I have had glandular fever for 5 months and don't seem to be getting better, what should I do?

Yes, this is very normal with glandular fever, I was ill for almost a full year( I am 56 so it lasts longer when you are older) i rested, took vitamins and drank a lot of green tea. It has been a year since my recovery so it does get better eventually.

The best you can do right now is overload your system with immune boosters . I know it’s an awful awful time and like you my social life has gone feel terrible mostly and have just spent months at home alone . 

It gets terribly depressing the fatigue is unbearable and just that ‘off’ feeling all the time is also getting me down .

It’s just a waiting game now but I believe if we rest and do everything we’re supposed to we’ve got a better chance of feeling better.

I used to work out every day and have had to give that up . From what I’ve read many people get a turnaround at 6 months so here’s hoping for us!

Hang in there !! 

I’m really sorry that you have to go through all this, it really sucks, but it is fairly normal for Mono to last this long. The timeline of recovery differs from person to person but for some it can even take up to a year and more to fully recover from this virus. Of course not saying it will take you that long necessarily but you really just need to be patient with it. Keep doing what you are doing and get lots of rest. I also started to feel very ill and weak around May and only started to get a lot better in the last weeks of August, but I still need to be careful because if I exert myself too much the off balanced, dizzy and weak feelings come back. 

I can really empathize with feeling depressed when you are stuck in your bed, unable to socialize with friends and live your life, but it does get better eventually.. take it one day at a time. There will be a moment where suddenly you feel a lot better and the worry just goes away. For now, it’s a waiting game, which is frustrating and I totally understand, but in the meantime try and keep yourself busy and if you are really deperate to socialize, just invite a good friend over for an hour to watch TV with you, it might make you feel better. I know it helped me to have small social interactions at home where I wouldn’t feel overwhelmed if I felt ill. 

Take care (: 

Anyways. I was bedridden, weak, no appetite, extremely anxious, night sweats for months.  Couldn’t work for months and was mostly housebound for another few months. It felt hopeless and awful. Whenever another month came and went I got more depressed because of things I read like CFS or people getting better much sooner. 

But the day came I got better. I’m back at work full time, on my feet for 6 hours a day! I even started going back to the gym.. my routine is much more normal though I have days still where I need to rest because I feel just off or tired. I know someone who said that he didn’t feel normal for about 2 years! 

Your recovery is happening now, and I don’t know when your big change will happen.. but it will. One week you will find you feel better. Then you’ll have a bad several days again. Then another week better... so on and so forth. Until the good weeks turn into a good month and the bad weeks just turn into a bad day here and there. Do not worry.. though it’s hard to do. You’ll be healthy again.. and then you’ll be back here giving people encouragement because this is an awful and isolating thing to go through. Take care, time will heal you! 

Hi Jess,

So sorry to hear you've been through such a tough time this last while, first with your throat and tonsils and now with mono, empathising having been through a tough time with mono when I was a similar age to you a number of years ago. 

As the guys have been saying I definitely want to reassure you that this is normal for mono for still to be feeling this way after 5-6 months. And importantly to reassure you also that it does get completely better still. For me it was 9-10 months before I really started to get fully better, that's not to say it will be as long for you it's different for everyone, but just to let you know that there is hope and it will get better, even if it still takes a little longer. My experience was that BY FAR the worst phase and intensity was the first 6 months. 

It sounds like you are doing all the right things, just continue to rest and not put pressure on yourself right now and talk to close family / friends about how you've been feeling as it's so traumatic and painful to live through this virus I know. Taking vitamins and herbs was something that helped me too, a good strong multi-vitamin per day, higher doses of Vitamin C (1000mg-3000mg per day), a B complex vitamin per day and/or Co-enzyme Q10 (great for energy levels and nervous system) and immune boosting herbs like siberian ginseng, echinichea and oregano also great.

Thinking about you Jess and remember you will get through this and things will get better, even though I know at times it doesn't feel like it when going through it - hang in there.

Craig