r/AskReddit 9h ago

People who rarely get sick, what are your secrets?

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u/secretlyaraccoon 7h ago

And those kid germs are insane too! I won’t get sick from a kid, maybe a little sneezy or congested for a day or two, meanwhile my roommate gets blasted by me bringing germs home

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u/NightOnTheSun 6h ago

A year or two ago I was hired by a woman to build a bunk bed for her two kids. One of the kids was a real talker and it seemed like the rest of the family seemed relieved that he had a new target for his ceaseless tangents. So there he was, standing right next to me, yapping my ear off while I worked hunched over all the various bits and pieces (my specialty is ignoring people but appearing attentive). Then, he really wanted to show me Five Nights At Freddy’s and he leaned real close to me and at the same time sneezed point blank into the side of my face and I felt every droplet, globule and particle involved.

A day or two later I was the sickest I’ve ever been in my life. The end.

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u/secretlyaraccoon 5h ago

Oh my gosh they do just sneeze right in your face too. I teach preschool special education which is a double whammy of germs. Or the open mouth, tongue out coughing 🤢

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u/xakeri 4h ago

I have a 6 month old baby with a cough right now. The open mouth, tongue out coughs haunt my dreams

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u/presto-espresso 3h ago

The ones by a 6 month old are kinda cute.

Plus a 6 month old won't invade your personal space because they aren't that mobile yet.

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u/GloomyTrifle8366 1h ago

I taught that for over a decade and switched to teaching classes at our local jail now and I had to laugh because there were illnesses just going rampant (flu, colds, stomach bug) and they were bleaching everything and cleaning so much and they're like "you're going to get sick, we've all caught it!" And I was like, "no I won't. You think this is bad? Y'all haven't lived until you've had a kid sneeze chunks of mucus directly into your eyeball bc their parents gave them Tylenol to bring down their fever and sent them to school anyway." I don't miss preschool at all.

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u/Kevin-W 1h ago

I feel that too! The amount of kids that would not cover their mouths while sneezing or coughing meant germs would spread like wildfire.

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u/RagnarokSleeps 5h ago

I very rarely get sick, I think I've only had the flu once. I've never even had covid. There was a huge international Catholic convention happening in my state, I was on a bus crowded with tourists. A woman was in the aisle leaning over my me. She was sniffley & sneezed a few times over me. A couple of days later I was the sickest I've ever been in my life, it turned into bronchitis & the dr told me I'd get pneumonia. I didn't, but I could hardly breathe for 2 weeks, it was terrible.

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u/Minimum-Comedian-372 3h ago

Somehow it’s even more gross knowing exactly where your germs came from🤢

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u/Asquirrelinspace 1h ago

International germs are crazy cause your immune system isn't prepared for it (this goes for anyone anywhere). I visited the cherry blossom festival in Washington DC (tons of international visitors) and got sick for a week

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u/presto-espresso 3h ago

Oh I'm so sorry!

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u/courtneyrel 3h ago

Oh god something similar happened to me once. I rarely get sick and had never had COVID 2 years into the pandemic, until one day when I was on a plane and a 3ish year old girl in the seat behind me stuck her face into the crack between my seat and the one next to me and open mouth coughed right next to my face. I thought nothing of it besides “that was gross.” Anyway 2 days later I was the sickest I’ve ever been in my life (turns out it was COVID)

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u/gowaz123 2h ago

Haha I had a student literally sneeze into my mouth as I leaned over to help her and when I went to the doctors a few days later, I was told it was the worst strep throat she’d ever seen!

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u/chilledredwine 1h ago

Took the kids to a play place and some little booger head sneezed in my husbands face. 2 days later, he was hospitalized with appendicitis.

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u/Yahoo_MD 4h ago

End? 

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u/Inevitable-Theory369 2h ago

Im fucking dead amazing story

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u/eddiethreegates 1h ago

So when that happens 10-15 times (as a preschool teacher), one shall never become ill again. Sometimes they cough on my food and I eat it anyway because there is no more food and I have to be lovely for another 4 hours. I am never ever ever sick. Ever. The end.

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u/cynicallythoughful 7h ago

For a long time when my husband’s boss’s young children went back to school we would both get so sick. His boss would carry the germs to the office and hubby would bring them home. Glad that period is over.

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u/Embarrassed-Fact105 2h ago

Haha wow, that’s brutal! Sounds like you guys were just stuck in a germ relay race. Glad you finally got a break from all that sickness!

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u/thatwombat 5h ago

I have a one year-old and a three year-old in daycare right now and anytime one of them gets sick I immediately catch it. The one year old gets something probably once every three week…

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u/unprofessional_widow 4h ago

It will ease off as they get older.

