r/Mononucleosis

This is my first time with mono I caught it 3 months ago but yet I still have it, it seems for months now, I’ve been getting sick over and over again, sore throat, severe diarrhea, body aches, chills, tachycardia, complete loss of motivation, fatigue that comes and goes, now I’m starting to become irritable because I’m just getting sick over and over again. I can no longer go to the gym because I’m constantly sick it’s like I keep catching it over and over again. There’s some points where I feel a little better but not fully recovered. Someone gave me HSV1 and mono in the same month. and I’ve been so sick ever since, and it’s starting to drive me crazy. I don’t know if I have some post illness syndrome or what I need to do. I can’t afford hundreds and hundreds of dollars for a naturopathic doctor, so I don’t know what to do because obviously something’s wrong because my immune system just will not stop. I am getting sick over and over and over again.

I was finally diagnosed with glandular fever in august i havent had any issues with tiredness this whole time but halfway through today i got really tired im worried this is cfs is this common if you have done alot

Hello. 30F here with mono for the first time in my entire life. I was down BAD last week. 103 fevers, chills, aches, debilitating headache the list goes on. They really thought I had meningitis. Turns out, mono? What is this? How long does this last? I have no fever but holy smokes, the fatigue, I’m on vyvanse and I can’t even feel my vyvanse working because I am SO DOG GONE TIRED. Does this last forever? Am I forever going to get this? Like often? Is it contagious? No one seemed to be sick even almost 2 weeks after. I have so many questions, someone educate me better on this. I feel like dog poop.

UPDATE: said it was chronic stress induced. Supposedly I have been effected before but was never diagnosed with it as my EBV shows and that because no sickness led up to it or anything, they think my chronic stress issues are the absolute reason it caused the dormancy to activate.
I am still SO lost. 😭 Bc genuinely, W.T.F.

hyper specific question that i cannot find a common consensus for. can you get mono from swallowing semen? no kissing, purely the semen of someone who has mono being swallowed

25 f, I’ve been in the same relationship for 3 years up until July, and since then I’ve only been with one person and since contracted mono. (just found out today) it’s looking like I caught it from this person obviously. what exactly does this mean? does it mean they’re sleeping around or have in the past at least? they said they haven’t been with anyone since me and I believe them as they’re actively trying to pursue a serious relationship. as a notorious relationship person who’s never had a “hoe” phase, this is uncharted territory for me in terms of what contacting mono really means in this situation

I’m 33F on week 4 of having mono and honestly it feels like I’ve gone through every cold out there all rolled into one never ending sickness. Currently I’m having sinus issues and I’m hoping I didn’t get some bacterial sinusitis on top of mono. I’ve been going to work at my office job as normal because I can’t just not work. Completely unfair and impossible to expect someone to rest 24/7 for months as an adult with mono. Did anyone continue working full time as normal during the height of their illness and they got better in a normal timeframe?

So about August 3rd this year my first symptoms of mono showed, swollen lymph node on my neck, as well as puffy under eyes. About 1 week and a half later (Aug 14) my right tonsil was inflamed and started to feel weird when i swallowed, so I when to the doctor and i test negative for strep, they poke my finger for blood and I test positive for mono. About 5-6 days after that I had to go to the hospital because I couldnt swallow, I was constantly spitting in a bag, I lost 15lbs from not eating anything due to my throat feeling like it was closing, I was on Iv, steroids, antibiotics, I was there from the 20th to the 23rd, When I got discharged I felt constantly tired and out of it, they had me on a steroid and anti inflammatory medication for 1 Week, then about September 3rd I had a follow up with my doctor and I told her everything I didnt hide my severity of it. She told me to avoid sharing drinks and kissing and all of that, and out of curiosity I asked if it will affect any future romantic relationships and when the mono will not be in my saliva anymore, I asked if it will still be in my saliva anymore by halloween just as an example date and she said most likely not since my symptoms were in early august and thats a 3 month recovery. I’ve recovered very well from mono, i even got an ultrasound on my organs to make sure my spleen wasnt inflamed, ive been back to physical activity with weights.

And now , im talking to a girl we plan to meet and go do something, i told her i was in the hospital for mono in august and pretty much gave her the run down, shes still down to hangout and for the plans, but my next question is Will she get sick if we kiss? I hate selfish people when it comes to stuff like this so im trying to be cautious still, but other people on here have said the mono being in ur saliva drops significantly after ur most contagious state.

Hope this makes sense, hope I can get some replys cus im genuinely curious!!

My son (13M) started feeling unwell -- mostly tired, headachey (some congestion, sore throat) -- in early August. In early Septebmer, we did bloodwork and the doctor said he had mono, but that he had more late-stage markers, so thought him to be at the tail end. It's now October, and he is still dealing with headaches every day, and his energy goes up and down -- never SUPER-high, but sometimes so low that he's falling asleep in school.

Are we just in the midst of something that may be many more weeks or months of feeling exhausted and headachey? Or is this unusual if the dr saw that he was "late stage" back in early September?

Thank you for any thoughts!

