I had mono - but first I tested negative for it, and inconclusive for leukemia - so actually finding out it was mono was GOOD news.
My sympathies, friend. I hope it doesn’t last long for you.
I had mono for a long, long time. I didn’t get stereo until Surrealistic Pillow. That was my freshman year in college. 
What color is the mono awareness ribbon?
Time for the bucket list, Scylla. What’s in your bucket? (Hmm, sounds oddly like an off-kilter credit card commercial!)
FWIW,
I got mono just a month after I started dating my wife, and she never came down with it. I did end up taking a week off work with a nasty swollen throat, but it wasn’t so bad otherwise. 
I had mono in graduate school and my biggest mistake was not dropping all my classes that semester. I ended up with a low pass in one class and was almost kicked out of school. My symptoms progressed from eye infection(s) to ear infection(s) to finally the Worst Sore Throat in the History of the Universe[sup]TM[/sup]. Also, my nose was stuffed up so bad that with the swollen throat I could barely breathe. I was afraid I would suffocate in my sleep as I had to struggle so hard to draw a breath. It took about 6 months to get my strength back.
Heh…good times! (not)
I was going to quote the “Fuck You” also, but for different reasons. No thanks man, I don’t want to get mono! 
I wish I could get mono and stay home for 6-8 weeks. That would friggen rock. Scylla, you think you could send me a contagous pillow case or something? I’ll clean it and send it back after I get sick.
The last time I was very ill was about four years ago. I was a freshman in college, and decided to “cure” my sickness by downing a shot or eight of everclear. I can’t describe to you the misery I felt that night. But once I had sobered up, my sickness was completely gone and I felt better than I had in years.
YMMV.
I don’t know if I’ve ever had it but I did have something several years ago that could have been it.
I have had psittacosis a couple times but I did not get it from kissing parrots.
Sending healing thoughts your way!
No, it doesn’t. Really. :rolleyes:
I’ve never had mono, but one of my friends has a brother who was really sick with it for a while. He basically just laid in bed and hallucinated. He finally emerged one day and was able to quote a lengthy paragraph from a car advertisement that he had taped on his ceiling, because he had spent so long just staring up.
Anyway, best of luck and take it easy!
I have had some times in the past couple of years where I was really dragging ass - barely enough energy to get to work, taking a lot of sick time just on “I don’t feel good”, not getting anything done at home but bare essentials, etc. When I was at the doctor’s office I asked him if this could be mono. He told me I was too long in the tooth for mono. :rolleyes:
Fast forward a year or so and my twelve-years-older-than-me husband goes in for a checkup. He got diagnosed with mono. (Apparently his liver was enlarged and the doctor was looking for anything)
I made another appointment with that doctor just to gloat (and get checked myself).
the dive master had it in college. they kicked him out of IU because of it. he has formally asked me to ask you what lemon balm did for you - wondering if he might still be suffering some kind of syndrome from it decades later.
Despite all the horror stories you could get a mild case of mono. When I had it my only symptoms were very swollen tonsils for a couple of weeks, sore throat for a few days and slightly reduced appetite.
It’s amazing how widely varied the symptoms can be. My roommate and I had it the same summer. (I think I got it because we accidentally shared a glass at some point.)
She was sick for about a week and then was fine. I started out with killer headaches and then missed about 6 weeks of work. Went back part-time for another 6 weeks or so and then, finally, I had a more-or-less normal level of energy again. Took about a year before I really felt like it was over.
Still have occasional bouts where similar symptoms will recur for a short period (not the headaches, at least).
My doctor thought I was a little long in the tooth as well, but afterward I met a surprising number of people who’d had it in their forties. (I was in my late 30s.)
I’m curious too about the lemon balm, WhyNot. Do you take it as tea?
Hope it doesn’t hit you hard, Scylla. My roommate’s boyfriend never got it, so there’s hope.
GT
I had sushi for lunch. I ran 5 miles. I pooped. I scrutinized the poop for signs of incipient illness. Normal color, a lot looser than usual. Kind of felt hot and urgent when I let it go. Might have been the sushi. Throat feels slightly sore. I feel slightly off but I can’t tell if any of this is sickness or just mild paranoia.
I am hoping to run a half-marathon Saturday morning.
Sorry about the poop description but I’ve always been a big believer in poop analysis. Used to feel kind of shy about it. Then, I saw an episode of dirty jobs where a guy followed cows around all day catching fresh cow floppies before they hit the ground so he could analyze them. He could tell all kinds of thing about the cow from the poop, adjust feed and medicines to keep them healthy. So, I’m kind of interested in the state of my poops.
My 4 year old has poops that have the diameter of soup cans. I flinch just to look at them. I think I would scream in pain if I tried to pass anything like that. Once I asked my Doctor friend about it (yeah, the gynecologist) and he said that we don’t eat right in modern society and all the processed food makes our stools loose, we lose flexibility in our sphincters and they tighten up. It can cause all kinds of health problems. Young kids haven’t had time for this digestive inflexibility to settle in, and still have mighty poops.
I found that pretty impressive and since then I’ve been making an effort to try to poop big. The problem is that I’m not really sure how one goes about increasing the diameter of their poop. There’s precious little information out there on this topic. It’s as if we all have our heads in the sand.
I adopted a three-tiered approach. First I’ve been trying to hit harder more inflexible foods under the assumption that my guts and sphincter will have to expand to accommodate them. Things like cheese and butter an yogurt would be low on the “hardness” scale. On the other side of the scale would be beef jerky and those really big pretzels. The second tier is fluid intake. I figure if you mix a lot of fluid with your food it’s like a milkshake. Thicker is better. So, I try to do the bulk of drinking well before and after eating. The third tier is that I try to eat food that reminds me of hay. We have a horse, and when it eats mostly hay, its poops are like giant softballs. If it eats a lot of grain it’s considerably looser and sloppier and of less diameter.
I was going to say the “point of all this is…” but there really is no point. None of this yielded me any discernible difference in the size or quality of my poops, and I soon abandoned the enterprise. However, I’d gotten in the habit of studying my poop before I send it on its way to the septic tank, and am of the opinion that larger more robust poops are a sign of health and well-being.
So, I wasn’t happy with today’s poop. I’m guessing it was the sushi.
Y’know, maybe. I dated (and kissed, etc.) somebody with mono and didn’t get it.
Dear Mr. Scylla,
Thank you for your insights and suggestions towards a fundamental revision of medical diagnostic techniques. After consideration, I am offering you 500 vicodin from my personal stash if you will promise to never contact me again.
Sincerely Yours,
Gregory House, M.D.
This sounds like an informercial I had the misfortune of hearing late one night. All discussing healthy poops and how we lose the ability to have big healthy poops. I’m really not sure what they were selling.