Possibly EBV (mono)?

[Blue99]

Greetings,
A little over 2.5 months ago I started feeling a bit ill.  Started with a sore throat and a 'lump' in my throat along with a few other symptoms.  After strep tests came back negative, my Dr decided to test for herpes.  Now, I had no traditional signs/symptoms of herpes.. no sores, no tingles, no lesions, nothing.  But I came back, surprisingly with igm+, igg-.  Six weeks later, tested again, igm+, igg-.  My Dr immediately put me on valtrex,  but I only took it for about a month and stopped.  I've been off it for a month or more and still, no symptoms of herpes outbreaks, etc.  However, I have had some mild pain in the left-side of my abdomen. It was never anything 'bad' so I never mentioned it to my Dr.  But, the discomfort/mild-pains have become more frequent (ie. constant) and tonight I have noticed swelling on my left-side, taking up the area between my rib-cage and hip.  It is fairly noticeable.  The only other 'annoyance' I've had has been some intestinal upsets of varying nature and a tongue that is 'tender' on the back/side of it.  I've also read that spleen disorders can affect the tongue.  My ENT saw no sores, lesions, etc on when he looked at my tongue, but did see LPR (reflux into the voice-box) and put me on nexium.

Question is: Since I was never tested for mono, but I was tested for herpes and showed igm+, igg- (twice) and since I have, what I assume is an enlarged spleen... Could the igm+ point to mono in this situation?  It seems to 'fit the bill' from what I've read thus far.

It is Friday night and I called my Dr, after hours. She said I could go to the hospital to get a CT of my swollen region so they can tell WHAT is swollen, or I can wait to see he Dr on Monday morning.  She said it isn't life-threatening, so I've decided to monitor it and wait until Monday.

[ott70]

You probably don't have an acute mono case going on, but it could be chronic EBV. If by "herpes test" you mean EBV test, then the high titer values could be indicative of the virus being reactivated in your body. EBV can enlarge the spleen as well as some other intracellular infections (viral, bacteria, mycoplasma). People with a reactivated EBV virus could also be battling a co-infection. Fairly hard to determine what co-infections could be ailing a person unless you are willing to spend some bucks for a few speciality labs that can check for the little pathogens in our body.

First thing is first and check with your doctors to make sure all the proper tests are being run to rule out other causes. If you don't get a firm diagnosis, then make sure you are eating a healthy diet, taking supplements, and perhaps consider a natural supplement for killing off pathogens such as Microbojen by Jernigan Nutraceutical (www.juntra.com). Red Root is another supplement that is supposed to help a swollen spleen but don't start taking it until you are sure what's going on.

[ott70]

An enlarged spleen, if that is what you have, is not life-threatening AS LONG as it doesn't rupture. Obviously, if you develop excruitiating pain in the spleen area then get yourself to a hospital. In the meantime, don't lift anything heavy and avoid playing any contact sports.

My spleen has been enlarged for 4-5 months. Probably from the EBV virus that I tested high titers on. It takes at least an ultrasound to confirm the spleen is definitely enlarged. Spleens also take awhile to reduce back down unless there is an underlying cause that isn't taken care of (infection, blood disorder). I had some extensive tests on my spleen and the cause of the enlargement was determined as "idiopathic" -- basically, "we don't know why it's big". Mine is not large enough to cause any noticeable swelling, but it has caused me pain on and off.

Definitely get it checked out. If not this weekend, then first thing next week.