Mono - EBV - Overuse of Antibiotics

[Dirtrida2]

Hey guys hows it going...

This past summer I was feeling sick/fatigued for awhile. I finally ended up going to the doctors office. The first time they gave me a 5-day Zpack, when that didnt work they gave me a 10day antibiotic. Finally, both of those weren't working so I went to my primary physician to have blood work done (everything from mono to hiv to rocky mountain fever to limes, etc). After they took the tests, they also gave me another 5day antibiotic, which was suppose to be really strong.

Eventually my results came back and I had mono. Obviously all those antibiotics did me no good, since I had mono all along. As summer was ending, I headed back to college and had to start training for tennis. I did tennis, school work, and had alcoholic drinks. Stayed up late writing papers etc... probably didnt let my body get enough rest to recover. After a little while I started to feel fatigued and run down and my thrush had yet to go away in my mouth (possibly from antibiotics?). I waited it out a month until my throat started hurting (whole family was sick).

Once this happened I decided to go back to my primary care physician (about 3 weeks ago). They did a rapid strep test and did all my blood work again (same tests as before). It came back that I had strep and also had EBV, everything else was negative. The doctor told me that I had high counts of EBV, possibly another acute case of mono. She threw me on another 5 day antibiotic for the strep.

After all of this, most recently I have not felt 100%. I still have some thrush in my mouth and after the antibiotic I started to have a little diarrhea in the morning. Its started to get better as I have been taking a probiotic. I have set up an appointment with an infectious disease doctor, but its not until this coming monday.

I feel that all the antiobiotics and being run down from mono have broken down my immune system and killed the good bacteria.

Though, not knowing what is wrong can be very unnerving and has caused me to be very anxious. You started typing things in an researching online and it just turns you into a hypochondriac. I really just needed someone to talk to and maybe get some advice on what everyone thinks?

Thanks for your time!

[sicksara]

long term antibiotics destroy your good bacteria, so probiotics are wise.be careful to not get cdiff, which is a diarrhea that is resistent to many antibiotics, ironically enough caused by antibiotics. have you been checked for cmv, hhv6 and mycoplasma?

[9DodgeFan]

It sounds to me like you just need to take some time to really rest.  Once you've acquired Epstein-Barr Virus (which causes mono), it remains with you the rest of your life.  In a lot of people, there are certain factors (stress, sickness, not getting enough rest - all of which seem to be present in your case) that can re-activate the virus.  The result is mono-like symptoms, even though you don't actually have mono again.  You need to take it easy and let your body recover.  Then slowly ease back into your normal routine.  As a tennis player, you probably know how difficult of a time Federer had in dealing with mono/EBV; there's a good reason for that!  Not trying to scare you, but EBV can be a very powerful virus!  You need to respect it for what it is and help your body fight it.

[sporque]

"I feel that all the antiobiotics and being run down from mono have broken down my immune system and killed the good bacteria. "

that statement is based in no medical reasoning or science, that should reassure you.  Happens all the time to people and they are FINE.  If you start buying into "killed good bacteria" you might get sucked into the health food craz.  Just your doctor mate!