Has anyone had MONO?

[kenny]

I'm not old enough to have had Mono, but my dad did.

Actually, he had a really high end hi fi system which of course had only one speaker.
He was a grouch too and thought they came out with stereo to get you to buy twice as much stuff.

By the time I bought equipment it was all stereo.

 

[ms.halo]

AA-is there not urgent care you can visit in the meantime? When I had mono (about 15 years ago) they were able to give me test results in about five hours by testing my white blood cell count.

 

[Ara Ann]

Date: 10/26/2009 7:08:24 PM
Author: ms.halo
AA-is there not urgent care you can visit in the meantime? When I had mono (about 15 years ago) they were able to give me test results in about five hours by testing my white blood cell count.

Yes, we could go to an urgent care, however, I have read and been told that the blood tests are usually negative early on, even if you may actually have mono. Some websites report that patients can get a false negative result even after 3 weeks of being sick. So I don't want to rush to urgent care and pay for the visit and then still have to go back to the Dr. anyway. I'm hoping if we DO have it, we'll get a positive result this week, since it's only been a week that we've had this.

My nephew's spleen had ruptured, he was in the hospital and it still took 4 or 5 days after that to get positive mono results. Yikes.

 

[drk]

I had it at the end of first year university. No one I knew had it or got it. Was feverish, sore throat, nearly falling asleep while studying. I managed to write most of my exams, with a doctors note for extra time for one computing one, and then I wrote makeup exams later in the summer to finish things off. They did a monospot test or something at student health when my roomie turned me in for being sick (she never got it), and it was diagnosed the same day. I had to stop sports for a couple months, and spent a ton of time at home being pampered by my mon and sleeping. I think it was a good month before I was feeling better. No abdo pain though.

 

[CNOS128]

Oh, Ara Ann, I''m so sorry you guys are feeling ill!

Mono was one of the WORST experiences of my life. I will spare you the details, but I wish you the best for a speedy recovery!

 

[Munchkin]

I had it. It knocked me on my ass for a month in high school. I was also lucky enough to develop viral hepatitis with it. I lost basically an entire gymnastics season because I couldn''t train for risk of splenic injury.

I''ve been in pediatrics for 4 years. In those 4 years I have never even had a person turn up positive for mono when a sibling in the same home had it. It truly isn''t as contagious as one might fear. I would also say that about 90% of the kids I see with it have no idea how they got it. I''ve even had adolescents test negative when their significant other has documented mono. There are a slew of whopping, awful viruses circulating currently. Chances are, you have one of those.

The issue with mono is that it is "the great imitator." (An oncologist once told me this.) It can basically mimic anything. Therefore, people have had pretty much every symptom under the sun with mono, and any ill symptom you develop in your life, someone will have had that symptom with mono.

If you''ve been sick for just a few days, your mono spot will likely be negative regardless. I typically send families home with a lab slip if they see me shortly after becoming ill, and tell them to have labs drawn if they are still ill a week later. Take care to have a mono spot as well as an Epstein Barr virus serology. The serology can examine early versus late disease. Unfortunately, while some out there may look at a complete blood count and say "Yep. You have mono." The only way to know if you truly have mono is from a positive spot or EBV serology. A CBC will be out of whack if you have a big illness, period.

Don''t be shocked if you blood work shows "old mono." The memory cells of your immune system will show positive if you''ve ever had mono, and most people have. When people have it in early childhood, they tend to not get as ill as adolescents. Therefore, a lot of teens that I test show positive for old mono - and can''t ever remember having it!

The greatest hallmark of mono, far more than abdominal pain, is a HORRIFIC sore throat. By horrific, I mean your tonsils are so swollen they touch, you have white coating on your tonsils and you speak as though you have marbles in your mouth. Rarely do I see abdominal pain as a chief complaint when a person has mono.

Regardless, I hope you both feel better soon! Rest and fluids will help no matter what the illness!

 

[T L]

I got it when I was 11. I was out of school for three months and sick like a dog (in and out of fever). I didn''t eat much, just drank a lot.

 

[vespergirl]

I had it when I was 12, I think. I had strep throat at the same time - it was a party, I can assure you. I basically spent 3 weeks at home moving between the couch and my bed, but I rode both of them out without any complications.

 

[Smurfysmiles]

Date: 10/26/2009 5:48:03 PM
Author: kenny
I''m not old enough to have had Mono, but my dad did.

