r/Mononucleosis

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 ❤️

Hi everyone,

I was diagnosed with EBV about a year ago. My initial symptoms weren’t too severe, but ever since then I’ve been dealing with persistent tingling sensations.

It mainly feels like needle-like tingling in my hands and feet. Sometimes it also spreads as a sort of buzzing or vibrating sensation throughout my body. On bad days I even notice tingling in my lips and teeth.

I’ve read that neurological symptoms like this can happen after EBV, and I’m really curious if anyone here has experienced something similar.

If you had this kind of tingling, what helped you the most to reduce it or make it go away? Did anything in particular improve it over time?

Any experiences or advice would be really appreciated.

Hi everyone, english is not my first language so please excuse my bad grammar.

I began to feel fatigued and sick in December-January, but I didn't think much of it and continued to lift weights and drink alcohol on the weekends. Suddenly I got very sick, I couldn't walk to the toilet without exhaustion, and I got a mild fever. However I never got those standard symptoms, like a sore throat and so on, i just felt suuuper fatigued. I got diognosed with mononucleosis in late of January, and I have been feeling tired since. I have had weeks where I felt fine, and even went on longer hikes, and drank alcohol. But Its gotten worse now. Its been 4 months with fatigue and brainfog (almost feeling like im in a dream state), and I am starting to loose hope. The doctors keep telling me that this won't last forever and I just have to wait it out, but I kinda doubt it after reading some of your guys posts. I have also read that this can Lead to CFS which is my worst nightmare. Is there anything that I can do, or not do to make this better? Do I have to learn to live with this?

Kind regards of a concerned 21 year old.

Hey guys, i’m a 22 yr old female and I’ve had mono for 11 days now, and my throat pain is genuinely getting worse every day. I don’t have my tonsils (tonsillectomy at 19), and i took steroids from days 3-8 of mono. I thought the worst of the illness was gonna be over after the fever went away, but the sore throat has been getting worse and worse, and now i can’t swallow without insane pain, sleep, or eat. Advil helps a bit, but I’m wondering if this pain will stop any time soon?? When i look it up it says sore throat gets better after 1-2 weeks… but mine is just getting worse. Pleaseeee help!! Sore throat remedies and life hacks are also appreciated <3

I’m 26 year old male and December 24 I started having gi issues out of nowhere and was diagnosed with gastritis, was super on and off and then February 11th I felt super ran down and had a mid day dizzy spinning episode that lasted 1 minute but ever since then I’ve been pulling to the left and waves of dizzy walking and standing but am fine laying down. Feb 16th had a bad sore throat for a few days and then fought through it until April 24th I had went to hospital and liver levels were elevated and I got back a positive mono spot screening. My EBV panel numbers are as follows

<9.00 Negative
9.00 - 10.99 Equivocal
&gt;10.99 Positive
Epstein-Barr Virus Viral Capsid Ag (VCA) Ab (IgM)
EBV VCA Ab (IgM) < 36.00 U/mL <36.00
U/mL Interpretation
<36.00 Negative
36.00 - 43.99 Equivocal
&gt;43.99 Positive

Epstein-Barr Virus Nuclear Ag (EBNA) Ab (IgG)
EBV EBNA Ab (|gG) 460.00 H U/mL <18.00
U/mL Interpretation
<18.00 Negative
18.00 - 21.99 Equivocal
&gt;21.99 Positive
Epstein-Barr Virus Viral Capsid Ag (VCA) Ab (IgG)
EBV VCA Ab (|gG) 653.00 H U/mL <18.00
U/mL Interpretation
<18.00 Negative
18.00 - 21.99 Equivocal
&gt;21.99 Positive
I had a VNG done and it showed a 44.50% right ear unilateral weakness and everything else tested negative on the VNG
I really want to know if this is still what’s causing my constant dizziness and GI flare issues being over 4 months of dealing with all of this. And when this will ever settle down! I haven’t been able to work or anything for weeks and am getting supper down and worried about this being forever. Any help would be amazing and hopefully a timeline if others have experienced similar. I just want to know if it’s the mono EBV that has caused this all

Hey everyone, last week a previous mono infection of mine reactivated which was confirmed via antibody testing. I was under stress from almost every single corner of my life for the last 4-6 weeks and decided to do some sudden extreme physical activity two days before the symptoms showed up. I think that caused the perfect storm for the infection to reactivate.

