Infectious mononucleosis

[FlyZlin]

Hi everyone,

I am recovering from infectious mononucleosis. I feel all right now, but according to blood tests my liver is damaged and I have to stay home another three weeks to recover.

Hopefully, next blood test will show great improvement and I’ll be able to fly again. At the moment I’m on a diet – no fat, no alcohol, no sports.

Does anyone have any experience with this ilness? What shall I expect in the future? Am I going to fully recover or will a diet be part of my life forever? No beer (real beer - Czech Budweiser) for the rest of my life?

A friend of mine complained about feeling tired for 2 almost years after he suffered from mononucleosis! Can anyone relate to this?

Thanks in advance, Cheers

[Flyin'Dutch']

FZ,

Most people make a speedy and full recovery from mononucleos infectiosa (aka Pfeiffer's disease or Kissing disease)

It is actually caused by a virus and most people get infected with it at some point during their lives. It is one of those illnesses which one best has as a nipper (young kid) as the symptoms then usually mount to nothing more than a few days of a temperature and being off colour and getting some lymphglands.(chicken pox is another one)

Some people report ongoing and recurring bouts of tiredness but it is not very well understood why this happens. I am not aware of any proper scientific evidence which links MI to a greater liability of bouts of tiredness.

Come to think of it; I feel quite knackered at times and have not suffered from it!

HTH

FD

[Circuit Basher]

FlyZlin - not sure where you're from, but in the UK this is more commonly called glandular fever.

Had this myself at around 24 (bit late in years ;)) after a crazy period of work (about 3 months of working 0600-2300 6 days a week and then drinking with mates when I wasn't unconscious / eating), my body was pretty drained and I had a persistent sore throat - went to the vets to see what they could do about it. He did a blood test and told me it was GF. Had about 6 wks off work and had weekly blood tests - was told I could go back once my tests were clear.

Took me about a year before I felt back to my old energy levels. Even now (20 yrs on), if I get extremely tired / run down, I have a tendency to get a sore throat which is not eased by the usual lozenges, etc. Take your GP / AMEs advice on this - it's not a life threatening disease but can have long term effects.

Good luck and have a good time Pruning whilst recovering (or get your ground exams done!)!!

[Flyin'Dutch']

CB,

Some free advice on treating sore throats!

More than 60% of sore throats is caused by viral agents. The majority of the pain is caused by changes in the way people swallow.

Lozenges especially the antiseptic variety do nothing to cure the sore throat nor do antibiotics in most sore throats.

So next time you get a sore throat take appropriate analgesics: Paracetamol and or Ibuprofen; plenty of fluids (the non alchoholic variety)

No gargling with dubious potions/asprin and the likes but suck on some boiled sweets as it promotes better swallowing;

Don't bother your GP unless the symptoms don't abate or you get ill.

HTH

FD

[FlyZlin]

Hi,

thanks for the replies.

I went to the doctor when I started to feel soar throat and had high temperature. She diagnosed the ilness as strong angina (tonsillitis ?) and gave me antibiotics, but in the next four days they had no effect. After that she did the blood test and found out what was really wrong with me.

I think the reason why I got IM was the extremely hot weather in August with temperatures around 35 degrees C. For some reason, my body didn't survive the constantly changing temperatures in the cockpit - very hot on the ground, much cooler while we were in the air. APU would help a great deal.

FD> Kissing disease - that's how we call it in Czech republic too.
CB> "...I went to the vets to see what they could do about it". Is "vets" the expression you use to talk about "doctors"? I thought it was the short version of veterinarian. You don't sound like a chimpanzee to go to see vets;)

What does HTH stand for?

Enjoy the weekend.

FZ

[Circuit Basher]

FZ - just my humorous (?) way of referring to doctors!

[Flyin'Dutch']

HTH = Hope this helps!

FD

[Mac the Knife]

A measles-like skin rash can result if a patient with infectious mononucleosis is given amoxycillin/ampicillin. It's actually so common that it is almost diagnostic. Bloody itchy too - I had it.

Perhaps not a true allergy, but the rash may reappear if patients are given amoxycillin/ampicillin even years in the future (mine did, and even more itchy!).

Discuss with your doc before taking penicillins.

[FlyZlin]

I went to see the AME this week with the latest blood tests. Although the tests show great improvement and only four items (of 25) are slightly out of limit, he said that he wouldn’t let me fly for another two or three months! It pretty much depends on the specialist’s decision to keep me on a diet. As soon as the specialist for infectious diseases decides that I don’t need to stay on a diet anymore, I’ll be allowed to fly again.

Mac the Knife> Skin rash! I know what you’re talking about. It appeared four days after I was given the antibiotics called Augmentin. It didn’t itch and disappeared after one week of eating some other pills.

[Notso Fantastic]

The website www.webmd.com has a good search engine you can read all about it. Hope you have a quick recovery!

[2IC]

FlyZlin

Suggest you take good care, have lots of sleep and follow a sensible diet. My daughter got Glandular Fever doing her final year of high school. She ws unwell for typical GF time, and then improved.

Just as she started to do a bit more, she was hit with what seemed like a relapse but got much worse. Turned out it was Chronic Fatigue. We didn't even believe in CF at that time, and as she'd been a high achiever and full on outdoor type it was a tremendous setback.

Next 6 months she mostly slept, then a slow recovery over about a year, another year before she was close to normal. Still gets tired a bit easily and isn't involved in heavy duty outdoor stuff, but basically it's behind her now, 5 years later.

I don't know whether more care and rest in the beginning would have helped, but if we could go back to the GF recovery period, she would have taken it very slowly just in case.

Wish you all the best for a quick recovery.

[usernothername]

A similar story to me. I had gladular fever that progressed into Chronic Fatigue/Post Viral Fatigue, and didn't work again for two years. I also didn't believe in it until I had it and similarly was above averagely fit at the time. I worked very hard at getting fit again in the first year but I suspect now that I just made things worse. In total I would say that at least four years had passed before I felt completely clear of it. I now regard this as a very serious illness and have enormous sympahy with those who are suffering with it. Best of luck.

[Mac the Knife]

Just remembered (it was a long time ago) - had terrific night sweats for several years after - stopped eventually. No CFS fortunately.