29F 2 Months Post Mono Diagnosis - Symptoms, Story and How did you get mono?
To start off: mono is the dumbest, most ludicrous, most ridiculous virus. EBV can really, really go f#@k itself. With that off my chest here is my experience: Went to urgent care March 21 2026 for what I thought was another case of strep (would be my fourth in 12 months) but nay! Twas' the illustrious mononucleosis herself! Main symptoms were heavy fatigue, sore throat, fever, body aches etc, etc.
First two weeks were pure exhaustion, couldn't unload the dishwasher without needing to lie down afterwards. Overall the "sick" symptoms went away after the first 5 days, but the fatigue. Oh, the fatigue. Did a big no, no and tried to jump back into my normal routine and went grocery shopping a lifted a heavy bag of groceries into the trunk of my car, and my spleen did not love that. Immediate, weird "organ-y" pain the second I sat down. After four days of no improvement of pain on my left side under my ribs, I went to the ER. They checked my liver enzymes and did some imaging and was sent home to rest and take tylenol/advil. Hot tip: do not use a heating pad on your left side for spleen pain. It increases the blood flow and makes it hard for your body to repair injuries or tears to the spleen tissue. Fun, fun stuff.
From weeks 3-5 I saw the biggest improvement in energy going from about 10% of my energy when I was first sick to then regaining about 40-60% of my energy back. But if I over exerted myself, i.e spent a little too much time out and about and didn't respect my body's need for rest I paid for it by being very tired for the next couple of days. At this point I was sleeping 8-10 hours at night with a daily nap of 1-2 hours.
However, what really fatigues me is getting my period. Mono period fatigue is truly next level. I am someone who would get tired anyways near and on my period, but with the mono it felt like I was back at week 1 or 2 and constantly needing to rest. I have had two periods so far with mono and they have knocked me down each time and it feels like I am back sliding in terms of recovery progress.
Now at weeks 6-8 I feel like I have regained about 60-70% of my energy, but it's not as big an improvement as I saw from weeks 3-5 which is a bit discouraging but I think it's a mix of period fatigue and also just a slower process to get back to 100%. I also still have a bit of pain under my left arm pit that I am pretty sure is some lymph node pain.
Things I did/ I am doing to recover: Massage has been a big one, because I spent so long in bed my back pain went through the roof. Getting a really good massage, was a really nice treat. I have been avoiding alcohol and cannabis. Cannabis is legal where I live and I have noticed that if I take an edible to liven up watching yet another movie on the couch I'll pay for it in fatigue and same with alcohol, I just have found it to be too debilitating a hangover to justify it. Baths with epsom salts and eating outdoors as the weather has gotten nicer and little things like that really make a difference. I have more energy in the mornings, so try to book appointments or do errands early when I have the most energy reserves. Also just tapping out when I get to tired if I am out with friends, trying to rally just leads to more fatigue in the future so when my body says done, I try to be done.
Right now I am basically at the two months since diagnosis mark and I am still sleeping 8-10 hours at night and about a 2 hour rest during the day. Also noticed that if I don't get a full nights sleep, I will crash the next day and need a 3-4 hour nap.
How I got mono: What matches the 4-5 week timeline from exposure to when I started experiencing symptoms was when I was babysitting my 1 year nephew who goes to a daycare. He has come home with all sorts of yucky viruses since being in daycare and he is also teething, so when I was babysitting him I was touching his slobbery teething toys and pacifiers. Also being a one year old he likes to chew on his hand and then would touch my face. I have really racked my brain about how else I would be exposed and to be honest, I didn't share drinks or food or a vape or even kiss anyone any where around the time I would have contracted EBV - my only saliva-y contact was my nephew. I would be curious what other people on this sub-reddit think of that theory of how I got mono? It's just my best guess and since mono is so much more mild in infants and children my nephew never was truly sick other than the standard daycare running nose. My sister also never got him tested and never got tested herself as she didn't have any symptoms of mono either. Anyway, would be interested if anyone has any experience like my own.
Happy to have found this sub reddit, makes it feel much less lonely ❤️