<p>My son called me today and told me he wasn't feeling well and had an appointment at the University health service. He has been complaining of being tired, and has a sore throat. They did a mono test which came up negative, but they do suspect mono. We are leaving to see him tomorrow for parents weekend. He said the health service would call him if the test came out positive. I don't know what to do. Do kids stay in school when they get a diagnosis of mono? I am hoping its just a virus and pure exhaustion. He is running for the XC team which is his love and will be devastated if this is the end for this season. He does live with another student, I am worried about him getting it as well. Any suggestions would help.</p>
<p>Just be glad he got medical attention early in the process - that will help him begin the recovery quickly. I thought my son was just acting like a listless teenager until he woke up the second big day of finals his sophomore year and said he just couldn't go to school! It turned out to be an obvious case of mono, and I felt bad I didn't take him to the doctor about a month earlier. In the meantime, he had taken AP and SAT II tests, and had managed to get through his first day of finals. Not stellar scores in that round! </p>
<p>Based on our experience, I imagine your son will need to take it easy (no running) for at least a few weeks, maybe longer, but could likely continue going to classes and studying. Unless it's a very severe case, he will be up and moving around for long stretches during a given day, but just have less energy. </p>
<p>I wouldn't worry about the roommate unless they've been sharing water bottles or toothbrushes. </p>
<p>Good luck to him for a speedy recovery!</p>
<p>My D was diagnosed with mono while she was in college. Student health services contacted all her profs and she was given deadline extensions on assignments. </p>
<p>She did drag herself to her classes but feel into bed afterwards. She needed a lot of rest but did not need to come home. It may depend on the individual case though.</p>
<p>The blood test is often negative very early on, so he should be retested in a week. Rest, rest, and more rest/ good nutrition and hydration are mandatory.
Oh it's so hard to be a mom when your ds feels lousy and isn't home! His profs are used to this diagnosis, and should be helpful re:asssignments/missed class work if necessary. Best of luck to him! You'll also feel better just seeing him and giving the mom TLC!</p>
<p>There have been some good threads on mono recently, search for them.
Mono can vary greatly in severity. Affected people should stop contact sports, and avoid activities that could lead to a fall, like ultimate Frisbee for instance. I'm not sure about XC, he should consult a doc, but I don't really think he will feel like it anyway.
Hopefully it is just a bug.</p>
<p>It really varies. I got mono mostly over Christmas vacation and I don't think in the end I had to put off exams or papers. (Which were in mid-January.) My husband ended up getting some incompletes when he got sick just before finals. He had a much worse case where he ended up in the infirmary on Demoral.</p>
<p>Had mono 2nd semester of my freshman year and made the mistake of thinking I could get through my full load of classes. I should have dropped one. Must avoid any contact sports (spleen enlarges and is susceptible to rupture if one gets hit in the gut). Tell son to take it easy and drop a class if he has any doubt he'll make a speedy recovery. I remember being absolutely exhausted and I was 400 miles from home with no one to nurse me. GOOD LUCK!</p>
<p>Hello Almost -- If your son does not get better and he develops a swelling in his throat, be sure he sees an ENT. There is a very difficult to diagnose illness called peritonsillar abscess (PTA) a.k.a. quinsy. If strep and mono are ruled out, the doctor should also rule out PTA by needle biopsy (the gold standard) or ultrasound of the throat. Our D never had either of these because by the time she got diagnosed it was visually obvious what it was.</p>
<p>Our daughter has had two bouts with (PTA). Symptoms are fever that does not respond well to meds, swelling of throat, difficulty opening jaw and swallowing due to severe swelling of the throat (inside and out). You cannot leave PTA untreated.</p>
<p>Both times her diagnosis was delayed by drs who have never seen PTA...I guess it is not very common (?). She had it in 2004 and this summer while away at camp. She was seen by 4 doctors this summer before she was diagnosed--by that time she was so swollen she had no neck on one side of her face! All the docs were told of her history but the first 3 said it was not PTA. She had surgery both times to drain the abscess, but this time they took her tonsils so she should never get it again.</p>
<p>I hope your son is feeling better soon!</p>
<p>Thanks for all the information. We live 400 miles away as well which makes this more difficult. We are leaving soon and will assess the situation. I did not ask my son if they did a strep test, I assume they did.</p>
<p>Re: Speech529</p>
<p>My son had the opposite misdiagnosis. He ended his spring term last year with a fever, terribly swollen throat, and visibly swollen neck. Had strep test which came back negative, and xrays and ct scan. Saw doctors at local clinic near school and emergency room of closest major hospital. All treating him for PTA. He was actually transported by ambulance to the major hospital because the Ear, Nose and Throat doc near school was on vacation and the clinic thought he may have to have the abcess drained. Emergency room doc decided it didn't need to be drained and sent him packing with care instructions for PTA. Came home and saw his regular physician who referred him to local Ear, Nose,Throat guy who immediately diagnosed mono and sent him for the blood test which came back positive.</p>
<p>My daughter got mono in the spring of 2006 and was exhausted for weeks. She became very very sick in the early summer with the usual sore throat and high fever. She also had a very swollen spleen that caused abdominal pain, and lots of swollen lymph nodes. Despite all of these rather obvious symptoms, her pediatrician missed it. He did the mono test too early, and refused to do another one. The office actually treated us as if we were a bother....kept telling us to 'come back next week'. He sent her for 6 rounds of blood work over the summer, and she was just getting worse each day. He finally repeated the mono test, which came out highly positive. We changed doctors. Her exhaustion, swollen spleen and hepatitis persisted into the spring of her junior year. She had 3 CAT scans on her spleen before it finally calmed down. Unbelievably, she just had a recurrence of the mono in August--as per highly elevated blood values again. Thank god it only lasted a week this time. I'm still angry at the first doctor. I think that if we had known it was mono we could have made her rest more and maybe it wouldn't have lasted so long.</p>
