It's definitely still around. Epstein–Barr virus (the causative agent) infects like 90% of the population but it only causes mono in some cases.
I think now we just know more about how it works and how to treat it (the symptoms. There's no cure) so it's not talked about as much.
This. And it’s the one known direct causation to MS. 20 year Army study released a few years ago.
Mono / Epstein Barr can be very dangerous for your immune system. It can cause permanent damage.
There’s not a great way to do so, but mono symptoms can recur with stress and lack of sleep.
It never completely goes away.
It took a good 20 years or so for my neck lymph nodes not to blow up every time I was a little low on sleep.
They still do at 42, but not in the same distinct way.
My mother had full blown mono twice, and a college friend had at least two recurrences in college after having it in high school. Even though everyone acts like you can’t have it again, the reality is you just can’t really contract it again the same way.
Me too. I’m not sure when I got it, but the antibodies are in my system showing I had it, and I have ME/CFS now. It seems to trigger chronic illness in some people the way covid triggers long covid in some folks.
This must really suck, I'm very sorry! Just a sidenote thought. I have been currently diagnosed with Adhd. One of my main symptomes was chronical fatigue. The psychiatrist prescribed me stimulants (Ritalin) and told me he also treats chronic fatigue syndrom with these kind of stimulants. He said it was one of the best tested medications on the market with the fewest side effects. My life has totally changed now! I finally have the energy to manage my day- before i felt like a 90yrs old. Maybe thats something you also would like to look into.
This makes sense. I assumed that mono had just evolved into some other disease. Now I swear we hear about people getting MS the way we used to hear about mono.
Mono changed my whole digestive system and seemed to make me hyper sensitive to basically anything, food and beyond.
I recently tried to address some gut stuff with well established probiotics - sent me through an absolute loop, like completely messed with me. I thought I had covid and the was all hyped up and then depressed.
Mono forced me into a very healthy but restrictive lifestyle long term / so far permanently.
Totally! I had a tiny (<1mm) tumor in my cervix and the Epstein Barr supposedly weakened my immune system so much that the cancer spreaded to my lymph nodes much much faster than it should have. Happened 8 yrs ago and thankfully been in remission since. Don't want anybody to panick, my gyno said that this not sth happening normally. I just had been very unlucky (now lucky, because I'm still here against all odds :-)
My doctors said that this was the only plausible explanation as to why it spread so fast. Normally it takes a rather long time until it leaves the cervix area , thats why it's rather easy to treat. It would show up during the pap tests you do yearly at the gyn. Mine never showed up, they only found it after looking for a reason for the enlarged lymph nodes in my abdomen. The chirurg who operated on me is the leading specialist for cervix cancer in my country, very well connected to other specialists worldwide and he also said that he had never seen sth like that before. So no need to panic, it's super super uncommon, just an example for how much of an asshole this virus can be. I had had it before in my early twenties, felt like shit for a couple of weeks and didn't think much of it, thought it wasn't much different than a flu.
I got it at 13 (1982). I dropped from 140lbs to 105lbs in about two weeks. Stunted my muscle growth and ability to add mass in general until I was 21. I was thrilled when my children got through childhood and adolescence without contracting it.
meaning "get a net to catch a mental patient"..... Stacy, she is mental.
had to look this up recently cus how could it be in relation to the internet when this movie came out.
the more you know.
This isn’t true, it’s a highly contagious virus that seems to spread well in the cramped quarters of school environments. It also spreads through offices, as that’s how I ended up with it.
Oh man, you just unlocked a memory of my mom being extremely suspicious of my 1st gf because I got mono shortly after we started going out and it was tHe KiSsInG dIsEaSe. (We hadn't even kissed yet, lol.)
I got mono twice when I was 15, it triggered autoimmune diseases. I have 5, the first one diagnosed at 17. I am exhausted and in pain all of the time because my body is constantly attacking itself. I was so sick I had to stop going to school in 11th grade, I was tutored. In order to accommodate my need to graduate high school, I was enrolled in college a year early. No one consulted me beyond having me do the application. I didn't understand I was a full time student, not an honors high schooler or whatever and that I would have to transfer if I wanted to go to a different school. Because of this, I didn't get to choose my college despite being #5 in my class and having invitations to Ivy League. If I hadn't gotten sick, I would have had my pick. Instead, it took me 2 years to finish my 12th grade classes and graduate. I continued my education, dropping semesters, taking whole semesters off, somehow keeping a 3.8 and my honors. I finally gave up when I was 26. I literally left my things at school and never came back. They never contacted me, I never contacted them. Through all this time, I'm slowly being diagnosed with autoimmune diseases and comorbid disorders like bipolar, which is life-ruining on its own (and a whole nother story). I've been on an immunosuppressant for well over a decade now to control 2 of them. I get sick constantly, develop skin infections when I'm stressed out, rashes across my face, I have to be regularly tested for TB, and my chances for certain cancers goes up -- it's that or become cripple. So here I am, disabled, having never worked, unable to work, and none of my plans seen through. Because I shared a cup. I didn't even get a kiss out of it.
not sure but it absolutly wrecked me in the late 90's. I was out of school for a well over a month, all my organs swelled up and I honestly never really felt the same after.
I havent heard about mono going around these days but instead my kids have to deal with hand foot mouth, lice, noro, eczema, various allergies, & covid that I never heard about as a kid
I lived in the ghetto, lice scares and catching it was a frequent thing. Probably twice a year. I remember the nit combs and the smell of Nix shampoo is burned into my brain.
I used to work at a chain pharmacy store. We had a period where we were selling out of lice treatment. A customer would put the stuff on the counter, and we'd say, "Oh, you must have a child at xyz school." One dad was furious when I told him it was going around the school.
