Mono symptoms - how did it start for you?

Ears, nose and throat
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hello everyone. this is my first post here. I apologise for the length of it but hope someone will read and respond!

I suffer from health anxiety in regards to HIV. I stupidly had unprotected sex almost 12 weeks ago with a childhood friend who has assured me he is clean.

4 weeks and 4 days after I had sex with him, so went to the doctor about something and also asked for a full std test. All tests came back negative including a combination (antigen/antibody) hiv test.

not long after that, I started googling all about hiv and the symptoms etc and became extremely extremely extremely anxious.

At about this time, my best friend and her 1 yo daughter had glandular fever. I saw them about 10 days before they had symptoms however we did not kiss or anything like that. I also have 2 young children who did interact and touch her child.

anyway, at about 5.5 weeks after having sex, I started getting daily headaches. then a few days later I started getting hot flashes. I don’t know if I had a fever but I did not feel feverish. Then I had a period of a few hours of extreme dizziness.

the day after my dizzy spell I woke up and felt terrible. I felt extremely weird and fatigued. it kind of felt like i couldnt see properly, or my vision was just different. I definitely did not feel cpnfident enough to drive. Then along with the weird feeling a couple days later, I woke up with a mildly sore throat on the left side only this only happened when I first woke up and went away after 3 days. I should add I don’t have tonsils.

I went to the doctor and had another hiv test about a week or so after these symptoms started. this was at 7 weeks and 1 day. again the test was negative.

since then I have had more symptoms. the weird feeling has pretty much gone away now but I have been having strange feelings in my lymph nodes just above my Adams apple? I also woke up one day with a burning/warm feeling on my inner elbow.

then I had a sore underarm and have noticed I have 1 swollen lymph node in my left armpit. I also have a sore left side up the top of my back and also sore left side of neck and my left chest muscle hurts too. I seem to be experiencing a lot of things on my left side. I did have twitching on my left cheek for about 3 days, and a twitch on my left calf, and pain in my left knee.

it’s now been about 6 weeks since all these symptoms started. I am still extremely tired all the time but I don’t feel weird. I got a sore throat a few days ago in my right side Which then ended up being both sides the day after. now I have a swollen lymph node on the right side near my Adams apple.

I have also noticed one of my toes feels a bit numb at times.

photo of where the swollen lymph node is

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Vanessa, here I leave you with how my story unfolded.

“Hello, I’ve recently been diagnosed with Mono. The lead up to it all began when I felt I wasn’t able to recover from my workouts. I thought , hey, no biggie, maybe I’ve been pushing myself a bit at work and gym more than usual. A couple days went by and I noticed upon getting home from work I felt like my head felt a little funny (floaty). Then, upon waking up in the morning I felt as if I hadn’t gotten enough sleep. My eyes felt heavy. This continued for a few days and I started to get a little suspicious. Despite this, I did my best to shrug it off. I continued work (I’m a mechanic btw). So, then I started noticing muscle fatigue at work. Although it was slight it was still noticeable . Being an Industrial Mechanic is very physical job. I started noticing my muscles would get fatigued doing tasks I would normally have no problem with. I’d be lying if I said I wasn’t worried at this point. One day it hit me when I woke up. I felt very weak and fatigued. I was very worried at this point and decided to go out to dinner to get the heck out of the house. I remember being at the restaurant and wanting to fall asleep at the table I was sitting at. At this point there was no denying something was up. My legs felt weak and tired just walking a few steps! I started feeling this fatigue/weakness in my shoulders back and chest not long after. Bad. I then developed this lump type sensation in my throat that made it slightly difficult to pass food. I Would eat but felt like nothing would stick. Tasks became too difficult at work and I ended up taking time off. Over the next few days I developed night sweats and occasional headaches. I became very scared, sad, and depressed. Really depressed. I immediately made Drs. appointment. The first Dr suspected anxiety but proceeded with blood work. The tests came back negative. I wasn’t convinced. I ended up making an appointment with my primary after he had come back from vacation. I gave him a full list of my symptoms. He listened and ordered some more blood work. Sometime went by and I checked back online for my results. Turns out I tested positive fir mono. Sorry for the long post I’ve just been having an extremely difficult time dealing with all of this. I stay strong in front of people but the reality is I cry behind closed doors. I hope I can find people to relate to here. I continue to experience the same symptoms. Fatigue/weakness, sweats, weightloss despite eating, sleepiness, headaches, trouble passing some food. I’m just in a state of fear. I have no one else to go to I feel like. I hope to hear back from you all soon.”

0 likes, 29 replies

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Hi Vanessa,

So sorry to hear that you have been going through this dreadful and frightening time this past 6 weeks or so, just wanted you to know I picked up your message and was thinking about you.

I went through mono / glandular fever about 12 years ago and it really was an awful time and experience, and I do empathise with these symptoms. I know you mentioned that you had tests done for STD an HIV, you did the right thing and I do hope that it can put your mind at rest that there is nothing untoward in that respect. Just wanted to check if you had a blood test done for mono / glandular fever also? Usually they can do a simple blood test which can show up for mono, so definitely would advise to have the doctor check for that if not already done so.

If it is something like mono or glandular fever, I really want to reassure you that it will get better and you will get through it. It can be such an intense and horrible virus and leave you feeling really drained and unwell, and the swollen or painful lymph nodes can be a symptom too, and it’s so important to get rest and look after yourself with it. So many people (myself included) naturally try to push through like it were a normal cold or flu but this virus really needs respect and rest and for you to take time out from anything causing stress (e.g. work. studies, etc).

But of course it may not be that, so it’s definitely important to ask the doc for a blood test for mono / glandular fever. And even if it is that, don’t panic because even though it is a nasty and horrible virus, you will get better and get over it - it can be stubborn and take a little time, but truly you will get better!

Thinking about you and let us know how you are doing and how you get on if you do or have managed to get a blood test for mono. This is a really good and supportive forum and please message any time, as I remember how dreadful it was to go through this virus and how much support I needed from others, through and from God. But of course don’t jump to conclusions either first thing is just to find out if it is mono or not, and either way I truly believe you are going to get through it and get better - hang in there, and message any time - let us know how you are doing over the next while Vanessa.

Craig

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jayce how are you doing? This sounds a lot like my story also. I am an ironworker and i tried to push through it during duck season with a lot of strenuous work and little sleep driving from alabama to arkansas and i finally crashed and have felt pretty unwell since. A lot of random pains weakness and tiredness and i developed stomach issues during it too. Did you get any breathlessness like you had to try to breath a little harder i hate that the most and brings on my anxiety pretty good. I hope everyone is feeling a little better every day as i know i do not fee near as bad as i did but at the same time and no where near myself but i did get engaged on a happier note and get to marry my best friends and the person that has been here for me through all of this pretty soon so i am excited for that. I guess it will be the biggest upside by far in this illness i have had for months. I do not care for hunting fishing golfing drinking with friends anymore. I am just worried about being able yo spend time with her because i owe it to her and not feel terrible or worried the whole time symptoms will pop up. I am also trying to quit dipping which between mono and dipping i developed acid reflux pretty bad which is not very comfortable at all. Stressful months i have had but maybe soon it can be over for all of us and we can get back to living normal lives.

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I had breathlessness once on the highway. That along with a deep sensation of fatigue in my back and chest. Like, it wasn’t just surface fatigue, if that makes sense. It was a really bad feeling Josh.