Episode 16: My Doctor's Recommendations to Avoid Getting Sick

Trainer Tips

Apr 1

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I sat down with my doctor to create a plan for navigating this allergy & germ season to avoid getting sick. What’s your plan?

If you’ve been following me on Twitch, you’ll know that over the last few weeks, I have been dealing with a nasty respiratory illness that I picked up while hanging out with my nieces and nephew.

Since I was little, I’ve always struggled to stay well when respiratory bugs are going around. Having allergies and asthma makes me particularly sensitive to getting sick and staying sick.

In this latest bout, I sat down with my doctor to create a plan to help my body fight off illness and bounce back faster. In this episode, I share the plan that we came up with.*

*Disclaimer: The content provided in this blog and podcast is for informational purposes only and is not intended as a substitute for professional medical advice, diagnosis, or treatment. Always seek the advice of your physician or other qualified health provider with any questions you may have regarding a medical condition. Never disregard professional medical advice or delay in seeking it because of something you have read on this website. Reliance on any information provided in this blog is solely at your own risk.

Jayd (00:00):
The deal is that she expects me to get sick a lot more in the coming year because during lockdown, we lost a lot of our immunities to just everyday germs that because we had two or three years where we were having limited exposure to each other. And now that we're in the mix, really common viruses that we would've had immunity to we're now getting exposed to and it's making us sick, and that's why everybody is sick.

(00:35)
Hey there. Jayd Harrison, AKA Jaydigains here. Today I'm going to share with you a conversation that I had with my Twitch chat after I came back from about of being sick. Now, if you've been following the Coaching Corner podcast, you'll know that a couple of episodes ago I talked about recommendations for how to get back into the gym after being sick. And after I recorded that podcast a couple days after that, I went to go visit my brother, and my brother has three daycare babies and they shared daycare germs with me. And I ended up getting sick and losing my voice for about a week. So when I came back, I was sharing with my Twitch chat the recommendations that I talked about with my doctor for how I'm going to handle sickness in the future because I lost my voice for so long and I was out of being able to record podcasts and stream normally and even teach my personal training clients.

(01:31)
It was a mess. So I wanted to brainstorm with my doctor how do I navigate in the future? So we put together my doctor and I a little plan of action for how we're going to navigate the coming year as I get exposed to more germs thanks to the babies. And then just in post covid life, as things continue to open up, we are going to continue to be exposed to things that we've probably lost a little bit of immunity to. So if you find that you keep getting sick or if you have a hard time getting over it when you're sick, you're not alone. A lot of us are struggling with that right now, but especially if you have asthma, these tips that my doctor gave me may be helpful for you. So give it a listen and let me know what you think. If you are following me on YouTube, you can leave a comment in the comments below this video. Make sure that you subscribe wherever it is that you are, whether you're watching on YouTube or you're listening via podcasts. So without further ado, let's get into the tips that my doctor gave me for staying healthy and getting over sicknesses faster in the coming year.

(02:42)
I just went to the doctor. Do you know what she told me? Silly woman. She's like, yeah, you're going to need to rest your voice as much as you can when you're not working. And I was like, woman, I'm always working. What else can I do? And she's like, you want some steroids? And I was like, yes. So it turns out I'm not actually sick, sick. It's just my asthma being asthma. E, it used to happen a lot when I was younger is that when I would get a respiratory illness, it would just stick around for a month or two and it was just like my asthma just going nuts. But now I am on steroids now, so I'm going to get fucking huge. Just kidding. I have some recommendations from my doctor to help me stay healthy. Now that we know that I'm probably just going to be getting exposed to a lot of yucky stuff because of my brother's babies.

(03:38)
Thanks guys. Thanks. The deal is that she expects me to get sick a lot more in the coming year because during lockdown, we lost a lot of our immunities to just everyday germs that because we had two or three years where we were having limited exposure to each other, and now that we're in the mix, really common viruses that we would've had immunity to we're now getting exposed to and it's making us sick. And that's why everybody is sick. Flu and cold and strep throat and RSV, it's all in the mix, and we had had very little immunity to it. So buckle up guys, because you're probably going to get sick. I never fear though, because my doctor gave me, we created a little plan. We created a plan specifically for me and how to navigate this as a person with asthma, because as a person with asthma, it's just a given that if I catch one of these respiratory illnesses, I'm going to be sick with it for a long time.