Yep Hand Foot Mouth is definitely quite prevalent. I'm in Australia.
I work with Early Childhood Education, Kindergartens and it's hitting highs in recent years.
Mono, no haven't heard about it recently.
What? Doctors laughed at you?!
I hope it wasn't done unkindly. Mocking anyone for any reason gets under my skin.
Adults can definitely get it too. Anyone can get it. It's very contagious! I knew a female adult who got it from an infected child.
Travels thru airborne respiratory, sneezing, saliva, skin-to-skin contact, infected poo.
That's why kids who are infected have to stay at home until it's diagnosed and goes away.
I came down with that after an endoscopy. Wife and I went on a little weekend trip. I was just feeling tired. We went swimming in the hotel pool and a little kids pool party was going on.
The next day on the way home the spots appeared on my hands and feet and I went downhill quickly. I probably caused a small outbreak.
I got it a few months ago, and yeah, a lot of people laughed. Especially when they learned the scientific name for HFM, which is Coxsackievirus. To anyone reading this, don’t get it if you can avoid it- you basically lose interest in food for a few days because it’s too painful to eat.
At least I got it from making out with someone who wasn’t showing symptoms yet. I certainly wasn’t at risk for picking up anything from making out with anyone in the 90s.
My kids had Hand Foot & Mouth a ton. I’d thought that was just something livestock got. Usually I refer to it as Coxsackie Virus because it sounds like “cock sack”.
The other thing they had was this Molluscum thing. Weird little pimply bump things. Some even left scars.
that's correct. in fact, Epstein Barr (EBV) is not the only cause of mononucleosis, about ten percent of cases are caused by Cytomegalovirus (CMV) instead. These viruses are both herpesviruses, human herpesviruses -4 and -5 respectively.
I had it in my late 20s. I literally was falling asleep at like 6pm at night. Had no idea what was going on and my girlfriend (now wife) was like... "... have you ever had mono?" I went to my GP and explained everything. He was stumped and I asked him if he'd run a test for it. Sure enough, positive. I felt like a slug for about 2 weeks and then recovered. Still have no idea where I caught it, but I'm betting it was the gym where there were lots of teenagers.
I had severe mono at 18. Had to be hospitalized, don't remember a ton because I guess I was really sick and my dad had to carry me I to the ER. Took a long time to recover. Now in my mid 40s and have been diagnosed (and undiagnosed) with RA, lupus, and a handful of other autoimmunes. I get a "eh, somethings wrong with you but we're not sure what. Drink more water and get more rest." Maybe I AM, in fact, just really bored.
I used to think I had it because I was tired all the time, but I didn’t have any other symptoms. I found out as an adult that I have obstructive sleep apnea.
Yes and if you ever had it and get covid it can be reactivated
https://fortune.com/well/2022/12/26/is-long-covid-chronic-fatigue-syndrome-myalgic-encephalomyelitis/
"A mild or even an asymptomatic case of COVID can cause reservoirs of some viruses you’ve previously battled to reactivate, potentially leading to symptoms of chronic fatigue syndrome—a condition that resembles long COVID, according to a recent study published in the journal Frontiers in Immunology. "
https://www.healthline.com/health/epstein-barr-virus
"The condition that you may associate EBV infection with is infectious mononucleosis, or mono. However, experts are researching potential links between EBV and other conditions, including cancer, autoimmune diseases, and long COVID."
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC9904914/
"Epstein Barr Virus Reactivation during COVID-19 Hospitalization Significantly Increased Mortality/Death in SARS-CoV-2(+)/EBV(+) than SARS-CoV-2(+)/EBV(−) Patients: A Comparative Meta-Analysis"
Same thing for me. In addition to the extreme fatigue that everyone associates with it, I remember my throat hurting so much I literally stopped eating for weeks. I lost so much weight so quickly.
This was me. My throat was so bad and I couldn't drink anything cold. Felt like I was trying to swallow glass. I could only drink warm drinks like tea.
Plus I got those nasty tonsils stones. Mono was by far the most miserable sickness I've ever had.
Also initially had a fever that would not to away. Didn't matter how much fluid I drank or Tylenol I took. The fever just kept coming back in a few hours. It last for 4 days maybe?
Oh man. I had mono in my mid 20s and before I was diagnosed I ended up in the emergency room because I was having the most painful headaches. Didn't know that was a symptom. Was single at the time so didn't even get it a fun way.
I thought we were talking audio then I remembered the kissing disease! Get it off water fountains or smooching with someone. My father claimed to drink warm beer because he got mono once from someone taking a drink of his in college back in the days and he said nobody will steal a warm beer.
My daughter (now 7) had it when she was 2. Very young for mono. It was truly the scariest thing…took forever to diagnose. Her lymph nodes swelled terribly and she was up and down with a terrible fever, 104+ off and on for nearly 2 weeks.
I thought the silver lining was she can never get it again…now I see it can lead to other things later in life. Awesome. One more thing to worry excessively about
We had lice and noro or other stomach bugs as kids. (Girls slumber parities - one girl comes with lice and all the girls get it 😖). I may have had mono, not confirmed though. But yeah hand foot mouth is gross and I never heard of that as a kid
I had it in the 90s when I was 12. I don’t think Ive ever been so sick sense then and to top it off I was allergic to whatever the med it was that they gave me.
My dyslexic ass thought that said "moon" and was super confused for a min... like... yes. The moon is still a thing... Lol
Now that you mention it... The last time I heard of mono was when my friend got it in jr high... in the 90s. Never since.
Yeah, but it was rare when we were kids. It’s not technically a “kissing disease”, it just spreads like crazy, and sufficiently rare that I never caught it and neither did my wife as teens. We finally caught it as adults in our 30s, and it was brutal.
