Mononucleosis

[Daolas]

At 40 I've been diagnosed with mono. To top it all I'm in Afganistan and won't be able to fly home (stateside) for 30 more hours.

Anyone ever had mono before? What am i looking at for treatment and recovery times?

 

[njlauren]

Depends on how serious a case it is and how run down you allowed yourself to get. A mild case of mono you will be over the symptoms in a couple of weeks, a major case can linger. There is no specific for mono, it is caused by the Epstein-Barr virus and antibiotics and such don't work. The basic treatment is to keep rested and allow it to run its course. Echinacea can help along with taking zinc supplements and a strong multi vitamin but in the end you just have to let it run its course. Severe cases of mono can have other complications, including liver issues, but I suspect you probably have a standard case.

 

[dollface007]

Oh man...that is truly sucky. You might want to take some steroids for the plane ride. I can imagine that the air pressure changes and your swollen glands won't feel too swell.

There is no "treatment" per se besides lots of rest, water, eating right, etc. I was in grad school full time when I had it, so I had the luxury of maintaining my own schedule for the most part. If I didn't have at least 8 hours sleep a night, I was a total wreck and I would feel my glands starting to swell again. Even a trip to the grocery store was exhausting and I'd have to come home and take a nap. The worst of the illness lasted a week, but the effects lingered for 6 months...and even for 6 months after that I had to be careful about my sleep schedule.

No contact sports of any kind...it could rupture your spleen. "Juicy spleen" is a symptom, and I would constantly have to sit up very straight b/c otherwise my ribs would push on my spleen...very uncomfortable.

I basically lived off Emergen-C. I'm not sure if it really helped, but a friend recommended it and it probably didn't hurt.

 

[fgarvb1]

I think you are in Trouble.

I was what seemed like supernaturally tired...As I recall I missed most if not all of a week of work.

I could barely move. Breathing was a chore.
Food and drink, along with going the bathroom was an ordeal because of the effort they required.

But it wasn't as bad as the chronic fatigue I suffered some months later.

I think you should prepare in case you are not able to fly home in thirty hours,do what you can and hope for the best.

They might not let you on the plane if you are really bad off...

 

[nkdjim2]

Mono

If I remember correctly complex vitamins should help
Try Googling that.

 

[SweetErika]

When you get home, you might consider visiting a Naturopathic MD or Holistic Health Doctor/Nurse Practitioner and/or perhaps even a skilled acupuncturist/herbalist. I know it sounds kind of crazy, but there's all sorts of good stuff out there that supports the immune system and can minimize your symptoms. If you're super skeptical, see an actual doctor/PA/nurse practitioner who also has vast knowledge of naturopathic and holistic treatments. My regular doc has a holistic perspective, and he has some great natural solutions for various things, but also believes Western medications and such have their place, which I really appreciate. Obviously because there's also tons of stuff that can be dangerous and have interactions, you need to get advice from a skilled professional. In the meantime, reasonable amounts of common things like B vitamins, C and zinc certainly won't hurt you, but I'm willing to bet a naturopath/similar can put you on a program that will minimize the severity and duration of your symptoms.

 

[Noor]

Sleep as much as you can, eat healthy food.

Get your liver function tested often.

Just when you think its gone, and you go to a convention or something, you hit the wall.

You could be in for major downtime, and if you push yourself you could relapse.

I was pretty young when I got it, I was slowed down for a few months.

 

[dashd]

Mono. Yep... had it as teen my first year of college. Implicated virus is known as EB or Epstein Barr Virus which is also implicated in CFS (Chronic Fatigue Syndrome). Rest is important and the treatment may involve the use of steroids to reduce inflammation which often accompanies this virus and exhibited as a sore throat. The size of the spleen needs to be monitored as it serves a similar function as the tonsils but only in a different part of the body (reason for the sore throat). Symptoms can last as short as a week or even less, even though you may test positive for weeks or even longer. In many cases, I've also seen this disease accompanied by a strep infection of the throat so if a sore throat is a problem you should be either tested or also treated with an appropriate antibiotic. It is also known as the "kissing disease" and easily spreads through contact with infected persons or body fluids. I most likely contacted it through my campus job as janitor cleaning bathrooms.