(04:45)
So y'all are just going to have to get used to hearing scratchy voice. Jade and Jade will not be able to redeem sing me a song for probably at least a good third of the time. But here is part of our plan. I'm not going to share this without saying first, I am not a doctor. My doctor is not your doctor, and this is not medical advice. You need to see your own damn doctor and create your own plan of action for how you are going to navigate all of the germs that are going around right now. However, I thought that sharing the plan that my doctor and I created together might be helpful for some of you. So one of the things is she wants me taking my vitamins two times a day to make sure that I am blasting my system with particularly vitamin C and zinc because those help boost the immune system.

(05:42)
And zinc also helps you to cut down on the amount of time that you spend sick. So I'm already taking a multivitamin and she recommended that I take it twice a day so that I'm just really making sure I'm covering my bases on those guys. And I am not mad about this because I love my multivitamins. They're delicious. They're delicious, yummy gummies. So I get to eat them twice a day. Another thing is something that we have talked about before on Stream and on the podcast, maybe on the podcast, I'm not sure I've talked about on the podcast, but staying in a calorie surplus is going to be really, really important for me on a number of levels. One, I am trying to build muscle, and it's really hard to build muscle when you are staying right at maintenance with your calories or if you're in a calorie deficit.

(06:34)
And I've talked about before, how much I have struggled to even eat maintenance because I have untreated, well sort of treated. I have band-aid treated A DHD, I'm not on Adderall or anything like that, was when I was younger. I was misdiagnosed as just having run of the mill anxiety and OCD, which is largely the case with little girls. When little girls have a DHD, a lot of times it's misdiagnosed as anxiety or OCD, and we get put on SSRIs, which they do help, at least with the anxiety side of things. What a bki boy, my doctor just thought, oh, she just has anxiety. And it come to find, I'm one of the late diagnosed people who actually have a DHD and autism who, anyway, I don't have, I'm not on one of those focus stimulants, but I do drink a lot of coffee and I am on an SSRI, which does help to a certain extent.

(07:43)
But no matter how medicated you are, you still have a DHD, you're always going to have a DHD. It's just that being medicated in whatever way helps you to manage it a little bit better. But you're never going to just magically be cured than be a neurotypical person. So A DHD, the way that interacts with a lot of people's dietary habits is it can go one of two ways, and the same person can have both expressions at different times. Sometimes they might have one expression, sometimes they might have another. For me in general, I spend most of the time in the expression of A DHD in that I hyperfocus on whatever it is that I'm working on, and I will go hours without eating or drinking or going to the bathroom and I'm in the zone and I don't even realize that I feel hungry or I've just gotten so used to ignoring my hunger.

(08:41)
And this is a real problem because what it ends up is that I'm malnourished and I lift heavy. I work out hard, and I have a very active job. I cannot afford not be eating the amount of energy that my body needs. And so I end up in a calorie deficit way more than I need to be and way more than is healthy, and it makes me further exposed to getting sick. And it's always that I get sick when I have been slacking on my eating, my planned eating starvation. I know a lot of people will always be like, oh, I need that load out of a DHD. Trust me. It's not actually something that you want because it means you're malnourished. Eating not enough calories for your body to be healthy is just as bad as eating too many calories and accumulating too much adipose tissue.

(09:38)
They're both unhealthy, they're both not desirable, right? You want to eat within that middle range of what's healthy. And I've struggled to be on a bulk for the better part of last three years. Every time I've tried to go on a bulk, something has happened in my life that I've had to really focus and problem solve, and that almost always ends up in me slacking on eating the way that I need to eat. So staying in a calorie surplus is number one as part of my plan for trying to avoid getting sick and trying to cut down the amount of time that I spend sick when I do get sick, because my body is starved of the energy and the nutrients that it needs. And this is not to say that it happens all the time, it's just particularly when I'm working on a project, and again, this is not something that is desirable, so that's one way that it can go.

(10:29)
The other way that it can go, especially if you have a DHD, is that you can eat for a stem is a behavior that you do to keep your nervous system stimulated so that you can function at a baseline. We all have STEM behaviors, even neurotypical people have STEM behaviors like fidgeting, right? It's just that for a DHD people, fidgeting is a lot more prevalent and necessary for our brains to function. And so for a lot of people, they get the stimulus from eating, and that's their preferred stimulus to keep their brain functioning. So they find themselves often eating when they're not actually hungry or mindlessly snacking or it's like an emotional coping mechanism to help them maintain a good emotional baseline. And neither is good. Neither is good. So one is in one case, the case that's more often the case for me is that food is overstimulating.