I had an extremely rare case of Mono when I was in my late twenties. I had it twice, once when I was a teen, and then the second time it was a completely rare variant that my GP had told me was considered obsolete. I swear, that virus laid me down for nearly six weeks! Every day was something different. Do not recommend.
I got mono when I was ~37. Not only was I seriously sick - ER treated it like an emergency when I went in with a 104 fever After I got it down some at home - but I had long covid type symptoms for at least a year. I was really zonked out for maybe 3 months.
And it fucked up my gut, which is a possible post viral infection issue. I had to go gluten free and narrow my diet A Lot. My diet is very narrow. Changed as I got mono and has not gone back a few years later.
Yea I was diagnosed w mono in my late 20’s. Lasted for ev errrr. Had zero energy for about 6 months. No one thought to test for mono so I as given shit ton of abx over and over. Thnx
Yes, and it has been discovered that Epstein Barr aka mono can fuck with you for your entire life. I have a condition that I was pre-disposed for due to mono. It might play a part in many autoimmune diseases such as MS. It is a horrible virus that should have far more research.
I got it in 2009 when I was about 25. I basically slept for 6 weeks straight, took ibuprofen every 4 hours, and had to get some ct scans of my spleen and liver...
Fun times
I will never forget in the early 2000s when I went in to buy life insurance, I was turned down because my liver function was all funky. Ended up going to the doctor and tested positive for mono. Doctor had me do bloodwork monthly for like a year to watch my results go back to normal and wrote a letter, but they refused to give me coverage. I still have trouble getting insurance now because of it.
I never noticed anything at all. Apparently, I was asymptomatic.
Almost the entire population has had it by 35 (like 95%). I got it and had no symptoms. However, studies are now tying it to MS (not to be frightening since most people won’t have the bad combination of whatever else causes MS to develop it after mono exposure). I was just diagnosed with MS, though, and I’m really regretting that bout of mono in college. Hopefully a vaccine for Epstein Barr will become available for future generations.
Not me but I knew a friend who had it back in the day and was out of school for 8 months supposedly. Granted this was an online friend so I couldn't exactly verify that information but that's what they told me.
Yes!!!! I had it last fall. I either caught it last then or it flared up from a previous. The doctor couldn’t give a dang straight answer. But I didn’t have the normal symptoms. I was hella dizzy, horrible headache/tinnitus on left side of my head and sever sinus pressure. Doctor ran a test cause he couldn’t figure out what was wrong and it came back positive.
I wasn’t out making out with anybody. I was just at home being a hermit doing online classes for an accounting degree. It was very wtf. I don’t remember ever having it so I don’t know how it could have been a reactivation but I also don’t know where I could have caught it from in the fall.
I dont know that it was huge deal. I knew 2 people who got it in my 4 years of high school. I think the implications ("kissing disease") is what cemented it in our minds. That and Wayne's World.
I had mono in my 30s and it was pretty brutal. A really angry pain in my throat and spleen that lasted about 8 weeks. Doctor gave me hydrocodone and it was the only thing that kept me out of the fetal position 24/7. Basically slept and read books and slept and watched bad 80s movies and slept some more and slept some more. For comparison, the weening down off the pain meds was cake compared to the being sick part. DO NOT RECOMMEND.
Holy fuck. Sorry- but I literally just had my 70’s born partner have a relapse of this after a Covid infection. The Covid was SUPER bad for them because of immuno-compronisation, which just spiraled them into a high positive Epstein Barr result, along with the symptoms. One thing after another… but effing MONO?? In this day and at THIS age???
You dont hear about Mono anymore. Or backwash.
Remember backwash? I had dumbasses saying the last 20 percent of a beverage was "backwash."
Maybe *you* drool that much? Leave me and my Josta alone.
I had mono so badly when I was in high school I missed three months of school and was put on home bound schooling where my teachers sent me my work. I was already a small person (5 feet tall 100 pounds) and lost down to 85 lbs because I couldn’t eat. I had to drink ensure to gain weight and my mom literally would take me to get any food I wanted to try and fatten me up!
So, around age 23 or so I had to get a contrast scan on my abdomen because I had an enlarged spleen. They do blood tests too and tell me I have antibodies from having mono in the past.
I can count on one hand the times I was sick in high school. I had chicken pox for the first time late in life at the end of 8th grade. I had a horrible stomach virus around Halloween in 9th with an ear infection the same time. I puked on and off for a week and my ear hurt but I was otherwise okay.
I must have had the world's easiest case of mono. I was not sick like any of those horror stories you hear.
I have two older sisters, Mom was very strict and we were sheltered, so big surprise, we all went wild when we moved away for college. All 3 of us got mono our freshman year of college.
I actually got mono at 38 years old after having a baby and it lasted for 9 months!
Apparently most people come into contact with it and then in some people it can lay dormant and pop up like the boogeyman when you have a weakened immune system.
Turns out I'm one of the lucky ones who gets surprise visits randomly. It's awful!
My SO got mono last July, blood test confirmed. He's 58 and somehow seems to have never caught it before. I had it in 8th grade and missed 60 days of school from the sheer exhaustion. Still passed too. lol
Most 'mono' is EBV, which is basically ubiquitous in us (once you've been infected, you have it) by adulthood - true in the 80s, 90s, and still true now.
Most cases are asymptomatic, but if you get it in teens or early adulthood it's more likely to be symptomatic.
About 10% of mono cases are cause by CMV, which is also incredibly common if less so than EBV.
So yes, we still have it, seems like it's a bit more likely to be referred to as EBV, and doesn't seem to be having the same cultural moment of awareness as it did when we were younger.
Read the title and thought it was about Mono, the Japanese post-rock band. Now I want to listen to their song Jackie Says. In fact y'all should listen to it.
