Anyone ever have mono or a kid with mono?

[South Austin 52509]

My daughter tested yesterday for mono.  I've never had it and nobody I knew growing up had it.  From the horror stories I've read about how long the virus can linger and fatigue can last and how much school a kid can miss, I really wish it had been COVID instead.  It sucks for her since she's in her senior year, in the middle of the grueling college application process, taking five AP classes, and is a few weeks from beginning her last year on varsity basketball.

The doctor said, consistent with what I've read, that there's not any medication they can prescribe to hasten recovery, and from what I've read on the internet the best we can do is similar to other viruses, and that's plenty of rest and water, and supplements that help the immune system (Vitamin C and D, etc.).  And it's hard to predict how long she'll be down.  It could be 10 days, it could be three weeks, it could be longer.  Since it hit Tuesday, she's been sleeping about 8 hours a day, and then mostly through the night.  We had a Zoom call yesterday evening with her college coach, and she seemed okay and lasted through it, but I could tell she was way far from 100%, and went back to bed shortly after the call.

Any advice or relatable experience would be much appreciated.

[Bevo 13577]

9 minutes ago, South Austin said:

My daughter tested yesterday for mono.  I've never had it and nobody I knew growing up had it.  From the horror stories I've read about how long the virus can linger and fatigue can last and how much school a kid can miss, I really wish it had been COVID instead.  It sucks for her since she's in her senior year, in the middle of the grueling college application process, taking five AP classes, and is a few weeks from beginning her last year on varsity basketball.

The doctor said, consistent with what I've read, that there's not any medication they can prescribe to hasten recovery, and from what I've read on the internet the best we can do is similar to other viruses, and that's plenty of rest and water, and supplements that help the immune system (Vitamin C and D, etc.).  And it's hard to predict how long she'll be down.  It could be 10 days, it could be three weeks, it could be longer.  Since it hit Tuesday, she's been sleeping about 8 hours a day, and then mostly through the night.  We had a Zoom call yesterday evening with her college coach, and she seemed okay and lasted through it, but I could tell she was way far from 100%, and went back to bed shortly after the call.

Any advice or relatable experience would be much appreciated.

You basically know the deal. There is a lot of variability. Some people only miss a couple of weeks of work or school although they may still take a few months to fully recover.  Full recover is expected so in that sense it is much, much better to be mono than COVID. Same treatments as with other viral infections. Plenty of fluids and rest, good diet..

[bluto 4929]

Hope I’m not speaking out of turn but coulda sworn there was a poster here whose kid had a hell of a time, thinking brisket maybe. 
 

I never had it as a kid or at least no impact, but it did hit me as an adult. The EBV flares up when I’m in prolonged stress. Hangs around for a few weeks then subsides. Not totally debilitating but not fun either. 

[fattyflattie 4639]

@Brisketexan son had it iirc. 

[Brisketexan 105143]

Shit, man.  I'm sorry.   Yes, each case can vary quite a bit.  Sometimes, it's something that makes you feel shitty for a week, and maybe fatigued for another week or so.  Other times...it can be long and lingering.

My son had "long mono," and it was really bad.  Came down with it a couple of weeks into junior year (we didn't know it, the only symptom was fatigue).  He was sleeping all the time.  His grades fell off the cliff.  He was mentally in a really bad place.  Early NOVEMBER, we were visiting with our family counselor, trying to figure out what in the hell was wrong with him.  Counselor said "his skin color doesn't look right, get him tested."  Tested, turns out he'd definitely had mono.  Dr. said is was "no longer active," but it sure as hell was playing hell with his body still.

Fortunately, we had moved to a private school that fall.  We sat down with them, went over the medical situation, and he was able to take a leave of absence through the Xmas break.  Once he was free of school obligations...he was sleeping 15 hours a day.  He got back to CLOSE to normal by February; he caught up on all his schoolwork, was back in school, even started playing baseball....then COVID hit.

The point being, it CAN be a long illness, that takes it out of you.  As I understand, while it is an ACTIVE infection, there are antivirals that you can take to knock down the viral load.  Ask your Dr. about them.  I'm serious, ask now.  Anything you can do to blunt this illness, DO IT.

I also had mono, summer between freshman and sophomore year, right at the end of the summer.  I just "toughed it out," but in retrospect I remained tired.  Of course, I didn't let that stop me from drinking beer and chasing girls.  I just devoted the minimal energy I had left to that, at the expense of school.  Got the worst grades of my life that semester.

Take this one seriously.  With luck, it will be a mild case (most of them are).  But do all you can to get her help, and let her get as much rest as humanly possible.

[South Austin 52509]

Thanks, @Brisketexan.  I do now recall that your kid had a rough go of it.  I'll follow up with the antivirals.

[RexWilson 1347]

I once thought I had mono for an entire year. It turned out I was just really bored. 

[Brisketexan 105143]

22 minutes ago, South Austin said:

Thanks, @Brisketexan.  I do now recall that your kid had a rough go of it.  I'll follow up with the antivirals.

Yeah, and now that I look back into it....I really don't know if there's an approved antiviral or not.  Or, there may be a possible treatment, but it's for people with other attendant illnesses.  I really don't know, but shit....knowing what I know now, I'd be talking to a Dr about more than just "getting rest."  I might even visit with an eastern medicine specialist (talk to the people at Turtle Dragon here)....folks can pooh-pooh that stuff, but I've absolutely seen some treatments for other things work.  I'd give it a shot -- at the very least, there are some tricks for helping your immune system do its job.

