Is it normal to struggle with mono for months and years? Any statistics?
Posted , 12 users are following.
(This text got way longer that size is too big planned, sorry. If your in a hurry my questions are at the bottom 😃 )
I (norwegian man age 26) have been sick with mono for over 8 months now. For me it started a bit like a flu, but I never had a sore throat or swollen glands, so it took a few weeks (a bit over a month i guess ) to get the diagnosis. I had positive IgG and IgM tests. So I got some info about mono from my doctor and went home and read about it online. From what I learned i was expecting the acute part of the mono to last a few weeks and after this i could expect to go back to work. I also read that I could expect a bit of a fatigue after the acute part, which could last a few months and usually no longer that 6 i think i read.
After about six moths or so I started worrying about that I might have something else than mono. I went to my doctor and he agreed. Partly because i have had two nearly healthy periods, one week this summer and a few weeks this autumn . He said that this was not typical for mono. Except for the two periods where i felt pretty OK, I have been way to sick to even think about going back to work.
I usually am so fatigued that i have to think about what i am making for dinner because if the dish is to advanced (read: more that 4 ingredients 😛) i don't have the energy to sit and eat it. Today it was my turn to make dinner for my family (I live with my mother, father, two sisters and brother now that I am sick), and so i made oatmeal porridge, i think they laughed a bit, but did eat ofc . Also my symptoms are muscle ache, head ache, mucus in my lungs. I sometimes feel out of breath even though I haven't done anything that should be exhausting. I have lower back pain when i push my self to far(go to the store, make dinner etc), also my face gets very hot. I am also a bit light sensitive. Also my brain is a bit foggy. Today i threw the towel into the toilet after i had dried my hands. Strange 😛 I took a picture for you!
IFile
So, all the tests the doctor gave me where negative (except the mono test ofc which now showed a previous infection) . He could not explain it, but he wanted me to stop taking Lexapro to see if it could be side effect of the drug (I started on it 4 months before i got mono, was feeling a bit down). But after some reading on this community, I feel like all of my symptoms seem pretty normal for mono. And that mono can be quite serious and for sure take some time to fight and get healthy.
So... my questions and thoughts that i need help with, and was hoping you guys maybe could take a look at:
Is it normal to struggle with mono for moths, without being able to work? I don't think it matches how the disease is described. Not even on the article on patient.info. There it says "A full recovery is usual within a couple of weeks. Some people have a lingering tiredness that lasts a few weeks, sometimes longer." Weeks, haha, more like moths or years?
Do you think i could safely consider not quitting the antidepressant and just assume that my symptoms are form mono?
Thanks in advance for you answers!
0 likes, 21 replies
maxim98540 arne73270
Posted
What is your main symptom Arne, is it fatigue?
I can relate to everything you're saying.
Glad to hear you have good healthcare, luckily i also pay near to nothing for medical care here in Belgium.
In a couple of days i will have been sick for exactly 1 year. Hope everyone gets better in 2020.
arne73270 maxim98540
Posted
Hi Maxim, and wow, one year anniversary, jeei 😐
Well, hopefully you're getting better soon!
Yes, I would say fatigue is my main issue. I feel exhausted most of the time. When I am active, like hanging out with friends or making dinner, i often get muscle pain and almost a shortness of breath that reminds me a bit of panic after a while.
lori939 arne73270
Posted
yes it causes anxiety and panic attacks . ive suffered since my last round of ebv 12 years ago it never went away .
maxim98540 arne73270
Posted
I had those panic attacks at 6 months in.
They are a lot better now. So no reason to think the worst is going to happen.
Even if that is what happened to lori.
Things get better at an annoyingly slow rate, just hang in there.
There will be good days.
Like many people say, year 2 is better than year 1.
We can't do anything else but hope this is true
Mono_too arne73270
Posted
Hi Arne,
Yes all this is very normal with mono. What they should tell people is that takes 6-12 months with symptoms and then you spend the next year working your way back to normal. I got this in late 2016, my two granddaughters and my daughter as well. Our ages at that time were between 16-54. We have all had the long struggle back to recovery.