Help! Need Assistance to Keep My 16 Year Old Healthy - Has Mono for the 4Th Time

She should increase her intake of vitamin c, it boosts the immune system. You could also have her start taking vitamins daily.

I had mono when I was 16 and my blood tested positive for it for five years after I had it. My doctor said that was normal. Perhaps she's overdoing it with work and school, something I can also relate to, but is having false positives?

It is immperative that she gets her rest. My brother had mono his senior year. We pretty much made him bed ridden unless he had to go to the bathroom. She needs to get her strength back. Also, citrus fruits will make it worse. Don't give her orange juice or other citrusy drinks, but do keep her well hydrated. It takes almost 4 months to get her strength back. Even if she is feeling much better she still needs to rest up. It's like taking antibiotics, don't stop taking them when you feel good, finish them off, that's why the doc prescribed them. The doctor will be able to give her another medication so she won't have to worry about breaking out. I'm like that with Zithromax. Anyway, She needs to stop her 2 jobs, at least for right now. Keep school in mind. She may even have to drop the extra-cirricular activities. I know it would suck to do that, but she needs her rest. Look up stuff on the internet about mono and see all what it says.
As for her menstrual cycle, I use Excedrin Extra Strength. It works for my cramps. Take a multi-vitamin for that extra boost of energy all teenage girls need. I know they knock me down and i can't stop my day. Don't know how you'd feel about brith control, but I am taking Luestra24 and it is working AWESOME! I'm not having as bad of cramps as i used to. For me they were on a pain scale of 1-10, like oh say 15! Haha. I hope this has helped.

If your daughter was my daughter I would try very hard to get her to stop all activities for at least a year. Mono can be very dangerous at this age. It may be not so much that she is getting it again and again but that she never totally gets over it. Did your doctor tell you that her spleen could burst because of mono?

I really believe your daughter should be at home resting and that somehow you need to make her understand that it takes a lot of time and rest to get over this at her age. It's potentially life threatening if her spleen bursts.

I am not a health care provider, but my advice is the advice you are probably going to hear over and over on Mamasource. It sounds like your daughter wears down leaving her immune system weakened. It makes it easier for her to come down with all kinds of illnesses. School and working with the public exposes her to all sorts of germs.

One consideration is that she is not really ever getting over the mono completely. When she wears down, her defenses are down and the virus takes over again.

She needs good food and sleep. There are all kinds of products out there that say they will help immune system and you may want to give them a try. But, it may not be enough. If she doesn't need the money, she may want to quit at least one job.

You may want to consult another health care provider about this many episodes of mono.

Good luck!

My daughter also had mono. The key to recovery is rest, rest, rest!!! That is the only way to deal with it, she is not giving herself enough to get over it. We had to put our daughter on house arrest, for 3 months. It worked, it was not easy though. I talked to her father about it and we both agreed that although she would hate us, in that teen kind of way, it was what we had to do. She had to stop working, no going out, nothing until we could see that she was better. Even on the days that she said she felt better and I could tell she was going stir crazy we were very careful. I would take her out for an hour or so, lunch or a maybe a movie. She would get tired very easy and come home to sleep for a few hours. She could see for herself that even a little bit of activity made her tired again. Although she did not appreciate it in one way, she still thanks us for it now.

Tell her to stop kissing! Totallllyyyy kidding. :) I'm sure you're both sick of her being sick! Hopefully she can get some rest and drop one or two of her activities. My sister is the same way (# of activities) and she's sick frequently. Their bodies just aren't made to go, go, go like that!

Hi D., it sounds like you are very concerned about your daughter's health. I can only imagine how scary this is for her and you...as a mom. There is something she can take to boost her immune system...interferon...safely and naturally...without drugs. It's called Nutriferon...made by a wonderful company, Shaklee. It has 4 published clinical studies and is patented. You can check it out here: http://www.shaklee.net/embracehealth/prodNuFeronHome Or email me and I'd be happy to send you more info.

M.