 

[Noor]

I got tonsillitis with it. Actually I got that first.

 

[dollface007]

It is also known as the "kissing disease" and easily spreads through contact with infected persons or body fluids. I most likely contacted it through my campus job as janitor cleaning bathrooms.

When I got it, my doc told me this was a myth. He said there was basically no way to prevent giving it to someone else and no way I could have prevented contracting it.

 

[jimburr35]

Mono

Bad stuff! I got myself really run down so when I came down with it I was out for a month. I drank orange juice and slept about 20-23 hours a day for two weeks. Things got better with time. I had a lot of liver involvement and my liver enzymes were extreamly high so the advice to have to have them monitored is spot on right.

 

[acem05]

It affects each person differently.

I got it in college when my doctor stumbled upon it during an annual blood test. I say stumbled upon because I really didn't feel any symptoms. I didn't miss a class, didn't miss a run (ran 5+ miles daily back in those days), and kept the party routine up. As a college student I did have the advantage of sleeping in but once I got up I was never too exhausted to do anything. The only other affect was thirst..I drank copious amount of water. Months later when I told my doctor all this he was shocked.

Thought I would share this with you so its not all doom and gloom , good luck.

 

[dashd]

When I got it, my doc told me this was a myth. He said there was basically no way to prevent giving it to someone else and no way I could have prevented contracting it.

Your doctor is wrong... Here's a decent article on WebMD http://www.webmd.com/a-to-z-guides/infectious-mononucleosis-topic-overview

I'd copy Harrison's guide to Internal Medicine but I'm not typing that much.

 

[Thefamiliar]

I got it freshman year of highschool, along with strep throat. As a teen, I slept 24/7 for about a week, then just more often after. I was "lazy" but didnt seem to be "dying". My brother had it a bit before me, again sleeping was the only major thing I remember about it now.

My daughter also got it (drinking fountains are horrible transmitters, as well as sharing drinks fom glasse waterbottles etc) she was only down for a week or two as well.

Its also been dubbed the sleeping disease. The biggest symptom I have ever heard of is wanting to sleep.

Vitamins are always a plus, extra vitamin c boosts the immune system to help fight infection. Though if you are given antibiotics vitamins negate them. Ginger, red pepper (hot wings mmm), garlic and cinnamon are herbal remedies that you can add to your diet without issue. They have antiseptic properties, though tooo much garlic can thin the blood and reduce the ability to clot. Just a heads up.

 

[subwannabe]

I came down with mono in my fifties, just a couple of years ago but the doctors didn't realize what it was until after the fact. I actually have great advice. My mono made me so weak I could hardly stand. Remember, in my case, we didn't figure out what it was until much later. In any event, I forced myself to live my life as best as I could. I remember going to the state fair that year in the middle of it. It took every once of strength I could muster just to stand up and we did a lot of walking around that day. I kept on going other days, just forcing myself every inch of the way. It was maybe the hardest thing I have ever done. I got better and then found out afterward that I had actually had mono. Coincidently I read an article around that same time saying that the old philosophy of plenty of rest was actually now considered the wrong thing to do. Many still say take it easy and get plenty of rest but I am proof, along with those in the article I read, that you can get over it much more quickly if you just force yourself to live your life and not just lay around in bed. It really does work but it may be the roughest few weeks in your life but at least in won't put you down for months like it does some. Good luck.

 

[fgarvb1]

Freaking Superman!

 

[AKFlyboy1942]

Sorry to hear that, D. Hope you make it home as soon as possible. Let us know how it goes.

 

[warrior queen]

My hell with mono lasted 5 months.
I was 13 yrs old, and I got it bad.
Ended up with ongoing liver problems (I have liver function tests every 6 mths, and have had since I got ill). Every so often, my GGT levels will spike to the thousands, and I have to go to hospital for treatment as a result.

 

[Daolas]

Hi all,

Thanks for the well wishes. I've been home a few days now. My temperature bounces from frigid to boiling in a matter of minutes.

I'm averaging 20 hours of sleep or so a day. When i'm not sleeping, i'm eating everything I can find.

Overall, i'm feeling better, although still like shit.