Mononucleosis symptoms or not?
Posted , 5 users are following.
Hi all,
I'm new to this forum, so I'll introduce myself briefly: I am a 24 year old male and I've been sick for about 6 months. I've traveled through Asia for about 3 months, and in the last two weeks of my trip I have become sick, around the beginning of May. After getting home, I went to my GP a several times and did a couple of blood tests. I was tested positive for acute EBV, but my body had also already made antibodies; this was around the end of June. So, I've been feeling sick for about 6 months now, but I don't feel like I'm improving. Besides, my symptoms are pretty uncommon I feel like. Tiredness or a lack of energy isn't my main symptom, I just feel sick and in pain all the time. My main symptoms are: muscle aches (the kind of muscle aches you have when you're having a flu), general malaise, muscle twitches all over my body, a burning sensation in my joints, blurry eyesight (I think because of dry eyes) and increased eye floaters, sometimes buzzing/ringing in the ears, pain in bladder sometimes, fungal infections of the skin, pain in (I think) the liver and some other symptoms.
Does anyone recognize these symptoms? I am currently afraid for a tropical disease or something else that I might have contracted during my time in Asia such as Lyme disease (which has pretty similar symptoms).
Thanks in advance!
0 likes, 16 replies
olivia30213 SADJ
Posted
Hi SadJ,
I had all of those symptoms, minus the fungal infections. But EBV can impact the immune system so I don't think it's that weird you also had some other minor infections. I have seen other people on this board mentioning getting sick with other infections/viruses while having EBV. If they told you that you had acute EBV isn't that the diagnosis then?
Many people, self-inclusive, have not felt well for many months or even up to two years later. I still don't feel 100% and I first started feeling weird at the end of January of this year. Although I think something may have been brewing before that because I remember having to clear my throat a lot in November/December of last year and having really bad joint pain in my ankle some nights.
SADJ olivia30213
Posted
Thank you for your response! Sorry you had to go through it as well, though I am kind of happy that someone recognizes it. If I may ask, when was the 'turning point' for you, that you kind of were able to live at a reasonable level again? Because I feel like I have a flu all the time, I can't really concentrate on my Master's, work and have a fairly limited social life, which also takes a toll on my mental stability... I'm 6 months in now, but don't really see improvement yet.
Also, these muscle twitches and tremors and eye floaters really bother me, I sincerely hope they'll go away. 😦
olivia30213 SADJ
Posted
Hi Sadj,
February, March and April were the worst for me, but even then I would have some good days. I still have symptoms but they are not as frequent and not as severe. But I did have full-blown mono 16 years ago so this may be my second time dealing with the virus so I probably do have some immunity.
lob12506 SADJ
Posted
ive got all the symptoms. get checked for lyme though just to make sure, but Ive had all the symptoms you mentioned and more
SADJ lob12506
Posted
Thanks for your response. Are you recovered as of right now, and how long did it take for you?
lob12506 SADJ
Posted
hey, no Im not recovered yet, sorry to disappoint
SADJ lob12506
Posted
Sorry to hear. How long are you struggling with EBV already?
lob12506 SADJ
Posted
hey, its been 3,5 years just now. Im currently at the uni and can do a bit, but still miss a lot and my social life is non existent. Also I feel horrible after I do even a little more than I can handle. I was resting the whole summer and it didnt really help so I decided to start doing something. when I do nothing for a couple days I feel better, and feel like my imunity is working, but as soon as I start doing anything it just turns off. I tried a lot of different activity levels and I have no idea whats helping or not so I dont bother anymore.
emma198181 SADJ
Posted
Hi SADJ,
I recognise nearly all of those symptoms, especially the eye floaters, ear ringing and muscle twitches. They're the symptoms you won't see listed on any of the informational sites about mono, but so many people have posted on this forum about them - and lots of other symptoms too...it's the virus that just keeps on giving 😦
Hope you feel better soon!
SADJ emma198181
Posted
Hi Emma,
Sorry you also have to go through this as well... Hopefully you feel better soon. Do you notice some improvement already? What I also find peculiar is that my symptoms can vary in intensity from day to day, or even on one day; for example, this morning I felt really sick, muscle aches, flu-like general malaise feeling etc, and now I feel better than this morning, but this can change so quickly again. Do you have this too?
emma198181 SADJ
Posted
My symptoms definitely vary in intensity - I find that the hardest part. I might have a really good day, then descend into three days of awful, then a good day, then a couple of days of not-so-good. There doesn't seem to be any rhyme or reason to it all, and the sheer spectrum of different symptoms is really disturbing. I never realised there was a virus that could make your ankles ache and your ears ring and your eyes blur and your muscles burn!
I also struggle with the way a new symptom will crop up, and I'll get upset about/focused on that one symptom - only for it to ebb away and be replaced by another symptom (last week it was muscle twitches, this week it's loss of balance).
I'm 10 weeks in and I have noticed improvement in lots of symptoms (thankfully), but I try to remain aware that the illness is changeable and some symptoms just loop back around. Joint pain is probably my most consistent symptom, but it's nowhere near as bad as it was at the beginning (when the doctor was testing me for rheumatoid arthritis!).
SADJ emma198181
Posted
It's nice that there is a degree of improvement for you, hopefully you'll recover completely soon! Did you and your GP rule out other diseases than EBV? As I got sick after a trip in Asia, I'm kind of worried it might (also) be a parasite or something else 'tropical'.
emma198181 SADJ
Posted
My doctor didn't bother testing for other illnesses as my EBV results were off the charts, but it might be worth getting more bloods done if you're worried - just for peace of mind.
KCF emma198181
Posted
Emma: This is perfectly stated. It's like you took the words right out of my head. I can completely relate.
SADJ
Posted
Hi all,
I've been feeling pretty sick for about the last two weeks again, it feels like I constantly have the flu: flu-like muscle aches, general malaise and still muscle twitches. My last blood results showed that my immune system was active (high value NK cells), which probably explains the malaise feeling. No high fever though.
I went to my GP and she referred me to an internist/specialist in the hospital. I hope he/she can help me further.
PS: does anyone recognize this cycle? Most of the time I feel sick for about a week, then I have two days where I feel alright, followed by a week of flu-symptoms/muscle aches again. It just doesn't stop and I don't know why...
Hope you are all doing well.
lob12506 SADJ
Posted
hey, Ive got something similar. I feel flu ish, then when Im doing something it feels like its on hold, and then it comes back again.