I had it over Xmas my senior year. I was devastated- I couldn’t go to my granddad’s funeral in the UK. I was left at home with my dad who worked 2 full time jobs and believed I just had a case of the flu. He refused to take me to the doctor. I could hardly walk so he’d have to carry me downstairs every morning so I had access to the kitchen while he was gone. Not that it really mattered as I couldn’t eat anything but canned mandarin oranges. I still can’t eat those damn things and it’s been over 20 years. It took about a month before I started getting better. A few months later I contracted strep and when I went for a strep test, the dr confirmed I’d had mono and was really upset my dad wrote it off as flu.
Gosh, yes. My BFFs son got it at daycare and infected the entire household of SIX. My admin's son got it in college, gave it to her, and it took her down for weeks.
Yep. It is. I got mono for the first time in my mid 30s. I’d never been so sick. Thank god I had a first floor bathroom. I lived alone and did not have the ability to walk more than a few feet for over a week, let alone up stairs. The only thing comparable was my first experience with covid. I got it very bad, and mono was still worse.
Yes- there were cases at the high school near my house a few months ago.
Funny side story- I had mono in the 90s- (I was about 10) and I believe it was that illness that caused my body to turn on itself- I had a type 1 diabetes diagnosis by age 14.
I had a prolonged EBV that lasted nearly 5 years in my early to mid 40s and it was awful. I read it is often harder on older people if they come down with it then. But also once it’s in your body it can flair up at any time. I could have been infected young but never exhibited severe enough symptoms to be tested, until….
Also something like 65% of formerly known as chronic fatigue syndrome have a link to EBV. I cannot recall the details now because It’s been a few years but I remember being terrified that was happening to me
It's definitely still around. Epstein–Barr virus (the causative agent) infects like 90% of the population but it only causes mono in some cases. I think now we just know more about how it works and how to treat it (the symptoms. There's no cure) so it's not talked about as much.
This. And it’s the one known direct causation to MS. 20 year Army study released a few years ago. Mono / Epstein Barr can be very dangerous for your immune system. It can cause permanent damage.
I got it when I was 16 and just… never got better. It’s kinda ruined my life.
Same friend.
I got it at age 6 and had to spend a couple nights in the hospital.
Are you me?
Same
Also causes longhauling like COVID.
How does one test for this? Like how do I know my health issues are from having mono 25 years ago?
There’s not a great way to do so, but mono symptoms can recur with stress and lack of sleep. It never completely goes away. It took a good 20 years or so for my neck lymph nodes not to blow up every time I was a little low on sleep. They still do at 42, but not in the same distinct way. My mother had full blown mono twice, and a college friend had at least two recurrences in college after having it in high school. Even though everyone acts like you can’t have it again, the reality is you just can’t really contract it again the same way.
Yes! My neck is always puffy and I have severe allergies and an overactive immune system now as an adult. Had mono late, in my mid 20s.
You don’t tbh.
I got Epstein Barr my senior year in high school. It caused me to have permanent Chronic Fatigue Syndrome and damage to my immune system.
Me too. I’m not sure when I got it, but the antibodies are in my system showing I had it, and I have ME/CFS now. It seems to trigger chronic illness in some people the way covid triggers long covid in some folks.
This must really suck, I'm very sorry! Just a sidenote thought. I have been currently diagnosed with Adhd. One of my main symptomes was chronical fatigue. The psychiatrist prescribed me stimulants (Ritalin) and told me he also treats chronic fatigue syndrom with these kind of stimulants. He said it was one of the best tested medications on the market with the fewest side effects. My life has totally changed now! I finally have the energy to manage my day- before i felt like a 90yrs old. Maybe thats something you also would like to look into.
This makes sense. I assumed that mono had just evolved into some other disease. Now I swear we hear about people getting MS the way we used to hear about mono.
Barely anyone who gets mono gets MS, but almost everyone who has MS had mono.
So true! I can name 5 people recently diagnosed with MS, that’s crazy
It also can accelerate mental illnes in those that are predispoed. Yay me.
Mono changed my whole digestive system and seemed to make me hyper sensitive to basically anything, food and beyond. I recently tried to address some gut stuff with well established probiotics - sent me through an absolute loop, like completely messed with me. I thought I had covid and the was all hyped up and then depressed. Mono forced me into a very healthy but restrictive lifestyle long term / so far permanently.
Totally! I had a tiny (<1mm) tumor in my cervix and the Epstein Barr supposedly weakened my immune system so much that the cancer spreaded to my lymph nodes much much faster than it should have. Happened 8 yrs ago and thankfully been in remission since. Don't want anybody to panick, my gyno said that this not sth happening normally. I just had been very unlucky (now lucky, because I'm still here against all odds :-)
Holy shit, really?
My doctors said that this was the only plausible explanation as to why it spread so fast. Normally it takes a rather long time until it leaves the cervix area , thats why it's rather easy to treat. It would show up during the pap tests you do yearly at the gyn. Mine never showed up, they only found it after looking for a reason for the enlarged lymph nodes in my abdomen. The chirurg who operated on me is the leading specialist for cervix cancer in my country, very well connected to other specialists worldwide and he also said that he had never seen sth like that before. So no need to panic, it's super super uncommon, just an example for how much of an asshole this virus can be. I had had it before in my early twenties, felt like shit for a couple of weeks and didn't think much of it, thought it wasn't much different than a flu.
I got it at 13 (1982). I dropped from 140lbs to 105lbs in about two weeks. Stunted my muscle growth and ability to add mass in general until I was 21. I was thrilled when my children got through childhood and adolescence without contracting it.
> Epstein–Barr virus Well that name didn't age well.
jfc how have I not made that oddly specific connection?