(11:29)
The fact thinking of when I'm hungry, it's like, okay, well, what am I going to eat? And if I haven't meal prepped, if I haven't meal planned, if I don't have anything ready to go at that moment, then the whole having to stop what I'm doing, switch mindsets, think about what am I going to eat and then make the thing and then sit down to eat it. By the time I sit down to eat it, I am overstimulated because I've already been hyper-focused, and then I overload my brain further with these extra processes of planning what I'm going to eat and then prepping what I'm going to eat by the time I sit down. If I try to put that food in my mouth, I will feel nauseous and gag because I'm overstimulated. That's a really common thing to happen for people with A DHD, I have a bunch of things that I'm going to be doing, and I'm going to share them on my podcast of meal prep tips specifically for people with a DHD of things and share my loadout of plans or my strategy for how I'm going to navigate this in the future to make sure that I'm nourishing my body with the nutrition that it needs to stay healthy and to avoid getting sick.

(12:41)
So that's going to be a future episode that will come out probably in a couple of weeks or maybe next week, who knows? But yeah, staying in a calorie surplus is going to be really important. If you think about it, when you are in a calorie deficit, which is what we always say is just be aware that when you're in a calorie deficit, your immune system is going to be suppressed, right? All of your systems will be suppressed. You'll notice that your skin will start to look really dry, maybe poor quality. Your hair will be more brittle, your nails will be more brittle. All of your systems are suppressed when you're in a calorie deficit and including your immune system, so you're more likely to get sick. So for me, staying in a calorie surplus is going to be number one, and I have a couple of strategies that I'm going to put into place to help me tackle that.

(13:27)
And then there's a couple of daily things that she wants me to do. Of course, I'm on an oral steroid now, and I also have a steroid inhaler to help keep my lungs from going super crazy and help manage my asthma a little bit better so that my lungs will be strong enough to kick whatever it is that I pick up and get rid of the current thing that I'm struggling with. She also recommended that I netty pot every day to help me especially navigate the allergy season, because here in North Carolina, allergy season is bad. We literally have, it looks like it snows sometimes the pollen will be so thick. It's pine pollen. I think it's so thick. It looks like it has snowed green snow. It's super gross, dude. It's so gross. And then when it rains, the good news is that it rains often during the pine pollen season, but when it rains, the rainwater gets green and it looks like there's slime on the ground.

(14:35)
It's so gross, and you end up breathing that stuff, you'll blow your nose and it'll be green and you're not sick. It's just pollen. It's so gross, dude. Yeah, the green clouds, it's so gross. I'll be standing here Back when used to podcast back, I used to stream over there. I would be looking out the window while I was talking to the camera, and I remember a couple of years ago just talking to you guys, and I think I stopped and I was like, oh my God, I just saw this cloud of pollen just over the road as someone drove by. It was so gross. So netty potting every day, but if you are going to be netty potting, what she and the Netty pot people also recommend is you got to keep that shit clean. You got to wash it with hot water and soap, and it's also a good idea to pop it in the microwave for 40 seconds to sterilize it, and you want to use only distilled water.

(15:36)
And I asked her specifically, if I buy a jug of distilled water, how long can I use that on my nutty pot? And she said, about a month, throw it away after a month with me nutty potting every day. I'm probably going to go through that really fast. But if you're doing it like every once in a while, just don't keep your nutty pot. I'm sorry. Don't keep your distilled water for longer than a month. But yeah, you want to disinfect it before every use or maybe after every use and before every use, and make sure you're only using distilled water. I feel like here where I live, the city I live, the city that I live has immaculate water. We have crazy good water in this city. I feel like I could probably get away with using the city water, but there's also lots of ways that bacteria can get in the water, even if the water from the city is good because your faucets or whatever.

(16:27)
So you just want to use distilled water with that. There are these little neti pot and similar companies. They make these electronic nasal rinse systems that actually disinfect the water before it even goes through. It's electronic, so you can use one of those if you don't have access to distilled water, if you don't want to be buying distilled water all the time, you can do that. I said, I am on a steroid inhaler. I'm on an oral steroid, which particularly for me because I have asthma, that's just what I have to do. And we talked about, I don't necessarily need to be on these things all the time all year round, but because I am seeing these fucking Petri dishes once a month. Side note, I love my nieces and nephew. Please don't get me wrong. I adore them. I love them to pieces. I would lay down my life for them.

