There is nothing more annoying than consistently coming down with a cold or some form of sickness when you can't really afford to be sick. Back in high school, I spent four whole years being extremely grateful that I had an immune system worthy of the most nasty colds. The words "I neer get sick" were more true than anything else I'd ever say.
I got summer colds, but never winter colds, and typically, I was struck down with something every summer, but only for a few days and only that one time. It was the same, each summer. And then I'd move on with my life.
Recently, in the past few months, I have been consistently sick more than is normal for me. I guess this is a mark of growing older-- because with age, your immune system starts to play tricks on you. It decides that it wants to go on strike at the most ridiculously absurd times. And it chooses to go on strike irregularly and almost every other week.
For the past year, I think I've been sick at least once every month. It's irritating, because I'm NEVER sick.
Theory has it, from friends, that I've been sick more often lately due to stress. Trying to finish up this Medical Technology program, I've put much more work and effort into completing this task than I've ever done for anything else. I mean, back in high school, sure I worked hard to make things happen for me, but I never had to put too much effort into it-- high school was a cake walk. Throughout the beginning of college, I doubt I put much of my effort into working hard at all-- college was boring until you could figure out what it was you wanted to do with your life. And then when I finally figured it out, Forensic Science courses were extremely easily passed with an 'A'. And now, in Medical Technology, all of my slacking off since I started going to college has caught up with me.
With this program, I feel like I need to put in twice the effort and twice the time and twice the hard work I used to put in for anything I've ever done. And because of this, I skip sleep, I get worked up, and I get nervous over the littlest things. I'm constantly studying and worrying about my grades. Stress level goes up and lack of sleep will probably equal into a temporarily impaired immune system.
And so as my friends are telling me, the only reason I've been getting sick so much more often lately is because I'm stressed out. Once the program is done and over with, I will probably go back to the way I used to be.
Another theory popped up, but not about why I've been getting sick more often, but about why I feel like I'm being crushed by diesel trucks whenever I get sick. I try so hard not to be a baby whenever I catch something, but it just so happens that I feel so much like crap that I can't help it. Whenever I get sick, it just seems to hit full-force, every single time.
And we have attributed this to the fact that, well, I never get sick. If you never get sick, then you never know how to deal with any cold that comes around. Your body goes into panic mode and you have trouble with sickness tolerance. Most people will just simply say, I'm sick, and move one. I'll do that too, but then there's hacking, sneezing, and feeling dizzy all the time. It can't be helped-- because I'm never sick as much as everyone else, my body doesn't know how to handle it when it comes around.
And so all of that pride I've always had in a strong immune system... Well, I can't really take the dumb thing for granted anymore. At least not when I'm currently rushing through another streak of sore throat and congestion.
