Does it sound like I had mono or something else?

[hannahrose91]

I recently got over being REALLY sick. I had never felt so sick in my life, and I ended up in the hospital twice, but they never did find out what exactly was wrong with me. I guess it was some kind of virus since I got better on my own.

But anyway, it all started with just a really awful headache (it felt different and worse than the normal headaches I've experienced...I've never had migraines before but I would guess I felt something like those). The next day I started feeling more fatigued and had a fever. Then over the next couple of days, I just felt so weak and kept having fevers on and off. At times I was able to be somewhat up and about (not well enough to go in public or exercise though), but other times (usually when I got a fever) I just couldn't even get out of bed and everything I came into contact with would be wet because I was sweating so much. I had swollen lymph nodes on my neck and behind my ears, but never had a sore throat at all. I ended up going to the hospital because my fever got to 104, and the doctor didn't think I had mono because I had no sore throat, but she still did the test and it came back negative. But I did read somewhere that sometimes mono won't show up on these tests during the first few days of symptoms even if you do have it. They also tested me for the flu and meningitis, as well as disases from tick and mosquito bites.  All the mosquito ones came back negative, and they actually never got back to me on the results for the Lyme Disease test (because they had to send it to a lab far away), but I assume I did not have that because I'm sure it wouldn't have gotten better on its own without any treatment.  The only thing I know they did actually find was that I had a low platelet count. I recall starting to feel a bit better the next day, but then the day after that, I suddenly got a new symptom, which was throwing up anything that I tried to eat or drink. My appetite had been ok before that. But anyway, I went back to the hospital because of that (I couldn’t eat anything and if I even tried to drink a sip of water I would start dry heaving) and then, they found that I had extremely elevated liver enzymes. The doctor was shocked that I didn’t have jaundice because of how high they were. But anyway, I eventually just got better on my own and they kept monitoring my liver enzymes. Eventually they did get back to normal.

The two things about this that made it not seem like mono was the fact that I didn’t have a sore throat and also how fast I got over it. I felt significantly better after about a week and a half and felt totally better after two weeks (but it was a little bit longer than that before my liver looked normal again). But I hear so many people who had mono who say they were bedridden for a whole month or even had to miss several months of school. So did I have mono and just get lucky/do a good job of fighting it off, or is there some other virus that this sounds like? I do know that a family friend told me that her neighbor was extremely sick with Fifth Disease (which is usually a mild illness that children get, but if adults get it, it’s a lot worse) not long before I got sick, and had pretty much the exact same symptoms as me. Even the timeline was almost identical (started out being really weak and getting fevers, and the liver problems/throwing up started later). But my mom thinks I already had Fifth Disease when I was a child (we never officially got it diagnosed but she was pretty sure that was what it was) and I thought you were immune to it once you got it.  

Also, my boyfriend did have strep throat a few weeks or maybe a month before I got sick. He did not have mono at the time, but he did have mono back when he was a kid and I read somewhere that people who have had it still have the virus dormant in their system and might have a “flare up” where they are contagious if they get things like strep throat. I didn’t kiss my boyfriend while he was actually sick with strep, but I did right before he got sick and after he started feeling better and wasn’t contagious with the strep anymore.

I am glad I’m all better now and get to put this all behind me, but I still am just SO curious as to what was really wrong with me! Again, I had never felt so sick in my life!

[mkh9]

Hi, you didn't travel around a week or two before this did you? Also, did they check you for dengue in the "mosquito tests" and did  you have a rash? What about pain in the joints and muscles? If you had a rash and travelled or live in an area where there is dengue it sounds a lot like that. You can get the same exact symptoms and you get over it in a week. The only symptom missing is the rash and sore muscles/joints. You can check if you have the IgM and IgG dengue antibodies  You may still even have IgM antibodies if that is what it is. The detection of IgM is diagnostic for having had the disease recently.

If you didn't have a rash and no travel and don't live in an endemic area then it may just have been a bad flu. It is supposed to be bad this year. But I don't think it was mono. You didn't have the sore throat.

It also sounds like Hepatitis A except the fever is usually low grade. It can go away in a week. You can get tested for that as well to see if you have antibodies to it. If you never had the vaccine then you know you were exposed.

Other wise it was probably some type of viral fever.

mkh9

[hannahrose91]

No, I don't think I traveled anywhere where I could have gotten dengue.  I had gone to Disney World about a month and a half before, but that was it.  From what I read that is mostly found in Africa and Centra/South America.  I have never traveled outside the United States.  The two tests they did on me were for West Nile Virus and Chikungunya.

I definitely never had a rash but I did have slight pain in my legs towards the end of it all.  Nothing major though.  And I did test negative for the flu, but i guess there are different types of it.  I think they just tested me for the kind that was going around the most at the time.

[mkh9]

The only other thing as I mentioned that it could have been Hepatitis A. Bad cases last longer but mild cases can last a week. It causes low platelet and high liver enzymes and nausea, vomiting, fever. But the fever isn't as high. That is what gets me. Hawaii has dengue and I wonder if Florida gets some too. Usually you have a rash with it and bad muscle pain and bone pain though. Otherwise the other symptoms are exactly the same. If I have time I'll look at some other viral diseases later.  It would be interested to know what you had. It does sound like some virus. You can always type all strains of the flu. I had one like that when I worked for the Navy. I was flat out for a week and it was the worst flu ever. They took samples and couldn't type it. It seemed more like the flu though.
mkh9

[mkh9]

There have been cases of Dengue in Florida. There was an outbreak in 2010. But usually it was from travel to Florida. They say there haven't been any this year. But they get a sporadic case every now and then. I'm surprised they don't get more because Hawaii is endemic. Maybe because Hawaii is more tropical than Florida. You can definitely get dengue from Hawaii now.

FYI

http://www.floridahealth.gov/diseases-and-conditions/dengue/index.html

mkh9

[hannahrose91]

Interesting.  I live in the south (Alabama) so I don't know if dengue could be here as well.  Also, I looked up the symptoms and read how it starts out with a headache and pain behind the eyes.  That was exactly how my illness started.  I didn't mention the eye thing in my original post but I do remember that as well as the headache, it always hurt behind my eyes if I moved them at all.  But again, I had no rash and didn't have severe joint pain.  I also didn't bleed anywhere (I read that that's another symptom, but I think one page said it was kind of rare).

[mkh9]

Yes dengue has different types there is "mild one" like the symptoms you got but usually have a rash and bone and/or muscle pain.

You only get the hemorrhagic one where you bleed if you get it a second time. Then it becomes serious.

The low platelet count can make some people bleed but not seriously.
mkh9