(17:22)
I'm just really annoyed with them right now, and I know it's not their fault for passing along illnesses. They're just babies. They're in daycare. It's not their fault, but it's still very frustrating. So I'm seeing the fucking Petri dishes at least once a month. Our plan is, well, during allergy season, I'm going to be using the steroid inhaler every fucking day, twice a day. Once allergy season calms down, I'm probably just going to use it in the week leading up to when I go spend the weekend over there, and then in the week when I come back, and then so two weeks out of every month so that I'm not always using the steroid and my body stays sensitized to it, right? Hot tea and honey. Of course, we've been doing a lot of that. We've been doing a lot of hot liquids, hot, hot tea.

(18:06)
I love tea. You don't have to convince me, you don't have to pull my arm to drink hot tea with honey. Cough drops is one that I wasn't really using a whole lot of that I need to reinvest in. I need to order a bunch of new cough drops that really did help that day that I used, and that yes, sinking green. You're absolutely right. A good household filter. I have lots of filters in my house because I as a person with asthma and allergies, especially living in North Cackie where the pollen is so bad, it's really important to me to have good filters. And also because I see clients at my house, I have a couple of clients who actually come to my house, and so I want to make sure that I'm not bringing any germs to them. So I have a UV light filter that sterilizes the air as it goes through that stays by my desk.

(18:59)
I have a HEPA filter that lives in the dining room, and then I also have a HEPA filter that lives in the upstairs in my bedroom. Yeah, filters are a good idea as well. And it's not a bad idea to just wear a fucking mask, especially if you're going to a place where it's really heavily populated and you want to reduce your exposure. I know a lot of people feel some type of way about wearing a mask, but if you're concerned about your exposure, it's an easy way to kind of at least reduce that. And if you do get sick, it's conscientious for you to wear a mask to avoid sharing germs with other people. Also, in addition, as part of calorie surplus is of course, and I say this all the time, you need to make sure you're eating enough protein and enough vegetables.

(19:47)
And those two things actually play a key role in your immune system. In addition to just trying to eat in a calorie surplus, I'm going to really focus on getting lots of good veggies in and make sure that I'm reaching my calorie goal. Jade is just a bunch of filters in a trench coat. Yeah, basically. So yeah, that's our plan. And I'm hoping that I can reduce the amount of time that I spend sick in the coming year. But again, she was saying is because now I work in a facility like an in-person facility, however, that in-person facility also has UV filters. We use UV filters in my facility, which I think that's another reason why I'm a big fan of that place. I feel safe working there from germs. Yeah. So anyway, yeah, with me working in a facility and visiting the babies, it's just kind of a given that I'm going to spend more time in the coming months sick than I did in the same months last year.

(20:49)
And so what I can do is try to keep myself healthy and reduce the amount of time that I spend sick, but it's something that we kind of have to plan for and plan to mitigate. So that's our plan. I thought I would share it with you guys because I know some of you guys also might have asthma or you guys are probably also getting exposed to all this stuff, and we are in this together. But I also don't want you guys to fear losing your gains when you get sick. It's a part of everybody gets sick, even competitive bodybuilders, competitive power lifters, everybody gets sick. And so what if you lose a little bit of strength? It's going to come back. You might feel like shit because your cardio, especially if you get a respiratory illness, your cardio is going to go downhill, but it will come back, especially once you get healthy, it'll come back.

(21:41)
It'll come back pretty fast. So don't worry about that. Thank you so much for watching or listening wherever you are. Make sure that you subscribe to the Coaching Corner podcast, either on YouTube or wherever it is that you listen to your podcasts. Again, I'm Jayd Harrison, AKA Jaydigains. You can come hang out with me when I'm live on my Twitch channel. That's twitch.tv/jaydigains. I go live twice a week on Tuesdays and Fridays. And also make sure that you subscribe to the email newsletter where I send out lots of goodies every week, including announcements for the podcast, as well as different things that we have going on in the community. If you are interested in working with me, we want to try one of my workout programs. Check out my website, jaydigains.com. Now, I will see you in the next episode. I hope that you enjoyed this one. Don't forget to make sure you drink some water, eat your veggies, eat your protein, and prioritize your self-care, and I will see you soon.

