why do i feel great when i have a cold?

[Toxed]

I've read some theoretical papers that talk about how the perception of pain is gated. You brain/body function can only focus on the top one or two most pressing things. Our day to day (suck pill miserable) condition temporarily takes a back seat to the virus. Its the same as if you had a headache and on the way to the medicine cabinet you whacked your toe really hard. All the sudden, you've forgotten about the headache. The best visual I ever saw on it was an episode of House. He was trying to go off the pain meds for his leg, so he slammed his hand in a drawer. It does work for a short while.

 

[Woolie]

@Toxed, this is an interesting idea, I'm glad you mentioned it (worth thinking about).

But somehow I just have a feeling that this cold-induced respite some of us have experienced is more than just redirecting pain. Just because it lasts longer, and also there's not much pain to the cold (not compared to the remission it gives, at least!).

 

[Toxed]

@Woolie, the "pain gating" analogy is similar to the "immune system gating" not the same. The stuff about pain was just to give you a familiar example that hopefully everyone could relate to. Its not that the cold is painful, its just that it needs immediate attention, whereas our chronic illnesses are our bodies "normal." So the body pushes those symptoms to the background in the face of the new viral threat. Did I do better that time?

 

[Countrygirl]

I find this particular oddity of ours to be very curious and would love to know how and why it happens. In over 35 years of illness I have never had a cold (I had nearly non-stop infections in the few years up to the onset of severe ME), but I do develop more heavy- duty infections like flu. I then feel so much better as my immune system forgets about attacking me while it battles with the new invader. However, it seems to make a rather pathetic attempt, as I can now no longer run a proper fever. ME reset my temperature to 95-6 degrees F and the ME-version of fever means a crawl up to 97 degrees whereas before it had plenty of welly and could hit a respectable 103 or even 104 F.

Surely an immunologist should be able to explain what is happening to us?

 

[dazzammm]

found this on the forum from about 5 years ago.
http://forums.phoenixrising.me/inde...-better-when-they-get-the-flu-or-a-cold.3774/
and the phenominom is reported on other CFS forums.

found another post elsewhere that said an immunologist told someone it was due to the T1/T2 system and getting a cold was a good sign of recovery.

 

[Woolie]

@Woolie, the "pain gating" analogy is similar to the "immune system gating" not the same. The stuff about pain was just to give you a familiar example that hopefully everyone could relate to. Its not that the cold is painful, its just that it needs immediate attention, whereas our chronic illnesses are our bodies "normal." So the body pushes those symptoms to the background in the face of the new viral threat. Did I do better that time?

Yea, definitely, @Toxed. Still, its "gating" now only in the very loosest sense of the word, right? You're now talking more about immune activity and how it is modulated in response to acute infection.

 

[Toxed]

@Woolie, yep! That was the concept I was trying to convey.

an immunologist told someone it was due to the T1/T2 system and getting a cold was a good sign of recovery.

I've felt like that is true. I didn't uses to be able to get a virus. My system was so toxic they couldn't survive. Bugs wouldn't bite me either! lol not so anymore. Now I have to deal with both.

 

[Research 1st]

Thank you.

Generally as patients we have sluggish cortisol release, so we have sufficient adrenal reserve, it's just that our brains don't release it quickly enough when the dynamic world requests it.(If we look at general 'CFS' and the research results of synacthen tests the adrenals show a 'blunted' response to stimulation, but a sufficient rise in cortisol not to be Addison's disease).

If that was true, for some, you could theorise that the immune system somehow affects the brain, increases cortisol (temporarily) and makes us feel unusually good, as we aren't so drained?

This may be hogwash, but I am noticing with myself clinically low levels of cortisol at rest, but normal levels with stressed in repeat cortisol tests at home. In the hospital, as I am stressed, the resting cortisol is 'normal'. This would imply the brain is dysfunctional in releasing cortisol and only works when 'prodded', otherwise it's too low. Ergo you can argue ME CFS is a dysfunction of brain cortisol, not adrenal glands. The problem here, as I also found out, is that you need the correct test - a pituitary gland test in which the brain is 'stressed' with a hormone - such as Glucagon.

As predicted when this was done in myself, I didn't produce enough cortisol, thus the low brain cortisol idea, at least in myself, is correct.

I only realised this recently, that the levels of cortisol in ME CFS research, aren't done at home. So if patients report they can't cope with stress, what's going to happen when blood is drawn (levels will go up anyway due to pain/expectation - false readings on tests) in a hospital setting too - more false readings? The levels will be higher than at home. Now naturally, doctors don't realise that ME CFS patients are totally stress intolerant, draw blood in the doctors office (meant to be done at 9am), and it's low normal or normal so they 'miss' our levels done when we are totally calm and chilled out - home phlebotomy.

So perhaps, in some people, an infection can create this phenomena too (increase cortisol - as in travelling to a hospital blood draw), and you feel unusually good for a short time, but then crash afterwards, when the trigger is switched back off again (possibly hit by delayed PEM as you did more, as you could do more for a limited time, as your cortisol was raised.

Have any of you also noticed, sometimes you tend to be able to do more physically when in the hospital, under pressure? Maybe this is adrenaline giving you 'power' that you don't have at home, but I did wonder if it's actually your body operating with the correct level of cortisol, for a short while and you can feel it.