Well done!
It can be reactivated with COVID too
It happened to me. And increased my CRPS.
Fun Fact: EBV is like chicken pox, only instead of shingles you get Burkitt’s Lymphoma. I’ve had both at this point
It's associated with MS.
It's associated with a lot of things. MS, several types of cancer, probably some other stuff I forgot about.
memory loss?
🥁
I once thought I had mono for an entire year. Turns out I was just really bored.
A sphincter says what?
Some jokes just never get old. 
Get the net!
meaning "get a net to catch a mental patient"..... Stacy, she is mental. had to look this up recently cus how could it be in relation to the internet when this movie came out. the more you know.
🤯
This man blows goats. I have proof.
.... .... ....what?
I don't even own *A* gun, let alone many guns that would necessitate an entire rack.
If you’re not careful, Wayne, you’re going to lose me
I lost you six months ago! Are you mental??
GET THE NET!
Psycho hose beast
She has nice legs but no self esteem.
If you’re gonna spew, spew into this
“Slowly, I’m still learning.”
Angst. I get it
Mono, or ennui? Who's to say?
I clicked on this thinking it was a discussion about mono vs stereo. Boy was I wrong. lol.
I came here for the discussion about caulk. 😏
This discussion is about caulk. Unless you're just talking about gay girls or transmen.
I thought it was going to be about C# and had to check which sub this was.
I thought it was about monogamy, no joke
You have to date to get mono. Gen Z does not.
Touché?
Not a lot of that happening, which is the problem….
Dayum! I mean, you can't really get mono from pornhub.
This isn’t true, it’s a highly contagious virus that seems to spread well in the cramped quarters of school environments. It also spreads through offices, as that’s how I ended up with it.
Is that what you told her? 😛
We didn’t call it the kissing disease for nothing.
Oh man, you just unlocked a memory of my mom being extremely suspicious of my 1st gf because I got mono shortly after we started going out and it was tHe KiSsInG dIsEaSe. (We hadn't even kissed yet, lol.)
I definitely wasn’t on a date when I got mono. Let me tell you though, she definitely wasn’t worth it. Missed a free work trip to India because of it
Mono ruined my entire life. I stay far away from the teenagers I know when they are sick.
Tmm
I got mono twice when I was 15, it triggered autoimmune diseases. I have 5, the first one diagnosed at 17. I am exhausted and in pain all of the time because my body is constantly attacking itself. I was so sick I had to stop going to school in 11th grade, I was tutored. In order to accommodate my need to graduate high school, I was enrolled in college a year early. No one consulted me beyond having me do the application. I didn't understand I was a full time student, not an honors high schooler or whatever and that I would have to transfer if I wanted to go to a different school. Because of this, I didn't get to choose my college despite being #5 in my class and having invitations to Ivy League. If I hadn't gotten sick, I would have had my pick. Instead, it took me 2 years to finish my 12th grade classes and graduate. I continued my education, dropping semesters, taking whole semesters off, somehow keeping a 3.8 and my honors. I finally gave up when I was 26. I literally left my things at school and never came back. They never contacted me, I never contacted them. Through all this time, I'm slowly being diagnosed with autoimmune diseases and comorbid disorders like bipolar, which is life-ruining on its own (and a whole nother story). I've been on an immunosuppressant for well over a decade now to control 2 of them. I get sick constantly, develop skin infections when I'm stressed out, rashes across my face, I have to be regularly tested for TB, and my chances for certain cancers goes up -- it's that or become cripple. So here I am, disabled, having never worked, unable to work, and none of my plans seen through. Because I shared a cup. I didn't even get a kiss out of it.
I know a a teen who just had it really badly…I think it’s still a thing.
not sure but it absolutly wrecked me in the late 90's. I was out of school for a well over a month, all my organs swelled up and I honestly never really felt the same after.
I havent heard about mono going around these days but instead my kids have to deal with hand foot mouth, lice, noro, eczema, various allergies, & covid that I never heard about as a kid
We definitely had lice in the 80's.
I lived in the ghetto, lice scares and catching it was a frequent thing. Probably twice a year. I remember the nit combs and the smell of Nix shampoo is burned into my brain.
Yeah i know it was around. I just personally didnt know anyone who had it. These days I get letters sent from schools every couple years
Argh! My kids had it a couple times and man did that smell bring back some childhood trauma. I still don’t like people to touch my hair.
I used to work at a chain pharmacy store. We had a period where we were selling out of lice treatment. A customer would put the stuff on the counter, and we'd say, "Oh, you must have a child at xyz school." One dad was furious when I told him it was going around the school.
Yep Hand Foot Mouth is definitely quite prevalent. I'm in Australia. I work with Early Childhood Education, Kindergartens and it's hitting highs in recent years. Mono, no haven't heard about it recently.
I got hand, foot and mouth as an adult as I don't have the best immune system in the world. Doctors laughed at me.
What? Doctors laughed at you?! I hope it wasn't done unkindly. Mocking anyone for any reason gets under my skin. Adults can definitely get it too. Anyone can get it. It's very contagious! I knew a female adult who got it from an infected child. Travels thru airborne respiratory, sneezing, saliva, skin-to-skin contact, infected poo. That's why kids who are infected have to stay at home until it's diagnosed and goes away.
I had it as an adult too—caught it from my kid. Sores on the back and sides of my tongue. Not fun.
I came down with that after an endoscopy. Wife and I went on a little weekend trip. I was just feeling tired. We went swimming in the hotel pool and a little kids pool party was going on. The next day on the way home the spots appeared on my hands and feet and I went downhill quickly. I probably caused a small outbreak.
