DS20 has mono; please share your mono stories!

[SeaSpray]

DS20 started out with what seemed like a cold a week ago; by the next day (Thursday) he felt sick enough to make an appt with the doctor. The doctor did a strep test and a mono test (finger prick blood test) and both came back negative. DS's tonsils, throat, and glands in his neck were very swollen, he had a fever, pain in his ears, headache, and fatigue. The doctor told him it was probably a virus and sent him home with a prescription for a gargle solution that contained lidocaine.

The next day (last Friday), DS felt MUCH worse, his throat was swelled to the point that he felt he almost couldn't breathe, and his fever was higher, so he called his doctor back. Since DS didn't have a car to get back to see the doctor (we dropped it off that morning to have the brakes done) and since the doctor had just seen him less than 24 hours prior, the doctor spoke to DS over the phone, and then phoned in 2 prescriptions to the pharmacy; prednisone to reduce the swelling of his tonsils/throat, and an antibiotic for the secondary infection of his throat. (Had the doctor insisted on seeing him, either DH or I would've left work to take him in; and in fact I did leave work on my lunch break and came home to pick up his prescriptions so he wouldn't have to wait until that evening).

By Friday evening he was feeling somewhat better, and he felt even a little better than that on Saturday.

Sunday and Monday he felt just ok.

Fast forward to today when DS called me to say that he was feeling again like he couldn't breathe well due to the swelling of his tonsils, and that he was feeling light headed. (Of course he knew that if he felt like he couldn't breathe at all that he would've called 911 or driven himself to the hospital). He also said "I had no idea that I was still this sick, I thought I was getting better". He told his boss that he was sorry but that he had to leave work to go back to the doctor.

Good thing he did because they took a look down his throat and immediately told him that he has mono. A blood test confirmed it. We've since come to discover that a mono test will often come back as negative within the first week of symptoms.

Anyway, the poor kid is back in bed and will be out of work for at least another week.

I've never had mono! Tell me about your experiences. Thanks!

Edited to add: Today the doctor called in a stronger steroid for the inflammation of his tonsils, and a stronger antibiotic for the infection of his tonsils. So we're hoping they will help him to feel a little better while he recovers.

 

[TimeforMe]

My son had it when he was about 15-16. His symptoms sound exactly like your son's and his experience almost identical. They didn't pick it up the first time but after the second visit, it was confirmed. Since it is viral, there's not a heck of a lot you can do for it. Just let him rest, give him plenty of fluids, etc. I think DS was back to school within a week.

 

[Brianne]

I had it at 15. I still don't like to think about it.

Rest & fluids, and tell him not to push himself too hard because it'll probably take months before he feels completely back to normal again.

 

[Where'sPiglet?]

This story is a bit extreme but true.

I was a senior in high school and I had a class where I helped out at an elementary school. The lady I was working with was an old family friend; she has a son my age, so at the time he was also a senior.

He was diagnosed with mono and was warned NOT to do contact sports because the spleen can enlarge when ill with mono. Well, it was like the last game or something (soccer) and he just HAD to play; they didn't think it would be a problem.

Well....he DID get hit during the game and they didn't think too much of it but a friend's father was a doctor and since he wasn't feeling 100% after the hit, he urged him to get it checked out "just in case". Well, turns out his spleen ruptured and he was internally bleeding.

They were able to take care of it, but he did spend a week in the hospital. If he hadn't "gotten it checked out", he would have died.

Soooo...MORAL OF THE STORY: NO CONTACT SPORTS! TAKE IT EASY!
Otherwise, other friends with mono just were tired and it was not much more than an inconvenience.

 

[hrh_disney_queen]

Here's a funny mono story. Dh (DBF at the time) was in his early 20's..felt sick so he decided to go up to his dad's office-his dad was an internist. He had no car, so he decided to ride his UNICYCLE..Yes..UNICYCLE. In a Michigan winter. Anyway, he goes up there, the nurse tells him to spit into a beaker of something. It turns bright blue, which I guess is the universal sign for "you have mono". They tell him he is sick, go home and lay down. He gets on his UNICYCLE rides down the road a bit, and falls over passed out into a snow bank. He comes to, gets back up and rides home and lays down like he was told to do.

