My 18-year old daughter seems to be getting sick all of the time. Typically this happens right around the time of her menses. In the past year she has had strep throat twice, cat scratch disease, a form of odd conjunctivitis, various upper respiratory infections (viral), and now seems to be developing a bladder infection.
She has been essentially healthy her whole life with the exception of the normal kid colds, occasional ear infection, and occasional strep throat. She is athletic, eats a healthy diet (for the most part), and is not sexually active. I would attribute this to her now being away at college, but these illnesses started well before her leaving two months ago. I know she doesn't get enough sleep, but could this alone be causing all of these illnesses?
I'm worried that she might have some sort of auto-immune disorder, or even diabetes (although she was tested for that a year ago and her blood glucose was fine).
Any other ideas?

mrhampton -

From my experience as a mother & nurse, none of the conditions you note for your daughter in the last year suggest an auto-immune problem. Her immune system may be lowered due to lack of sufficient sleep & school workload /stress. Most of the illnesses you mentioned are contagious conditions. It is common for college students, even students in the early grades to have an increase in communicable illnesses. (my daughter had mononucleosis her 1st yr. at college!) The close frequency & proximity to each other causes the increase in frequency of illnesses.
Your daughter may be additionally "run-down" during her time of the month also- and could be anemic.
However, I will say that the 2 instances of strep throat stand out. Having the strep throat diagnosed & treated promptly is very important to prevent Rheumatic fever (which can effect the heart valves esp. later in life) Some people with recurrent Strep throat may have a permanently plugged eustachian tube, so you may want to have her evaluated if she has any more Strep infection in this year. Also, be sure to get to the Dr. for the bladder infection. You can discuss with the Dr. or she can tell you why she may have gotten the bladder infection/ or if this is her father, she should certainly try to find out herself & try to prevent some of these illnesses next time.(sometimes hygienic-like wet swimsuits on too long)
But I think you just have to be patient. The illnesses tend to get a little less each yr. - but the main thing is that one takes care of any sickness at the time & does not neglect going to the Dr. or infirmary at college.

I totally agree with this answer. However, I do wonder if your daughter may be a strep carrier.

Your daughter MUST be sure to take ALL meds prescribed. If she stops taking the antibiotics because she feels better, she is risking herself to becoming immune to the antibiotics. If an antibiotic is prescribed for 10 days, for instance, she must take it for the entire 10 days.

College can be a haven for these kinds of illnesses. As Pumpkin stated above, sleep deprivation (which I am currently experiencing) lack of a GOOD diet (due to too much study time) and exposure, can certainly cause these illnesses.

Thanks for the input. I too, am a nurse (22 years now!). I have suggested before (and will again) that she take vitamins. At this age, that's all you can do! And believe me, I make her take all of her medication when prescribed! I told her to push fluids last night and if she was still having symptoms today to go to the student health center.