Does anybody know anything about the postsymptoms of mononucleosis?

The Mayo Clinic does not mention 18 mos.

“The fever usually drops in 10 days, and swollen lymph glands and spleen heal in 4 weeks. Fatigue usually goes away within a few weeks, but may linger for 2 to 3 months.

Persons with mononucleosis may be contagious while they have symptoms and for up to a few months afterwards. How long someone with the disease is contagious varies.”

Mayo Clinic

Some people get mono and are very sick, some not so much. Some people test positive for exposure in blood tests and don’t remember ever being sick with it. If you have liver inflammation, hepatitis, it last different amounts of time depending on the individual. From what I understand most people are weakened for quite a while, even though they are basically recovered, so being careful not to be around other contagious people for several months would be prudent, because you are more likely to catch illnesses in general with a weakened immune system.

Mono is actually caused by the Ebstein-Barr virus, and once you catch it, you have it for life in that it always will show up in blood tests that you had it previously, you have the antibodies, same as chicken pox, or measles. Mono goes dormant after you recover, like other herpes viruses, but has been implicated in chronic fatigues syndrome as a possible cause later in life. Similar to how chicken pox later in life after initial infection can come back as shingles.

thanks guys. @JLeslie, the reason i asked this question is because ive been getting sick numerous times after having mono exactly a month ago. and i guess that explains me sleeping until 1 or 2 in the afternoon most of the time. But do you know how long im contagious? Ive kinda been bad about kissing my boyfriend, but he has a very strong immune system…

@ashsaintsfan I got mono right after graduation from college and starting a job. The acute phase was over in about a week, but I was dragging for about six months. I could put in an eight hour day, but that was it. I was taking a course after work, and that extra effort exhausted me. After about six months I was back to normal. I would swear I had a relapse a few years after that. I was pushing very hard at work and it felt like a relapse but couldn’t be diagnosed. It felt just like the start of the six months after I had it the first time.

@Adirondackwannabe…yeah thats exactly how i feel! i go to work then i feel exhausted! even though its not hard labor. i feel like all i do anymore is drag ass. it makes me feel like im lazy. and yeah, the actual BAD part lasted about a week, i had cysts in my throat, and my head, face, and throat was swollen… and i had chills and muscle spasms. Then it went away but now i just feel like i have constant jet lag…lovely.

@ashsaintsfan That’s exactly what I went through. You just have to let it run it’s course and don’t push yourself too hard because you will be a little more susceptible to getting other illnesses. On the plus side, I never infected my family, including my girlfriend. We were careful during the acute stage but after that no problems.

okay good! lol i didnt give it to anybody so far either. but ignorant people are like “ohhhhhhh you have a kissing disease!!” when in reality, you can get it from ANY contact with saliva. I only quarantined myself during that peak week, and everythings back to normal except ive had two “colds” since then…for some odd reason. lol ill just be glad when this is over.

Good luck with it , and Welcome to fluther.

I know my son was quite fatigued off and on for over a year after having mono. He also got strep and other things which he didn’t usually get before. He is perfectly fine now.

@ashsaintsfan I really doubt you are still contagious. I don’t know how long the contagious stage lasts, but I would guess it is a week or tw at the most, but total guess bases on other viruses. I have one word of caution for the future, since it seems you are young. If your boyfriend knew you were sick and was still willing to kiss you, when it is called the kissing disease and neither of you knew if it was still contagious or not, this is your first lesson that men do not think about getting sick when they are horny. Not related to kissing or sex. That’s it on my lecture. Hope you feel stronger soon.

You do run the risk of reinfecting yourself through kissing your boyfriend. Even though he doesn’t develop symptoms himself, he may be passing infection back to you. In addition to a mono test, you should be tested for Epstein-Barr disease. (EBV titer test)

@BarnacleBill That makes no sense to me. She can get reinfected from her boyfriend? Not unless that virus works very different than other ones. She now has the antibodies, her body knows how to fight if she has recovered. Like Chicken Pox, Measles, Mumps, etc, once you get it you don’t get it again unless you have something seriously wrong with your immune system, or you are the 1 in a million exception to the rule. Even the common cold you don’t catch the same rhinovirus twice. People who think their kids give it back and forth are wrong, once each kid has the same cold, if they get sick again, it is an all new rhinovirus they caught from some other person. Unless, I am mistaken and you can “catch” mono twice.

Now, it is possible if my memory serves, to have a kid of chronic mono EBV thing going on, but it does not sound like the OP is sick with mono still, it sounds like she had it and is still weak and keeps catchng other colds because she has not bother to be extra prudent.

@BarnacleBill…I cant get reinfected once ive already had it, its in my system for life. the worst it can do is flare up. The only concern i have is hurting other people. @JLeslie, thanks you have been very helpful :)

@barnaclebill… and of course ive already been tested for mono, thats how i found out i had it…And Epstein-Barr IS mono.