Mono/Epstein Barr?

[venusi]

I have been poorly for about 7 weeks now.  It started with a strange soreness to my throat, like a hot scratchy feeling in my tonsils and the arches at the back of my mouth.  Two days later I developed sore glands in my neck, at the sides, back of my neck, under my arms, groin etc, and got a temperature.  I saw my Dr who took a look at my throat and said I had spots on it and so he prescribed me antibiotics but then whilst on the antibiotics I got worse.  After the course of antibiotics I still had these spots on my throat and my tongue was looking patchy so I went back to the Dr who then said it was thrush of the mouth and throat and prescribed Nystatin.  It did nothing and my symptoms continued.  I went back again, this is by week two and I was still bad so they ordered blood tests including a mono spot test.  The test results came back with my lymphocytes slightly up but my neutrophils low (but they have been low since I gave birth in May) and have slowly been coming back up to normal, I was only mildly neutropenic.  

Anyway, each morning I wake up with a terrible sweat and feel fatigued all day long and have felt like this for weeks.  My glands are still sore and one is particularly swollen on the left hand side of my neck, mainly where the soreness in my throat can be.  The glands under my earlobes hurt in the morning and the ones of the back of my neck/head hurt too.  I've been back to the Dr again who told me that my mono spot test was negative and then told me that it was most likely stress.

By week four I developed white patches inside my mouth, lines along the inside of my cheeks and a white patch on my tongue that won't go when scraped.  My tongue looks very patchy - it has bald patches on it, sometimes it returns to normal after a few days then it is patchy again after brushing my teeth and it burns, my whole mouth burns when I brush my teeth.

I still feel fatigued, my temp goes up and down throughout the day, my throat will be scratchy one minute then not the next.  The spots in my throat have faded to a greyish colour rather than white which they were at the beginning.  And the patch on my tongue is a little worse now.

I went back to the Dr yet again, still feeling rough and this was last week so this is roughly 7 weeks on and I pretty much got a warning not to go so often and that they weren't worried, that it was stress and anxiety "manifesting" itself in strange ways.  It was then suggested to me that I go on antidepressants which I refused.

I am anemic but only slightly (borderline) but was very anemic after giving birth.  I also have a hormone imbalance and have been put on the Depo injection which has messed with my mood and cycle big style, so that adds to feeling crap.

I was reading these patches on the side of the tongue are leukoplakia, and the type I seem to have is hairy leukoplakia which is common also with Epstein Barr/Mono.  It all seems to tie in.  I had a chronic itchy dry cough also at the start of this.  My daughter seems to also be suffering from the same.  She will wake in a sweat, her temp is fine though now but it was high when it started, some days she eats fine then some days she doesn't.  She will be happy one day then have an "off day" the next.  I took her to a Dr when she was poorly at week two and they looked at her throat and said it was fine but her neck glands were swollen.  I started blaming these symptoms on house mold because I discovered mold behind my bed in the bedroom since my partner had shampooed the carpets and not allowed it to dry properly, the carpet on that side was covered with mold so I cleaned it the best that I could.  

However, with the mouth sores, spots on my throat, fatigue etc, I feel that I do have mono.  A friend of mine said she had it and it took 3 mono spot tests before the result showed positive, and that early on in symptoms it does not always appear.  When it first started I had also developed an itchy rash on the backs of my hands but that went away when the antibiotics stopped.  I have been on those before so I know I'm not allergic.

Could this be Epstein Barr?  How long does Mono take to actually go away?

[JDS2805]

Sorry to hear you've been feeling so poorly. Your symptoms do sound like mono. Mono can also temporarily alter the blood counts in your liver. If you do have mono, antibiotics won't do anything. Most people get over mono in about 6 weeks but some may take up to 12 weeks. With the leukoplakia, if you are a smoker, I would encourage you to stop. Make sure you rest and don't overdue it. Hope you feel better soon!

[9DodgeFan]

Hi, the symptoms you're describing do sound very much in line with mono/EBV.  With all the blood tests you had run, was there an EBV Titers test?  If not, I would highly recommend getting one.  The monospot test doesn't always work as it should (I tested negative all 3 times I was tested), but the EBV titers test was very high for me.  As far as recovery time, it varies greatly from person to person depending on age, overall health, etc.  Also, if you can get a lot of rest (basically have to put your life on "pause"), that will be a big help in getting your body to fight this sickness off.  Hope that helps, and don't be afraid to ask any more questions!