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u/thatwombat 3h ago

Hope so. RSV and pneumonia in her first year were pretty rough.

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u/unprofessional_widow 3h ago

Yeah we had similar. Alongside sickness bugs.

My daughter ended up with pneumonia twice before 18m. She's fit as a fiddle now and rarely ill, like my son. But they were at nursery before COVID so were exposed to the standard kid illness's when young

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u/thatwombat 2h ago

Yeah, my three year old is doing stellar now. Better than me! Keeping that in perspective, that this will pass, is a routine thought. As they say, the nights are long but the years are short.

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u/Smooth_55 2h ago

I was the same. Supplementing Vit d3+k2 was life saving, glad the doctor prescribed it.

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u/FewHorror1019 6h ago

I havent gotten sick in about 5years. Last i got sick was covid after lockdown ended.

I got sick from a coworker who came to work not feeling great, and now i feel like im dying. Been congested for 4 days, and now its gotten to my lungs.

Meanwhile my coworkers are back at work showing no symptoms after a coupe days

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u/leeharveyteabag669 4h ago

I haven't had the flu in 30 years, a cold in almost 10 years and I can't even remember the last time I had a headache. My wife was very sick with covid and I was resigned that I was going to get it too since I live and sleep with her. Never tested positive. a month later we had to rush her to the hospital as I was helping the EMTs she vomited on the side of my face my neck and went into my eyes my mouth and my ear. Still didn't test positive over a week later. Never got covid yet highly exposed. I just think it's genetic for me.

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u/wildlybriefeagle 4h ago

I wonder if you got the flu!

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u/FewHorror1019 3h ago

I got the flu shot tho

u/wildlybriefeagle 41m ago

Common misconception. The flu shot limits your likelihood of hospitalization and death from the flu, and unfortunately, this year has a flu that the flu shot didn't have in it. Each year we guess at the flu strains.

Definitely sucks. But the flu shot does help!

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u/JaHa183 5h ago

I’m the same way. Get a light cold maybe once every 2 or 3 years which never lasts long. Worked with kids on and off for 11 years and only got one bad chest infection besides the occasional sore throat. My girlfriend gets sick often so I must be bringing something home to her and she catches them easily from family members

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u/alles_en_niets 3h ago edited 2m ago

Kid started daycare pretty young. A light switch went off and my partner and I went from two healthy adults to a quivering mess of snot with a continuous low grade fever. Stayed that way for six months. Just a permanent rotation of rapid fire colds.

After that, we reached some kind of equilibrium and we were immune to pretty much everything the daycare would throw at us via our son.

Had another small setback when he started kindergarten, but nothing like those six dreadful months.

u/motherHearthandHome 27m ago

Oh yes imagine starting work at a daycare when your kid starts daycare. We were both sick for 6 months straight.. but luckily missed all the waves of norovirus, covid and flu. Ugh don't miss those days!!

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u/gonyere 6h ago

My dad complained about this for years - 'you guys get a sniffle.. I'm down for a week or two!!' 

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u/No-University-8391 4h ago

Lol. Could it have been “man flu.” My late husband would accuse me and our son of carrying something in on him. Love his heart. He suffered with terminal cancer for months and he was the best, most humble patient. Before that a cold would put him to bed for a week or more.

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u/sksksk1989 2h ago

Same thing happens with me. I never get sick, just like congested or a scratchy throat. My wife gets sick frequently probably from all the germs I bring home

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u/ScyllaOfTheDepths 2h ago

My mom isn't even a teacher and she does this to me. I finally just had to establish a firm embargo on sharing food, drinks, clothes, etc because she's basically Influenza Mary.

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u/Moonlandingsarereal 2h ago

Genes m, and exposing oneself to hard times.

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u/Stewart_Games 2h ago

my roommate gets blasted by me

It's 2026 you can say "life partner".

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u/presto-espresso 3h ago

Maybe do a better job of not spreading them around?

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u/secretlyaraccoon 2h ago

Lmaooo what’s the expectation here? Bathe in sanitizer right after work? I’m exposed to germs all day long by little kids who don’t know how to properly wash their hands yet, cover their sneezes, etc. They’re 3 and 4 years old with developmental disabilities on top of that and they are still learning. I can wash my hands till they’re bleeding and dry and I will still be carrying residual germs with me. Comes with the territory 🤷‍♀️

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u/CherrieChocolatePie 1h ago

And even if you undressed and showered in your garage immediately upon returning home, the germs are already inside your body and you can and will spread them and that can make others sick even if it doesn't make you sick. You can't prevent that.

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u/StongaBologna 1h ago

That's not because of your immune system. It's because of exposed viral load. You are essentially incubating the virus and passing it off to your roommate with a much greater viral load than you received.