<p>My D is an entering freshman and can’t wait to get to college…we found out on Saturday that she has mono and she is supposed to move in on Wednesday and participate in orientation etc… , classes start on Monday. Today her doctor prescribed steroids for her swollen tonsils and a numbing mouthwash for the throat and an antibiotic for the strep that she most certainly has judging from her throat. He felt that she may make it to at least some of the orientation programs this week if these meds can bring her symptoms under control… She has a glimmer of hope now and won’t let go of that. If the fevers and sore throat go away she has her heart set on moving in by Thursday. Yes, I am ultimately in control I know… Yet she is devastated by this turn of events…wants to be involved in the whole freshman experience if at all possible. I have been prowling the internet at length these past few days for info, and have read that once the acute symptoms subside she will not need complete bed rest and school is not out of the realm of possibility provided she takes it easy (we will adjust her schedule to the minimum amount of credits.) Any advice or words of wisdom are appreciated.</p>
<p>take her meds, lots of liquids, a dose of common sense and no partying. And rest as much as possible. Oh and eating properly too. She’s gonna be fine. </p>
<p>My son will still be on some meds for chest congestion and antibiotics for the first few days of orientation. Not mono, but he’s not 100% yet.</p>
<p>Reactions to mono can be all over the map, from just some minor fatigue to being really wiped out for weeks. Just encourage her to just do what she feels able to do. </p>
<p>If she’s like most students, she probably won’t want anyone to make a big deal out of this; you may have done this already, but it would be good to share her health info with the Dean of Students, or similar office, and with her academic advisor. They’ll often be able to give her professors a quiet head up if she needs some special consideration in the early going.</p>
<p>When my son had mono his senior year, the improvement was quick and dramatic as soon as he began the steroids. He started to feel better the next day. Hope it’s the same with your D. I think she’ll be fine.</p>
<p>I am sure your doc is aware, but there can be an adverse reaction (skin rash) to the presence of mono when taking certain antibiotics (amoxil, I think). I know because when my son had it several years ago, his first mono test was negative so they “assumed” he had strep. He developed a skin rash from the antibiotic and then his mono test was positive. The antibiotics were halted…</p>
<p>Just keep an eye out for this… And best to your d! I hope she feels better quickly!</p>
<p>You may want to contact the Residential Life office; they may have some rules about kids with mono moving into the dorms. Is she still contagious? If so, you may also want to let her roommate know about it - if the roommate hasn’t had mono, she may want to take some precautions for herself.</p>
<p>My d had a very light case of mono during high school - she only missed one day of school, but several weeks of extracurriculars. I hope your d is the same!</p>
<p>My son has had several friends with mono, and the recovery times have varied enormously. One girl is still tired and not 100% nearly four months after her dx, after having missed a good portion of classes at the end of her junior year.</p>
<p>And (contrary to what I thought, but as I learned since he also had a girlfriend with mono), it isn’t contagious as long as there is no fever or infection (like a strep throat accompanying it), and there is no passing of saliva, etc. The roommate or classmates are not in any danger of catching mono, just from casual contact, even sleeping in the same room or sitting next to the person in class. </p>
<p>Mostly, your D will want to take care of herself, pay attention to how she feels, and not push herself too hard. Mild cases clear up quickly. More severe cases can compromise a person for quite some time.</p>
<p>Be careful about being considerate while mono is contageous, even if it means missing orientation so she can get proper rest. Be realistic about whether or not she needs accomodations (ie, take less streneous classes than originally planned, reduce academic hours, increase naps)
Our son had trouble sleeping after mono, probably due to the loss of exercise, the long weeks of rest, and from his body clock going out of whack from the overstimulation of a hall of great peers socializing night and day. He ended up “fuzzy” when he studied and having trouble being realistic about his readiness for class even when he was “recovered.” A serious class was dropped before it became a rotten egg on his transcript and we had to eat that cost as it was after drop/add periods. Son also had to make apts with academic Dean and prof to come to this decision himself, and he delayed a bit too long. The next semester his mind and body were back and he did very well in the same hard class. For him, exercise is essential for school performance and balance.