Got diagnosed with mono early may this year. My main symptoms that lingered were fatigue and dizziness. I finally started to feel symptom free at the beginning of August after a long period of rest.

I have caught a bad cold/ virus over the last couple of weeks and had an ear infection. Is it possible that the mono could be reactivated because I have noticed some symptoms coming back like fatigue and dizziness?

Now my anxiety is through the roof again!! Anyone else get super anxious too?

Just will be nice to know I'm not alone!

Hi everyone,

So I tested positive for mono almost 2 months ago now. My main symptoms have been insane fatigue and brain fog as well as trouble concentrating.

The thing is I am also prone to low ferritin and losing a lot of hair but my recent results show that my ferritin is 65. That is good however I do wonder if this number if inflated due to the inflammation mono causes.

Just wanted to see if anyone else has experienced the fatigue with mono and if they can provide some insight or things they did that helped. Thanks!

Hi zusammen,
ich wollte allen, die gerade mit EBV bzw. Mononukleose zu kämpfen haben, nochmal etwas Mut machen. Eine vollständige Erholung ist möglich, und auch wenn es natürlich schwer ist: Versucht, euch nicht zu sehr von Angst und Stress vereinnahmen zu lassen. Bei mir hatte ich das Gefühl, dass genau das vieles zusätzlich verschlechtert hat.
Meinen bisherigen Heilungsverlauf könnt ihr hier nochmal nachlesen:

https://www.reddit.com/r/Mononucleosis/s/O2LsxJOYyX

Ein wichtiger Wendepunkt für mich war, dass ich mich an einen Heilpraktiker gewandt habe, der viel Erfahrung mit EBV hatte. Er hat sich viel Zeit genommen, mir wirklich zugehört und auch Blutwerte kontrolliert, sodass die Behandlung gezielter auf meine Situation abgestimmt werden konnte.
Was mir persönlich geholfen hat, war der Gedanke, den Körper insgesamt wieder möglichst gut zu unterstützen, damit das Immunsystem die nötigen Ressourcen für die Erholung hat. Schlaf, Stress, Nervensystem, Ernährung und Immunsystem hängen meiner Erfahrung nach sehr stark zusammen.
Ich glaube außerdem, dass meine glutenfreie Ernährungsumstellung und die Nahrungsergänzungsmittel, die ich nehme, zu meiner relativ schnellen Erholung beigetragen haben. Das ist natürlich nur meine persönliche Erfahrung und muss nicht bei jedem genauso sein.
Wenn ihr Fragen habt, meldet euch gerne. Ich weiß selbst, wie belastend diese Zeit sein kann, und möchte meine Erfahrungen teilen, wenn sie vielleicht jemandem weiterhelfen können.
Ich wünsche euch allen eine gute undn vollständige Genesung!

Hello all. I’d like to share a bit of my complex story. Last September, I got COVID. I recovered very quickly and was fine besides some post viral fatigue. In the beginning of November, I got an unknown upper respiratory infection. It WIPED me out for a little over a week. Afterwards, I experienced horrible post viral fatigue for about 4 weeks. At that point, I felt I was finally returning to a baseline. Then shortly later in the middle of December, I got very sick again. This sickness got worse and worse for 3 weeks until I finally tested positive for Epstein-Barr Virus (mono). In the middle of January, I was still quite sick from mono. My tonsils were very enlarged and almost blocking my airways. Ironically a month prior I had scheduled a tonsillectomy due to complications with sleep apnea. So I got my tonsils out at the end of January while I was still recovering from mono. A tonsillectomy in your mid 20s is a nightmare of a recovery. I finally returned to work in February and lasted about 5 days. Any physical or cognitive exertion made me feel like I was dying. I couldn’t stand up for too long because of lightheadedness and dizziness. I couldn’t think straight. I went back on medical leave until I tried to return to work again at the end of March. Once again, I could not function properly and was unable to work. Amongst 20 various symptoms, I was primarily unbearably fatigued, “brain fogged”, lightheaded, dizzy, and having sleep disturbances. For months I continued to struggle. I would have good stretches of days which led to me pushing myself and “crashing”. I thought I was feeling much better at the end of April, but then I caught a cold and it caused May to be the worst month so far. The struggle continued over the following months. I was unhealthily pushing myself at points. Many people would see me and not realize I wasn’t doing well. I would appear fine but in reality it was difficult to stand up and my brain was hardly functioning. Eventually I obviously lost my job. Now it is October 1st. I just lost my girlfriend. Unfortunately she still loves me and cares for me, but the uncertainty of the future and my health condition has been eating away at her mental health. She’s leaving the door open for us to maybe reconnect, but I think that’s a bit unrealistic. I have improved a lot the past couple of months, but I am still struggling. I am severely depressed over this situation. When I got mono, I was finally at a period of my life right out of college where I was starting to be successful and happy. My life is now indefinitely paused. I am in therapy and have started an antidepressant.