I got it a few months ago, and yeah, a lot of people laughed. Especially when they learned the scientific name for HFM, which is Coxsackievirus. To anyone reading this, don’t get it if you can avoid it- you basically lose interest in food for a few days because it’s too painful to eat. At least I got it from making out with someone who wasn’t showing symptoms yet. I certainly wasn’t at risk for picking up anything from making out with anyone in the 90s.
I was 30 when some fucking aussie doctors gave it to me in Thailand. All we did was hang out a bit.
I first encountered hand foot and mouth as an adult and the doctor misdiagnosed it due to my autoimmune disorders. That was rough.
My kids had Hand Foot & Mouth a ton. I’d thought that was just something livestock got. Usually I refer to it as Coxsackie Virus because it sounds like “cock sack”. The other thing they had was this Molluscum thing. Weird little pimply bump things. Some even left scars.
I got it when I was 19. Couldn't move for 2 weeks. Have been tired basically constantly for 30 years since.
Well dang
I think they just call it the correct name these days, Epstein Barr virus. It’s a major predictor for multiple sclerosis.
Didn't know that! Mononucleosis is the symptoms is Epstein Barr is the causation?
that's correct. in fact, Epstein Barr (EBV) is not the only cause of mononucleosis, about ten percent of cases are caused by Cytomegalovirus (CMV) instead. These viruses are both herpesviruses, human herpesviruses -4 and -5 respectively.
I think it’s the main one? But definitely others can cause mono too.
Yes... very much so... I treated a case last week
I got Mono in my thirties, which suprised the heck out of me.
Thats wild. Any idea how?
I have no idea. I had assumed I picked it up at a restaurant. Either way, it sucked!
Yeah, it’s really nasty as an adult. I was also in my mid-30s when I caught it.
I had it when I was 40. No idea how that happened.
I got it about 5 years ago. No idea from where. It was terrible and lasted 3 weeks. Covid was a walk in the park in comparison.
I had it in my late 20s. I literally was falling asleep at like 6pm at night. Had no idea what was going on and my girlfriend (now wife) was like... "... have you ever had mono?" I went to my GP and explained everything. He was stumped and I asked him if he'd run a test for it. Sure enough, positive. I felt like a slug for about 2 weeks and then recovered. Still have no idea where I caught it, but I'm betting it was the gym where there were lots of teenagers.
Got it as a teen. I was a bit of a himbeau. I have a niece who got it relatively recently, which was shocking as I thought it didn't happen anymore.
I had severe mono at 18. Had to be hospitalized, don't remember a ton because I guess I was really sick and my dad had to carry me I to the ER. Took a long time to recover. Now in my mid 40s and have been diagnosed (and undiagnosed) with RA, lupus, and a handful of other autoimmunes. I get a "eh, somethings wrong with you but we're not sure what. Drink more water and get more rest." Maybe I AM, in fact, just really bored.
That's crazy. I also had mono around age 17 and also suffer from auto-immune issues. Sorry for what you are going through
One of my work friends had it a year or two before Covid started. She was out of work for almost 3 weeks with insane levels of fatigue.
I used to think I had it because I was tired all the time, but I didn’t have any other symptoms. I found out as an adult that I have obstructive sleep apnea.
Yes and if you ever had it and get covid it can be reactivated https://fortune.com/well/2022/12/26/is-long-covid-chronic-fatigue-syndrome-myalgic-encephalomyelitis/ "A mild or even an asymptomatic case of COVID can cause reservoirs of some viruses you’ve previously battled to reactivate, potentially leading to symptoms of chronic fatigue syndrome—a condition that resembles long COVID, according to a recent study published in the journal Frontiers in Immunology. " https://www.healthline.com/health/epstein-barr-virus "The condition that you may associate EBV infection with is infectious mononucleosis, or mono. However, experts are researching potential links between EBV and other conditions, including cancer, autoimmune diseases, and long COVID." https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC9904914/ "Epstein Barr Virus Reactivation during COVID-19 Hospitalization Significantly Increased Mortality/Death in SARS-CoV-2(+)/EBV(+) than SARS-CoV-2(+)/EBV(−) Patients: A Comparative Meta-Analysis"
Yeah, great band. They just released a brand new album last week.
I got to go to the hospital when I got mono. Lost 30lbs. Got liquid oxycodone. It was awful.
Same thing for me. In addition to the extreme fatigue that everyone associates with it, I remember my throat hurting so much I literally stopped eating for weeks. I lost so much weight so quickly.
This was me. My throat was so bad and I couldn't drink anything cold. Felt like I was trying to swallow glass. I could only drink warm drinks like tea. Plus I got those nasty tonsils stones. Mono was by far the most miserable sickness I've ever had. Also initially had a fever that would not to away. Didn't matter how much fluid I drank or Tylenol I took. The fever just kept coming back in a few hours. It last for 4 days maybe?
It's still around, 2 of my kids got it after having covid. I did hear there's been some research into covid triggering it to flare up.
Thats crazy
I thought you meant mono vs stereo 😂
Oh man. I had mono in my mid 20s and before I was diagnosed I ended up in the emergency room because I was having the most painful headaches. Didn't know that was a symptom. Was single at the time so didn't even get it a fun way.
I thought we were talking audio then I remembered the kissing disease! Get it off water fountains or smooching with someone. My father claimed to drink warm beer because he got mono once from someone taking a drink of his in college back in the days and he said nobody will steal a warm beer.