Once she is allowed to return, be careful re shared food and drinks kept in her room frig…I asked our son not to put anything back in his frig he has started eating or drinking out of consideration for his wonderful roommate. Although the timing is bad, keep in mind it is never good and it is really hard to accept illness during exams and other big deadlines after she would have a semester of prep work done. Embrace this reality with the realization she is unlikely to succumb again to this common viral illness. Make some changes, and send her back after she has had some proper rest, and alter her goals a bit…you can recover from schedule disruptions. It really could be worse. Her classmates will understand. There will be other kids who get sick in the middle of the semester and in some ways you are lucky you can take care of her until she is deemed ready for a full load of classes and done with the worst period of contagiousness. Mono viruses are shed by healthy people all the time but the public forgets this fact. Honestly, my best advice is to not bemoan this timing problem too much…so many students call home weeping when they have a full academic load and many worries…you can be proactive on the front end. Ask for support from the academic dean and you will most likely get it right away.</p>
<p>What rotten luck! </p>
<p>She should feel much much better after the meds for strep kick in.</p>
<p>Tell her to take it as easy as possible and we all hope she feels better soon!</p>
<p>DD just got diagnosed last pm and is due to fly to Boston today at 3:00. Ugh! Trying to work this out quickly. Thanks for all posts. Krss—good luck to you and your daughter.</p>
<p>My D (just starting her sophomore year) & I chatted about this last night “what would you do” I asked? Without skipping a beat said she would request the semester off, with doctors papers to back it. Her best friend got mono and was quite ill for almost 6 weeks 2 years ago. She saw firsthand the effects.</p>
<p>This is a real shame, but please, (PLEASE) think about the other students within the close quarters who could potentially become ill if your kids aren’t fully recovered. The rest of us thank you.</p>
<p>Best to the 2 D’s who are ill.</p>
<p>Make sure she tapers off the steroids exactly as prescribed and avoids alcohol and sleep deprivation (two hallmarks of freshmen year). I had my first (and hopefully only) episode of extended sleep-walking while on my last day of steroids last year. </p>
<p>I was attending a family reunion/wedding… busy constantly for three days and drinking alcohol every evening. The sleepwalking was during the last night. I remember the moment my husband finally really woke me up. I was trying to put my shoes on because I thought I needed to go to my sister’s birthday party. I have vague memories of some other things from the night but do not remember most of what H tells me went on. But it was really creepy. I’ve since learned that “coming off steroids” can trigger weird things.</p>
<p>Caution her that the steroids may make her feel GREAT!!, and can cause insomnia. She is still sick and should rest as much as possible, and the steroids can be mislead you into thinking you are well, when you aren’t 100% yet. Also, some people feel very down when the steroids wear off, both mentally and physically, warn her about that - take it easy, even if you aren’t sure you should, especially for the first 2 weeks.
I would try if possible to get up to check on her about 3-4 weeks into the semester.
Remember no contact sports, that includes things like skateboarding, vigorous Frisbee - any activity where you have a high likelihood of falling down or getting hit.</p>
<p>Good luck to you and her, she should be fine.</p>
<p>I made a call today and spoke with the Nurse Practioner that runs student health at BU. She was very helpful and helped me understand what would be available to DD at student health. She said that the case severity was all over the charts and that salt water rinses throughout the day would help the throat more than anything else. Common sense tx of increasing fluids and rest were also on her list. DD was also put on antibiotic on Saturday because her tonsils were covered with pus. I am pretty certain that her case is viral since the tonsils have shown no improvement . She is not having fevers, just tired at intervals throughout the day…but it could be much worse.</p>
<p>Please encourage your daughter to rest whenever possible. Kids just want to go go go. Our older daughter was on bedrest for almost 2 weeks and it tooks weeks for her to feel like herself and she had a fairly mild case. This was quite a while ago though.</p>
<p>I hope both of the girls with mono feel better soon and send good thoughts their way.</p>
<p>Many thanks for the advice everyone has sent our way. 2331clk, as was your son’s, my D’s response the the steroids has been dramatic and she is greatly improved. MaryTN and cangel I figured there had to be a “catch” somewhere with this steroid treatment. We will be careful and i’m glad we know of the possible side effects.
momnipotent I hope your daughter’s sore throat subsides soon. Thankfully she is not running fevers, and the acute symptoms go away within a couple of weeks i’ve learned. (My daughter’s tonsils were also covered - she was prescribed a medicated numbing mouthwash that works very well.)
My D is shooting for moving in on Friday (still will make some of orientation) and has talked to her swim coach…sigh…another piece to this unfortunate turn of events.
Thanks again for all of the good advice and good wishes.</p>
<p>My son had mono his senior year. He never took enough time to really rest. We didn’t know at first he had mono. He would feel terrible, miss school and then go back and the cycle kept repeating itself. It made for a not so successful senior year grade wise. In hindsight I wish we had made him take home hospital school and just rest. Also a lingering problem for the next 6 months was frequent bouts of tonsilitis.
Hope in both cases it is a mild one.</p>
<p>Your daughter’s doctor surely has given all of the caveats and warnings…rest is crucial. As she progresses beyond this acute phase, for several months, she must read her body and its demands accurately, and when she is tired, she must take good care of herself, or there can be damage to her body. The swimming coaches have experience with this, and there should be athletic trainers on staff who can further guide and help protect her from any inappropriate demand on her energy. The use of steroids is fairly new in the treatment, but it does have other effects, specifically they do tend to make sleep difficult. She also needs to check with the swim folks about any testing issues with the use of steroids. Good luck to her and her concerned family.</p>
<p>I can’t stress how important it is to give herself time to heal. Although the steroids can help with her symptoms, she has to remind herself the virus is still in her body, and she needs to take it easy. My daughter did not do that (take it easy - she was not diagnosed properly so didn’t know to take it easy when she started feeling better), and had a relapse, two weeks later, which ended up being worse. </p>
<p>Also, you might want her to give a verbal (or written) authorization to the health center that they can talk to you if needed. Usually when people have mono, they want them to come back for another blood test around 4-6 weeks, so she can take care of that at the health center.</p>
<p>Thanks to all. It has been a really difficult day.</p>