Symptoms: severe fatigue, headache, sore throat (sometimes very severe), chills followed by fever, muscle aches. other possible symptoms: swollen lymph nodes (especcially in neck, armpits, and groin), jaundice, measles like rash anywhere on face or body, bruiselike areas on inside of mouth, soreness in upper left abdomen (from enlarged spleen).
Or the way I describe it, being totally miserable and wanting to die. Suggestion if you think you may have mono, do not pretend you don't so you can go to prom, or harry potter opening, that really doesn't make it better, and your doctor will yell at you.
*knows that from experience oops*
Posts: 5362 | Registered: Apr 2004
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quote:Fever, severe sore throat, swollen glands, and fatigue are the most common symptoms of mono. Serious symptoms can include abdominal pain, which may suggest an inflamed spleen and liver, and difficulty breathing, which can suggest swollen glands in the throat closing the airway.
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Nothing to add, but my sister gave me a nice lecture on the Herpes family of viruses (which can cause chicken pox, mono, herpes, etc.).
Apparantly, they actually modify the genetic code of infected cells, which is why you are infected for life once you get them. They can cause cancer, rashes, and shingles.
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Dag, I learned alot about that too from my hubby. He had chicken pox as an infant, when he came home from the hospital his older brother and sister both had chicken pox.
Then, when he was in high school he got shingles. Terrible case, he has scars on his side and abdomen from it. Apparently it's very painful. *shudder*
Posts: 14428 | Registered: Aug 2001
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Complications from mono if you ignore it too long till the doctor is amazed that you could even have the strength to come in: Chronic tonsillitis even after the mono itself is gone. In a wild series of events last year, I went into the ER, and had my gall bladder out, and was exposed to mono, 6 weeks to the day later diagnosed with mono, 6 weeks more to get well from that, 6 weeks after that, tonsils so fried they yank them out. OUCH. You feel like you want to die with mono, but recovery from the tonsils was 2000 times worse than the gallbladder.
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I am so glad I had my tonsills out before I had mono. Still don't know exactly when or how I was exposed. I did want to die from it though, did't make those last three weeks of school easy.
Posts: 5362 | Registered: Apr 2004
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Virus that changes the host genome = retrovirus. If you look at it really close with a microscope, it's covered with bright colored shag and platform shoes.
Posts: 11017 | Registered: Apr 2003
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