[confused1]

I keep reading articles opining that autoimmune disease may be caused by people not suffering the standard childhood diseases and living very sterile lives and so not having a properly adjusted immune system.

I had "big measles", German measles, chickenpox, mumps and rubella. I can't think of a single childhood infection or virus I missed. Fact is, I think I was sick almost from the day I was born with one thing or another. And I grew up on and around farms, constantly in the gardens and barns and stalls and cow lots.

How about you folks? Did you have the childhood diseases? Were you sickly, healthy? Did you live really carefully watched, "clean" childhoods?

Just curious.

Sunny

 

[mindyandy420]

I'm from Washington state

Hey there I too am from Washington state.....may I ask who your rhuemy is? I need to find a good Rhuemy. I live in Snohomish county....but I think I will drive to Seattle to a good Rhuemy.....

Thanks

Oh response to your thread...I've only had chicken pox.

 

[Zoi]

Hey Sunny,

I've never heard that argument, about people not having had chidlhood ilnesses and autoimmune disorders... How strange...

Anyhow I've never had any childhood ilnesses, was a very healthy kid in fact(not a very healthy teenager though!) and only had a bout of mononucleosis when I was 4. As for having a "clean" childhood I distinctly recall hearing a story about my pediatrician telling my mum that if she wanted her kid to be healthy, then if I was to pick up an apple, drop it on the ground, have a pig come up and bite a chunk off the apple and then spit it in my hand she was to let me eat both the apple from the ground and the chunk the pig spat in my hand!!! So in short nope, no clean childhood here I'm afraid!!! Lol

Hope you're doing well!

Zoi

 

[confused1]

Hi Mindy, you definitely live on the right side of the mountains for getting medical care. I'm on the East side -- about 3.5 hours across the mountains from Seattle. I don't really see a rheumy. Theres only one in town and we don't exactly play well together. I don't really know any names of good rheumatologists. You might call the Lupus Association in Seattle -- they are pretty active and I think would be able to gi ve you better advice.

Sunny

 

[Sage Hen]

Hi,

I was always sickly. I sucked my thumb, till a later age, so my parents thought that may have something to do with my constant illness.

I also, had mononucleosis in late elementary school..I had all the standard childhood illnesses, and then some..especially strep, infections and amost, died twice as a baby from pnuemonia..

Best Wishes,
Sandy

 

[Katharine]

Hi,

I had all the normal childhood ilnesses, no excesses, just normal. Otherwise I was healthy and robust!

I lived in a very remote rural setting and my other was definitely not a cleaning freak!

My life was definitely not sterile. After all, our water supply came from a big hole dug in the ground and I had never seen clear water before the age of seven. It was tea coloured due to the turf in it! Admittedly Mum did boil it before we drank it as dead sheep in streams and stuff are not usually recommended!

Katharine

 

[Soundy]

I was born with a partially functioning liver and was greenish
yellow for first 6 month of my life... parents told to take me home
and enjoy me while I was here... around 6 month liver started to
work more less right and I seemed fine ... before that though I
was kept pretty much isolated

I have had all the usual childhood diseases and pneumonia moire
times than I can count... I have asthma and a cold can turn to
pneumonia if not kept in check...at one point as a teen the doctor
would give me antibiotics with a common cold to ward off
pneumonia

never heard of a connection between too clean and autoimmune diseases either... but

My ex husband had a cousin that had lost 7 babies to miscarriage
before bringing a child to term... they kept him in except for trips
to doctor for shots and check ups ...

mom dad and baby never went anywhere together...one parent stayed
home with him while other did any shopping or whatever...the house
was spotless and all furniture was vinyl cover so it could be wiped down
with bleach ...all carpet was taken out in favor of vinyl floors...

They didn't come to family functions ... wrote letters to people who
lived a block away instead of going by for a visit... didn't except gifts
for themselves or him at Christmas ...

all was fine and dandy til he had to start school and neither parent
felt like they could teach him at home ... so you have a child that
barely knew what another child was ... he was sick within a week from
a cold and he got every bug that went around he got it ... and kept
it longer than the other kids did

they pulled him from school... the truant officer came and told them he
would have to be schooled or they risked jail time ... they explained
their fear of him dying and showed him the house (where a child didn't
even own a teddy bear for fear a germ would hide in it and kill him) and
all their measured to keep him germ free and healthy

an appointment was set up with a psychologist and their doctor who explained a persons immune system developed by exposure to germs
so it could gain resistance ... he went back to school and was sick
every little bit but after about 2 years out of his bubble like house he
was no sicker than any other child ...

