<p>My DD just completed her first semester as a transfer student at UNC-CH. As whole it was a great experience. She loved her classes, made friends, liked her roommates, lived through a dismal 8-1 football season. </p>
<p>Around Thanksgiving she complained that although she was sleeping 12 hours a night she was exhuasted and anxious. She started seeing a psychologist and psychiatrist who treated her for depression. (She had had an episode of depression once before--though we thought it was due to an awful living situation.) She was having a really hard time getting up for class and she missed a few (2-4) in each class. She confided to her teachers that she was being treated for depression and brought letters from her psychiatrist.</p>
<p>I made an appointment for her to see the family doc the day she returned. It turned out that she has mono not depression. Thankfully she has a long break and has slept 18-20 hours a day and now seems to be recovering, but when the grades came in she had 1 A and 3 Cs. She tranferred to UNC-CH with a 3.5.</p>
<p>Two Points:
1) Always get a physical check-up when you think you have symptoms of depression--many medical problems present in a similar manner.</p>
<p>2) Does anyone know if there is any retroactive recourse for her grades which were low due to attendance not poor work?</p>
<p>wow..so sorry her mono wasn't diagnosed properly. What an ordeal. I would certainly praise her a lot for her efforts to get herself treated and for being so responsible while feeling awful and for her following care guidelines by her psychiatrists, but jeesh..they should have done that blood test on a college kid. I picked up my former freshman at Duke a year ago and he was peaked and a bit woozy but I thought it was from finals. He had not had raging fevers and was just a "bit warm" on the forehead. After two days of sleeping around the clock I took him to our pediatrician who made an accurate guess confirmed with the blood test which came back positive for mono. So my son was diagnosed within one week! He rested a entire month of a very convenient winter break but I have to say I think the mono also affected his alertness even when he was "recovering" spring term..his "edge" mentally was not there, he is a terrible napper so sleep was somewhat always inadequate for mono recovery, he had a hard time memorizing when a bit hazy and was just only 80% "back" and he ended up withdrawing from a class he was in danger of making a D or F in to save his GPR last spring. This fall he took the same class and made a B plus, returned to working out in the gym and we feel his grades reflected his actual best effort. There was a tremendous improvement in his ability to upload info 9 months later. His advisors allowed him to state mono as the reason he withdrew last spring, and supported his decision which cost us some bucks since the course was paid for.<br>
You might have your daughter set up an appointment with her advisors to review the events and see if there are any specific options within UNCCH guidelines that could be applied due to her misdiagnosis and subsequent lack of proper rest and recovery period--use of a Pass fail option for instance particularly since she may take more classes than required anyway before graduating. I admire what she accomplished while fighting the hazy mental state mono causes. I also think employers or applications to grad school could include a simple statement on UNCCH letter head that she was adversely affected by undiagnosed mono during Semester X. Most employers etc understand that this is a common issue and you might be surprised at how little anyone would care about her C's with such a simple explanation.