TRUE STORY!!

I hope your DS feels better soon. My DH had his for about 3 weeks while in art school, I don't know how he managed to do his work..He just slept all the time.

 

[mickeylove2]

My DD was 5-almost 6 when she was diagnosed with Mono...horrible! She was sick for weeks (more than 2 months), and even after a 4 or 5 months was still not her normal self. It is something that I wouldn't wish on my worst enemy. And to the PP who talked about the contact sports-ABSOLUTETY no contact sports. Before my DD was diagnosed with mono the docotr kept saying that it was pneumonia, chest xrays confirmed it...well she was taking karate at the time and we had to pul her out because she was just soooo tired and sick all the time, well a few weeks go by she's still not better and then they confirm that it is actually mono and the doc says "no sports whatsoever, the chest xrays may actually be showing an enlarged spleen!" We tell the doc about the karate and she just can't beleive it, and feels awful for not catching the mono sooner. All she could say was this could have been much worse.

 

[JenSop]

I had mono when I was 18 and it wasn't more than a minor inconvenience. It started as a sore throat, but when I went to the doctor, they said they could see "mono spots." So they sent me to the hospital to get a blood test, which came back positive. I was shocked. I never felt absolutely terrible - just a sore throat and tired. I remember I missed four days of school, that's it. But there were other kids at my High School around the same time who also had mono (it was really goin' around then) who had varying degrees of intensity. I remember one kid missed about a month of school. I'm glad mine wasn't really bad.

 

[Hedy]

Mono is evil. I caught in around Valentine's Day of my jr. year of college. I actually noticed the sore throat and swelling, and went to health services. The MD suggested to get a mono test if it didn't go away. He asked if I was tired-I felt like hot buttered death, but thought it was due to my father's passing 2 months earlier. I went back later, took a mono test. Negative, but I felt so horrible I ended up bawling my eyes out to my mom and went home. Went to my MD-no mono, but had a UTI. Still felt sick 1 week later, another mono test (and the phelbotomist couldn't find my vein, so I got a nasty bruise on my arm)-yepp, I had it. I thought I would be able to go back to school, but I lost the whole semester.
My MD said it's worse depending on how old you are-so DS20 has my sympathies (feel free to PM me or have him do so if he has any questions). I spent a lot of time watching Lifetime, Netflix, and playing the Sims2.

 

[pr surfer]

I first got mono at 14, and I've had 2 relapses since. I drink TONS of fluids. Preferably light colored Gatorade (doesn't stain clothes/bedsheets if I puke). Also, I had someone change my sheets daily (or I did it if I had the strength), but that might be my own paranoia.

 

[DVCsince02]

I was 14 and all I remember was sleeping for a solid week. I could barely wake up enough to get to the bathroom and had terrible cold symptoms.

Hope your son feels better soon!

 

[C.Ann]

It's going to totally wipe him out for awhile and it will be a long, long time before he totally recovers from the fatigue..

The issue with the spleen is VERY serious.. Even wearing a seat belt and being involved in a fender bender could cause the spleen to rupture..

Hope he feels better soon - but please tell him NOT to rush it..

 

[jackskellingtonsgirl]

I had mono when I was 17. Dizzy, lightheaded, I'm sure there was more to it. What I remember most was having horrible ulcers in my mouth. Even plain water would burn when I took a sip. I lost 12 pounds in 2 weeks, which in those days was more than 10% of my total body weight. Definitely not fun!

I hope your DS feels better soon!

 

[aprilgail2]

He was diagnosed with mono and was warned NOT to do contact sports because the spleen can enlarge when ill with mono. Well, it was like the last game or something (soccer) and he just HAD to play; they didn't think it would be a problem.

Well....he DID get hit during the game and they didn't think too much of it but a friend's father was a doctor and since he wasn't feeling 100% after the hit, he urged him to get it checked out "just in case". Well, turns out his spleen ruptured and he was internally bleeding.

They were able to take care of it, but he did spend a week in the hospital. If he hadn't "gotten it checked out", he would have died.

