My daughter has a very bad case of mono. Her winter break is short–she has to return for classes on the 8th of January. She has already been to numerous doctors due to a complication (nothing serious), and she has been feeling rotten for just over 2 weeks now. (Blood tests are underway, but they are pretty sure she’s just unlucky in terms of severe cold-like symptoms.)
Have your kids experienced being really “sick” with mono for more than a few weeks? How did they deal with it if they were at college? We know she could continue to feel wiped out and unwell for weeks or months to come, but there doesn’t seem to be any timeline for how long the worst of it goes on for. Any advice appreciated.
P.S. I would prefer not to hear any worst case scenarios, please. I am just wondering how long kids typically feel at their worst and tips to help them cope while at college. Thank you!
I am so sorry she is dealing with this. I have no advice regarding mono (I was fortunate to have it in elementary school, when it didn’t matter as much), but I do have some advice regarding illness and college in general. My daughter had a different illness and tried to complete her schoolwork while she was still recovering. I would not recommend this if she can avoid it. She will need all her resources to heal her body. College is demanding enough even when one is in perfect health. If she’s not feeling, say 80%, by the 8th, could she take a brief medical leave?
And if she’s the type to push through even when ill, make sure she knows when to stop and rest. A mono relapse can be serious.
At the beginning of sophomore year , my daughter was diagnosed with mono. She also suffers with anxiety so any illness puts her over the edge where others just kind of deal with it and carry on with their day to day lives.
That being said, yes…she was tired, yes she didn’t feel well, but with meds she was pretty functional, despite not having me to pamper her within a couple of weeks. She let her professors know and they were for the most part, understanding.
Make sure she has meds including OTC on hand. Make sure she has tea and someone near to get something in case she needs it.
Make sure she doesn’t consume alcohol
I was surprised how quickly she recovered , because of her nature
I hope your daughtr feels better soon
My son ended up getting it during Thanksgiving Vacation. He had the worst sore throat he had every had in his life (according to him). His spleen was enlarged so he had no lifting. He rested the last few days of Thanksgiving break and then went back to school. Within a week he felt better. He just took it a little easy during the last week of class and finals. Now he feels fine. He says he gets a little tired but nothing that is really going to slow him down. He has gone on with his regular routine. His stomach has been a little messed up. I made him go for a followup visit to his family doctor yesterday (his 19th birthday). The doctor did some blood work just to see if there was anything going on but otherwise said he looks good. No one at school had a clue he had even been sick.
My daughter had it during college. She took a lighter semester and couldn’t manage morning classes at all. She was simply very, very tired and needed more time in bed.
If at all possible, see she if she can have a lighter semester/fewer classes.
D came home for Christmas her first year with a very sore throat, and it took way too long for us to decide she needed to see the doctor, so she was just barely on the road to recovery when it was time to go back to school. She insisted on going. I insisted on a private car from Boston to Dartmouth so she would not have to wait for the bus at Logan. Cost about as much as her plane ticket but it was worth it. Like #2 above, she let her professors know, and they took it into account. She was pretty much fit after a couple of weeks (at least, that’s when the rugby coach let her return to practice), so she might have had a relatively mild case.
D got mono 3 weeks into an academically tough semester. She chose to withdraw and come home, she was simply unable to attend classes and study at a level those challenging courses required. The school was very supportive, we were credited with the tuition and she took extra classes the following semester plus a couple summer courses to catch up.
But she had some friends who also had mono and stayed in school, maybe dropped a class or two, but basically dealt with mono without withdrawing.
Much depends on how the student feels and how supportive the university/professors are.
My d went back to college after holiday break her freshman year while sick and when had seen the doctor and had blood work and tests, it turns out that she had previously had a mild case of mono in high school when she had been running a low grade fever for several days but never really developed into a major illness. The good news was that her case of mono had been minor what she had now was just a bad cold but the bad news is that once you had had mono whenever you get a cold or sore throat it takes longer to recover, even now and she is past 30… she had a nasty cold Thanksgiving week and had to stay home from work from Monday through Wednesday that week.
When S went back to school (less than a week after being diagnosed) he said hot tea with honey and lemon helped more than anything else. Drinking lots of water also helped. He rested all he could in his dorm room (he had a private the last couple months of the semester) and just didn’t do anything too strenuous. I just asked him and he said hot and cold drinks were the best along with chicken soup!
had a college soph get it at halloween; and it was hard but he made it through finals. My Middle school daughter caught it somehow from him at thanksgiving and she then had it over holiday break. I sent him amazon prime packages filled with drinks.
It’s bad about the first 3 weeks. My college kid let his profs know he had it diagnosed; he missed only a few classes. He lost weight, couldnt participate in a few ECs but studied and slept. here’s the thread i started last year; maybe there’s some hints.
Sorry you guys have to deal with this. Hopefully your D will be on the upswing by the time she returns to college.
It took my S about 3 weeks to recover. He was sick during the second semester of his freshman year. (For full disclosure his college was near enough for him to spend some time at home (especially weekends) – an option which I understand you don’t have given the distance to her college.)
I think you need to impress upon your D the need to forgo some social activities and get sufficient sleep until she feels better. And she needs to steer clear of alcohol.
I would have a plan in place with her doctor at home detailing the time-frame of anything she might need to follow up with at college (ex. another blood test if necessary). Bring an ample supply of OTC medicine (ex. ibuprofen) .
I’d also let your D know that if she can’t keep up with her classes that you would understand and would be willing to explore options that would help her out (ex. ask for extensions, drop a class etc.).
I would suggest she contact Health Services right when she gets back to campus (or possibly even email them before she returns to campus) and bring medical back-up (ex. doctors note, blood test results etc.) for her illness. That way everything will be on file from the start of the semester in case she finds that she needs any accommodations (ex. extended deadlines, medical withdrawal from a class etc.) as the illness runs its course. If she feels poorly at the start of the semester she may should consider speak with her professors and let them know she is still recovering and that Health Services has the back-up medical documentation should they care to see it or she may want to take a lighter load from the start of the semester.
She may want to also let her roommate know in advance – confirm with your doctor that she is not contagious and let the roommate know that as well. Your D can warn her roommate that she will be needing to sleep more than normal and I’m imagine that she will be accommodating. Also bring Purell for your D and her roommate – can’t hurt
FWIW my S ended up dropping one class over a semester when he had mono and he took the class over the summer. While not ideal (since we had to pay for the summer class) he was just struggling too much to keep up with all 5 classes while he was ill. His grades in a couple of other courses reflected that he was not 100% all semester – but overall he did fine and it was better for him to keep moving forward.
As someone who has sent an injured kid back to school, a lot will depend on how good your D is at taking care of herself. Getting enough sleep, eating well, taking all meds as prescribed, paying attention to what her body is telling her she needs - all seem obvious but are not what many college kids do. And big one, knowing how and when to get help!
Your D has always sounded really responsible, so she will probably do all of this right, to her credit and faster recovery.
Also tell your D that drinking alcohol is a big no no. It is really hard on the liver. Whatever she does, abstain from drinking while recovering.
My D had mono while in college. She got through the semester but she was really tired and didn’t have much time for anything except classes. Which made the semester not much fun.
Agree that your D really needs to rest and avoid alcohol. It’s r ally important to have a full recovery and try to not let herself get run down so she doesn’t have recurrent bouts of mono. Our D has been having them since she was a young teen.
In college, D had mono and step throat at the same time. at least once, possible twice (they lost the strep culture). She did fine but I think she cut out all extra activities and slept alot. I was not there but she seemed to handle it fine. I think leaving school would’ve been devastating for her.