When he was 14 they had another little boy that was treated normal...
guarded but not over protected ...he got sick occasionally but no
more than any child would ...and he had a dreaded germ carrying
teddy bear

didn't mean to write a book but without the facts of how he was
treated before he started getting sick , one might think he had an
autoimmune disease as he was sick so much when he was first
exposed to people and the real world

 

[Shera384]

I only had measles, I was a very healthy youngster, then started getting problems in late teens early twenties, general aches & terrible migraines.
From there everything seemed to go downhill :rotfl:

 

[LoopyLoo]

I was a pretty sickly child - chicken pox, mumps, scarlet fever, glandular fever, constant ear, nose and throat infections.

I always had something wrong and infections would last 2-3 weeks. As an adult I could never explain a general feeling of being unwell with all over aches and pains. My family thought I was a bit of a hypochondriac but when I felt ok I led a very active life.

Who knows......

Hugz,

Pam xxx

 

[Karly1964]

I started out as an infant with tracheal bronchitis, had all the childhood diseases, pneumonia at 13, numerous boughts of bronchitis, pneumonia again in college, IBS at 12 years, I sucked my thumb too for a long time, didn't walk until I was two and didn't talk until after four years old....my home wasn't dirty or sterile either, we had no pets though, also lactose intolerant. I never heard of the sterile idea before but I do know that in my family there are quite a few people with one sort of autoimmune disorder or another. Karly

 

[Clare.T]

I have never heard of autoimmune disease being associated with undue cleanliness either, although I have heard of over cleanliness being proposed as one possible contributing factor to conditions like asthma that are on the increase. But that's supposed to be due to air pollution too. I'd have thought that environmental factors were a far more common trigger, to lupus and other systemic autoimmune connective tissue diseases anyway. I don't know about other autoimmune diseases, especially the organ specific ones still less the congenital ones.

The most obvious environmental trigger is UV exposure, mostly sunlight which doesn't take place in superclean interiors.

I had no history of ill health, apart from bad inner ear infections, only the usual childhood diseases of my generation, mumps, measles, chicken pox, whooping cough, and rubella at some point since pregnancy testing showed I had had it.
My home was ordinarily clean perhaps more than some because we had a weekly cleaner in and we ate better than most because my mum was very keen on healthy eating well in advance of her time with plenty of fresh fruit and veg. We never had white bread for example. I have hardly eaten a canned veg in my whole life. Though I must say there was not the emphasis on avoiding animal/dairy fat sugars or weight control in those days. We had cooked breakfast with bacon and eggs and there was far too much teatime food with butter and sugar, even if it was homemade. The only option to butter then was pretty disgusting margerine that nobody with any standards or options would dream of using.

Some people think a high intake of animal fat can be a contributing factor to developing lupus

We were often rather cold in winter because there was no central heating, and fires in the bedrooms were limited to the bedridden. I remember scraping ice off the inside window panes but we took it as the norm that it was those days. Otherwise our home was very comfortable.

I always wonder about the usefulness of the trigger and causes topic, which is very interesting theoretically, but what practical use is it. It is impossible to avoid so many of them, that don't do most people any lasting harm


Clare

 

[BaumshellLupieMom]

Dear Sunny:

Very interesting thread and enjoying the "reads" from others here too. I had normal kid bugs and measles, I believe. Will have to check with my Mom. I started getting sick when I was 12-13 with the Lupus symptoms, but then I always was kind of tired all the time even when I was little-little. My Mom said that I could sleep anywhere and I was the best baby!! I would sleep through their English Country and Contra Dancing peeping over the basinnette. LOL And, as an adult, I can still sleep anywhere (a car, an airplane, etc.) as long as I'm comfortable. The princess and the pea syndrome. Hmmmm. Hugs.

Love -- Susie

p.s. When do you go in chat...would love to chat w/you sometime soon. I've missed you.

 

[Pollyanna]

Hi Sunny,

Had all the childhood illnesses and ear/nose/throat problems too. Had tonsils removed at age 2. Then fairly healthy until teens when all the fun stuff started! My house wasn't excessively clean or dirty. Pretty normal I'd say.

Hope this helps! Pollyanna

 

[ALWIN]

Hi

I survived whooping cough and meningitis at 3 years (brother died).

My mum was a demon cleaner of the house and we had to shower at night and have a full strip wash in the morning. The we would get dirty anyway because we were not over protected and were allowed to make mud pies or what ever. We sampled most plants for edibility and sometimes regretted it, but never got sick. The mud pies might be why she insisted on so much washing I suppose (seems a lot when you are small).