Soooo...MORAL OF THE STORY: NO CONTACT SPORTS! TAKE IT EASY!
Otherwise, other friends with mono just were tired and it was not much more than an inconvenience.

The kid across the street had it when she was 14 and she was in the bathroom and fell and hit her spleen on the sink and she did die from that. It is rare but can happen.
I had mono when I was 18 and I was out of work for almost 6 months and when I went back to work I relapsed and was out another 2 months. I don't even like to remember how sick I felt- to weak to even crawl to the bathroom to go and just layed there in a dark room (light hurt my eyes to badly). Uggg...it was terrible.

 

[luv2nascar]

I had it at around 25 and it was awful. It took 3 months to fully recover. I only laid in bed a week but yuck. I could not sit for long periods of time for weeks due to pain in my side/back due to my enlarged spleen. It was just a pain in the butt the whole sick thing. I hope I never get it again and I hope my kids never get it.

 

[2BigKIdz]

I had mono when I was 17 and missed a whole month of school. I can remember the night before I got sick, it was a Sunday and I was at work at the movie theater. We had a grocery store right next door and I really wanted some juice but I did not have the energy to walk next door and buy it. I called my mom to drive to the store and bring it to me (yes, I was spoiled). I just felt like it took all the energy I could muster just to move.

The next morning I woke up with an incredibly sore throat, when I looked in the mirror it was coated in white. I still had zero energy. My mom took me to the doctor and he immediately thought mono but I refused to have a blood test because I was afraid of needles. He gave me a prescription for my throat just in case it wasn't mono.

I pretty much stayed in bed the rest of the week, but I did start to feel a little better. On Saturday morning I got very sick, vomiting and just felt like death. I went back to the doctor and he could feel my spleen just by touching my side it was so swollen. I finally allowed the blood test and came back positive for mono. He gave me some medication for the nausea but basically said there wasn't anything he could give me, just rest for the mono.

I ended up with hepatitis also because my liver became infected because my spleen was so infected. The first 2 weeks were horrible, I really felt completely and totally awful, but after that I started feeling a little better but it did take a really long time to feel normal again, my body was just drained.

It has been 18 years since I had mono but I can recall it like it was last week.

I hope your son feels better, even if he starts feeling better quickly, make him take it easy.

 

[BuckNaked]

DD 14 had it over the summer, discovered while we were on vacation at Busch Gardens Williamsburg. The ER doc told her no contact sports for 2 months due to the enlarged spleen, but said she could do the park if she felt like and if she didn't do roller coasters or bumpy rides.

She slept all day every day for about 2 weeks, and her doc cleared her for sports about 3 weeks into it.

After the first 4 weeks, she's been fine - no fatigue, no issues with sports.

 

[2BigKIdz]

I had it at around 25 and it was awful. It took 3 months to fully recover. I only laid in bed a week but yuck. I could not sit for long periods of time for weeks due to pain in my side/back due to my enlarged spleen. It was just a pain in the butt the whole sick thing. I hope I never get it again and I hope my kids never get it.

I was told by the doctor that you can only contract mono once, like chicken pox.

 

[gmboy95]

I had it in my freshman year of college during finals....it sucked big time...I had to return to school at the end of July to take my finals. Imagine having to remember all that stuff for over a month and a half!!!

I was SOOOOO sick. Had it real bad. I dont want to be gross, but i had a fever for two weeks, and peed brown for 3 weeks

 

[Diznotyzed]

I had it at 18, way back in 1975. Went to bed one night and slept almost straight through for over 24 hours, waking up with a horrible sore throat. Slept nearly round the clock for a couple days, then went to the doctor who diagnosed strep throat. Just as I was about to leave the office he decided to also test for mono, and, yup - I had both. I was out of school for two weeks, and almost missed going to the prom. No one wanted to chance asking me and having me cancel so I ended up asking a family friend to go with me. Kinda like going to the prom with your brother. Having it really messed up the end of my senior year.

 

[SeaSpray]

Thanks for the replies, everyone! Wow, it's a miserable illness, isn't it. I think I'll call DS's doctor tomorrow to see if they checked his spleen to see if it's enlarged or not.