Thus if 'stress' can do this, perhaps infection to (for some) as we know that infection raises cortisol (hence infection can kill Addison's patients, as they have no cortisol left to cope with the stress on the body of an infection).

Who knows. I expect this is silly, but it's fun thinking about it.

 

[MeSci]

I've heard people with severe ME can feel more energetic for a number of hours, before they crash with an infection (This is sitting on the sofa, not post exertion crash).

It could still be post-exertional malaise sitting on a sofa, couldn't it? The exertion could be the day before, or several days before.

 

[MeSci]

I have recently been in hospital, where they seem to have wiped out my gut flora with an antiviral and an antibiotic, and soon after I got home I developed a bad cold or flu - the first I have had in years.

When I first developed ME, I used to feel great when I had a cold or flu. Then I stopped getting them.

This time I am feeling as one should with a cold or flu - crap.

I harbour a faint hope that it is a good sign - but only very faint. I have had too many false dawns.

 

[sorin]

Hi,

when i have a cold all my symptoms disappear and i feel full of energy and GREAT! anyone else experience this or has an explanation.

it could be psycological (got other things to worry about), physical (too tired to "put up my defenses" or immune system is in hyperdrive), dietry (gone off my food so am removing a sensitivity), medicinal (stuffed full of paracetamol) or something else?

I have heard of people that were feeling bad when they took multivitamins and minerals, when normally the would have expected to see an increase in the energy level. Probably their immune system was wrongly over-reacting and attacking own body so adding more multivitamins was like throwing gas over the fire. Now, in your case, could be something similar, the cold maybe stops your immune systems to wrongly over-react and fight against false targets. Just a thought...

 

[Seven7]

Hi,

when i have a cold all my symptoms disappear and i feel full of energy and GREAT! anyone else experience this or has an explanation.

it could be psycological (got other things to worry about), physical (too tired to "put up my defenses" or immune system is in hyperdrive), dietry (gone off my food so am removing a sensitivity), medicinal (stuffed full of paracetamol) or something else?

I am the same. Once I was put on inmune modulators I feel better ( takes years) but I get remission w colds ( and periods ). It has to do on how your inmune system is over active. If you get a cytokines profile and lymphocyte subset you will see if you are unbalanced ( see an immunologyst)

 

[slysaint]

See, I don't understand why some scientist searching for the cure for the common cold hasn't taken any interest in the 'ME/CFS don't catch colds' thing.

 

[Hip]

when i have a cold all my symptoms disappear and i feel full of energy and GREAT! anyone else experience this or has an explanation.

There are two conditions known to dramatically improve during a cold: attention deficit disorder (ADD / ADHD) and autism. This phenomenon is called the fever effect, where people with ADHD or autism will often experience significant reduction in their symptoms when they have a fever from catching an infection.

Since fever is controlled by the locus coeruleus (LC) in the brain, the theory is that the fever effect might be caused by effects resulting from the activation of the LC.

The LC is found in the brainstem, and brainstem abnormalities have been found in ME/CFS. So conceivably LC activation may modulate brainstem activity, leading to improvements in ME/CFS symptoms.



Similar threads:
Improve when I get a virus? Ideas anyone?
Head clears when body fighting infection! Please help!

 

[Richard7]

I would add that I too have this symptom and have being living with two hypotheses.


One is that I know people use to use viruses to treat cancer. They would give someone a virus to give them a fever so that their immune system was at its best and some cancers at least would be destroyed in the process.


Based on this I assumed that if I was dealing with a virus that was harming me but was able to do so without triggering the immune system, then something else that triggered the immune system might help fight it off or reduce the first virus's impact.


The second thought was that this might just be different stages in the life of the infection. I know nothing of virology but wondered if the virus might go quiet for a day or two before propagating/shedding or whatever its meant to be called. Or indeed that the shedding might be the quiet before the storm as it was put above.


I did read some articles on SIgA, where people had the pattern of a drop in SIgA followed by an increase in the shedding of EBV cells followed by the symptoms of respiratory infections. The researchers made it clear that the respiratory symptoms might not be caused by the EBV, it might be other changes that had given the EBV a chance to shed/propagate.


My general pattern has been that I feel good for a day or afternoon or whatever, and then get hit by some nasty virus. This is, in me, often accompanied by a rash of pink bumps on the insides of my wrists, but sometimes just a runny nose and or lots of sneezing and a bit of a fever/feverish sensations.


The rash, when it happens, arrives just before everything goes awry. So its: a really good afternoon; what is that on my wrist; and then, a week of fever, tingling sensations down my spine, sore joints and so on.


This is not PEM it happens whether or not I take advantage of the extra energy.

 

[MeSci]

There are two conditions known to dramatically improve during a cold: attention deficit disorder (ADD / ADHD) and autism. This phenomenon is called the fever effect, where people with ADHD or autism will often experience significant reduction in their symptoms when they have a fever from catching an infection.

Since fever is controlled by the locus coeruleus (LC) in the brain, the theory is that the fever effect might be caused by effects resulting from the activation of the LC.

The LC is found in the brainstem, and brainstem abnormalities have been found in ME/CFS. So conceivably LC activation may modulate brainstem activity, leading to improvements in ME/CFS symptoms.

I haven't seemed to produce a proper fever during this cold/flu, but I do seem to be defeating it in the normal way. My temperature has been higher than my usual low ME temperature, but well below a normal fever response, even when I have felt unusually warm and am sweating.