Immune System - What is going on?

I am on the IH regimen and have been for 2-3 years. My diet is good and I seriously work out with bodybuilding.

Recently, my immune system just seems to have crashed. I have developed this weird cough/mucous/cold thing, sore throat, feel run down and am getting this re-occurring case of pink eye.

I have not gotten sick like this for a long time and cannot seem to shake it. I am beat as to what is going on. Could my CNS be severely taxed from brutal work-outs and this is the cause?

How best do I get back to feeling well again?

Thanks,

Perhaps have extra antioxidants post work out such as quercetin, vitamin c and so on. CS did mention when best not to take vit c but can't remember just now.

Persistent cough/cold is frequently adrenal issues. Perhaps slack off on the bodybuilding some, if you can bring yourself to do it. Working out really hard and not giving yourself enough time to recover properly is one of the fastest ways to tank your adrenals. Doing this habitually can really drag you down over time. It's part of the way I tanked my own adrenals.

Photonic...best not to take vitamin C within a few hours before or after a workout.

I second whodathunkit. A very taxing workout is a stress on the immune system. The body adapts when it experiences damage. When you are catabolizing muscle tissue, the immune system is the repair mechanism that comes to metabolize the damaged tissue and start the replacement process. So not only are you placing a burden on the immune system, the adrenals are getting worked as a means of regulating blood sugar and helping modulate the process.

Try pulling back on the workout intensity, or just taking a break from it for a week or two. This can actually be very beneficial, but I'm aware you already know your stuff when it comes to working out, Renky. If it were me, I'd take a week off and have sort of a refeed week. I've seen evidence (although I can't remember where) that doing this actually boosts testosterone. Overtraining can hurt testosterone levels in the long run.

Let yourself recuperate and get back to a solid baseline. Your muscle won't falloff in a week, and in fact, if you do the refeed you might actually stimulate a hormonal environment for increased growth when you get back in the gym.

Also depending on where you are living, this time of year takes a hit on your vit D levels. Adequate vitamin D signalling is important for immune function. I'd be loading up on D, vit A, zinc, and vit C.

Thanks for the replies. I think you my be right... I have been working full body 5 days a week. Sounds extreme I know, but it does work and I have whacked on some muscle for sure. I consider myself an advanced trainer and have used different programs over the years, but this one has been the best. Maybe now that I am in my late 30's, I should step it back to 3-4 days a week... I think a week off would be good and I will see what happens after that.

Thanks for your help. I kind of wondered if I had over taxed my body, but just wanted to be sure.

look up acidosis, excess works outs and bad diets meaning not the 80/20 ratio will cause a small form of acidosis.

check your urine ph levels daily to see what your body is doing.

Thanks, I will look this up...

I also wanted to add that my diet is pretty good, with the occasional splurges on M&M's or pizza night etc. In our family we really watch what we consume and try to keep as much organic as possible.

Thanks.

Renky, I'm interested in that workout regimen. You are going full body five days a week!?

We've chatted about your workout history before so I know you are pretty experienced. That's why I'm surprised to see you going that extreme. Man, you're nuts! Haha.

What actually surprises me is that you said you are seeing gains this way. Everything I've been lead to believe shows that the biological processes that people refer to as the "muscle building" are occurring during the rest phase when you are recovering. It seems like you'd be blunting your recovery, no? I mean this may be because I'm coming from a different side of the school. I kind of subscribe to a Dorian Yates style of training: each muscle group gets one day of the week, worked only once per week, the workout for a muscle group consists of two warmup sets and 2-to-3 work sets taken to absolute exhaustion in the 4-6 rep range. For a while I really did think that was the true way to build muscle, but I see someone like Kai Greene who's doing sets of 20 reps and is on the biggest stage in the world. I guess its all very personal.

I just sent you a PM AS54.

I have seen massive gains on this program and I have mostly just been taking creatine and whey. Although I have not been taking any whey for the past number of weeks.

I hope this helps.