However, my gf wants to see me and I would love to see her but I want to be safe about this. Since she already has antibodies and likely doesnt have a compromised immune system due to stress could i see her once the sore throat and fever subside? Im currently on day 8 of symptoms so im hoping between 1/3 and 1/2 way through. The fevers are already decreasing in intensity but the sore throat is pretty much the same which thankfully has been on the mild to medium side.

Hi! I have seen an overlap in things that just come from mono and depression. For example, not wanting to get out of bed, feeling helpless, and the mental toll that comes from being exhausted. I was wondering if anyone would be willing to share their experience with this.

I feel as though the mental toll has also affected my friendships and relationship. Some people tend to be more understanding than others. I’ve had people in my life frustrated that I don’t want to see them though. It’s hard to explain that I just don’t have the energy. I would love to hear if this is something that also affected anyone else’s relationships and how you handled that.

Thanks in advance!

Hi Everyone, sorry to find you on this page. Battling post viral syndrome for about 6 months now (EBV infection in December) and pretty much on full-time rest trying to get over this. It is TOUGH! What are some restful things that helped you? Trying to stay positive through this and looking for things to look forward to every day. Thanks for your input!

Hi everyone,

I had a flare up a month and a half ago of reactivated glandular fever, had cold chills, swollen lymph nodes, cold sweats, fatigue, dizziness etc. went and got tested by doctor and she said my blood counts show active EBV despite having it for the first time 4 years ago.

Time passed for a week or so and it eventually calmed down. Unfortunately it caused heart palpitations and tachycardia episodes, and insomnia which led to a lot of stress on my body after I “calmed down”.

So 10 days ago, I woke up with an insane sore throat / swollen tonsils with white pus all over them, just like my first experience of glandular fever. Fatigue, barely swallowing, swollen lymph nodes etc.

Doctor did a whole number of swabs and tests and no strep or tonsillitis shown, but my EBV levels were still active and current. A few days ago my tonsils got so bad that I had to go to hospital and get steroids and codeine, as I could barely breathe or swallow.

It’s now 2 days post steroids and the steroids are starting to wear off and my throat is on fire again. I’m doing all the things, sleeping a lot, taking tons of fluids and soups, lots of probiotics and immune products, on and off time off work (most days work from home but some days I take leave) etc. but it’s just not going away.

I feel like when I had mono 4 years ago it went away faster and there was some improvement every day, now there’s just not any improvement day to day. I really don’t know what to do…. I have major work duties come a week away and I’m trying to get better for them but I just have no idea what else I can do to fight this off.

I used to be on high strength antibiotics for 5 years due to recurrent UTIs and so now I’m worried I’m so immunocompromised that my body can’t fight off infections. Does anyone have any advice?

I'm pretty sure i had been battling mono for like a month without realizing it and it wasn't only until 3 weeks ago I was told I had mono. I haven't been to work since and I've been doing better since then. But holy shit, I have tbis horrible, horrible neck pain that extends down to my arm and my shoulder. Its absolutely foul, I cant move my neck its stiff from pain and only ibuprofen helps with the pain. Its been like this for 3 days now. Is this completely normal when healing from mono? I looked online and it said it could be meningitis and that really worries me, I've been having all these odd symptoms and it really doesnt help my anxiety disorder in any way.

