Does Anyone Have Any Experience with Mono?

Hi. My daughter had mono when she was five. We just thought she was having a hard time getting over a virus, until spring break, when I realized that she literally was sleeping all day and all night, even though her fever and sore throat passed after the first week. The week after break she went back to kindergarten, but the teacher just let her sleep through the afternoon every day for another week or two. It was about a month before she got over it. I hadn't even known young children got mono. One warning though, my daughter got it again at 13, and had a much worse case the second time around and missed several months of school. Her doctor told me it can be caused by various different viruses, and the second time was likely caused by a different virus than the first. There's really not much you can do but treat the symptoms and wait it out. Best wishes to you as you go through this.

There's no one way to get through this. My son had few symptoms - he complained a little of being tired, but given that he wasn't getting enough sleep, it wasn't surprising. He also complained of muscle aches, but he was running on a team so it made sense. All of a sudden, it kicked in overnight with a swollen face, a sore through, and total exhaustion. He said he had a stomach ache or cramp, but it turned out it was a huge, engaged spleen protruding from his body right under the breast bone. In fact, the doctor told us not to drive him in the car unless it was urgent, and even so, not to use a seatbelt because the shoulder belt went right across the spleen. An accident could have burst the spleen. From there, he got worse, because his throat was so sorry it was bleeding, so the few things he was eating (water, applesauce, soup, bananas) suddenly reduced to just water. I'm not an alarmist by any means, but it was getting very dire.

I don't think you'll find anyone to take out the tonsils while he's so sick. You don't undergo surgery when the immune system is so depressed, and you don't (frankly) remove the things that are supposedly helping to prevent a worse problem. I had enlarged tonsils for many years as a child, and I was never well enough for long enough to have the surgery. Turns out I still have them. But you don't have them out because it's hard to swallow.

We went to cellular nutrition and our son was remarkably better in a few days. We were lucky to have a school coach explain this to us and we never turned back after such an amazing success. My husband and I started doing the same immune system boosting and have never been sick in 9 years. No flu, no cold, no bronchitis, no sinus infections. It took a few months for us adults to get results but we were consistent.

Whether your son takes a month or a year to get well, no one can predict. Sorry, but you will hear a zillion stories, all true, and your son could be anywhere in that range. You have options but you need to get educated and make an informed decision.

I'd have him gargle with warm salt water, and also give some Raw honey for the throats and cough issue. That's should help.

I had Mono when I was 18. I can't remember my symptoms exactly , but I had a low grade fever and swollen lymph nodes. I was tired all the time. I had a doctors note that I had to give to my work to only have me work a certain amount of hours, and that I needed 10 hours of sleep a day.

The duration is different for everyone. Same as the symptoms. For me, it did last for around 6 months, but mainly with fatigue.

My sister had it for most of 2nd grade.
Every time she started feeling better she'd relapse and end up in bed again.
I spent most of the year taking her homework assignments to and from school for her.
The only thing for it is to rest up for a good long time.

Tonsils usually come out due to strep - but our son had his out when they became so large (they were not infected - he had no fever) that they were almost an obstruction across the back of his throat.
We had them out as soon as he turned 4 and it was the best thing we ever did.

Mono takes a long time to get out of the system. Not resting can cause real problems. Is he getting enough rest? Make sure that he does so that he doesn't develop problems with his spleen.

When I had it as a teen, my throat was so bad that I could only drool, it hurt so badly to swallow. I was so desperate that I went to the doctor telling him that I couldn't swallow. There actually WAS room, but my tonsils were so swollen that he gave me some steroids. That was the beginning of my throat feeling better.

My mono was followed by many bouts of strep and tonsillitis. When I was 17, I finally got my tonsils out. The surgery was hard because I was older, but it was the best thing I could have done. I was so much healthier after that.

Watch over your son in the coming months to see if he has more and more trouble. I think that the mono was the beginning of my tonsils getting so bad.

I was out of school for about 6 months when I had it in college. My throat was so swollen and I had an abscess that was so painful I would drool into a wash cloth rather than swallow. I had to drop out of school for a semester. I would wake up and get dressed then go back to bed I was so exhausted.

My son got it in Kindergarten. He was out for four weeks then only went back to school half days for another four weeks because he would fall asleep at his desk by eleven am, so the teacher just told me to get him around ten forty five. He would come home and just sleep and sleep.

Just lots of fluids and most of all rest/sleep. It can really take a while to recover from it. Nasty stuff!!

I had mono my jr year of high school. I had my tonsils removed when I was 4. I had the same symptoms your son has and I slept a lot. I had it so bad that I was home schooled for the last 3 months of high school. I had mono, pneumonia, a rash on my body that took 2 months to go away. It really kicked my butt.

Just take one day at a time. Hopefully it won't last as long as mine did. Try to keep him comfortable - tylenol, ice pops. He really has to take it easy even if hes feeling better. Make sure you are taking care of yourself as well. Try not to run yourself down.

My daughter had mono her sophomore year high school. She hated it. IT started with the swollen lymph nodes. It killed her not to be able to do everything because she was on track and cross country and could not run. No running allowed. Lots of rest. She hated it because her throat hurt and she could not push herself like she usually does. I remember her nodes were back to normal after about 2 weeks but she was so tired for a couple of months. The doc said no running for 2 months. We caught it early though. This may take a bit longer since a real diagnosis was delayed.
To help his sore throat, you could give him popsicles. They helped a lot when my daughter had her tonsils out at 4 yrs old.

One of the things the doc said for sure is NO sharing drinks. For my daughter's team, they were always sharing their Gatorade or water bottles. No one shares anymore.