Mononucleosis advice

"Mononucleosis advice"


How to survive Mononucleosis / strep:

"Mononucleosis advice" First things First, I feel your pain, the horrible, evil  throat pain. For the first time ever, your seriously considering ending it, your not the kind of person who has ever considered suicide but the days turn into your own personal hell. Although that may be an exaggeration all those who have ever had a bad case of mono combined with strep have watched the thought float through their head.Indescribable pain.Who would have ever thought your throat could get in such a bad condition that swallowing water feels as though you just knocked back a cold glass of nails and glass.

I'm 21 years old and had to resort to making it to my mothers for some motherly care in dealing with this particularly bad case of mono. Me and mom battled the bastard with everything we had. Being in such pain I felt sympathetic to all who had been in my shoes as well as future shoe inhabitors, so I am posting all that i know and found out on this subject to help you get through this easier than I did. I have advice on everything from what and when to gargle, to inner ear infections as a result of mononucleosis.

FIRST STEPS:

As soon as you are diagnosed with mononucleosis/strep do not underestimate the disease at first. You may be going in to the doctors for swollen lymph-nodes, white spots on the back of you throat, a rather physically weak feeling throught your body, stiff/sore neck. All in all though, you feel as though you'll survive, you can still swallow food and the throat has not started retracting in intense pain. That was my first mistake, thinking it wasn't going to be that bad. I went along with my normal days routine, blowing my energy reserves away and eating junk foods as normal. Bad idea.

Start preparing for a battle at first signs! Your about to be drafted into a war vs mononucleosis/strep.This is a war where throat throat lozenges, cough syrup and Ibuprofen feel as though your throwing rocks at a tank. 

Step one: Go to the store and get the following items. Jello, lots of it in every color(the texture of it allows the godsend to be the only substance able to slide down your throat without feeling of swallowing glass, its feels better than water. Bags and bags of ice, as much as you can fit into your freezer(you will find yourself constantly drink ice water and tap will not get cold enough for what you want, constantly drinking water will help flush out your system.). Honey and Coconut oil, I've read many reviews stating that it can act as a miracle for the mono victim( my recipe is two tablespoons of the oil placed on two tablespoons of honey and placed in the microwave for ten seconds until liquid, then pour the mixture into a glass of luke warm(not hot) green tea) the honey helps moisturize the throat as well as the coconut oil and also contains crucial vitamins.While you can still swallow, Grab Ensure protein drinks(vanilla tastes the best), there will be a point in your sickness where you will not eat a single thing for up to four days so stock up on calories while you have a chance. If you don't have a humidifier, get one.When your sleeping at night you will not be drinking ice water constantly so your throat will dry out cause immense pain every time you wake up and then try to swallow.The humidifier will keep your throat moist.make sure you have salt and baking soda for regular gargles.Last is popsicles.

Step two: Facing you doctor to get the right treatment for this can be tricky, he does not fully understand the pain you are in. Maybe not in all cases but in cases like mine my doctor started getting on my nerves by how casual he was about me being in the worst pain of my life. He wrote me a note for work exuseing me from 3 days of work(not nearly enough) I have a physical job and went to an urgent care clinic doctor and got a note from him excusing me from work until I felt as though I could return to work. 

You may be in so much pain that your doctor will want to prescribe you  5/500 Vicodin. This does no good, first of all you haven't been eating because of the mono. Chances are taking Vicodin on an empty stomach will make you sick and trust me the last thing you want to do with a mono/strep throat is throw up stomach acids. Not only is the nausea bad but the Vicodin is not even strong enough to take the edge off your pain. Tell the doctor that Vicodin makes you sick and that you've always had to switch to percocet 5/325 (percocet is much more euphoric and will actually relieve your pain for enough time to get some chicken noodle soup down)It also has less acetaminophen than Vicodin so you can take two without worrying about your acetaminophen toxicity levels . Eat some jello before you take it and for the first time you will feel relief from the the pain. You will also get steroids to help you recover. I'm no doctor by I recommend asking for the steroid that is drawn out over the most days (my first round of steroids only lasted 4 days which I started taking early on in the disease when my throat wasn't even that bad, and by the time i hit peak sickness i was out of steroids; and when I stopped taking the steroids it got even worse..

The battle begins:

so your couch bound. You've got your spit bucket, your crappy daytime television, your sipping your ice water, anddd your throat almost overnight hurts beyond anything you've ever felt. Through trial and error I  have found the preferred routine for treating mono/strep.

• Mix a tablespoon of salt in coffee mug full of warm water, then mix a tablespoon of baking soda in a separate mug full of warm water, have a glass of ice water ready as well. Gargle salt water first for thirty seconds, drink some ice water,and then gargle the baking soda water for as long as you can. Repeat this every 30 min.
• Have a bowel of honey ready at all times, you can dip a chopstick in it and suck on honey as much as you want. This moisturizes your throat.
• Use the honey and coconut oil tea recipe twice a day once before 11 o'clock AM and the other just before bed. Again the recipe is two tablespoons of the oil placed on two tablespoons of honey and placed in the microwave for ten seconds, until liquid, then pour the mixture into a glass of luke warm(not hot) green tea and stir.
• Force yourself to eat and drink as much as possible. I found the only juice I could get down with out horrible stinging effects was grape juice diluted by 1/4 by water. Chicken noodle soup is your best friend, the salt soothes your throat and the noodles are nice and slimy for sliding down your throat. You can also let some crackers soak in the soup.Jello is a wonderful , Its the easiest thing you'll eat during your entire mono/strep experience.When on painkillers eat a lot and drink lots of Ensure, its packed with much needed calories and lots of essential vitamins (Ensure is used to help senior citizens to gain weight while they're sick) keep your immune system fueled to fight the mono/strep.
• For inner ear infections (excruciating pain in your ear whenever you swallow, even when swallowing water and jello water) I had this problem and found out that it was due to my Eustachian tubes at the back of my throat being clogged. Whenever we yawn or swallow these tubes open up and drain ear liquid.So when you have mono or strep there's a chance these will get clogged and that liquid will build up in the ears causing immense pain every time you swallow making it even hard to drink water. The only way to help this is to eat jello and take a percoset then you will be able to hydrate and eat. For all you moms against giving you kid painkillers, whats more important? that he/she not take percocet or they he/she not dehydrate and starve.
• One thing you shouldn't forget is get up off that couch every couple of hours and walk around. If you don't do this you will start to get restless leg syndrome, this combined with your throat pain will result in zero sleep and horrible half asleep hallucinations all night.
• Make sure you have you own utensils for eating and drinking cups in the house, please do not spread this horrible curse around. Take regular showers as normal and keep clean.

This "mononucleosis advice" should help you immensely in your in your quest to get through and overcome mono, most of it I found out by trial and error. The amount of pain I was in drove me to the internet to research what I could do about it. I was disappointed in the lack of information on a personal level to guide me through the horrible mono experience. If you have any comments or questions I would be glad to answer them to the best my knowledge. Best of luck!