D., you're the mom. you already know what you need to do. put your foot down. she needs REST, real rest, not just a day or two. she needs to take at least one semester without all these extra activities. mono isn't a joke, and having it four times within a year and a half, i can't believe her dr. hasn't mentioned it too. lose the extra activities. don't "try to convince" her. put a stop to it. period. why would you let her keep doing all these things knowing what it's costing her? she's still a kid for pete's sake, what kind of message are you sending her?

Hi D.,

You probably know what Mono is and how it's spread. Check and see what conditions are where she works and at her athletic events. is she sharing food and drinks with friends or are things not as clean? Just a thought. My son had some soft drink poured into a glass from a bottle that someone drank from that was later found out to have mono, while he didn't get it, a friend of his who also had a drink from the same bottle did. It might be her physical condition too at the time she gets it. She may be run down and just seseptible to it. Hope she gets to feeling better.

Hi D.,
When does she sleep? I have had 3 respiratory infections in 7 weeks. I am in school part-time now, was full-time, until I kept getting sick, and I am a full-time Mommy. My Doctor said I keep getting sleep mainly because I don't get enough sleep. I imagine she is up half the night doing homework, because she obviously has no other time to do it, why is your daughter involved in so many activities? I really hope it is because she wants to be, but while it may look good on a college application, it can also be very stressful to try and keep up with and draining on anyone, I know Mono is a virus, but your immune system is severely weakened by lack of sleep. Why in the world does any 16 year old need 2 jobs, get rid of one, have you shared your daughter's schedule with her doctor? Make sure she is taking a multi-vitamin every day, I am an adult and I take chewables because I can't swallow the horse pills and I am about to have lap band and the doctor told me I had to take one chewable multi-vitamin a day. I would say magnesium, also Magnesium is very useful to any woman that has periods, because in addition to Iron we loose magnesium during that. Good luck getting her healthy please consider that your girls maybe over doing it a bit, kids are under a lot of pressure to do all these "things and activities" these days, and it isn't always a good thing, they can over do it and sometimes as parents we have to say no, so that our children can get the sleep they need to be healthy, actually teenagers require more sleep than any other age group besides infants. Good luck again.
M.

I too have a 16 year old daughter who is VERY busy with activities and school and growing up she was always sick with ear infections, sore throats, etc. As she became older - around middle school, but especially in high school, she was sick with strep throat or tonsilitis all the time. Depending on the time of year - we knew when she was going to get sick. Last year (sophomore year) she was sick so many times and for such a long period each time that she fell behind in school and didn't excel in her athletics like she was capable of doing. We got her tonsils taken out this last summer FINALLY. They were pretty well rotten - so the Dr. said. She hasn't been sick since we got them out!!! It was the best thing we could have done for her - and we should have done it years ago.

You might look into that possibility. Mono is a whole other story - it isn't strep or anything, but it could all be related. I don't know. But I know for our daughter, each time she was sick, it took longer and longer to recover. And she missed so much school last year. She is usually sick shortly after school starts and she hasn't been sick once this year.

Hang in there and get second opinions.......good luck! Lastly, cut back on her work hours - they aren't much, but even a young adult at 16 years still needs a lot of sleep - she really needs to let her body recover after each "episode" of mono.

I don't think you ever really get over mono, completely and if you don't take enough time to get better, it keeps showing up. That means, slowing down. She is going to have to rest and let her body rebuild. She may need to give a few things up for a while. You could maybe talk to her doctor about supplements to help her. Also, you might have her checked for PPMD, has to do with immune system and emotional issues during pms. Are they checking her for anything else?

I had mono as a teen and did not do all the activities your daughter does. The only reason the mono was caught was because a teacher called about me falling asleep in class and that I would come home do chores, eat dinner and go to bed or take a quick nap. I was out of school for 2 months and back for 2 weeks before being home again for another 2 months. The key is rest/sleep. I remember getting lab work done almost every week and sleeping. I could not at times even get through some of my school work before I needed another nap. I had a tutor twice a week and barely made it through those sesions. Even during the two weeks back at school I was never there all day. Mono can cause some other problems so please see/talk to your doctor or get a 2nd opinion. She should not keep getting it and maybe has just never gotten rid of it. It took several months afterwards to get all my energy back.