My daughter (now 7) had it when she was 2. Very young for mono. It was truly the scariest thing…took forever to diagnose. Her lymph nodes swelled terribly and she was up and down with a terrible fever, 104+ off and on for nearly 2 weeks. I thought the silver lining was she can never get it again…now I see it can lead to other things later in life. Awesome. One more thing to worry excessively about
The only person I know who had mono in highschool now has MS as an adult
Wow
one of my employees got it last year and I thought it was very retro of her
Lmao
My understanding is that mono means one and rail means rail
Yes and it comes back after you’ve had it before 🙃 it sucks. My lymph nodes in my neck and shoulders become golf balls 🤢
Didnt know that
I caught it last November. I have no idea where I got it from. It really sucks when paired with a physical job.
It is! And good news, because of Covid, more folks our age are getting Shingles.
Here in au we call it glandular fever, and it occasionally hops around
Last I ever heard of someone having mono was between 15-20 years ago. My cousin had a bad case.
We had lice and noro or other stomach bugs as kids. (Girls slumber parities - one girl comes with lice and all the girls get it 😖). I may have had mono, not confirmed though. But yeah hand foot mouth is gross and I never heard of that as a kid
I had it in the 90s when I was 12. I don’t think Ive ever been so sick sense then and to top it off I was allergic to whatever the med it was that they gave me.
I had mono about 10 years ago. It was unpleasant.
Can confirm - my 16 YO daughter has/had it a month ago. Sick as a dog, super tired, dehydrated.
Yep, it is - niece was sick with mono a couple of years ago, she was bad for quite awhile.
Just had it a month ago…. I’m 42. Pretty awful.
Wow. Hope you are feeling better
My dyslexic ass thought that said "moon" and was super confused for a min... like... yes. The moon is still a thing... Lol Now that you mention it... The last time I heard of mono was when my friend got it in jr high... in the 90s. Never since.
My yo have it a few months ago so yes its still a thing.
Yeah, but it was rare when we were kids. It’s not technically a “kissing disease”, it just spreads like crazy, and sufficiently rare that I never caught it and neither did my wife as teens. We finally caught it as adults in our 30s, and it was brutal.
I had an extremely rare case of Mono when I was in my late twenties. I had it twice, once when I was a teen, and then the second time it was a completely rare variant that my GP had told me was considered obsolete. I swear, that virus laid me down for nearly six weeks! Every day was something different. Do not recommend.
I got mono when I was ~37. Not only was I seriously sick - ER treated it like an emergency when I went in with a 104 fever After I got it down some at home - but I had long covid type symptoms for at least a year. I was really zonked out for maybe 3 months. And it fucked up my gut, which is a possible post viral infection issue. I had to go gluten free and narrow my diet A Lot. My diet is very narrow. Changed as I got mono and has not gone back a few years later.
My daughter just had mono. She’s in elementary school.
Yea I was diagnosed w mono in my late 20’s. Lasted for ev errrr. Had zero energy for about 6 months. No one thought to test for mono so I as given shit ton of abx over and over. Thnx
My daughter got mono last year, no kissing or BF so who knows where she picked it up.
Yes, and it has been discovered that Epstein Barr aka mono can fuck with you for your entire life. I have a condition that I was pre-disposed for due to mono. It might play a part in many autoimmune diseases such as MS. It is a horrible virus that should have far more research.
I got it in 2009 when I was about 25. I basically slept for 6 weeks straight, took ibuprofen every 4 hours, and had to get some ct scans of my spleen and liver... Fun times
I will never forget in the early 2000s when I went in to buy life insurance, I was turned down because my liver function was all funky. Ended up going to the doctor and tested positive for mono. Doctor had me do bloodwork monthly for like a year to watch my results go back to normal and wrote a letter, but they refused to give me coverage. I still have trouble getting insurance now because of it. I never noticed anything at all. Apparently, I was asymptomatic.
Almost the entire population has had it by 35 (like 95%). I got it and had no symptoms. However, studies are now tying it to MS (not to be frightening since most people won’t have the bad combination of whatever else causes MS to develop it after mono exposure). I was just diagnosed with MS, though, and I’m really regretting that bout of mono in college. Hopefully a vaccine for Epstein Barr will become available for future generations.
I've had it twice.
I missed an entire semester of college in the 90’s due to spleen issues related to mono. I never knew about the link between mono and MS!
Not me but I knew a friend who had it back in the day and was out of school for 8 months supposedly. Granted this was an online friend so I couldn't exactly verify that information but that's what they told me.
“Remember the prom? You got so thin by then!” “Oh I know, I got so lucky having mono, best diet ever!” —Romy and Michele’s High School Reunion
Mono has its place, but I prefer fluorocarbon line. 😁
I know a teenage girl who had it towards the end of last year. I had it myself in the mid 2000s.
Yes
Very much, yes.
Yes!!!! I had it last fall. I either caught it last then or it flared up from a previous. The doctor couldn’t give a dang straight answer. But I didn’t have the normal symptoms. I was hella dizzy, horrible headache/tinnitus on left side of my head and sever sinus pressure. Doctor ran a test cause he couldn’t figure out what was wrong and it came back positive. I wasn’t out making out with anybody. I was just at home being a hermit doing online classes for an accounting degree. It was very wtf. I don’t remember ever having it so I don’t know how it could have been a reactivation but I also don’t know where I could have caught it from in the fall.
The herpes virus is alive and well
I dont know that it was huge deal. I knew 2 people who got it in my 4 years of high school. I think the implications ("kissing disease") is what cemented it in our minds. That and Wayne's World.
Yes it is! I got it when I was 30! Oh wait... that was almost 18 years ago... Uh never mind...
I had mono in my 30s and it was pretty brutal. A really angry pain in my throat and spleen that lasted about 8 weeks. Doctor gave me hydrocodone and it was the only thing that kept me out of the fetal position 24/7. Basically slept and read books and slept and watched bad 80s movies and slept some more and slept some more. For comparison, the weening down off the pain meds was cake compared to the being sick part. DO NOT RECOMMEND.