My doctor’s tips for navigating allergy and sick season

1 Take a multivitamin

Taking a multivitamin can boost your immune system by providing essential vitamins and minerals that may be lacking in your diet. Vitamin C, vitamin D, and zinc are particularly important for strengthening the body's immune response and reducing oxidative damage from free radicals. This, in turn, will help you to better fend off infections and illnesses. Keep in mind, however, that multivitamins should complement a healthy diet—not replace it!

2 Use a neti pot

Using a nasal rinse system like a neti pot, pressure irrigation system, or electronic system can help prevent illness by clearing nasal passages of irritants, allergens, and pathogens. This can reduce the likelihood of contracting a respiratory infection.

It definitely takes some getting used to when performing nasal rinses—but I think it’s well worth it. Just make sure that you use distilled water and clean your nasal rinse system before and after every use (use hot water and soap). For good measure, I like to pop my Neti pot in the microwave for 40 seconds to disinfect it after washing before every use.

3 Eat enough calories

Eating enough calories is another essential part of my doctor’s plan for keeping me healthy. This has been a struggle for me with my ADHD and busy schedule—but I’ve noticed that I tend to only get sick when I have been slacking on my nutrition and not eating enough.

When your body is well-nourished and has enough energy, it can most efficiently produce immune cells and antibodies to fight off infections and pathogens. Eating sufficient calories also helps to keep inflammation in check and ensures that you can repair any damaged tissue. Plus, you’ll recover better from your workouts and build more muscle.

To ensure that I’m eating enough, I’m going to plan and prep my meals ahead of time. This will allow me to grab and go, even when I’m busy and focused on a project.

4 Eat protein & veggies

In addition to eating enough calories, it’s also important to be mindful of the kinds of foods that those calories come from. Our bodies need a variety of vitamins and minerals to stay healthy and fight off infection.

Eating plenty of protein helps with the production and function of immune cells, antibodies, and other molecules involved in immune response. This, in turn, helps the body fight off infections. Great sources of protein include lean cuts of meat, poultry, egg whites, beans, and low-fat dairy. In general, shoot for between 0.7 and 1 gram of protein per pound of body weight per day (or 1.5 - 2.2 grams per kilogram of body weight).

Vegetables are packed with vitamins, minerals, antioxidants, and phytochemicals that boost immune function too. Vitamins A, C, and E are found in many vegetables and help maintain the integrity of the skin, respiratory tract, and other barriers that protect against pathogens. Antioxidants in vegetables also help reduce inflammation and oxidative stress—which can weaken the immune system. The dietary fiber in vegetables also promotes a healthy gut microbiome, which plays a key role in immune function. It’s important to eat a serving of vegetables at every meal to get the most benefit from this food group.

5 Take your medicine

I’ll also be taking a few medicines to help get me through allergy season and visits with the babies. However, it’s important to consult with your own healthcare provider before adding any medicines (even over the counter) to your health routine. I’ll be taking a daily antihistamine to keep my allergy symptoms under control—especially right now during pollen season in North Carolina. I’ve been using Allegra for this for years, and I really like it because it doesn’t make me drowsy.

I’ll also be using a nasal corticosteroid (Flonase) to keep my sinuses from getting overly inflamed—which can lead to infection. I’ll limit this to just allergy season and whenever I visit the babies so that I’m not on a steroid all the time, since this can have other negative health effects.

Although I haven’t needed to use it in years, my doctor also refilled my prescription for an emergency inhaler just in case. I also have a corticosteroid inhaler on hand just in case I get sick again and have a hard time kicking the cough (this last one stuck around for 3 weeks).

So that’s our plan! I’m crossing my fingers and hoping that this can cut down on how often I get sick over the coming months. However, my doctor did note that illnesses are becoming more common now as a result of lockdown—when we lost a lot of our normal immunities. Maybe with these measures in place, however, I can at least reduce the amount of time that I’m down for the count 🤞

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ABOUT JAYD HARRISON

Jayd Harrison (Jaydigains) is a personal trainer and content creator. She helps people to build muscle, burn fat, and clean up their diets with her online coaching programs and social media content. Check out some of Jayd’s coaching videos on Youtube, or join Jayd live on Twitch and follow on social media: