Are you always like this???

My now girlfriend that I've been seeing for a month is a bit frustrated. I have now confirmed through two different tests that I have a borderline reactivation of mono. I credit this reactivation to too much immune suppression this summer when I was on Imuran along with the Remicade that I'm still on.

I agree with my gf that it IS frustrating, because we are withholding from even kissing... and we really like each other. She asked me in an only semi-serious tone tonight if it is always like this with me (she knows about my UC). I hate being sick. I thought perhaps the Remicade was causing me issues with fever and body aches, but it turns out it's highly likely it's been the mono all along... since at least September.

Rant ended. If anyone has a cure for mono please let me know.

Sleep and lots of it. My son had a mild case of mono in middle school. As a 9th grader he got a severe case. He was out if school for 12 weeks and slept most of it. Seriously, he averaged about 19-20 hours of sleep per day. The doc told us that he was likely to have "episodes" of exhaustion for the rest of his life. Mono's version of a flare. He is now a junior in college and has days where he will go to bed at 7:00pm because he is so tired. Those days are not often thank goodness. He discovered that if he sticks to a routine sleep pattern he feels better.

Hopefully this girl will be patient with what you are going through. Hang in there and get some sleep!

My diet is modified to what I can handle. Right now I eat small salads here and there, I eat meat, I eat hot cereal, toast w/butter, honey, tea, bananas. I don't drink pop or alcohol. I don't do refined sugars except once in a while a cookie or piece or two of candy. I eat cheese, but can't handle milk or ice cream. Fruit cocktail type things are too much for me, even without syrup added.

I've added L-lysine as a supplement to possibly help with mono.

Thanks, Stereo.

Sounds like you have it down! Hope you get better, maybe for the winter supplement with some vitamin D.

I have had several Epstein Barr reactivations - it could either be that virus or CMV, the other one that causes mono. Lots of sleep, stay hydrated, and watch your spleen. If that gets swollen it can be dangerous!

It is very very frustrating, and to have the mono going at the same time as the UC flaring is doubly frustrating. Good luck! Actually, I'm willing to bet that your girlfriend is a carrier for either EBV or CMV, or both. You go get a titer, and have her get one, and if your viruses match, then don't worry about it!!

Not really, but...look at the CDC websites. Something like 80% of adults carry one or both of those viruses but are never bothered by them.

Thoreau: You may not realize this but about 90% of adults have the EBV. I don't know your ages, and I am not a medical expert, but I'm pretty sure that if your girlfriend is one of those 90% then you are taking all of those precautions for nothing. If she already has it you can't give her EBV and I don't believe you can give her "mono" either. They have a test that should be able to detect if she has antibodies to the EBV and, if so, you should be able to live normal lives without the precautions you are taking. She might want to call her doctor's office, explain the situation, and see if they are willing to test her. Also, in case you didn't know, it can take a couple of months after infection with EBV before you see any symptoms so if you already gave it to her somehow she isn't going to notice it for a while.

Stress causes mine to reactivate. I'm a litigation attorney, and I seem to have an incredible talent for finding jobs at law firms where I work for completely crazy senior partners that have no boundaries or sense of what it means to be a human being. Actually, I'm starting to realize that it is ME that is the weird one in the industry, because I legitimately care about the balance between client needs, what the justice system is supposed to be used for (legitimate disputes, not personal vendettas or making people miserable), and how a decent human being should behave.

They work me into the ground, and because I need the salary to pay off student loans, etc., I put up with it...and work myself into an EBV episode. Now it is happening with the UC.

With mono/EBV, it takes me about 3 months to get over it. The first time was more like 6 months, but that time my spleen was fully involved and gigantic. I think my general doc recommended I take a vitamin B and folic acid while battling the mono.