<p>My sister came home from college at Christmas break in the mid 80's with all the above symptoms... when still not better after New Years, had mono confirmed w/ doc (I don't know what tests they did then.). Anyway, she got so bad that she missed the entire semester (she was to go abroad then, so it was a good thing she stayed home.). She made up the missed semester with 2 summer sessions and graduated on time. She calls that semester her "StarTrek and Soap Opera" semester since she watched a lot of (bad!) tv. I think the drugs/treatments and diagnoses are much better now though.</p>
<p>Good luck!</p>
<p>I've posted this in other threads - D1 had a straight exposure to mono, developed all the classic symptoms, went to the student health center, told them this, and they would only test for strep, not mono. Yes, I helicoptered in (figuratively), called the health center (with her authorization to them to do so), and asked them to test her for mono because she was calling me at 1AM, crying her throat hurt so bad, spitting into a cup because she couldn't swallow - they wouldn't do it.</p>
<p>Over two weeks she slowly improves, takes finals, comes home and within eight hours relapses. Goes to our family physician, who immediately tests for mono, and it comes back highly positive, too. She spends most of the summer recuperating, not able to get a job. I sent a letter to the university health center, copied a couple of other administrators, and of course never heard back. We now have resources for health care in her college town that do not include the student health center as we, too, live 700+ miles away, and can't just pop in for a TLC visit.</p>
<p>My son also runs cross country - he does swim team and track as well. He was diagnosed with mono two years ago and only missed a few days of school. The doctor said it was fine for him to attend classes but he really pushed himself to get to class. He did miss some track that year - he was just too tired to run - but he was able to run at the end of the season. Last year it looked like a repeat case of mono (it is the Epstein Barr virus, which never goes away just stays in remission for awhile). He was doing swim team at the time time and insisted on swimming - after the first meat he was taken to the hospital because they thought he burst his spleen. Moral of the story? As much as he loves cross country he should not push himself because the consequences can be severe.</p>
<p>They push themselves and get worse....My D insisted on going to work as a camp counselor all last summer and continuing in rehearsals at night. She performed with 103 fever! The darn doctor just kept telling us she was fine, and the fever would come and go every day...one minute it would be 97 and a few hours later it would go up to 103. I think her activity level was a big reason why it persisted for 9 months. And came back...jeez.</p>
<p>WOW- I COULD HAVE USED THIS THREAD LAST WEEK!!
FRESHMAN SON HAS MONO NOW!!!</p>
<p>Diagnosed at Univ Health Center last week. Seemed to differ from strep in that these kids feel incredibly sick. Worst sore throat, ever. Fever. Chills. Swollen glands. All the classic symptoms you find on "google". The rapid strep and rapid mono were negative, but they took 2 vials of blood to test and the MD called my son the next day to tell him the blood work came back positive for mono. He let him know all the details. Do's and Don'ts. Drink fluids. He took advil and tylenol. Slept and rested. Missed classes . Son emailed all histeachers who were incredibly sympathetic.</p>
<p>I immediately called sons doctor. Seems like the health center did everything right (gave me confidence). Although, if he were in HS, he would be home from school for 2 weeks and followed up weekly by his doctor. Told not to worry about the roommate. Will be OK. Just no sharing cups/utensils etc. which is not the case. (Knew to cover his nose/mouth if sneezing and to wash hands, etc.) I called the roommates Mom. Fortunately, she was familiar with mono and not worried that the boys needed to be separated. I Felt badly though as it is not fun for well roomie to be with such a sick roomie so early in the term.</p>
<p>Acute stage lasts for 1-2 weeks. His seemed to last a bit less than a week . (probably had milder symptoms a few days before he went to the Health Center which I am not counting). Then tired phase can last up to 6 months. This week he is tired but sounds great. We've told him to get a good nights sleep and rest during the day as needed. No sports, not even non-contact until next semester (and after he comes home for winter break and can see his doctor here.)</p>
<p>Incubation period: Different sites vary but it looks like 20, or 30-50 days. He likely got it the end of camp. Someone can have it so mildly they don't even know they have it and pass it on during the contagious stage. Contagious stage- highly contagious during the acute phase (but the simple precautions mentioned above really lessen that). Only slightly contagious after that.</p>
<p>My best friends son called with same symptoms this week. (Have not been together since June so one could not get it from each other or given to them from the same person. ) Also so sick. Asked to come home. Later said he was dying. Went to his health center at his college. Rapid strep and rapid mono were negative although they told him it looked like mono and gave him literature on it. Also drew bloods. Called him later that day to tell him he had a bacterial infection (strep or other?) showing up on the blood work. Gave him antibiotics. They still felt he may have mono, but is doing a bit better so I guess it's not. </p>
<p>It was difficult to know what to do. We're in NY, He's in Florida. The big question was what do we do if we go down. Keep him in a hotel with us? Fortunately, he did OK on his own although we felt as badly emotionally as he felt physically. It is tough being far from home. Didn't know if he could handle a plane ride either. My friend had the same dilemma- go down? Get him up here. It's not easy when the kids are out of state. (I mailed down a box of microwavable soup and easy mac, although son still didn't get it---his school is really bad with accepting packages. They have so much mail to their big dorm that they say they don't have room to store it so they turn it away. Doesn't seem right but that's for another thread!!</p>
<p>FYI- If the tests come out negative and the child is still so sick 3-4 days later, they will draw bloods again to retest for mono/strep as it may have been too early the first time to show up. No meds needed unless a secondary infection develops, i.e. strep or sinus infection.</p>
<p>Almostlaunched and any other parents of sick kids, hope they all make it through quickly.</p>