not contagious, but on weekends I tend to sleep around 12 to 16 hours per day, which tells me my body is obviously fighting something, but I can't sleep when I'm at work, and the headache and fatigue combined makes it really difficult to focus, and makes me really nauseous when I try to push through it.

I'm really not sure what to do. I'm trying to eat healthy, drinking kombucha tea every morning, eating raw organic broccoli, mushrooms, carrots, honey, spinach, and trying to limit proteins, carbs and dairy -- of course, I'm still eating a relatively balanced diet. I've been told not to exercise, and I cannot take warm showers or baths because of the skin irritation.

What should I do? Does anyone have any advice, health, medical, professional or otherwise? This is interfering with my job, my relationships, and my mental health. I've been sick for over four months now, and I have to keep working to support myself...

I did some reading on fibromyalgia and came accross this reference to pityriasis rosea (here is that link: link removed) and they mentioned that it could be connected with the HHV-6 and HHV-7 virus.

Here's a link to that wiki page: link removed

How long have you been at your new position? Have your short term disability benefits kicked in yet?

The first thing I would do is find a new doctor!

Suggesting yogurt for a sinus infection!?!?!?!?!

Ditch dairy altogether, and give it a solid month. You won't notice the improvement right away.

Pityriases rosea is random - nothing you can do to protect yourself against that except maybe like in a bubble.

Antibiotics aren't too helpful for sinus infections. I think you're sleeping too little and working too much. I actually think probiotics in the form of yogurt is a great way to get your bacteria healthy again.

Thanks for the quick replies! The antibiotics were several months ago, because the sinus infection wasn't going away the doctors thought I had a secondary, bacterial infection. I say doctors because I have seen multiple about this. The yogurt was to help repair my immune system after the antibiotics.

For the sinus infection itself, after the antibiotics, I was prescribed to take Omega-3 with D3 supplements, drink lots of liquids (mostly water and hot tea), and take Mucinex and Nasonex.

What was your health like prior to this recent bout of stress and illness?

Are you a healthy weight? Did you get enough exercise?

I've historically been pretty healthy. I'm 6'1", 155 pounds, blood pressure is low-normal. I eat healthier than most, but I still have plenty of room for improvement. Last summer I was sort of casually training for a triathlon, swimming four or five times per week and cycling one to two times -- I just struggled with the running, partly because I have asthma. This summer, I've been sick so much that I haven't gone cycling or swimming once, though I have managed a handful of runs over the last six months.

As a child I rarely got sick. The two years I was at community college I didn't get sick even once, and that was in Sacramento, CA which is a highly urban and diversified city. Over the past several years, I have gotten sick more than most. I've always been one to work really hard, and I also tutored and ballroom danced in college, so that exposed me to a lot of different people on a regular basis. It's typical that people new to the ballroom dance scene get sick quite a lot for the first several months to several years. My last year of college I got the swine flu, and that destroyed my immune system for about six months, during which time I was constantly getting sick -- but I was also under a lot of stress. Since I graduated two years ago, I moved to the SF Bay Area, and have only gotten sick about twice per year, until now...

Part of me wonders if a change in diet, or drinking city water (I grew up drinking well water) or some sort of allergy is triggering all this. I moved to a duplex in January this year...

Edit: Just a couple more points: I was swimming laps up through November of last year, and was cycling through January. I'm not sexually active, and I donate blood from time to time, so I think that rules out many more serious conditions.

With all the things life has been throwing at you, it's no wonder you keep getting sick! It all comes down to the root is disease - the lack of ease.

I know your world has been turned upside down, but do you have any opportunity to just relax and have some down time for a while? Not to sit and think about your stresses, but to relax, perhaps meditate, or catch up with friends you haven't seen in a while?

I'd strongly suggest ditching your doctor for a while and seeing a naturopath. If you can spare about $100-200, see if you can get "meridian test" done. It is a simple, painless test where the naturopath will determine what areas of your body are most effected by your daily habits, and will suggest which foods to get more/less of in order to get your immune system back in check - naturally

6'1" male @ 155lbs!

Has your doctor told you to gain weight? Even for an endurance athlete, that is a very very light weight.

155 is well below the lean weight of a 6'1" male.

Could you be getting sick because your body doesn't have adequate resources?

Thanks for the sympathy and encouragement! I've spared the good people of eNA the full extent of stuff going on. I think I'll look into a naturopath and meridian test -- I've always had dry skin, and I'd love to find out it's just a nutritional deficiency... Maybe that would help my immune system as a whole, too!

155 lbs is light, but I believe it is still healthy... I think 165 is the target weight for my height -- which happens to be what I was last year when I was so active -- but as long as I'm over 145 I think I'm in the healthy range. I do have some digestive problems, though -- nothing serious, according to the doctors, but perhaps I'm not absorbing all of the nutrients I should. One of my friends suggested I have a "leaky gut," but of course that's not real medical terminology; perhaps something to consider, though!

Thanks, everyone, for weighing in. It really does help to know that there are so many good people out there, and that's what I really love about this site. I was feeling pretty discouraged this morning, but I'm feeling better now -- and I think mental outlook is a factor in overall health.