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Joined: Sep 11, 2007 Posts: 775 Location: southern California
Posted: Tue Aug 26, 2008 9:52 am Post subject:
Welcome, Slug-
You are not alone. We've been talking alot about how the timing of mono and the Epstein Barr virus can affect future MS. EBV used to be seen as a benign childhood illness. When it is contracted as a teenager, the immune system reacts differently, and a teen develops mono. Some people later develop MS-Scientists/researchers are pursuing the connection
http://www.thisisms.com/ftopict-5993-ebv.html
Sorry about that nasty case of mono, Art. Sounds like it really took it out of you! My husband had it for a few weeks, was more like the flu,but the fatigue lasted longer. And now that's his major hurtle with his MS.
AC _________________ Husband diagnosed RRMS March 2007
pursuing endothelial healing
Copaxone, Swank, supplements, laughter
Joined: Sep 23, 2007 Posts: 169 Location: Lexington, KY
Posted: Wed Aug 27, 2008 7:59 am Post subject:
I had mono at the age of 12. Was out of school for about 6 weeks. It's been years ago so I don't remember the details. Afterwards I got shingles (I already had chicken pox) when chicken pox was going around the school. I don't know if it was EBV. Will a simple blood test give the answer?
Marcia _________________ DX'd 08/2006, RRMS, contemplating post Tovaxin therapies
Joined: Sep 12, 2006 Posts: 899 Location: Dayton, Ohio USA
Posted: Wed Aug 27, 2008 9:41 am Post subject:
Marcia,
A blood test can tell you that. It was a blood test that led to the Dr. basically telling me I had mono at some point in the past due to my really high EBV titer. I think, and I could be recalling incorrectly, that if you had mono, you have EBV running around. _________________ "When you're in jail, a good friend will be trying to bail you out. A best friend will be in the cell next to you saying, 'Damn, that was fun.'"
I don't remember having mono, but two of my kids did. My EBV Nuclear Antigen came back "greater than 5". Doc made notes on the results- "past EBV infection".
Joined: Sep 26, 2007 Posts: 135 Location: East Coast USA
Posted: Thu Aug 28, 2008 1:21 pm Post subject:
I've been sort of curious about mono because the last few girls I've kissed have come down with mono not too long after the experience. I myself have never had mono, or it was so mild and brief that I didn't even notice it. I wonder if it's just coincidence or if I just carry the virus without ever evidencing the symptoms. The weirdest thing with me not having it is that mono has a two week incubation period, I think, and these girls would have either got it from me or given it to me.
Posted: Thu Sep 04, 2008 8:40 am Post subject: Yeap!
The dr I saw at Duke Univeristy asked me if I ever had mono. I did when I was 16, and now, I have MS. He told me the two were related. However, I am on one of four great-granddaughters with MS as well. _________________ Melissa, DX--RRMS, 2007
Betaseron, 2007
Novantrone, 2008
Posted: Wed Dec 31, 2008 2:21 am Post subject: father has ms, girlfriend has mono
Curious whether my fears are valid or if I'm just being ridiculous here.
My father has had MS for as long as I can remember. Maybe 15 years. I know my mom had mono when I was a baby, some 25 years ago. I've never had it.
The girl I'm currently dating had a bad bout with mono in highschool, about 8 years ago.
I'm curious whether I should be concerned with dating her, considering I have a family history of MS. Fearing she could pass the trigger to something I'm susceptible for.
Reasonable? Ridiculous? Most say I can't avoid the EBV, since 95% of the population seems to be walking around with it. I may already have it, even, and as a result be immune.
i wouldn't worry about your gal, but you can look at some pretty standard markers to see if you're sliding into the ms range - you can test your vitamin d3, your zinc, and your uric acid, there are 'typical' findings for ms with all of those. and a few other things too but just to get started
I hate worrying about this. I've dated a few girls and left because they had mono in the past. This is the first one that I really want to give it a try with. I just wish I could quell my anxiety about it.
I keep thinking what if I don't have EBV. What if she could still pass it to me. What if my genetic background makes me susceptible to it.
My logical mind tells me that's so ridiculously far-fetched. I just can't erase the "what ifs".
My only comfort rests in the fact that supposedly 95% of the population has EBV, so how can I ever really avoid it? I'd have to live like a monk, and that ain't happening.
chud the other day at work a manager was complaining of a cold allergy which made me go investigate... i ended up at zinc. i encountered a side link to mono. apparently contracting mono is also linked to low zinc. i remembered this manager saying she'd gotten mono not too long ago. then i ran into the links to autism. which her son has. then i ran across hypothyroidism. which she said her sister has. she asked what foods have zinc? red meat and some sea foods, mostly, i answered. we talked some about the links i'd found btw zinc and mono etc, and then she told me that she didn't eat red meat and that she and her sisters had been vegetarians for some years, and that her husband was the only one in the family that ate red meat, and he's the only one who's healthy. so hopefully she checks back in at some point to report whether there have been improvements!
and now here i am with ms, after 15 years of veganism, and documented lab tested zinc deficiency on my record, and published research is out there saying both male and female ms patients are lower in zinc, if not necessarily outright "deficient". i'd say, you could make sure your zinc level is in the "healthy control" range (ie not the deceptively titled 'normal' range) and put yourself a bit more at ease regarding both mono AND ms.
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