Mono advice-what works?

Parent Cafe
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<p>All I can say is take it extremely seriously – rest more than you can imagine, drop classes to the minimum, don’t do sports. I had it in high school and did not take it seriously. It went latent in my body to return every time I got run down for <em>decades</em>. A friend of mine who is in his late 40s just had a relapse of the mono he got at West Point 25 years ago. It so devastated his health that he almost destroyed his career.</p>

<p>This is a serious disease and you’ve got to take it easy until you are well - which is likely to be at least weeks, if not months.</p>

<p>I am so sorry your child is dealing with this!!</p>

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<p>DH drove up to school and picked up my Dd to bring home when she developed mono Spring of her sophomore year. She tried to tough it out for several weeks, but had nightsweats and fevers so bad that she thought she might pass out climbing down from her loft bed. One of the best decisions we/she ever made, and she improved a lot by just sleeping and resting at home. She was able to take some incompletes in her classes, and finished her work before she headed out for study abroad that July. Mono can be serious and scary - although not with all cases.</p>

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<p>Thanks for all the replys and concern. D found the Odwalla juices at the Starbucks in town and stocked up, she says “regular food” is out of the question because of her throat. They started her on steroids yesterday as she had gotten worse.</p>

<p>Her boyfriend who she contracted it from is flying up Monday (it is his spring break but not hers) to visit for several days. I know it lays dorment in your system, but I was wondering if he will be likely to relapse after visiting her?</p>

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<p>I’ve had mono more than once–the last time being when I was 37. I would go to a good natural foods store and ask about supplements. I’m not a regular user of supplements until something is wrong with me and then I go running for them. I took something called Olive Leaf, that’s supposed to be an anti-viral. I also took a good multi-vitamin and I think some extra B. The other thing I did was made sure I drank a ginormous amount of water every day. I tried to fill my plate at every meal with 2/3 of fresh fruits and I veggies. And I took a nap every day even when I didn’t want to.</p>

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<p>I gave mono to my now boyfriend and I didn’t relapse when he had it.</p>

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<p>D’s new boyfriend has mono now, and she’s fairly certain that she gave it to him. (get mono symptoms about 6-8 weeks after being exposed to the virus for the first time). Google the Eppstein Barr virus…very interesting reading, and it explains why everyone around a kid with mono doesn’t get sick, like you’d think. Apparently it is such a common virus, that most people get the virus when they are kids, when it doesn’t have such a bad effect. It’s when young adults get the virus for the first time that it shows up as mono and can be so bad. And, how each person reacts to it can be so different. Once you’ve had the virus, you always have it, but it seems that if you get it as a young adult in the form of mono, you do run the risk of recurrences. It seems like it’s one of those things that you hope you went through as a kid, when it’s not so devastating. (But then you can be a “carrier” for the rest of your life!)</p>

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<p>mind if I ask what antibiotic it is… for future reference for D2?</p>

<p>I betcha it was Cipro
I was just put on it- it is very broad spectrum,even though I am on other things that contraindicate- I am having lots of joint pain, and while I have taken it for almost three days- after reading about it- I am telling the pharmacist tomorrow that I have stopped taking it.</p>

<p>it apparently interferes with protein metabolizing</p>

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<p>As someone who had had cancer, the idea of something like this really scares me witless.</p>

<p>I guess it’s reassuring that I have unreasonably high standards in terms of who I’ll date in college.</p>

<p>But, all this talk about “relapses,” “emergency rooms,” “antibiotics…” It all sounds terrifying.</p>

<p>But, this is college, and kids have to grow up and do their own thing, right?</p>

<p>It just seems funny to me, to imagine how people get these diseases, and how they’re spread.</p>

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<p>Sorry to say that D1, who got it in college, and relapsed at home, did not get it from any guy. She picked it up at the end of her pledge period for her sorority (so, way overcommitted and overtired). A couple of girls in the sorority had it during pledge period.</p>

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<p>Daughter had mono when she was 8 – and again when she was 19. Both times it was pretty long and bad, the second time around she had to withdraw from school and fly home, where she spent the next 4 weeks in bed. </p>

<p>So if your child is able to stay in school – count your blessings! It could have been much worse.</p>

<p>Oh, and as teriwtt says, you don’t get it just from kissing. The mono virus is extremely common, over 90% of the population has antibodies for it meaning they had it, just didn’t know it. For many, mono is no worse than a cold. The illness is also quite often misdiagnosed as strep since the sore throat looks very ‘streppy’ and can only be definitely diagnosed with a specific blood test.</p>

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<p>GAMOM, if your daughter can have dairy, ice cream is one of the best foods for someone with sore throat due to mono. It has calcium, vitamins and other nutrients, and calories which the sick person definitely needs. My D was really happy when her doctor put her on a Ben and Jerry’s diet.</p>

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<p>“mind if I ask what antibiotic it is… for future reference for D2?”</p>

<p>First, D took augmentin for 10 days. When that didn’t work, the doctor prescribed augmentin XR for two weeks. She wasn’t getting better on the augmentin XR, so the doctor sent her for a blood test which determined that she had mono. He said that she had an “atypical presentation” of mono, because when he checked her, her glands weren’t swollen.</p>

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<p>Bad news about the virus causing mono:</p>

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<p>[Epstein-Barr</a> Virus May Be Associated with Progression of MS - UB NewsCenter](<a href=“http://www.buffalo.edu/news/fast-execute.cgi/article-page.html?article=99300009]Epstein-Barr”>Epstein-Barr Virus May Be Associated with Progression of MS - University at Buffalo)</p>

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<p>Not necessarily mono-related, but disgusting anyway: my D, away at school, is very lax about cleaning her retainer. I don’t even want to THINK about the nest of contagion she pops in her mouth every night. She has had a cold for weeks and I am pointing an accusatory finger at that thing.</p>