Then I had a very healthy childhood despite being a little grubby thing that prised used chewing gum up off the pavement and ate it (sorry to relate). And i ate coal.

I have never had an ear nose and throat problem. No tonsillitis

My mother to used deliberately put us with children with illnesses because she believed it was better to get some illnesses as a child than an adult (mumps, for example). well ... that's her excuse ...

I only ever caught measles (mildly cos immunised), and 'scarletina'.

I did not get chicken pox until my children got it (30years old) and i have never had mumps.

When i was nursing i never picked anything up from the wards.

I rarely get stomach bugs when others around me have them, or colds, or flu.

However, if i do get a cold (perhaps once every 2 years or so) it does become a chest infection and take ages to get rid of.

I am not taking immuno suppressants, however, and i do have personal space issues - i don't like people to stand too close to me or touch me unless i know them well. Always been like that, & wonder if that's why I don't catch much. I am not afraid of people's bugs, but don't like them to smell my cigarette breath and was just not brought up to be 'touchy feely'.

Funny really cos no problems touching / helping / hugging patients!

I think i would prefer to get bugs like other people rather than these autoimmune problems that cause so much pain, tiredness and other problems, to be honest.

It must be truly awful to be suscpetable to general sickness AND lupus, etc.

 

[sam101360]

Hi:

I had chicken pox and measles, my brother also had mumps but i didn't get them.

The Dr told my mom that if someone's kid had something...have us go play with them, we would either get sick or not, but it was best for kids to get kids diseases while they were kids.

I used to get Strep all the time, and ear infections, this continued into my mid 20's. I had my tonsils out at 14.

I got Mono in 7th grade and missed most of the school year as my spleen got infected. I am alergic to pennycilin so they used arithromycen.

As an adult I had epstein barr, they thought it was hodkins as the biopsy came back positive, but it wasn't, thank goodness they caught it before I went for chemo...ugh.

I also had ovarian cancer at 34.

Led a very normal life, dogs, kids, dirt...you know

Stephanie

 

[Jirel]

I remember mumps and measles - not sure about chicken pox. I gnawed the backs of the chairs in school because the varnish tasted good - but we missed meals and food when I was a kid because we were poor so I'm not sure if I was hungry or missing a nutrient. Mother tried to keep me in vitamins when she could.

I ate rhubarb pulled from the ground, occaisionally drank well water and hunted wild strawberries so I don't think I was especially clean. The first year we were in my childhood home (moved in when I was around 6) we didn't have running water and took baths once a week at the neighbors so I assume I wasn't THAT clean as a kid. But we are talking 47 years ago in small town Indiana.

 

[karen.w.]

Hi sunny

very interesting thread!...I never had any of the normal childhood illnesses,the only one I did get was chickenpox at the age of 19.

my mum was a bit of a clean freak & apparently I never liked to get my hands dirty :lol: so I suppose I didn't get exposed to many germs

I was never a good eater,very fussy!even had to be put on fresh milk as a young baby so I have sometimes wondered if I missed out on essential vitamins & minerals?

I hope you are keeping well sunny?
take care..karen x

 

[LoopyLoo]

Clare,

It's funny that you mentioned 'over cleanliness' as my hubby found an article recently about how being too clean several years ago contributed to people developing over active immune systems.

I must ask him where he read it but I do remember it was very interesting.

Alwin - your Scarletina was the same as my Scarlet Fever. My Mum & Gran were hospitalised when they had it many moons ago but I was just kept indoors. At the time I had it (26 years ago ), it wasn't that common anymore even though it had been highly infectious in the past.

Hugz,

Pam xxx

 

[AmandaB]

Hi Sunny,

Ah, now see I heard this too, way back when I first got diagnosed so I asked my mum. I had every childhood illness every other kid got: chicken pox, measles, mumps, etc but I also had a hernia at the age of 4 which they told mum was 'stress related' - in a 4 year old? Yeah right! I also had a couple of episodes where I had fits but they were pretty random.

I went through my teens illness free (with beautifully clear skin I might add!) and was pretty much healthy until the Lupus hit me 7 years ago.

So who knows? I personally think I got unlucky. My mum has asthma, exzema, arthritis and hayfever & is on the brink of type 2 diabetes. My sisters (of which I have many) all have one or two of these too, with one also having psoriasis so I think my 'allegy' just manefested in a different way.

I also joke that this is my punishment for tormenting my siblings for having 'sticky out ears' as I was the only that had flat ears!!!

We may never know....

AmandaB

 

[lazylegs]

Hi Sunny,

That theory doesn't apply to me. I had all of the normal childhood diseases.

Take care,
Lazylegs