I would certainly ask to meet with an academic dean to see what kind of ideas he or she might have. But your daughter certainly handled a tough season with a lot of backbone, didn't she? I also don't recommend taking the hardest courses she can anticipate the semester after mono resolves from our experience. Take more reasonable courses and encourage her to resume physical fitness regimes over time to get more alert and strong.</p>
<p>When I had mono the summer after my freshman year of college I had a temp. above 102 and a throat that hurt so much I couldn't even stand to drink anything. I didn't do the sleeping 20 hours a day thing because the pain kept me from sleeping much at all. But the tiredness wasn't really that bad for me and I was back at work after a couple of weeks. </p>
<p>Interesting how different the symptoms can be between people.</p>
<p>Dd had mono w/ fevers of 104 and night sweats, large swollen glands. She became ill about 5 weeks before the end of the semester and had to come home after a week of toughing it out, because she was afraid she would pass out getting down from her loft bed. (She got dehydrated because of the high fevers, etc.) She slept for a week at home, then flew back to school to finish a few classes and take an incomplete in two other. She finished those off over the summer, right before she left for her study abroad program in mid-July. Mono is a strange beast, and manifests iteslef many ways. In some ways I think it is easier if it fits the "classic" symptoms of swollen glands, fever, fatigue - then it is easier to identify and get accomodations for.</p>
<p>I agree with Faline that your daughter should meet with a dean to see what options there may be within UNC's guidelines/policies. I can share with you that my son had a rough semester due to illness and a subsequent surgery (missing 2 weeks of school, plus a few classes prior to surgery). He finished out the semester, but the dean told him that if this semester was a "blip" on his record the school would be more than happy to write letters for him explaining the situation to any employer or grad school.</p>
<p>I was in med school- studying Hodgkin's disease (a cancer that causes large lymph nodes, what are commonly called "glands"), when I woke up with large nodes on one side of the neck. Next morning- the other side was enlarged. Checked the book- yup, it was Hodgkin's, and it was spreading fast! Fearfully went to the school MD- no fever, sore throat and it was med school so everyone was tired- and was so relieved that it was mono. Yes, it presents differently in kids- and it was really stupid of the docs not to first r/o physical causes before proceeding to diagnose depression. Best of luck to your D.</p>
<p>i actually just came off from having mono for my first semester...classes ended a wednesday, we had thursday off, and then saturday morning i woke up with a raw throat, headache, and just feeling kind of lousy...sunday i was worse, coughing, sneezing, dry throat, painful sinuses, and what felt like walnuts on the back of my head at the base of my skull...by the time monday morning rolled around, i had a fever, coughing, everything, and i had just gotten out of my chem final, pretty certain i failed it...i went to our school health center and the best they could do was treat me for a sinus infection and they ended up giving me a shot of penicillin...i was ridiculously tired, and i just slept, studied, and tested until thursday...when my mom came to pick me up, i slept for 2/3.5 hours home, then crashed that night...luckily, she had made me an appointment for the next morning with the doc, and she gave me two days to try to feel better and gave me antibiotics just in case it really was a bad sinus infection...i ended up getting blood work done two days later, and found out i had mono, which was good because i had 4.5 weeks to recover...
however, it took me about 2 to really get back on my feet, and now, i feel almost 100% better...i just seemed to have reealllyy swollen glands, and generally tired
i think mono is hard to detect, espeically around finals times, because kids assume theyre tired from studying/staying up...i figured the same thing, as i hadent slept more than 6 hours a night for almost two weeks...my doc told the best way to figure it out is to basically be a three-year-old again: sleep for 9-10 hours a night, and nap 2 hours in the afternoon for 3 days, and if by the 3rd night you can still sleep, get checked</p>
<p>I had mono in high school. Not a fun experience. Apparently I had an extremely severe case and was almost hospitalized. I remember feeling tired for a couple weeks, then waking up in the middle of the night shaking. I had an incredibly high fever and could barely walk. The next 2 weeks I was so sick I only vaguely remember bits and pieces of it (my mom trying to get me to drink water, etc.). Then one more week of me recovering and able to move around, and another week of me getting tutoring for half days (until I was too tired) at home. Then ANOTHER week of attending school half-time.</p>
<p>The result was that I failed a semester of English and a bunch of other grades dropped too. I had to retake the semester and was dropped from honors English. They would never let me back into honors, either. And yes, they knew of my medical condition. Nice, huh?</p>
