Who else has had mono?

[JenniferInOhio]

I had it when I was 18 ~ 13 years ago.

[ariella]

ditto, only for me it was 16 years ago when I was 19

[lalalisa]

I ended up getting mononucleosis in college - 6 years ago. I began having weird neurological symptoms but was in general able to work and run (3 miles/day). 3 years later I got mono again (reactivated infection) - I began passing out and having dizzy spells/etc. - I was diagnosed with POTS and CFS over the next few months. In other words after having mono I haven't been the same since.

It seems to me that some people are more susceptible to a chronic illness after a virus. For example my mom had viral meningitis which turned into CFS for about 5 years. My younger brother battled a viral illness about 8 months ago and now has CFS.

Interesting post, I also often wonder who has had mono.

Lisa

[morgan617]

I haven't had it but my son and husband both have. My son got down to 120 pounds with it. He is right at 6 feet tall, so was pretty sick. Hubs lost 15 pounds. But neither has any potsy symptoms and it's been several years for both of them...

[wareagle]

I was suspected of having EBV or mono when I first got sick..I think I may have had it in highschool about 12 years ago and was just never dx.

If you look at the "what causes POTS" section on DINET's main page you'll find that EBV is one of the main viruses thought to be a trigger for POTS..so Yes, for some of us there is a definate correlation between the two.

[Guest Belinda]

ah-what a question ..when i first started getting dizzy they tested me negative on the active mono but i showed up positive for the ebv igg antibodies..only i never remember having it..and they said I must've had it recently becuse they were very high..HMMMM.

[hockeykid]

I have tested positive for EBV and mono. I am not sure but I think that one of those set off my POTS. I think my POTS was genetic but the virus was what set it off.

[ramakentesh]

Assuming that studies at the Baker Institite are correct and that POTS is caused by hypermethylation of the NET gene promoter, they have found that certain drugs can hypermethylate genes - such as roaccutane - and they think that viruses will do it as well - Mono being the biggest culprit.

As for CFS, they recently found that a gene that regulates a certain type of white cell as being altered in CFS patients. Its all very interesting - medicine is finding answers.

[Evie]

I had mono and its what caused me to crash. I have never recoverd. I was treated for depression when i was struggling to get out of bed and the tests came back negative. 6 months later i crashed again and tests said that had had it as well as a previous infection. I dont know how long it takes for tests to come back postive or if you can have false negative tests but i think i originally had mono and depression as a result.

Bronchitis and Mono give me the freaks ... i dread ever catching them again.

[Radha]

i had mono, pretty bad case of it, in 92, i was 14, have never been same since, since then had more and more health problems, before that was so healthy and active,

radha

[mom4cem]

I tested positive for having had mono, though I don't know when I exactly had it. I guess either it was not severe enough or it was during one of the times when they thought I had strep.

[yikespanic]

Back in Dec 04 when I was so sick they did a mono test, came back neg, but they also ran other tests and they showed I had had mono in the past I had antibodies to it. But I never remember having it.

Kim

[lthomas521]

Eventually, nearly everyone gets an Epstein-Barr virus infection (which causes "mononucleosis" or "glandular fever" but might occur without causing any symptoms), yet only a tiny minority get POTS. Many are called, but few are chosen, I guess. Or maybe the EBV has nothing to do with POTS. No one knows.

I was very sick for about 18 months after I had mono, but I recovered and then was healthy for about 10 years. Mono is notorious for causing prolonged fatigue, but not all fatigue is POTS.

[gwen]

I was tested for mono again this summer after my daughter had a bad case of mono. I have never had mono or any of the EBV's. Dr. said there is a newly found strain of EBV and she wonders if I might have had it. Again my tests came back stinkin' normal.

[Sunfish]

i had a bad case of mono at eleven and was never the same. it wasn't a dramatic onset of POTS or syncope or other autonomic issues right after but looking back that's my theorized "trigger point" for my entry into the land of dysautonomia.

melissa

Edited December 17, 2005 by Sunfish

[Jillybeanbme]

I got Mono for the first time when I was 5 yrs old. I just recently got it again and it kicked my butt!!! I was out of work for over 7 weeks. I slept so much that one day just blurred into the next. About the only thing it was good for was the 10lbs I lost from not having an appetite.

I tried to look up info about mono, the most I could find said that once you have mono the virus never leaves your body and anytime your immune system is down or compromised it can come back. That is so NOT comforting to know!!!

Jill

[pamela]

12 or 13 years old I had a bad bout of it that included 3 weeks of bed rest and some liver damage that almost kept me from takimg the pill. I have been told that the effects and some of the symptoms reaccur and never go away even though you are no longer actively infected or cannot pass it on. I had it as a young teenager and am 33 now.

[BuddyLeesWife]

My husband had Epstein-Barr virus in 1998 and while we believe it kicked his symptoms into full gear it does not seem to be the cause. His identical twin was not diagnosed with EBV and his symptoms increased in severity within a years time so it appears that aging has something to do with thier verison of this disorder.

[dawn]

I had mono when I was 14. I remember being out of school for a month. My spleen was very enlarged I looked like I was 7 months pregnant. I really feel my POTS is genetic though. I try to pin it on the mono or the lymes, but in all reality I think I had it since birth. As a small child I always told my mother that my heart was beating so fast and I had terrible tummyaches.

Dawn

[JaneEyre9]

I had a terrible case of mono when i was 15....Was treated with steroids because my throat was swelling shut (had strep too). I don't think my body's ever been the same since.

[MightyMouse]

Pretty much everyone in the general population has had mono at least once, so it's difficult to make any conclusions based on EBV positive test results. Personally, I've had active ebv at least two times, once at 19 and once at 26, and it had nothing at all to do with my POTS and NCS development.

Nina