Mononucleosis

[tink20]

Anyone have any advice for caring for someone with this. We are using fever and cough medicines, resting, drinking plenty of fluids. We are on day four. If you have had any personal experience, when do you start feeling slightly better? I know you can feel tried for several weeks. My poor son is miserable. We have been to the doctor. Any advice welcome. tia

 

[lorimay]

Oh boy I'm sorry for your son it's awful knocks the crap out of you.
My son had it at 16, it was awful, thankfully it was over the summer.
Took him weeks to feel normal again. He drove me nuts because he still wanted to go to football practice, he wanted to push through it. Coach told him nope stay home.
As far as medication, it was mostly Tylenol and pushing the fluids.
Best advice is rest and let it runs its course.
I hope he feels better soon.

 

[tink20]

Oh boy I'm sorry for your son it's awful knocks the crap out of you.
My son had it at 16, it was awful, thankfully it was over the summer.
Took him weeks to feel normal again. He drove me nuts because he still wanted to go to football practice, he wanted to push through it. Coach told him nope stay home.
As far as medication, it was mostly Tylenol and pushing the fluids.
Best advice is rest and let it runs its course.
I hope he feels better soon.

Do you remember how long before he was fever free?

 

[MrsCobraBubbles]

I was sick for weeks when i had it, I can't remember how long but it was more than a month, though I returned to school after a week. my kids have avoided it so far, but mono is horrible! i'm sorry your son has it, I hope he is feeling better soon. It sounds like you are doing all of the things that he needs to get better. I'm sure the doctor already told you this but make sure he rests, even when he starts to feel a little better, because too much activity too soon is really bad.

 

[DisneyOma]

The last student I knew of with mono was out for over a month, too tired to do work for another month, and miserable for yet another month. I hope your son gets better sooner than that!

 

[lorimay]

Do you remember how long before he was fever free?

over a week of fever, maybe closer to two weeks.

 

[Kamy04]

I was about 25yo when I had mono and it was awful. I would say the first week or so was the worst...I had a super sore throat, etc.

I was tired for a few months afterwards, but especially that first month. I remember getting home from work at 4:30 and sleeping until 9am the next day several times! Work let me come in late. I think I took 2 Fridays off work, too, for the extra day of weekend to rest.

 

[Summer2018]

Anyone have any advice for caring for someone with this. We are using fever and cough medicines, resting, drinking plenty of fluids. We are on day four. If you have had any personal experience, when do you start feeling slightly better? I know you can feel tried for several weeks. My poor son is miserable. We have been to the doctor. Any advice welcome. tia

I had mono for two months when I was 19. Pure hell. Terrible sore throat, absolute lethargy and exhaustion, an itchy all over body rash. I didn't feel normal for about six months.

 

[Diznotyzed]

I had it when I was a senior in high school. I was miserable for a week, not so bad for another week, and back to normal and school the next week.

 

[jiminyC_fan]

I had mono as a teen. I was out of school for 6 weeks and 2 weeks after that of half days. I think it affects everyone differently. He just needs to rest and no strenuous physical activity.

 

[OneOftheB's]

I had mono as a junior in college. From what we can determine, I came down with it over Christmas break, felt a bit better but not 100% and went back to college. I ended up seeing the campus nurse a few times, and each time she blew me off, saying it was nothing. Finally in early February, I went to a doc in a box near campus and tested positive for mono, enlarged spleen and strep throat. I went home for a week, came back to campus and took it easy. By March I was completely back to normal.

 

[lanejudy]

I had it in high school. If I recall, I was only out of school for a week (though it may have been around Thanksgiving so maybe a little bonus non-school time as well). I tried to do a winter sport but had to take the season off. I was ok by the spring sports season.

 

[MamaLema]

My son was those rare patients that had severe complications. Without writing a novel, he took a year to recover with a stay in the ICU. Organs all started failing, chest tubes in both lungs, etc.

I believe the average teen should recover in a month with possibly having fatigue for an extra month or 2.

 

[FigmentSpark]

My only advice is that I found out the hard way that mono and penicillan don't go together. Mono was no fun, nor were the hives I got from the penicillan they'd given me... to see if I had a reaction and it was mono (fun days, back then).

Rest. Maybe a gargle for the sore throat. If I recall, my teeth hurt - sensitive gums - when I had mono, so brushing was difficult.

 

[Poohlove]

I had mono when I was a freshman in high school and I do not remember much of the first week or so because I slept so much. I was out of school from mid October until after Christmas break. I remember a terribly sore throat and being so extremely exhausted.

My daughter has been sick for going on two weeks and is finally feeling better. The doctor threw mono out there as a possibility but said without labs can’t be sure. She tried amoxicillin which made her hands and feet itch so she was switched to Zithromax and a medrol dose pack was added. She had a very painful sore throat, sinus congestion and low grade fever for about 10 days. We went to urgent care where they sent us to another for a covid test which came back negative and despite that they still wouldn’t let her in and out primary said with her symptoms she can’t come into the office. I could start a new thread with that frustration!! She is feeling much better but still pretty worn out. Hopefully in the next few days she is back to almost normal.

 

[unrequited23]

I had my first bout of mono my freshman year of college. I was diagnosed via a blood test and given a steroid pack to reduce the swelling of my tonsils. The pain was so bad that that I cried when I swallowed my saliva. The first week was the worst. I had a Wendy's frosty around day 6 and it was amazing.

 

[FigmentSpark]

I had mono when I was a freshman in high school and I do not remember much of the first week or so because I slept so much. I was out of school from mid October until after Christmas break. I remember a terribly sore throat and being so extremely exhausted.

My daughter has been sick for going on two weeks and is finally feeling better. The doctor threw mono out there as a possibility but said without labs can’t be sure. She tried amoxicillin which made her hands and feet itch so she was switched to Zithromax and a medrol dose pack was added. She had a very painful sore throat, sinus congestion and low grade fever for about 10 days. We went to urgent care where they sent us to another for a covid test which came back negative and despite that they still wouldn’t let her in and out primary said with her symptoms she can’t come into the office. I could start a new thread with that frustration!! She is feeling much better but still pretty worn out. Hopefully in the next few days she is back to almost normal.

I'm no doctor and it's been 40 years since I had my bout, but the doctors told me the fact that I broke out in hives when given pennicillan (amoxocillan is in the same family, I believe) was proof that what I had was mono, because it's the only thing that causes that reaction, unless you already have a pennicillan allergy.

 

[indimom]

I had mono about 25 years ago, as a freshman in college. I would say mine was a "milder" case. I only missed a few classes (because I was too stupid to stay in my room and kept trying to push through the exhaustion). The extreme lethargy (I just couldn't keep my eyes open, and would fall asleep in class, writing notes, even standing up) and the absolutely miserable sore throat were the worst part; and, those lasted a couple weeks. I'd say I felt back to normal within a month or two.

 

[ohiomom28]

It can be a week or two before the fever breaks for good, unfortunately.

 

[ronandannette]

My son was those rare patients that had severe complications. Without writing a novel, he took a year to recover with a stay in the ICU. Organs all started failing, chest tubes in both lungs, etc.

I believe the average teen should recover in a month with possibly having fatigue for an extra month or 2.

Oh my, that must have been terrible for all of you. Having sever, unexpected complications from an illness that should be relatively straightforward sounds like a nightmare. I hope he has recovered. It's also startling to hear all the anecdotes of how closely mono symptoms resemble Covid, and also similar in the way that some people suffer more than others and not really in predictable ways.