Mono tends to be caused by the Epstein Barr virus. Once you get it, it stays in your body...therefore, testing will result in a positive, probably forever...that being said, there is a panel of bloodwork that can help tease out whether it is an active infection, a "latent" infection that will always be there, but not causing problems, a "reactivated" infection (often caused by the immune system dropping as it's trying to fight another virus or infection), or a resolving infection.

Regardless, once the bug is in your system, it will most-likley always be there. (and most of us have been exposed by young adulthood (though some have a worse bout than others...most people just feel like they have the flu for a week, while others are down for a month or more)
REST is so important. If you allow yourself to get "run down" it causes the immune response to dip, possibly allowing the virus to "reactivate". If this happens over and over, you run the risk of having to deal with things like "Chronic Fatigue Syndrome".
Tell your daughter to listen to her body and rest!!!

Something she may not want to hear is that the heavy chlorine levels in public pools can be terribly hard on the body. According to what one doctor told me, the chlorine is easily absorbed through the skin and reaches the heart within 4 seconds. Many are learning the benefits of replacing the highly chlorinated pools with salt pools, but most public pools in the midwest are still highly chlorinated. As much as I always loved to swim, I stay away from those pools. I always ask hotels if they have a salt pool before making reservations.

I see a lot of kids getting migrains after swimmin class and I know another young woman with a mono problem that likes to work as a lifeguard. It always gets worse in the summer, when she is at the pool.

Also, if she works in a restaurant they may require a Hep-A vaccine. I would do some serious research into the contraindications of receiving a vaccine while already struggling with a difficult virus. I wouldn't just let the doctor dismiss my concerns out-of-hand. I would do my own research on this subject. If you do allow vaccines, be sure to ask that they are all completely free of mercury (Thimerasol). I know people get vaccines to 'boost' the immune system, but it just doesn't always produce that outcome under a variety of circumstances.

Hope you find what is truly helpful for her!

There are many ways to boost the immune system, but I would try a doctor of Oriental medicine, a naturalpath, or a chiropractor to learn these.

I had mono when I was 14 years old and missed the entire month of school in May. We didn't catch it until May although I had started getting sick as early as February. My doctor finally tested me for mono after I learned a volleyball teammate had to leave our travel team because she had mono. I also had pneumonia and my pediatrician was concerned about my spleen because mono can cause complications. I was in the hospital for a week. I was completely exhausted all of the time. Even when I felt better and was ready to start sports and other activities I was in, my doctor said "no." He didn't release me to regular activites for another 3 months. At the time, I was very angry and wanted to resume my normal life . . . softball, swimming, slumber parties, etc. But looking back, I am so glad I did. Other friends who have had mono didn't get that kind of rest and ended up having a disasterous 6 to 12 months of trying to get rid of the symptoms of mono. As an adult, I now can feel the symptoms of extreme exhaustion coming on and know that it is time to rest or risk more health complications. I have now had pneumonia three times and I am only 31! By the way, every doctor I have been to has told me that once you get mono, blood tests will always test positive for the virus.

Your daughter needs to stop all activities and rest for a long time--don't let her compromise her future health!!!

I know many on her are selective vaccinating but I am surprised no one mentioned getting this one. My 13 y/o was vaccinated 2 years ago and I know from my own experiences this is one that's worth it. The complications from Mono can be terrible. I do not know if your daughter can be vaccinated after the fact but it would be worth the discussion with your M.D. Rest is her best defense right now and make sure she gets other vaccines to keep her from accuiring anything ontop of this (like the flu). I understand the selective vaccinations but as a pharmacy tech We do all vaccines because the alternatives I have seen are not pretty.

well, you can get mono only once- you then have it for life and will always test positive. Have you had her evaluated for Epstein-Barr- CFS which is a cousin to mono- try Echinacea-either alone or with Goldenseal- these will help her ward off opportunistic infections while her virus is active. Yes, rest is the best thing- and remember that since Mono is a virus- there is no cure- just like a cold. How is her diet- she needs to really pay attention to what she eats- lots of vegs, fruits,plenty of protein- either animal or plant- but not soy- that will mess with her cycles if she consumes too much- no soda, sugar, I would stay away from breads- yeast will only compound her symptoms. good luck :)

