I have mono.

Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share
1

:mad: I don’t know who gave it to me. I haven’t been around anyone with mono.

But for the past three days the pain in my throat has been such that I haven't been able to swallow anything, including my own saliva, so I've had to spit in a cup every few minutes to keep from choking on it. I literally have consumed nothing but popsicles, yogurt, and liquid codeine left over from when my dad had throat surgery. I went to a doctor yesterday and she gave me the good news. 

Can anyone who has had this tell me what they did when they had it? I understand I'm going to be out of school/work for at least a week or two, and I'm concerned I might actually lose my mind. I am one of those people who likes to be doing something all the time, so this really sucks.

How did I get this plague? How did you amuse yourself when you had it? What did you eat? How long until you were functioning as a normal person?
2

People call it “the kissing disease,” but it’s really much easier to catch than that.

When I got it, I mostly entertained myself by sleeping 18 hours per day and watching cable the other 6.

I don’t remember what I ate. A gland in my neck was very swollen, but I could still swallow okay. Probably a lot of canned soup.

I went back to class after a week, but I was more tired than usual for a few months.

3

I had it when I was 6 years old! No idea how I contracted it. The doctor even asked me if I’d been kissing little girls, but no, I had not discovered women yet. I don’t even remember feeling sick, but my parents must have taken me to the doctor for some reason. I was out of school for six weeks.

4

Well, I had it in high school, and I have no happy or uplifting news for you. Unless you like children’s daytime TV programming.

I got it from accidentally sharing a glass with a girl who was recovering from it, so no fun kissing story. We really knew that something was wrong with me the day I went to the doctor for the blood test - I woke up, walked to the bathroom (20 feet), rested, showered, rested, walked back to the bedroom, rested, dressed, rested, walked upstairs, rested, walked out to the car. I had never been so tired before ever. 20 feet of walking should not be enough to make you sit on the toilet resting up to bathe yourself!

Anyhow, I was out of commission for about a month. Memories are fuzzy, because I slept so much, but I watched a lot of Blue’s Clues with my baby sister. Professional Billiards. Dragon Tales, too. I think. If you want to stay sharp, you could always try keeping notes on the soap plots!

Don’t forget to keep eating, don’t try to watch anything that will make you more tired (like, um, anything that requires thought) Good Luck!

5

I had it back in college – fairly mild case (I was back after about two weeks). I was in the infirmary for 3-4 days until I tested positive; then they sent me home. Once there, I slept most of the day. I was awake longer each day until after a week I was able to go back to school. Watched TV (this was during the baseball playoffs, and the Mets were in it, so I enjoyed that) and read.

Don’t know how I got it. Not from kissing, that’s for sure.

6

I had it about 6 years ago and while the throat symptoms were mild I had the problem of being tired 24/7.
I’d sleep 12 hours straight, go to work and not be able to keep my eyes open day after day.
I went to the doctor and all they told me was “you have a sore throat, nothing else, buh-bye.”
Two weeks later and I still have zero energy no matter how much sleep, attempted exercise, and nutrition I get. Go back to the doctor only to be told “Oh, you have mono, don’t know how we missed that the last time.”

No pain or discomfort for me. Just incredibly inconvenient to be tired for a month straight.

7

I had mono while in graduate school.

My symptoms started with an ear ache that moved to both ears in a few days. Went to Student Health, saw Dr. #1 and got a prescription. The next week I had an eye infection (the tear duct) that spread to the other eye. Went to Student Health, saw Dr. #2 and got a different prescription. A week later my throat became so scratchy that I couldn’t swallow then my nose became so plugged I couldn’t breath. Went to Student Health and saw Dr. #3. He asked “Have you ever had mono?” I said “No.” He said “Well you have it now.” He gave me a completely new prescription and a gamma globulin shot to boost my immune system. He told me my spleen was swollen and that I should avoid contact sports (Okie dokie).

I should have dropped all my classes that semester but I tried to muddle through. The result was a low pass in one of my required courses. :frowning:

It took about 6 months before I got my strength back. I slept a lot and watched MTV, which was brand new at the time. I remember nothing else about that period of my life.

8

I had mono in college. I lived in the dorm, so there were plenty of opportunities for sharing germs.

I remember having a sore throat and feeling kinda crappy and having a hard time staying awake in class, so I went to the student health service, where they broke the news. The doctor there gave me a Medrol dosepack to reduce the swelling my throat. I felt about 500% better the next day. I didn’t miss more than a day or two of classes.

9

Yuck! Who have you been smooching? I had it in eighth grade and missed MONTHS of school. I would do all my textbook reading while lying on the couch, covered in an afghan, watching Mr. Rogers and Ricki Lake.

I got Bs on all my standardized tests that year and cried and cried. I thought, with those grades, I’d only be able to get into Wellesley (gratuitous simpsons reference)!

10

It started in my right onsil, then moved to both. At first we thought it was strep, and I went to urgent care, but the test came back negative. Then I went to my regular doctor, who is a medical genius and can tell what’s wrong with me within about 30 seconds whenever I go there. She looked in my throat then felt my spleen. Mono.

I am pretty worried about school, especially math, since it's the type of class where we learn something new every day and then practice it on the homework that night. So I can have a friend bring the homework to me, but I won't know how to do it since there's no book, we just copy notes from the board every day.

The last time I kissed someone was last Friday, but he didn’t appear to be on death’s door, which is how I feel. Can people just be carriers?

 Lucky for me, my best friend already had it and is immune, and she's been coming over to entertain/take care of me. My other best friend works at Coldstone Creamery, and has promised much free ice cream. Dark chocolate peppermitn and blueberry cheesecake, mmm.
11

Asketh bubble pop electric, "How did I get this plague? "

Infected incubus?