Lol what? You can get mono at any age. If you''ve had it before it makes you more resistant to getting it but it''s definitely possible.

 

[sunnyd]

Date: 10/27/2009 12:52:49 PM
Author: Smurfyimproved

Date: 10/26/2009 5:48:03 PM
Author: kenny
I''m not old enough to have had Mono, but my dad did.

Lol what? You can get mono at any age. If you''ve had it before it makes you more resistant to getting it but it''s definitely possible.

He was being funny. Mono vs. stereo.

 

[FrekeChild]

I had it at 15/16. FI had it at 24-25.

I had a sore throat, headache and swollen glands. I was super tired all of the time, and slept as much as I could. I started exhibiting symptoms when I was at tennis camp in July in Malibu, CA.

FI had swollen glands, sore throat and was abnormally tired when he had it.

Honestly, I think that you could possibly be blowing this a bit out of proportion. Mono is very easily spread, but it''s my understanding that one of the reason you have to take it easy is to avoid your spleen rupturing. If you don''t take it easy, due to its enlarged state, it can be ruptured by physical activity. And we''re talking usually contact sports. So your stomach shouldn''t be hurting from the onset of the symptoms.

But I''m not a doctor, so this is just from my experience from it. I just know that I didn''t rupture my spleen after playing tennis/running for over 8 hours per week.

 

[ChargerGrrl]

Date: 10/26/2009 5:48:03 PM
Author: kenny
I''m not old enough to have had Mono, but my dad did.


Actually, he had a really high end hi fi system which of course had only one speaker.

He was a grouch too and thought they came out with stereo to get you to buy twice as much stuff.


By the time I bought equipment it was all stereo.

Kenny, you''re a riot!

Ara Ann- how''s everyone feeling today?

 

[Smurfysmiles]

Date: 10/27/2009 1:08:53 PM
Author: sunnyd

Date: 10/27/2009 12:52:49 PM

Author: Smurfyimproved

Date: 10/26/2009 5:48:03 PM

Author: kenny

I''m not old enough to have had Mono, but my dad did.

Lol what? You can get mono at any age. If you''ve had it before it makes you more resistant to getting it but it''s definitely possible.

He was being funny. Mono vs. stereo.

lol i get it now, oops

 

[snowflakeluvr]

I had it at 16...and I contracted it from my boyfriend(he had the swollen glands, sore throat), I did not. I missed 2 weeks of school, returned over Thanksgiving break to cheer at a wrestling match, then I became much more ill, missed through the holidays. I was at home, my mom was divorced and working, so I tried to do chores and things to help her-not a good idea, enlarged spleen, hospitalized for four days, so if you or your child are diagnosed, please take it easy and follow doctor''s orders! i was not that sick initially but I could have ended up like your nephew, bless his heart. I hope he''s recovering well. Sending you healthy vibes from Michigan

 

[AmberGretchen]

I used to study Epstein-Barr virus (EBV), the virus that causes mono, in the laboratory, so I know more about it than I really ever wanted to know...

First off, you should know that most people in the US and other developed countries, by the time they reach adulthood, test positive for having had EBV at some point in their lives. Not everyone who gets EBV gets mono, however - many people have asymptomatic or only mildly symptomatic disease. In general, the risk of getting mono from EBV upon initial exposure, and the severity of the disease correlates positively with age - in other words, if you and your son both have EBV for the first time and were both exposed at the same time, you''d be likely to have a much more severe disease course.

All of that said, I''d warn you not to get too caught up in "needing" a positive test for mono in order to pursue treatment. The treatment is purely symptomatic in most cases anyway, so the only thing a diagnosis really provides to you or the doctors is a sense of which symptoms to watch for. As munchkin correctly states, a CBC (or "blood count") will only tell you if you have a significant infection and generally what kind of infection (i.e. bacterial vs. viral). You do not have to kiss someone to have EBV - its very common for it to be passed on food containers.

There is no evidence whatsoever that mono would "recur" every year around the same time - EBV does linger in your B cells (a type of immune cell) forever, and occasionally the virus will shed (same as any other herpes virus - think cold sores), but there is no evidence of specific times of year or anything else, other than stress and/or a compromised immune system causing this. There are some very rare cancers that are associated with EBV, but those occur with very low frequency.

No particuarly symptom or sign is associated with mono in every case. In general, swollen lymph nodes, and involvement of the spleen and other lymphoid organs is common, as well as fever and vulnerability to secondary bacterial infections due to the strain placed on the immune system from the virus.