Hey everyone, I really need some reassurance from people who have been through this. I am a few weeks into a confirmed EBV/mono diagnosis, and I am experiencing a terrifying wave of new symptoms.
My main question is: Are severe, widespread body aches and an intense, rash-less, highly reactive itch normal for this stage? Here is my exact sequence of events:
• The Start: It began with a fever and a swollen lymph node. My doctor misdiagnosed it at first and gave me Zinnat (cefuroxime, an antibiotic).
• The Itch: Within days, more nodes popped up and I developed an intense, body-wide itch that started on my scalp. There is absolutely no rash, but my skin is completely hyper-reactive—the second I touch or scratch it, it flushes bright red. I would intensely itch and it started to fade but it pops back up from
Time to time
• The Steroids & Throat: I stopped the antibiotics on the 4th day, took two 100mg cortisone/prednisolone shots over the next two days, and then hit a brutal throat phase with severe white pus tonsillitis, neck pain, and sleep issues.
• The New Phase (Last 4 Days): My throat symptoms have finally completely resolved, but now I’ve been hit with overwhelming, brand-new symptoms. I have severe, radiating muscle and nerve pain all over my body—specifically in my neck, arms, sides, legs, and shooting through my shoulder blades. On top of that, every time I try to drift off to sleep, I get this terrifying sensation like I am fainting, and my body violently jolts me awake in seconds.
My blood work shows very high systemic inflammation (CRP is 17.4 and ESR is 29) and elevated liver enzymes (ALT 160.6, AST 59, Alk Phos 200.5), but my hemoglobin and basic counts are normal. Also my TSH was high chancing from 8 to 5 in the same week
Has anyone else had this exact sequence where a massive wave of moving nerve/muscle pain and reactive, rash-less skin itching hit after the core throat symptoms resolved? Is this widespread aching normal, and how long did it take to finally fade?

Hi, I'm 21.

I've been dealing with what seems to be mono symptoms for a month and a half and it doesn't go away (tonsils are swollen and painful, fatigue that keeps me from living my daily life with ease, muscle pain, mouth ulcers idk if it is linked but never had this before the other symptoms). Since last week my lymphatic systems seems to be going slow (swollen ankles, random cyst in elbow crease.

The symptoms started while I was dating someone so I first thought I had an sti. All tests came back negative (after waiting 6+ weeks).

In the meantime I got the ebv serology (detecting anti bodies) done and it came back saying equivoquial. 1st time was April 17th, 2nd time was May 7th. (IgM say 0.71 and 0.75)

Can the ebv anti bodies test be triggered by another herpes virus like cmv ? I wonder this virus infected me rather than ebv since my results are so confusing.

Has anybody gone through this before ? I'm starting to worry :/

I wanted to share my story of recovering from mono. I read this subreddit when I was sick and I wished I had seen more of the good stories. My case was more severe than most -- I had mono and infection-induced hemolytic anemia (basically where you lose a bunch of the oxygen-carrying capacity in your blood, red blood cells), and nearly 6 months later, I'm almost fully back to my normal life.

I started to feel like I got the flu on Dec 5, 2025, and after a trip to the ER a week later, I tested positive for mono, and was extremely unwell. I was fatigued but I was also so, so weak. I had dark urine, jaundice, and limbs like lead. My hemoglobin had dropped from 135 to 100, and I could barely stand, laugh or shower without getting out of breath and needing to lay down. I was completely bedridden, and was lucky enough to move back home so my mom could take care of me.

2 weeks into mono, the sore throat started kicking in. It went from lightly sore in the mornings, to in 3 days, being so painful that I couldn't eat or drink anything. After not eating anything for 24 hours, I went to the ER and they gave me steroids (dexamethasone). That was the beginning of the end of the active infection, thankfully!

By Christmas, I was able to sit for dinner for an hour, and slowly over the next 5 weeks I regained enough strength to go back to work. Until Christmas, I was often too unwell to even watch TV. I would sleep or sit in bed thinking. The recovery after that was not linear, and was mentally so difficult. I had post exertional malaise, where I might sit at a desk for 1-2 hrs, or go on a walk to the end of the driveway and back, and completely crash the next day.