[South Austin 52509]

11 minutes ago, Brisketexan said:

Yeah, and now that I look back into it....I really don't know if there's an approved antiviral or not.  Or, there may be a possible treatment, but it's for people with other attendant illnesses.  I really don't know, but shit....knowing what I know now, I'd be talking to a Dr about more than just "getting rest."  I might even visit with an eastern medicine specialist (talk to the people at Turtle Dragon here)....folks can pooh-pooh that stuff, but I've absolutely seen some treatments for other things work.  I'd give it a shot -- at the very least, there are some tricks for helping your immune system do its job.

What I'm reading is that there are no approved antivirals, and a few that are used have not found to be beneficial in "uncomplicated" cases of mono. 

[Brisketexan 105143]

2 minutes ago, South Austin said:

What I'm reading is that there are no approved antivirals, and a few that are used have not found to be beneficial in "uncomplicated" cases of mono. 

Yeah, same here.  For us, there was nothing to do because the active infection had been literally months before we found out he was sick (great parents we are).

I really would talk to the folks at Turtle Dragon...I'm not kidding.  Even if there's a 1% chance of it helping take the edge off/shorten the illness, I'd do it, knowing what I know now.

[Handcruser 2805]

Chad briscoe has some essential oils that should help. PM him.

[South Austin 52509]

For what it’s worth, her mom reported that her fever broke last night and she woke up hungry, and has been eating throughout the day.  We’ll still keep an eye on her, pump her with fluids and supplements, and keep her out of basketball for the next 3 weeks. But this is encouraging.

Unless, of course, she’s been pulling some Ferris Bueller bullshit on us.

[animaltobacco11 107]

8 hours ago, Brisketexan said:

Yeah, same here.  For us, there was nothing to do because the active infection had been literally months before we found out he was sick (great parents we are).

I really would talk to the folks at Turtle Dragon...I'm not kidding.  Even if there's a 1% chance of it helping take the edge off/shorten the illness, I'd do it, knowing what I know now.

Thinking about this and trying to relate it to my kids/parenting-- do you wrestle with any residual...guilt, I'll call it for a lack of better term? As in, yea BoyA might not be doing as great as BoyB but BoyA got dealt a bad hand at a pivotal point in life and I'm not gonna be too hard on the fella about XYZ, heck some of it might have been my fault, had I not been traveling for work or so stressed about the big case, etc. etc.

Because I can tell you that is how my Irish guilt mind would torture me.

[0xdeadbeef 1651]

9 hours ago, RexWilson said:

I once thought I had mono for an entire year. It turned out one headphone was dead.  I was just really bored. 

FIFY

[Brisketexan 105143]

Thinking about this and trying to relate it to my kids/parenting-- do you wrestle with any residual...guilt, I'll call it for a lack of better term? As in, yea BoyA might not be doing as great as BoyB but BoyA got dealt a bad hand at a pivotal point in life and I'm not gonna be too hard on the fella about XYZ, heck some of it might have been my fault, had I not been traveling for work or so stressed about the big case, etc. etc.
Because I can tell you that is how my Irish guilt mind would torture me.

Of course. Both my wife and I feel and felt terrible that we missed it. That said, it was also understandable: there wasn’t any sudden onset of any symptoms - no fever, congestion, anything like that. The only symptom was him sleeping a lot (like coming home from school and taking a nap)…which both my wife and I did at that age. He hid the total exhaustion (as it manifested at school) well. The first “symptom” we saw was inexplicably plummeting grades, followed quickly by serious despair and depression. Truly, I don’t know how we would have caught it, other than being hyper-sensitive about his increase in sleeping.
Ironically, when I had mono, my parents didn’t even believe that I was sick. I insisted “no, I don’t feel right.” Booked my dr appointment myself, which confirmation. I came home and said “I told you so! I have mono!”
It’s a weird fucking disease.
But…yeah…I so, so wish we’d caught it right away.

[Snake Diggity 4625]

I had mono my senior of HS just before my last basketball season.  It fucking destroyed me and I can honestly say I have never been the same.  I was only sick/bedridden for 3 weeks, but I never recovered the energy levels I had prior to that point.  It’s been 25 years now and I can still trace my chronic fatigue back to that ordeal.  I really hope (and expect) that your kid has a better experience.

[wild_turkey 3159]

My daughter tested yesterday for mono.  I've never had it and nobody I knew growing up had it. 

Probably a lot more people have had it than you realize, but it just gets written off as a bad cold because they don’t have the prolonged symptoms. It’s most commonly caused by EBV which infects over 90% of people, and about 25% of people infected get actual mono.

Pretty sure I had it sophomore year at UT because I had a flu-like illness that lasted about a week during spring finals (not flu season) and I rarely get sick otherwise. I remember feeling like shit in WEL 2.224 trying to take a chemistry final.

Hope your kid gets to feeling better quickly.

[Longhornfan1024 1707]

I had it junior year of college thought my case wasn't particularly bad.  I think it was a two-week recovery with the worst of it being the mouth/throat sores that made it incredibly painful to eat.  The doctor prescribed some mouthwash stuff that helped to numb everything, so I'd recommend you try something like that if she's having trouble eating.  Otherwise, just rest as much as possible.