Anyway, that''s probably more info than you needed, but suffice it to say, that if you and/or your son are seriously ill (high fever, severe abdominal pain, swelling in the throat that interferes with breathing and/or swallowing), seek medical attention ASAP. It doesn''t matter if mono is the cause or not - these are serious symptoms and should be treated immediately to avoid further complications.

Hope you both feel better soon!

 

[wsu12]

I just did some brief web investigating on this and I read this "Adults usually do not get mono, because they have immunity to the virus."

Is this true?

 

[AmberGretchen]

fsu - see my post above. The most recent statistics I have seen indicate that in the US, about 75% of adults have had EBV by the time they are college-aged, and by the time they are of age to graduate college, an additional 15% have been exposed, so that''s 90% of the population by mid-twenties. And in general, once you''ve been exposed, no, you wouldn''t get mono. But everyone who is exposed to EBV doesn''t get mono either, only a small sub-set.

Ara - how are you and your son feeling?

 

[Ara Ann]

Hi everyone!

Thankfully my son and I are finally feeling better! We don''t have mono, but had another virus of some kind that really took us down for a couple of weeks!


We did go to the doctor though...this was a new one to us and unfortunately she was very short and condescending with me. One of my biggest concerns I tried to address with her, is that I keep getting sick, seemingly I come down with an illness from every virus I come into contact with, starting with Bell''s Palsy which I developed after having a virus, on Christmas Day last year. I have been sick, with a fairly major illness almost every couple of months since then. My family members get a ''bug'' of some kind and then I get it, but much worse than they do. We''ve already had H1N1, we got it early on and I developed bronchial pneumonia and was sick for over a month and a half, whereas they recovered more quickly and with less complications.


She basically blew it off and said anyone can literally catch every virus that comes along, since one won''t give me immunity to another, and there are millions of viruses out there. Well, gee, thanks....like I didn''t know that...

I asked if there could possibly be some underlying cause in my case, and even asked if I could get a blood test to see if I had an underlying immune issue, which she blew off as well.

I really can''t stand it when doctors act like they are far superior to us commoners and seem to think we have zero understanding of how our bodies work...no offense to any doctors here, but honestly, I have not found a doctor that has not been condescending toward me in a very long time. I am not a two year old and do have a very good understanding of ''how things work'' - but they feel the need to ''dumb down'' their approach when speaking to me. What''s the deal with that? So I will not be seeing her again.

Just extremely frustrated about getting sick all the time! And frustrated that the doctors I have seen don''t really care at all.

Thanks for all the great advice and mono tutorials! Hoping I can get past whatever is wrong and stay healthy for a good long stretch!

I am doing my own thing now...going to change some dietary things to see if it helps too.

 

[AmberGretchen]

Ara Ann - I''m so glad you and your son have healed up

Sorry to hear about your experience with the Dr. though. If it helps at all, I know exactly what you are experiencing - I have a PhD in Immunology, and I still get that condescension from doctors sometimes (my favorite was a Dr. in the ER a couple of months ago trying to tell me about the symptoms of a major allergic reaction...AS I WAS HAVING ONE

).

Anyway, it does sound like your immune system has been perhaps a bit under the weather. Unfortunately, even if you can find a Dr. to work with, there may be very little there that would show up on a blood test. I still think its very worthwhile seeking out a better Dr. (can you ask around for recommendations?), and bringing a journal or record of your recent illnesses, and anything else you''ve noticed that has changed or is out of the ordinary.

But just in case they can''t find anything, it may just be that your immune system is getting a little run down from being sick so much, and that being, for lack of a more technical term "worn out" from fighting one disease leaves it more vulnerable than usual to the next. And unfortunately there is no surefire solution if its that or something similarly impossible to test for. The best the Dr. may be able to suggest is trying to boost it in other ways - lots of sleep, as much fruit and veggies and whole grains and other healthy, nutritious food as you can manage, lots of fluids, light to moderate exercise, and as much stress reduction as you can manage.

In any case though, I wish you luck finding a better Dr. - if this is an ongoing issue I''d try to get in sooner rather than later. Good luck!!

 

[Ara Ann]

Thanks for the reply AmberGretchen, happy to know I am not the only one who is treated that way by doctors (or maybe not happy to hear that actually!)...


I have started up an exercise regimen and am taking some good supplements as well...I hope that helps me get through the next few months! Maybe I''ll start to stay healthy again!