Talk to me about mono

[merrily]

My 16yo was recently diagnosed with mono. He feels awful- sore throat, tired, headache, swollen glands, vomiting. Everything I've read says that these symptoms could last quite awhile and that lots of rest is needed. Of course, we are approaching the last week of school and he has several papers and projects left to do/finish and final exams, so the timing of this illness could not be worse.

I don't have any person experience with mono so I was hoping that others who do could share how long they felt poorly, how it affected their day to day life and any tips to get him through the last 6 days of school.

I hate to see him feeling so miserable and really not be able to do anything about it.

 

[kacaju]

Ugh... talk to he school and see if they can do anything to help him. This is tough since it is the last week of school. My dd17 had mono when she was 15, but for her it hit her the beginning of her sophmore year. She went to school full day her first day of school because she was feeling OK. Coming off of summer vacation, she had already been relaxing so it hit her hard and she was out the next two days and then did half days for 3 weeks after that.
We did: 1 day she'd go in 1/2 day in the morning and the next day she went in the afternoon. It gave her every other day of sleeping in and this way she was able to keep up with all her classes.

 

[akhenaten]

make arrangements with the school... even if he needs an incomplete until he can feel better enough to do the assignments

My son got mono hi sophmore year.. but in the middle of the school year, he was out for a month... and he got so bad he was almost hospitalized!
His breathing was so bad one day it frightened me..

Poor kid missed his entire hockey season and lost top goalie spot because of it...

 

[Tink888]

I had mono the summer I graduated from high school. Mostly I just remember being very tired with days when I had symptoms similar to a cold. It was a good month before I felt 100% better again.

Is your son allowed to go to school? It used to be that a mono diagnosis kept you out of school because it was so contagious. I'd have him speak with his teachers. Maybe he can just go in for his exams.

Hope he feels better soon.

 

[golfgal]

DD16's best friend had mono this past fall. She ended up in the hospital twice because of dehydration-which happens FAST. She missed 2 full months of school and went 1/2 days for a couple weeks, had a 2 week break for Christmas, came back to school, ended up with influenza, out for 2 more weeks.

At our school everything is online so she was able to get assignments, work sheets, etc. off the internet. She had her textbooks and workbooks at home and just did what she could, when she could. The teachers were pretty accommodating with making up work/tests, etc.

 

[charming23]

I would talk to his teachers and the administrators about the situation. If he is that miserable, and mono is horrible, he will not be able to concentrate on anything.

I had mono my sophmore year and was out for almost 2 months with 1 month of going in half days. I was even hospitalized once for dehydration.

I hope he feels better soon.

 

[MattsPrincess]

It lasted about a month when I got it. The last week or so I was feeling pretty good, mostly just tired. I guess I was lucky, school wise, because the first two weeks happened to fall during Christmas break, so I only ended up missing the following two weeks of school. That was a relief, because I got it senior year and no one wants to miss anything that year!

The first and second week, I thought I was going to die. I was so tired I couldn't stay awake no matter how hard I tried. I was so weak I could barely walk from the couch to the bathroom or my bedroom. Couldn't eat, threw up constantly. I actually got it so bad, for a day or two I was near-delirious.

 

[merrily]

It sounds like I'll be making some calls to the school in the morning. His throat is so swollen and he is just exhausted I don't think he could concentrate on anything if he even could make it to school. I hope the school will be accomodating since this is obviously completely out of our control. There would be no time that would be good to get mono but next week would have made this a lot less complicated!

I just hate that my "baby" feels so poorly and there's really nothing I can do.

 

[ClarabelleCowFan]

DD12 got it this past school year. She missed something like 23 days from the illness and came home early many times because she was sick. She also had to drop out of the Track Team tryouts because she had a swollen spleen.

Our Pediatrician said that symptoms can last up to 6 months. Main thing is to let them rest as much as they want and keep them eating and drinking.

 

[akhenaten]

It sounds like I'll be making some calls to the school in the morning. His throat is so swollen and he is just exhausted I don't think he could concentrate on anything if he even could make it to school. I hope the school will be accomodating since this is obviously completely out of our control. There would be no time that would be good to get mono but next week would have made this a lot less complicated!

I just hate that my "baby" feels so poorly and there's really nothing I can do.

Hope he feels better soon!!!! It really is awful ...

 

[wdwiala]

I had it my first semester of college. I really thought I was going to die. So weak and tired. Lost tons of weight. My bedroom was in the basement and I remember that my mother wouldn't let me come upstairs because I was too weak for the climb. I threw up 15 times that first night. I buzzed my mother on the intercom each time to let her know . After about the 10th, she told me that she didn't need to be notified...

Best things that I found to eat, turkey sandwiches that had the turkey (real turkey) ground up finely. Also, my dad would make me Jello with Sprite. Something about the the Sprite made the jello a little better.

I hope the school is flexible. I can't see how anyone could do school those early weeks.

 

[canadianjovigirl]

Its terrible and i too got it as a teen and i was out of school for a month and then a month of 1/2 days, but really it took me almost 4 months to feel normal again. I would come home from school and just sleep..................