was diagnosed with mono. Help!

[lilmissdisney216]

So I've had an interesting past couple of days.

So I had been having a horrible sore throat since about 2 weeks ago and went to see my doctor who gave me amoxicillin antibiotics and told me to take them for seven days and see how that goes.

Took the pills for exactly seven days but didn't feel myself getting better. In fact I felt myself getting worse. On thursday night I looked in the mirror to see if my tonsills and my throat were still swollen and was a little shocked at what I saw. There was (and still is) tons of icky white stuff all over my tonsils. I figure that it'll go away and I took some more antibiotics

Friday passes and my voice started to change and not sound right. My voice sounded( and still sounds) like I ate something hot and im trying to cool it off.
By the time saturday rolled around, I literally couldn't swallow anything without being in excruciating pain. It felt like thousands of hot knives were stabbing me in the throat. Plus when I would lay down it hurt to even breathe. So late that night early Sunday morning my parents rush me to the ER where they determined that the reason the anitbiotics didn't work was because I have mono.

So in short I get to miss one whole week of school and do nothing but sleep and lay around all day. If anyone has ever had this and has any tips on what I should eat or maybe even drink that would be really really helpful. Thank you soo much.


Meredith

 

[storzo]

I had mono and I can't really tell you what to eat and drink as I don't think I did anything other than sleep. I remember a lot of orange juice.

I was also out of school/camp for way over a week, it was closer to a month.

 

[TEENEE]

My ds had a mild case of it last summer. He ate popsicles. Prior to having mono he rarely got sick. Now he seems to catch more colds and they seem to hang on longer.

 

[SamIAm21]

Well, first off, take every opportunity to rest, sleep, don't push yourself at all this week. I have a feeling though it will take more than a week to feel better. I was sick for six weeks and not feeling "good" for at least four more weeks. It was junior year of high school "summer". I spent the whole summer in bed and honestly didn't feel normal for quite some time after that. The first few months of senior year were spent sleeping a lot more than normal.

Be careful and if you see yellowness to your eyes, etc. make sure your folks know. Mono can cause liver damage.

 

[Nik's Mom]

Please follow doctors orders here. I had mono in college. It was about a month before our finals in college. I was passing with straight A's and didn't want to miss school. I kept trying to keep up with work and school as much as possible. The doctor told me to stay home, but of course I didn't listen. My throat was so swollen that you could actually see the left and right side almost touching if I opened my mouth. I lost a lot of weight and was very weak. Finally, I almost fainted at work and my boss ordered me to the health center. I ended up on bed rest for one month! Luckily, my grades were so high that I still passed with B's. The sad part is that had I listened to the doctor in the very beginning, I would have been well enough to take my finals.

I hope you feel better soon.

 

[Brianne]

I had mono at 15 and it took over a month for it to go away. I was absolutely miserable!

Just try to eat and drink what you can--you might want to look into buying those Ensure drinks if you're not able to eat solid food.

And get a lot of rest; you'll definitely need it.

 

[ImMarcik]

I had it and the doc made me take a whole week off of work, then half a day every other day, half a day everyday and then a whole day every other day. That was a months worth of schedule. I just remember my throat hurting so bad I wanted to cry. Just rest up and hang in there.

 

[VirtuallyMe]

I've had mono twice...

First time- I had it pretty bad- I was 17 and in my first semester of college- my guess is that I got it from one of my sorority sisters- we were always sharing drinks back then... I ended up in the hospital because it infected my liver. I had to drop out for the semester- I got sick right at the beginning of November- spent week in the hospital and pretty much rested and took it easy for another few weeks- and went back to school in the January Semester. I was miserable- hurt all over- between my liver and spleen being swollen- itching from the jaundice and just being sick- it was bad.

Second time- in 2006 was much milder- got it from my son- who had a severe case- I tried a drink he got and then a few days later he was very sick- I had my lymph nodes pop up all over- and my doctor had me tested- I ended up working short days- and only actually took one full day off work that time. I was just exhausted- didn't have any other aches or pains with it this time.