<p>I had mono during finals in my sophomore year of college. I managed to get through exams but when I flew home, my parents met me at the airport and drove me directly to the doctor. He determined that I had mono AND hepatitis (mono hepatitis, not the usual severe type, but still..) and was hospitalized for 7 days, 3 of them in isolation. I spent nearly the whole summer on my back, but recovered in time to return for my junior year. </p>
<p>I really had no idea how sick I was while I was at school - just thought I was tired from the allnighters.</p>
<p>i know a grl who was freshman when i was a 8th grader...she had mono was out 1.5 months of school at the beginning of the yr and she got all of her hw and classwork..but in living environment(regents bio equivelant)u have a lot of labs...i mean a lot! She had a really bad teacher and when she came back she failed to mention she didnt do quite a few labs and it was that way until 2 weeks b4 the regents..oh ur missing a bunch of labs(she didnt miss ne but those)she said and this grl said i did all of them she said at the beginning of the yr...the grl said i asked u and u said there wasnt any! she had no grades below a 95 that yr and she had to take the class over b/c of the fact even if ur missing 1 lab just b4 the regents u cannot take it...i misplaced a few but in the end my teacher helped me..how i know this story is b.c the class she was placed in the next yr in my freshman yr was mine</p>
<p>When my son got sick the end of Aug. with sore throat, swollen lymph nodes and tiredness, he was treated repeatedly with antibiotics and was also tested every visit for mono. The physicians explained that it can take up to 4 weeks for a "mono spot" to turn positive after a person becomes ill with the symptoms.</p>
<p>I'll confirm that testing for mono is often ineffective early in the course of the disease. A false negative is common, and our doctors over the years have made this clear. The more I learn about "modern medicine," the less I trust it to solve our health problems.</p>
<p>From the CDC...
[quote]
In most cases of infectious mononucleosis, the clinical diagnosis can be made from the characteristic triad of fever, pharyngitis, and lymphadenopathy lasting for 1 to 4 weeks. Serologic test results include a normal to moderately elevated white blood cell count, an increased total number of lymphocytes, greater than 10% atypical lymphocytes, and a positive reaction to a "mono spot" test. In patients with symptoms compatible with infectious mononucleosis, a positive Paul-Bunnell heterophile antibody test result is diagnostic, and no further testing is necessary. Moderate-to-high levels of heterophile antibodies are seen during the first month of illness and decrease rapidly after week 4. False-positive results may be found in a small number of patients, and false-negative results may be obtained in 10% to 15% of patients, primarily in children younger than 10 years of age.
<p>coarranged, the detailed CDC statement sounds terribly convincing. The CDC also reports that Hep B immunizations are safe and effective, and that thimerosal is worth the risk. The two pediatricians in our family, and others we've consulted over the years, dispute all of the above.</p>
<p>I don't have an MD, let alone done medical research on these diseases, so I don't feel I'm in a place where I can fairly question the CDC on this subject. I'm not saying the CDC is without error, just that I'm not in a position where I can confidently point it out.</p>
<p>Be sure that your daughter definitely rests a lot! It's not uncommon for mono to relapse (it happened to me about a month after the original diagnosis). My doctor said that relapses are often more severe and if you STILL do not rest, you can be stuck with the symptoms for up to a year.</p>
<p>Ds was dx with mono a month before heading off to his freshman year half way across the country. He only had extreme exhaustion and boy were we lucky. In fact, the doctor told me at the exam my son did not have mono but he tested for it anyway. He ended up with one swollen lymph node and the exhaustion. A friend's son ended up in a big city hospital for 6 days with mono right around the same time. Luckily ds bounced back quickly and feels his mono is over. Yes, take it easy. Leslie</p>
<p>My niece apparently caught the bug at a summer swim meet at which she qualified for a big international meet, next year. A couple of weeks into this fall's term, the bug came out of incubation and placed her in bed for 2 weeks, and out of training for 2 months. She was very careful during those 2 months not to encourage a relapse.</p>
<p>Once those grades are registered, it is pretty hard to change them, but you might see if there is an appeal process to drop the courses retroactively, going through a university ombudsperson. (What her grades were before the illness would be an important issue.) There might be some consideration of liability because of misdiagnosis, assuming the doctors who diagnosed depression were at her school. However, she might run into problems concerning financial aid if she were to lose full time student standing. On the other hand, she might have a scholarship which requires a certain grade point average. A bit of a sticky wicket, as the saying goes.....good luck to her.</p>