12

I’m sixteen, if anyone cares.I’m mostly concerned that I will literally drive myself insane, since I am very prone to depression when I go long periods (over two days) with being social or productive in any way.

They put me on Prednazon.(sp?) I am slightly suspicious of this, since they also put me on Prednazon when I had poison ivy. But I’ve also been taking a lot of Ibuprofen and practically gargling with Chloraseptic, and the pain now is to the point where my throat feels normal if I don’t swallow, and swallowing also isn’t complete agony like it was. So I can eat soft things like oatmeal and I don’t have to spit in a cup to keep from choking on my own saliva.

13

I had it in high school. My mom was one of those types that unless you were deathly ill, would make you go to school. It is thought that I contracted it during the course of my part-time job at a department store (handling money and such). I started not feeling good and don’t really recall the specific symptoms I had. When it got to the point (after several weeks) that I couldn’t function in school, she took me to the doctor. I was a straight A student who never had attention problems, so the teachers were concerned when I started to come into 1st period, put my head down and sleep the whole class, bell rings, go to 2nd period, sleep, 3rd period, sleep…repeat for the whole day, then go home. When I got home I would sleep till it was time to go to bed. I probably should have been out of school for a month or more, but by the time I was diagnosed, I was only out for a week.

I remember eating a lot of Jello 1-2-3. And sleeping.

14

[QUOTE=ChiefScott]
Asketh bubble pop electric, "How did I get this plague? "

Infected incubus?
[/QUOTE]

I really have to start closing my windows at night. Mama always said I’d catch my death that way.

15

I had mono in college. Totally sucked.

16

I was in second grade. I remember being so exhausted that I couldn’t get out of bed for a tissue so the snot just dribbled where it would. And everything hurt, badly. I have no idea why I didn’t flunk second grade since I missed six weeks of school.

17

Auch! Sorry for you, mono really sucks! My BF had it a year ago, and was barely human for months. He was “functioning”, as you say, two months after diagnosis, but still felt the after-effects a year later. He had to drop all his classes that semester, too.

The funny thing is, I didn’t catch it, and have never (to my knowledge) had it. The doctor said this was typical (spouses remaining uninfected). I also read up on it elsewhere, and it seems most people go through this as small children, and at that age are almost symptom-free. It’s you “lucky” ones who don’t catch it till adulthood who get to be really sick.

As for eating? Whatever you can keep down. I wouldn’t worry about it, worry about drinking. Drink as much as you can, whatever you can.

If you’re able to leave bed after two weeks, consider yourself lucky. Anything less than an ambulance-ride to the hospital is a mild case. Actually, you’re young enough to hope for nothing worse than a bad flu’. Keep your fingers crossed. Its those who get it at 20+ who are really screwed.

[QUOTE=RoniaBorkason]
We really knew that something was wrong with me the day I went to the doctor for the blood test - I woke up, walked to the bathroom (20 feet), rested, showered, rested, walked back to the bedroom, rested, dressed, rested, walked upstairs, rested, walked out to the car. I had never been so tired before ever. 20 feet of walking should not be enough to make you sit on the toilet resting up to bathe yourself!
[/QUOTE]

Ha! My boyfriend could have written this. He was so tired. All the time.

(BTW; love the username, Ronia. Are you scandinavian?)

18

I got mono in college (1967). Managed to sleep through my Integral Calculus final. Slept often and spent a lot of time gargling with Cloraseptic. What made it more interesting was that I also had Vincent’s Angina (AKA “trench mouth”) and *that * really hurt. At one point I stopped talking for three days because it hurt too much to swallow before speaking. And I got real sick of Jell-o. About two weeks total. Unfortunately, the second, worse, week was spring break.

19

[QUOTE=bubble pop electric]
They put me on Prednazon.(sp?) I am slightly suspicious of this, since they also put me on Prednazon when I had poison ivy.
[/QUOTE]
Oh sweetie, as soon as I read about having to spit in a cup, I thought, “Get thee some Prednisone!” I had the same experience - throat swollen to about a two centimeter opening, and massive pain, going all the way up into my ears. The Prednisone was a life saver! (Basically it forces your immune system to lay off the swelling a bit.)

One fun thing about mono is that one person may have it and have almost no symptoms, and pass it to someone who then gets it so bad they have to be hospitalized. So it can be hard to determine the vector.

I was laid up for about four weeks, had to stay with my parents so they could take care of me. I slept at least 15 hours a day, read Patricia Cornwell novels, watched MST3K, and crocheted. I didn’t notice any impact on my tendency to depression, as merely staying conscious long enough to eat and bathe took most of my concentration.

What sucked unexpectedly was the rest of the year, when I didn’t have the strength or endurance I used to have, and was very susceptible to colds and such. I also had to quit Tae Kwon Do for fear of rupturing my spleen (can’t recall the time I had to wait - it was several months after getting better).

But finally I was back to my old self, and I now have a guilt-free excuse for not donating blood, since I had “hepatitis” (mono-induced liver swelling, not Hep A, B, or C), and regardless of cause the Red Cross doesn’t want my blood as a result.

20

[QUOTE=bubble pop electric]
Can anyone who has had this tell me what they did when they had it? I understand I’m going to be out of school/work for at least a week or two, and I’m concerned I might actually lose my mind. I am one of those people who likes to be doing something all the time, so this really sucks.
[/QUOTE]

If you’re like me, don’t worry about it - you won’t have the energy to do much of anything. I don’t remember being as sore as you are describing, but it was pretty bad. I drank a lot of tea, watched TV and waited for it to go away. I did go to work, though. By the time I found out what I had, I wasn’t contagious anymore.

Add me to the list of people who don’t know how they got it. I didn’t get it from my girlfriend and didn’t give it to her either, but somehow one of my coworkers caught it.