21st April 2004
Have you ever had mono before? If you have, don't worry, it's like chickenpox; your immune system develops antibodies so you can't get it again. If you haven't had it before, you definitely could have mono now, but if you do, you won't know for a good month or so. Monovirus has an incubation period of 30-50 days, so you won't start seing symptoms for awhile.
If, in a month or so, you notice yourself feeling like you're really sick (ie, your arms and legs ache, your eyes burn a little, your head aches...) but you aren't running a fever, take it easy for a little while. When I got mono, for about three weeks before I actually got sick (and about a month after I came in contact with the person I caught it from), I noticed that I was extremely fatigued and felt like I was running a fever or starting to get sick, but whenever I took my temperature, I was at a normal 98.6. I wasn't at all congested, and my throat was a little sore, but more scratchy. Because I wasn't running a fever, though, I had to keep going to work and school, which, in retrospect, was really stupid.
Basically, when I first started coming down with mono, I felt like I was about a hundred years old. Everything ached, I lacked the energy to do anything (but not in a tired way, just a run-down way), my lymph nodes had swollen to approximately the size of Iraq, and I was getting sweats and chills like I was running a fever, but, because I had no fever for quite some time, I didn't think I was really sick.
After a few weeks of just feeling really crappy (for lack of a better term), I started running a fever. Within a day, it was well over 100 degrees. From time to time, even with a fever of around 103, I felt fine. My muscles seemed to tire easily, and my throat gradually got more and more sore, but except for early in the morning, I didn't feel sick at all. Again, unfortunately, I didn't know I had mono yet, and kept running around with friends and staying up watching TV and all.
Eventually, since nothing seemed to be making my fever go away, I went to the doctor. Actually, I ended up in the emergency room, because I had a fever of 103.2 and had this weird feeling of being underwater and disconnected from the world, and could barely talk because my throat was closing and had developed sores on it, and I could barely move and all... The doctors took some blood, but the mono hadn't progressed enough for the virus to be detected conclusively, so the ER doc gave me a prescription for some hydrocodone to help with the fever and the pain in my throat and sent me on my way.
A week later, I was still really sick, still running a high fever, and feeling even worse, so I went to my real doctor. Apparently, my spleen had swollen so large that had I not gone in to get checked out again, it would've ruptured. The doctor gave me some antibiotics for the mono and some prednisone to take down the swelling, and told me to stop taking the hydrocodone. I got better about two weeks after that, but I was told to take it easy and to avoid being in a car whenever possible for about a month, just to be sure that my organs wouldn't rupture from being swollen.
Bottom line, just take things easy. Make sure you get your rest and whatnot, even though you don't have any symptoms yet, and may not even end up coming down with anything. Absolutely make sure you stop doing anything remotely stressful or draining (mentally or physically) if you start feeling bad. That will only make things worse, and trust me, you don't want mono to be any worse than it has to be. And of course, don't be an idiot like me. If you're running a fever, even if you feel completely fine otherwise, STAY INSIDE AND DON'T RUN AROUND.
If, in a month or so, you notice yourself feeling like you're really sick (ie, your arms and legs ache, your eyes burn a little, your head aches...) but you aren't running a fever, take it easy for a little while. When I got mono, for about three weeks before I actually got sick (and about a month after I came in contact with the person I caught it from), I noticed that I was extremely fatigued and felt like I was running a fever or starting to get sick, but whenever I took my temperature, I was at a normal 98.6. I wasn't at all congested, and my throat was a little sore, but more scratchy. Because I wasn't running a fever, though, I had to keep going to work and school, which, in retrospect, was really stupid.
Basically, when I first started coming down with mono, I felt like I was about a hundred years old. Everything ached, I lacked the energy to do anything (but not in a tired way, just a run-down way), my lymph nodes had swollen to approximately the size of Iraq, and I was getting sweats and chills like I was running a fever, but, because I had no fever for quite some time, I didn't think I was really sick.
After a few weeks of just feeling really crappy (for lack of a better term), I started running a fever. Within a day, it was well over 100 degrees. From time to time, even with a fever of around 103, I felt fine. My muscles seemed to tire easily, and my throat gradually got more and more sore, but except for early in the morning, I didn't feel sick at all. Again, unfortunately, I didn't know I had mono yet, and kept running around with friends and staying up watching TV and all.
Eventually, since nothing seemed to be making my fever go away, I went to the doctor. Actually, I ended up in the emergency room, because I had a fever of 103.2 and had this weird feeling of being underwater and disconnected from the world, and could barely talk because my throat was closing and had developed sores on it, and I could barely move and all... The doctors took some blood, but the mono hadn't progressed enough for the virus to be detected conclusively, so the ER doc gave me a prescription for some hydrocodone to help with the fever and the pain in my throat and sent me on my way.
A week later, I was still really sick, still running a high fever, and feeling even worse, so I went to my real doctor. Apparently, my spleen had swollen so large that had I not gone in to get checked out again, it would've ruptured. The doctor gave me some antibiotics for the mono and some prednisone to take down the swelling, and told me to stop taking the hydrocodone. I got better about two weeks after that, but I was told to take it easy and to avoid being in a car whenever possible for about a month, just to be sure that my organs wouldn't rupture from being swollen.
Bottom line, just take things easy. Make sure you get your rest and whatnot, even though you don't have any symptoms yet, and may not even end up coming down with anything. Absolutely make sure you stop doing anything remotely stressful or draining (mentally or physically) if you start feeling bad. That will only make things worse, and trust me, you don't want mono to be any worse than it has to be. And of course, don't be an idiot like me. If you're running a fever, even if you feel completely fine otherwise, STAY INSIDE AND DON'T RUN AROUND.