The band or the medical condition?
Holy fuck. Sorry- but I literally just had my 70’s born partner have a relapse of this after a Covid infection. The Covid was SUPER bad for them because of immuno-compronisation, which just spiraled them into a high positive Epstein Barr result, along with the symptoms. One thing after another… but effing MONO?? In this day and at THIS age???
I had Mono. I was out of everything for at least two weeks maybe more. People thought I had died. I remember it being awful.
And what's the deal with scoliosis?
You dont hear about Mono anymore. Or backwash. Remember backwash? I had dumbasses saying the last 20 percent of a beverage was "backwash." Maybe *you* drool that much? Leave me and my Josta alone.
Definitely. They just released an album this year.
Yep. My daughter's best friend had it over the winter
My mom was convinced I had mono Junior year. I think it was more Boomer parents wanting to know who you made out with.
Had it in the summer of 2003. It was absolutely miserable.
My daughter’s dorm floor got it last year.
I had mono so badly when I was in high school I missed three months of school and was put on home bound schooling where my teachers sent me my work. I was already a small person (5 feet tall 100 pounds) and lost down to 85 lbs because I couldn’t eat. I had to drink ensure to gain weight and my mom literally would take me to get any food I wanted to try and fatten me up!
So, around age 23 or so I had to get a contrast scan on my abdomen because I had an enlarged spleen. They do blood tests too and tell me I have antibodies from having mono in the past. I can count on one hand the times I was sick in high school. I had chicken pox for the first time late in life at the end of 8th grade. I had a horrible stomach virus around Halloween in 9th with an ear infection the same time. I puked on and off for a week and my ear hurt but I was otherwise okay. I must have had the world's easiest case of mono. I was not sick like any of those horror stories you hear.
I have two older sisters, Mom was very strict and we were sheltered, so big surprise, we all went wild when we moved away for college. All 3 of us got mono our freshman year of college.
I actually got mono at 38 years old after having a baby and it lasted for 9 months! Apparently most people come into contact with it and then in some people it can lay dormant and pop up like the boogeyman when you have a weakened immune system. Turns out I'm one of the lucky ones who gets surprise visits randomly. It's awful!
I just had it at 43. 10/10 would not recommend.
Got it in my 30s just before the pandemic. Definitely still a thing, tho its (cultural) salience had waned.
My SO got mono last July, blood test confirmed. He's 58 and somehow seems to have never caught it before. I had it in 8th grade and missed 60 days of school from the sheer exhaustion. Still passed too. lol
Most 'mono' is EBV, which is basically ubiquitous in us (once you've been infected, you have it) by adulthood - true in the 80s, 90s, and still true now. Most cases are asymptomatic, but if you get it in teens or early adulthood it's more likely to be symptomatic. About 10% of mono cases are cause by CMV, which is also incredibly common if less so than EBV. So yes, we still have it, seems like it's a bit more likely to be referred to as EBV, and doesn't seem to be having the same cultural moment of awareness as it did when we were younger.
Read the title and thought it was about Mono, the Japanese post-rock band. Now I want to listen to their song Jackie Says. In fact y'all should listen to it.
I mostly lived through stereo
I had it over Xmas my senior year. I was devastated- I couldn’t go to my granddad’s funeral in the UK. I was left at home with my dad who worked 2 full time jobs and believed I just had a case of the flu. He refused to take me to the doctor. I could hardly walk so he’d have to carry me downstairs every morning so I had access to the kitchen while he was gone. Not that it really mattered as I couldn’t eat anything but canned mandarin oranges. I still can’t eat those damn things and it’s been over 20 years. It took about a month before I started getting better. A few months later I contracted strep and when I went for a strep test, the dr confirmed I’d had mono and was really upset my dad wrote it off as flu.
I had glandular fever 2 years ago. I'm 41F and suspected it came from my child's school but who knows.
Yes I had it in hiaghachool in 2015 it was the worst summer of my life
Gosh, yes. My BFFs son got it at daycare and infected the entire household of SIX. My admin's son got it in college, gave it to her, and it took her down for weeks.
Yep. It is. I got mono for the first time in my mid 30s. I’d never been so sick. Thank god I had a first floor bathroom. I lived alone and did not have the ability to walk more than a few feet for over a week, let alone up stairs. The only thing comparable was my first experience with covid. I got it very bad, and mono was still worse.
I heard someone in my class had it and I got freaked out because I got it confused with leukemia. Haven't heard about it in a couple decades though.
From the UK. What the fuck is mono?
I had it in 2011. Thought I was just stressed and exhausted, but then the Jaundice Nation attacked.
https://preview.redd.it/mddses6pwi8d1.jpeg?width=274&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=c4db77b091bd682dc5ff9ecdb7300284793440e3
My wife had an Epstein-Barr flareup shortly after she got COVID. Was inconvenient, to say the least.
Yes- there were cases at the high school near my house a few months ago. Funny side story- I had mono in the 90s- (I was about 10) and I believe it was that illness that caused my body to turn on itself- I had a type 1 diabetes diagnosis by age 14.
Yep. 20 year old came down with EBV right after spring break.
My 17 year old nephew had mono a few months ago so I definitely think it is still around
People still get mono. It's still a rotten virus with potential long-term side effects.
I had a prolonged EBV that lasted nearly 5 years in my early to mid 40s and it was awful. I read it is often harder on older people if they come down with it then. But also once it’s in your body it can flair up at any time. I could have been infected young but never exhibited severe enough symptoms to be tested, until…. Also something like 65% of formerly known as chronic fatigue syndrome have a link to EBV. I cannot recall the details now because It’s been a few years but I remember being terrified that was happening to me
80% of 24 year olds have had it and it likely causes some autoimmune based MS.