Well, I thought Cranberry was saying to use parentheses instead of brackets and I thought wow this is a lot of trouble. Finally I realized he couldn’t type out the brackets because that would be giving a command. I did backward of what he meant. Good thing people are patient here!
I agree. 
Many many times have I not got something and had to have it explained many more times than did you, Cynth. No worries.
I got the following tip from a flight attendant: use a saline nasal spray, Ocean is one name brand. I did this and this winter when almost everyone else got sick, I only had the mildest of symptoms. I tend be one of the first ones to get sick, so I credit the spray.
- Bill
Never heard of the sprays working to prevent infection, Bill, but they sure clear up congestion when you get it. Actually, come to think of it, I swim a lot, and if water gets trapped in the inner ear and can’t escape, I get a really nasty ear infection. So I suppose the spray prevents that by flushing out the sinuses. Whatever, it works for me too.
Have a 'flu shot before each winter too, IMO. (You’ll still catch something, but you might miss the really nasty thing going around that year.)
I’ve been rinsing my nose with a bulb syringe and saline every two weeks but still came down with the flu. I thought I had escaped too.
There was a whole thread about this once before the big split.
I think it was mvhplank who brought it up.
Get a flu shot (well, when you can get them, unlike most of this year).
WASH YOUR HANDS (the single thing that will prevent the most spread of disease). Wash them for as long as it takes to sing the ABC song, or the Happy Birthday song twice.
Don’t cough or sneeze into your hands (use your upper arm to cover your mouth).
And please, please, please, don’t go to work when you are sick! (I know some people don’t have a choice, that’s a whole other subject).
If you have a lot of people in your office, it’s a good idea to stock lots of waterless hand cleanser - and offer it to people when they come in.
Beth
Make sure your office is built on a ley-line, and definitely not on a Native American burial ground.
And sometimes cuddly:
I wonder how long it will be before someone is offended by the giant microbes. After all, the flu is a disease and it’s not funny. By golly!
That burial ground thing gets me every time.
If your immune system is strong, I think that you can avoid picking up everything that is going around at the office. I worked as a bank telling for years. Throughout the day people would come to my counter window and cough right at me and then hand me dirty money to count. However, I rarely became ill, and I took no special precautionary measures at work.
To help keep your immune system at its strongest, I recommend getting plenty of sleep. I also believe in taking nutritional supplements, especially a good quality multiple vitamin. Meditation, breathing and relaxation practices may also be useful.
Ooookay then… 
Those aren’t so bad really, almost cute. But I sure am getting tired of my family and I getting “cuddled” by the microscopic ones!
Never been this sick before. Going constant since Christmas. Cycle goes about like this: sick for about one week (once it was two weeks) then about two weeks of “health” and then sick again for about a week… over and over and over. I’ve lost count of how many sicknesses we’ve all had, and it’s been the “if one catches it, we all wind up with it” sort of thing. Just trying to get the family over yet another cold 
I’ve been cleaning and disinfecting, hand washing and vitimin downing like a mad paranoid pshyco since about the third illness in a close row hit. Hasn’t seemed to help… there’s a germ leak and I can’t seem to find it! Near as I can tell, the only way to really stop getting sick for sure is to stay home the entire winter, don’t even go to the grocery store (think that’s where we caught this last one).
But since becoming a hermit isn’t practical, keep trying what you can as has been suggested. It really can/does help… Our problem here is I think we’ve been stressed out way too much over the last year, our immune systems got wore down and didn’t get built back up enough before the germ season hit full force.
Really feel for you aderyn. 
Here’s to the hope of a healthful spring! In the meantime, get feeling better!
Sara
Thanks, MarMil… I needed that after this long, crazy week.
Thanks Doug… I do meditate and do breathing techniques on a regular basis;I know that these can be greatly beneficial. I do, however, need to get better at taking all my supplements-- my friends have gone so far as to program reminders into my cell phone when I’m not looking. 
The sleep thing is getting me too, haven’t been getting much of it lately. 
Thanks Sara! It has been a very stressful year for me too, and it has indeed wreaked havoc on my immune system. I hope that the spring brings healthy, stress-free times for us both!!
Hugs,
Ad
I appreciate all the great suggestions everyone! I have a bottle of hand sanitizer set by the door so that I can take it with me to work on Monday. 
Rule number one: Keep your hands away from your face.
Rule number two: Keep your hands away from your face.
Rule number three: Get your finger out of your nose.
Rule number four: Keep your hands away from your face.
That about sums it up!
Robin
Exactly!
Corollary to No. 1: Do not rub your eyes. Ever.
Most of all, don’t touch anything. If you must touch something, wash your hands.
Study and emulate Monk’s ability to go through life without actually touching anything. Wipes are good–use them!
Why most doctors don’t contract the common illnesses they treat every day (colds, flu, etc.) : they wash their hands after each patient they see–many, many times a day. Somebody posted this on the first page, I believe, and it’s really good advice.
As for the grocery store, I carry a bunch of little individually wrapped antimicrobial hand wipes in my purse and before I ever touch a grocery cart handle, I wipe it off thoroughly with the hand wipe. I don’t care what people think! Grocery cart handles are absolutely laden with filth (somebody–Oprah?–had grocery cart handles analyzed once and the stuff found on them is awful [including feces]). After washing my hands in public restrooms, I turn off the faucet with a paper towel and turn the door handle with the paper towel too.
Susan
I agree that frequent hand washing is a good idea, and I try to avoid touching things in public areas if at all possible. However, I don’t want to go through life like Monk. I like Monk, but since OCD (obsessive compulsive disorder) runs in my family, I fine that many of his behaviors are a little too close to home. I don’t want to go through life worrying about germs and developing compulsive strategies to avoid them.