I ended up taking two months off work. I lost muscle. I gained weight. I got a lot of cavities. But as the days passed I would look back at where I had started, unable to get out of bed, to where I could now watch TV without needing to sleep, or I could sit upright and do some computer work for an hour. or I could walk down the block and back when at the outset, I couldn't even walk. I started to triumph at the tiny wins, and they showed me that the overall trend was up, and that was so so comforting.

It's now May 2026, almost 6 months later, and I am almost entirely back to my normal life. Don't get me wrong, I'm still dealing with mild recurring fatigue. I need more rest between my strength training sessions, it takes me longer to recover, and I feel more inflamed after each session. Before mono, I was the busiest person you've ever met, lifting 3-4 times a week, socializing and doing something almost every day of the week. But now I'm up to 2 really good heavy strength sessions per week, and I bike 20 mins to work 3-4x a week. I socialize 1 or 2 times per week. I am really mindful of my bedtime and getting enough sleep, and overall I consider myself pretty much recovered.

What I think was the best for my recovery was 100% completely taking time off all work, and finding small joys in the complete bed rest days through horrible illness knowing that the rest would be ultimately healing. I know a lot of people don't have the chance to take off work though. I guess I would say that as awful and horrendous as it was (truly the worst), mono was an amazing opportunity to practice kindness and patience towards myself in a terrible time, and focusing on taking care of my mental health in the moment was really key to getting me through. I recognize though I was super lucky to have a parent to take care of me, and a job that allowed me to continue to be paid while taking medical leave.

Sending strength to everyone out there in the trenches with mono! I'm rooting for you.

Day 7 of having mono, only got diagnosed that it was mono today. Day 2 was the start of the peak of my sore throat. I have other symptoms like headaches, chills, slight nausea, etc. (no fatigue weirdly?) but NOTHING compares to this sore throat, it is the worst I’ve had by fair. It hurts when I swallow, hurts when I’m doing nothing, eating anything causes a burning sensation that has left me nibbling my way through starvation (doctors gave me lidocaine and we’ll see how this works).

Just this one symptom has messed up my ability to talk, to eat, to drink, to sleep (can only get a few hours at a time through the pain), and everything else. From what I can tell the most chronic symptom for most people is the fatigue and fevers. I genuinely don’t know what I will do if this sore throat goes on more than another week, I’m in such agony I can’t focus on anything and it’s depressing me. I just lay in bed only able to pay attention to my phone through the pain while hunger eats away at me and I get my sleep in 30 minute-hour increments. I can deal with not kissing for months, being cold, or having headaches but this swollen throat is the worst thing of them all.

Was that part a chronic symptom for any of you or did it go away relatively early?

Guys, I’m posting here because I feel like I’ve reached a dead end with a health problem that still feels unresolved and has completely changed my life over the last few years. I would genuinely appreciate if anyone with similar experiences reads this and replies.

Male, former competitive cyclist, trying to understand a chronic condition that gradually developed after a difficult period in late 2022.

In October 2022, I had a severe allergic reaction/shock and COVID around the same time. Later on, there was suspicion of EBV/mononucleosis as well, although we are not 100% sure because I only did the EBV blood tests in June 2023, where antibodies were elevated.

Because I was still competing seriously at the time, I probably made things worse by continuing:

- intense cycling training

- races

- altitude training camps

- overtraining in general

To this day, I still feel unable to function normally physically.

I cannot tolerate exercise normally anymore, and even walking or standing can trigger symptoms:

- standing for some time causes burning in my legs

- walking can also trigger burning sensations

- physical effort feels abnormal compared to before

One of the worst symptoms I had until around 1.5 years ago (which has improved somewhat but I still feel is still there in the background) was extreme general fatigue. I used to wake up in the morning feeling like I had not slept at all during the night. The exhaustion was overwhelming.

