Can a new location make you perpetually sick?

[Rive]

I would be interested in reading studies about this phenomena.

I believe this is referred as 'back to school plague' in English.

 

[StingrayJane]

Welcome to the PF.

Have you spoken with a doctor about this yet? They will probably be able to help you figure this out relatively quickly.

Thank you for the welcome :) I've been to see a doctor a few times since I moved and had some tests on things I considered to be unrelated to the move...

First I went for the itching and I was prescribed a $35 dollar cortisone cream; so I just bought the store brand for $5 the next time which worked just as well. However it felt a little like a hemophiliac being told to stock up on band-aids at Costco; no attempt at figuring out the root cause.

It took till last month to find out that the city water was hard and it's probably an allergy but since the city just replaced the water treatment plant, that particular problem may be solved next month when it officially kicks in.

A few months later I went for a walk in for two new problems, severe heel pain and missed periods. Xrays showed heel spurs and blood work came back with a minor Vit D deficiency. I was told to take D and re-visit if I missed more periods. I did.

Went back and had a slew of blood work done again and that came back with slightly low estrogen so I was referred to a gynecologist. What I didn't do was go to a walk in specifically to say "ever since I moved I feel slightly ill and extremely fatigued" for fear I would be told it was in my head or told to go back to the east. However, now that I have found out that a good friend and colleague who moved at the same time is experiencing the same thing (except the lady issues as he is a...He) well, now I'm really starting to think it has to do with either the water, the climate or the canola factories or something else like that.

Neither of us want to move because the place is just perfect otherwise. It's like building your dream home and realizing your allergic to the construction materials :p

 

[berkeman]

What I didn't do was go to a walk in specifically to say "ever since I moved I feel slightly ill and extremely fatigued" for fear I would be told it was in my head or told to go back to the east. However, now that I have found out that a good friend and colleague who moved at the same time is experiencing the same thing (except the lady issues as he is a...He) well, now I'm really starting to think it has to do with either the water, the climate or the canola factories or something else like that.

Sorry you're going through so much right now! I think it would be good to go back to the doctors with that specific question/complaint, so that they can line up the right tests. I doubt they will tell you it is "in your head" or to leave town.

 

[StingrayJane]

Sorry you're going through so much right now! I think it would be good to go back to the doctors with that specific question/complaint, so that they can line up the right tests. I doubt they will tell you it is "in your head" or to leave town.

You're probably right. I guess I'm just extra cautious because in Canada it can get weird...sometimes tests are not run because it would put too much strain on the system, sometimes it's cheaper to refer a patient to a counselor who isn't covered by provincial health care.

As for being told to go back east lol, well, if you can believe it the nurse at triage just about told me that when I went in for the gyno tests and she badgered me about what I did for a living. It would not be the first time I moved to a small town and had people tell me I'd be better off moving back to the city.

I think sometimes people don't realize that not everybody likes big cities and traffic jams and the people who make those silly remarks are people who take small-town life for granted. Part of me wants to see if switching the Brita filter to buying spring water like everybody else in town might fix this; but that's probably the part of me who hates getting needles shoved in my arm :p

 

[berkeman]

As for being told to go back east lol, well, if you can believe it the nurse at triage just about told me that when I went in for the gyno tests and she badgered me about what I did for a living. It would not be the first time I moved to a small town and had people tell me I'd be better off moving back to the city.

Hopefully this is less of an issue with the docs, compared to some of the nurses. Hang in there, and I hope you feel better soon.

 

[OmCheeto]

I believe this is referred as 'back to school plague' in English.

I went thru 10 pages of google search results. Very little information other that "wash your hands".

 

[Tom.G]

It seems that moving to a new location works both ways. I've lived in half a dozen areas across the USA and sometimes had increases in mild reactions, even moving just a few miles.

Then there is one woman I ran across who moved from the Central Plains near the Canadian border to the Greater Los Angeles area. She had been suffering from Lupus (classified as an autoimmune disease), which disappeared after the move! Ten years and counting. In the DEC. 20, 2019 Science magazine, pg.1531 (synopsis on pg.1445), there is an article about evidence of environmental factors triggering Lupus-like disease.

Somewhat related are indications that children exposed in their early years to various pathogens are often healthier as adults than their 'City Raised, Helicopter Parent' cohorts. It seems to set up their immune system for more appropriate responses. (last sentence is my own speculation)

So, yes, environmental changes can affect allergies/health, in addition to exposure to whatever viruses are circulating in the local population.

Cheers,
Tom

 

[Rive]

I went thru 10 pages of google search results. Very little information other that "wash your hands".

Well, it's the same here. By its nature this topic is really fuzzy: wide variation of 'mild' germs supported with the general anxiety of children - guess it's no wonder that not much researcher wishes to dig into this moat. Especially since it's more annoying than serious.
Of course it's also possible that I could not find the right words to search for.

Regarding the 'wash your hands' part: once I've heard a teacher rumbling that it would be better to mix up all the children once at the start of the term and get over the thing in a week so classes could be started seriously: since the other way the whole first month is wasted on bringing up those who just skipped a few days.

 

[Nik_2213]

"I have never had a flu shot..."
{ face palm... }
Unless you have specific medical issues that preclude such, please, Please, PLEASE get your seasonal flu vaccination, plus your 'decadal' pneumonia. Even if they do not prevent infection, they should mitigate severity. And, you are contributing towards 'Community Immunity'.