I was very sick my senior year of high school. Did not have mono but was tested for it several times and was very close to having it. I also was very involved in Band, church activities, and working. I didn't slow down and was very sick all that year and didn't get better until after school was out and could rest more. My recommendation is for her to get as much sleep as possible so if she has too much right now she needs to evaluate what is most important and have at least 2-3 days a week to just relax and sleep as much as possible. As an adult I still have days when I just have to crash for at least 15-20 hours at one time and don't know if I ever got over that illness as I get very tired and tend to get sore throats often which I was a strep carrier my whole senior year and just couldn't get rid of that either. Now to add migraines to the list and have to sleep them off as medication doesn't seem to help with them at all. I don't know if being sick like that when I was young has affected my life now but I do have a lot going now and have had to re-evaluate what is most important in life again as I had to then because I was just going constantly and not getting much sleep and keeping up with everything and could feel my body shutting down and falling asleep anytime I sat still over 10 minutes and had 3 migraines last week so knew I was doing too much again and had to let a few things go and this week things seem to be better already.

My mom had mono when I was very little. She had to rest a lot to get over it.

I also have a friend that has a 7 year old that has had it twice in the past year. She wasn't sleeping well and worries a lot about things and her immune system is low so she had to quit sports and sleep a lot.

Sleep is the key to helping any virus and a lot of people get mono from having too much going on and not taking care of themselves with enough sleep and taking time off when there are the first signs of being sick, stress seems to also be a factor.

Most people don't realize this, but Chiropractic is the least evasive and best kept secret in health care out there today in my opinion. I know that the doctor we go to treats children all the time. Of all ages. With tremendous results. Check it out on the internet " Holistic Chiropractic " and see how it can benefit her with her immune system. It is so amazing how quickly kids get well. I know my girls will ask to see him when the onset of something just doesn't feel right. The last time we were in there, there was a 'mid/young" teenage girl in there. She had fallen from a cheerleading stunt, but her mother said they are in there for everything else too, this was the reason for that particular visit. She said she wouldn't take her anywhere else. We live in Missouri.

Hi D.,

Whenever I need assistance with an illness, I go to the doctor or reasearch health sites.
I found this one that I think is very interesting and gives you a lot of facts and answers to your questions.
http://www.medicinenet.com/infectious_mononucleosis/artic...
Hope it helps,
Mariana

I agree with all the others who have told you that your daughter needs rest more then anything else. However, there is one thing that hasn't been mentioned yet. Vitamins! Especially during her cycle. Make sure she takes a good multivitamin everyday that includes a good dose of iron. This will help her immune system. I am not usually a big herbalist or anything but I have also taken Echinacea which is also an immune system booster. Halls makes a product called Halls Defense that is a good source of Echinacea that you could give her to take every once in a while.

We drink MonaVie and not one person in my family has been sick since we started drinking it. In fact, our pediatrician was so surprised that he hadn't seen my 3 kids in so long that when I told him about MonaVie, he wanted it too. Now he drinks it and loves it!!! It is health in a bottle. It is 19 different fruits pureed into a bottle. It has tons of antioxidants and other phytonutrients that boost the immune system as well as do lots of other stuff.

I'd be happy to give you more information on it. ____@____.com or ###-###-####.

Try giving her echinacea (Sp) during that time of the month. It is a natural herb that enhances your immune system. I give it to my family when they start showing signs of getting sick. It is not something you take all the time, but she can take it during her cycle to help. It comes in liquid and pill form and you can find it at your local pharmacy. Good luck and God Bless.

Since you bring up all of her activities, it sounds to me like maybe you think she is doing too much. I would agree. Maybe she should take it down a notch. As for immune boosters, Esberitox and Sambucol are both great. You can find them at natural food stores.

Ive heard wonderful things about Elderberry! I personally dont think it tastes very good so if you mix it with juice you cant even tell youre drinking it! Also Vitamin C tablets work wonders with me. These things are natural and safe and really help boost the immune system. Good luck!