I don't recall eating anything special or doing anything for the second time- other than resting whenever I could. Making sure to let friends and family know that could have been exposed to get tested if they had colds or if experiencing fatigue. Lots of people get mono and never know they have it- there is usually some excuse to explain some of the fatigue- or they just assume it is a cold and it simply runs its course

Some people get it worse- my first time was bad and it sort of crept up on me- they thought I had hepatitis and were about to do a mass testing and treatment of the entire college campus. And with my son- 3 oncologist had actually diagnosed lymphoma initially- and he is not one to ever get sick. That is why you do need to let those who could be exposed: drinking/eating after someone is probably the chief spreader of the disease- although "kissing" disease is a common nickname- no kissing actually has to be involved...

Good luck and I hope you feel better soon=
drink plenty of fluids (helps with any viral/bacterial illness)
eat a healthy diet (your body needs to repair itself and can't do that on nothing)
Rest- even if you don't feel like it or feel like you need it

This is the time to spoil yourself and a great excuse to avoid housework

 

[mommasita]

First off

You have received great advice. Definitely do as the Dr. orders. Sleeping, resting, and Vitamin C are the only way to proceed. I remember I was 17, and my mother purchased the vitamin C tablets that disolve in water, and I drank 2 or 3 a day.

I hope you get better soon, and get plenty of rest.

 

[Alex2kMommy]

Wow. I have never been so tired in all my life as I was when I had mono! The only advice I have is to sleep as much as you can, drink plenty of fluids and eat healthy.

I had it in college also, and the health center doc advised me to withdraw from my courses that quarter. But if I had, it would have totally messed up the schedule for my graduation date two years later (some courses were only offered one quarter a year), so I refused.

So I'd get up in the morning, go to my classes, come home and go to bed; get up again, eat, do some coursework, go back to bed. It was really bad for one week, I was asleep more hours than I was awake. Then gradually my stamina picked up and I could stay awake longer. It took about a month before I felt back to normal.

Hang in there! It will get better, it just may take awhile.

 

[suzannews]

Just wanted to send some hugs.

I had mono when I was 21. I slept for about a week straight, remember eating an apple here and there and not much else. It took me about 6 months to feel "better" even though I went back to work after 2 weeks. Take it easy and listen to what your body is telling you.

 

[CindyKansas]

I had it when I was 21 also. Spent 8 days in the hospital since I also had liver complications. I had a horrible sore throat and I had gone to the doctor, they put me on an anitbiotic but I didn't get better. I remember saying to one of my co-workers I don't feel "right" and I called the doctors office, they got me right in and the doctor took one look at me and said " want you to go directly to the hospital" I had jaundice. This was in July and I wasn't able to return to work until the end of September.

All I can say is get plenty of rest, drink lots of fluids and don't over extend yourself. Good luck.

 

[sharbear]

My D has mono right now. She's feeling better but still not up to par. One thing that I was told is that she can not have any alcohol at all. If you do, it will compromise your liver.

 

[Jewel1310]

My sister was recently diagnosed with Mono as was her husband. My sister and I go for breakfast almost every weekend and share bottled water (among other things). I feel horrible, sore throat, headache, very tired but they did a mono spot on Friday and it came back negative. They told me if I don't feel better to come back in a week as it takes a while to show up sometimes. Anyone else ever had this experience. I feel like a faker or that it is psychosomatic since the test came back negative but I really do feel awful.

To the original OP. I hope you are feeling better. My son had mono and it was horrible. I am hoping you are over the worst of it.

 

[mhsjax]

Please take it easy don't push yourself, I had such a bad case of it, that my pediatrician said it was the worst case he had ever seen and he had been a doc for 30 years. Mine turned into encephalitic menengitis and required a hospital stay, and I actually had a friend that pushed herself cause she was in college and was in the midst of finals, well she ended up dying as a result of a brain infection from the mono. Not trying to scare you but some people take this illness very lightly, (usually those who haven't it), and these cases are not the norm. but please do rest and expect to be out quite some time, I was down for 8 weeks. Please take care and drink lots of fluids and eat anything that you can tolerate.

 

[lsyorke]

Penicillin should not be taken with Mono!!! It can cause a weird looking rash and does nothing to help the Mono....we found this out the hard way with DS!

 

[damo]

I've heard of good results with grapefruit seed extract. You might want to research it. You add a few drops into a glass of juice.

 

[brittsmum1998]

Don't know if this will apply but my DD10 was at the drs. the other day. While she hasn't had mono, she was tested for strep. Her tonsils were really large and very red but it wasn't strep. The dr. (new) said while acidic juice may burn the throat try to drink alot of milk. She seems to think it will coat the throat and therefore comfort it. Maybe that would work to take the "edge" off?