Worst case, if you fetch up in A&E (ER) during a 'Code Black', declaring your vaccinations WILL count towards your triage points. You WILL rank higher than adjacent non-vaxxer or anti-vaxxer with identical symptoms. Put bluntly, you've the better chance of avoiding 'complications' and recovering given the same minimal care. So, those begrudged vaccinations, like a routine anti-tetanus, may save your life...
--
FWIW, perhaps borrow a portable dehumidifier. In passing, it may precipitate enough pollen, smog etc to ease symptoms. Non-drowsy anti-histamines may help, too...
--
IMHO, 'Holistic & Eastern Medicine', including Ayuverdic, may have a powerful placebo effect, usually via combination of bed-side manner and cost. Sadly, like the 'Infinite Dilution' stuff, it fails 'double-blind' studies that would similarly exclude any non-efficacious mainstream medicine...
--
Disclosure: Spent my career in a small but busy corner of Big Pharma QA/QC. For some years, I shared desk-phone with our Complaints Dept. Talked to many, many folk who just wanted a meaningful explanation (*) rather than a curt form-letter. No issues with NDAs and proprietary procedures-- Our testing was 'Pharma Standard' per BP / BPC / EP / USP, and totally audited. Queries got the same intelligent replies as industry VIPs and school / college tours we took around...

*) Classic was an irate, 'Inhaler doesn't work !'
Upon inspection, we found that hapless salbutamol can had acquired so many labels, it had become too fat to slide in its actuator.
After we carefully un-peeled the half-dozen, the now-nude can's bar-code gave a batch which was multiple years out of date, beyond even authorised re-testing. It had wandered Europe from distributor to distributor, gaining a new label at each. On top of prior labels. Upon dosage testing, the nude can proved as good as new, but that wasn't the point.
Our formal reply was 'Un-substantiated, out of date'. My full explanation indicted the prolonged 'parallel import' route to the complainant's penny-pinching pharmacy, and the sheer stupidity of layering all those labels...
IIRC, we got a 'Thank You' card.
N

 

[Jen Lyn]

I'm just curious if you found out eventually what was the cause? I have had something very similar happen. I moved from Ontario to Saskatchewan last year. It's now been 13 months. I have been itching, felt icky like I'm just getting over a cold or flu and I feel tired all the time and sore often. I'm determined to figure it out because I love the town where I've moved and I want to stay but I'd prefer to not feel so physically lousy so often.

YES! I think most of these episodes during first 4 months were allergies. Only one turned into a cold in January when I posted this. This is the first place I lived where I did NOT install Super Hepafilters in the air ducts. Big mistake! Apparently I was over confident in the air quality here and assumed since I was no longer in LA (or living in an old place with carpet) I was safe. Well the tenants below me have a dog, and we share air ducts. I'm very sensitive to pet dander, dust and smoke. I checked the current filters and discovered they do not even fit. They are 6" too small! In other words, there is no air filter on part of the 2 air ducts. I have always been sensitive with allergies so always put the highest level filters everywhere. Also I read it takes 6 months for your body to de-stress after a move. Stress will knock down your immune system which increases sensitive. My doctor said I am the healthiest person she has seen in years and suspects allergies. Everything else is idealistic, Blood Pressure, Blood Tests, etc..

As for someone else's comment about the flu shot, sorry I will never get one of those. #1 I do not ever get the flu #2 they are effective less than 50% of the time #3 25% (and my entire family) get very sick after the flu shot. Why would I want to get the flu when I never get the flu now? Is really a shot in the dark, they do not know what they are doing and the evidence is in the numbers.

 

[berkeman]

YES! I think most of these episodes during first 4 months were allergies. Only one turned into a cold in January when I posted this. This is the first place I lived where I did NOT put in my own Super Hepafilters in the air ducts. Big mistake! Apparently I was over confident in the air quality here and assumed since I was no longer in LA or living in an old place with carpet, I was safe. Well the tenants below me have a dog, and we share air ducts. I'm very sensitive to pet dander, dust and smoke. I checked the current filters and discovered they do not even fit. They are 6" too small so, in other words, there is no air filter on part of the 2 air duct openings. I have always been sensitive as a child with allergies so have always put the highest level filters everywhere. It makes a difference. Also I read it takes 6 months for your body to de-stress after a move. Stress will knock down your immune system too.

Great news! Very glad that you are doing better.

As for someone else's comment about the flu shot, sorry I will never get one of those. #1 I do not ever get the flu #2 they are effective less than 50% of the time #3 25% (and my entire family) get very sick after the flu shot. Why would I want to get the flu when I never get the flu now? Is really a shot in the dark, they do not know what they are doing and the evidence is in the numbers.

Sorry that you feel that way. As a medic, I feel the opposite way. And you should probably find a better source for your statistics...

https://www.cdc.gov/flu/index.htm

Be well.

 

[Jen Lyn]

Great news! Very glad that you are doing better.

Sorry that you feel that way. As a medic, I feel the opposite way. And you should probably find a better source for your statistics...

https://www.cdc.gov/flu/index.htm

Be well.

If it's not broken, don't fix it. Do the least harm. That's what I say. Also, flu shots are not vegan. They are pretty disgusting. I was talking specifically about the last flu season. They really blew it with the last vaccine, those were the statistics.

 

[berkeman]

Also, flu shots are not vegan

Very interesting! I had not heard that point before. Here is a link to vegan flu shots:

https://www.passporthealthusa.com/vaccinations/flublok-egg-free-cell-based-influenza-vaccine/

But I understand that there can be some valid arguments against getting the annual flu shot. If you have little contact with other people (especially kids and the elderly), rarely get the flu, and have ill reactions from the flu vaccines typically, a case can be made.