Has anyone else experienced a short term mono? I was convinced I would be sick and tired for months, or years even, but it really only lasted for 3-4 weeks maybe? I got all the symptoms when I first got sick and diagnosed, but after I had a tonsillectomy in the middle of it all, it kind of just disappeared. My body focused only on healing from the tonsillectomy at that point, and when I finally healed from that, it just took me a couple of days before I was back to work and uni and my life. I got diagnosed August 13th and I was pretty much all good by September 10th, except for headaches everyday for 2 weeks and some fatigue. I’m just scared it will come bite me in the ass again some time. I’m going to the doctors tomorrow for a checkup for it, but just wondering if anyone else had it for a short period like me. I’ve read pretty much everywhere that it can last for months and years for some.

So I 19f went to urgent care on Tuesday (it’s Sunday morning as I write this)
Because for a week prior to my urgent care visit my throat had been feeling weird, and then on Sunday or Monday I started to develop a lump on the right side of my neck, and a weird feeling in my throat.

Well when I went to urgent care, (this was the FASTEST urgent care visit I think I’ve ever had which is weird) I was told I have an abscess on my tonsils, on the right side of my throat, and a swollen lymph node, and they sent me home with augmentin that I had to take every 12 hours.

That night the pain I had when swallowing spread to my ear.

After that nothing super crazy had developed and I thought it was working. I was wrong.
Saturday evening I had woken up and it was harder to talk and swallowing my saliva sucked.

I would also like to briefly mention, since a few days before my urgent care visit I had been feeling very “weak” and extremely tired and I couldn’t figure out why.

Well on Saturday after I had woken up I decided I was gonna go back to urgent care, but they were closed so I went the the ER as it was the only place open and I thought I’d rather be safe then sorry and not potentially suffocate in my sleep or something.

They did blood work, gave me an IV with steroids, a pain reliever, and something else and once the blood work came back the Dr came in and very quickly let me know I had mono.

I genuinely thought he was joking. I had to clarify that he was serious and he was.

I have no idea how I could have gotten it because nobody around me had had it or had been having any symptoms of it so I’m lost there.

But after coming home I tried to do as much re search as I can and found out the being prescribed amoxicillin while having mono can cause rashes and such.
They also diagnosed me with tonsillitis, now I have yet to do a lot of research on that so that could be similar to having an abscess on the tonsil however, I feel like the urgent care kinda failed me.

And I’m wondering what would have happened if I hadn’t gone to the ER and figured out I had mono.

Don’t get me wrong I’m sure I wouldn’t have died or anything severe but it was a little concerning how fast that appointment at the urgent care went.

Now what I want to ask is, how long does it really last?
How long will the fatigue last?
I’m so so worried it will stick around for a WHILE and the dr didn’t really tell me how long they just said a few months give or take. I haven’t known anyone that’s had mono either so for those of you that have had it do you have any tips or tricks?

hi i am very sick at the moment and am going to get a blood test tomorrow, one of the things im being tested for is mono. i am terrified!!!
my symptoms are only a fever, very sore body and one incredibly swollen neck lymph node the size of a golf ball. my throat itself is actually completely fine as of now, and im tired but not any more so than when i have other viruses.
i am just worrying a lot. does this sound like mono?

Okay I don’t want to sound dramatic but I’m being completely transparent- I have felt terrible ever since have mono at 15 (I’m 22 now). I got mono and it caused enlarged spleen and liver for awhile, then I got random infections, rashes, I now have a eye disorder that will never go away and have to get surgeries, I’m constantly so so so fatigued. Like nothing helps. Also to add- I am healthy. I always have worked out or atleast stayed semi active. I get random aches in my bones and collarbone area. My glands are enlarged right now. Just never feel good and it sucks. Does anyone else have any similar experience or advice?

I had mononucleosis recently (I was released from the hospital a bit over 3 weeks ago). I'm still in the convalescence, but it seems to be going well.

The reason I'm making this post is about hair loss. I am 21M. Before this, I didn't have any major problem with balding/hair loss. Looking at my pictures from just a few months ago, my hairline was really good. I read that people often experience hair loss during this disease, which was the case for me as well. I have somewhat long hair, so it was easy to notice that every morning, the pillow in my hospital bed was covered with significantly more amount of my hair than usual.

My father and my older brother both had good hair at my age and even beyond it, so I expected I still had at least a few years left. But now I'm considering the possibility that the disease has effectively sped up the balding process and that that hair is inadvertently lost. For more description, it's not that I have completely bald spots or anything, but I can see that my hair (especially in the front near the forehead) has become way way way thinner, and to a lesser on top of my head as well.

My question here is: Have those of you who have experienced a similar issue grown back their hair (at least to some considerable degree)? And if so, how long did it take to see the results? I'm just trying to be realistic here about my options. Thank you for any answers in advance.

I just wanted to quickly share that my tonsillectomy saved me from so much suffering. After I got mono I had recurring infections for over 1.5 years. I was never heathy and felt ill almost every single day. My tonsils were constantly infected.

Now it’s been a year since my surgery and I feel better than ever. I still have some of the fatigue with ebv flare ups but zero throat pain and I feel so much healthier overall. I also haven’t gotten a cold in over 7 months when I used to be sick every week. Surgery was so Worth it!!