Main symptoms:

1. General fatigue / unrefreshing sleep
2. Burning sensation in legs (especially quadriceps)
3. Burning sensation in arms/hands
4. Muscles burn very quickly with effort (for example wall sit burns almost immediately)
5. Recurrent “sore/bruised” feeling in the same spots in both legs and upper hamstrings
6. Muscle tightness/pain without obvious exercise

Eye symptoms:

- Severe dry eye symptoms with pain and very red eyes

- Eye pain improved slightly with treatment, but redness still fluctuates a lot

Important:

- I am not progressively losing strength

- EMG was mostly normal previously

- Autoimmune blood tests (ANA, SSA, SSB etc.) were reportedly negative

- Doctors are currently investigating possible small fiber neuropathy / dysautonomia

Mentally, the fluctuations and uncertainty have been extremely difficult, and I would really appreciate hearing from people with similar experiences.

hey y'all. this shit is some of the worst pain i've felt.
weed is the only thing that seems to help.

right now, i can't sleep bc i can't breathe without pain. not to mention swallowing, talking, yawning, etc. drinking water, too- excruciating.

how tf is a person supposed to recover when resting and hydration feel impossible? ugh.

my question is- i am, beyond a shadow of a doubt, addicted to weed. started as chronic pain symptom management, now idk how to live without it. edibles give me heart palpitations (and zero high), so they're not an option.

my question is, does anyone know how bad it is to be smoking on this irritated ass shit? it's the only way i can sleep or have any appetite and, quite frankly, i will enter withdrawal without it.

but this throat pain is unbearable. if i'm making it substantially worse.... i gotta figure out my shit. i can't be extending my pain :(

any advice or thoughts? i'd appreciate it greatly

i started showing symptoms of mono on april 1 and diagnosed with it on april 11. I’ve recovered about 85% minus the still slightly swollen tonsils. anyways i started class on may 5 and that means i have to take notes and on may 9 as i was taking notes in a hunched over while sitting on the couch way i got a headache. So i went to bed thinking it was from staring at the screen for too long. When i woke up it was still there but it felt more like it was pressure at the top of my head. One thing to mention is that i havent taken notes in a while considering i graduated a while ago and i used to take it on an ipad but switched to notebook now. my neck and shoulders have also been in pain. on may 15 i went to the eye doctor because there would be pain in my left eye/behind it sometimes but the dr ended up saying my eyes look healthy (but i did get prescription glasses for reading and writing with a blue light coating) either way the pressure on top of my head has been like this all week and its now may 16. now im questioning is this a side effect from mono? is this a tension/stress headache? should this go away once i get my glasses? should i get a massage/see a chiropractor? anything helps (i also have a call scheduled with my doctor on monday)

Hi all,

About 3 weeks ago, I was hit by full body fatigue, chills, random fevers, tension headaches, huge tonsils, etc.

For whatever reason, it would fluctuate pretty heavily. For a few hours I'd be bed ridden and then a few hours later, walking around as if everything was back to normal. To say the least, I was pretty confused and anxious. Bra

Went to the doctor's office five separate times. Second time, I tested positive for strep. Thought that was it but still felt terrible despite finishing my antibiotics. They finally tested for mono on the 5th visit after I explicitly asked them to and to my surprise the rapid test came back negative. I additionally got a blood test for both mono and CMV and finally I had my diagnosis, both positive (probably from co-reactivity), acutely so.

Of course, the next day, I felt almost completely back to normal. I'm now at what feels like ~90%, 3 weeks from my first symptoms.

Biggest lessons learned or re-learned from this experience:

1. Have to be your biggest advocate for care
2. Health anxiety is its own nightmare and while there are many tough cases of mono, both acutely and chronic/long mono, many people recover like they would from any other illness
3. It's going to be alright, even if it doesn't seem like it in the moment
4. Advil, hydration, and rest are the only three things that made any difference.

Cheers to this community