hi, i'm 28 and came down with mono five months ago. it was severe, with swollen liver and wbc count through the roof. since then i have felt completely exhausted and depressed. my doctor said since my blood tests are "normal" these issues are new and not related to mono. intuitively, i feel this is wrong. i suspect mono triggered my depression and has debilitated my energy and immunity. i've been feeling hopeless and suicidal, so he put me on an antidepressant, which has not improved my mood and seems to have exacerbated my "mono" symptoms. does this sound like cfs and if so how can this be "proven" or measured to appease science? also, any long-term maintenance treatment ideas for chronic mono.fatigue? thanks!

I have a case similar to yours. I was 16 at the end of last January when I got mono. It was such a bad case, i was in the hospital, my tonsils the size of golfballs, enlarged liver and spleen, extreme fatigue, huge lymph nodes, it was just awful. I was getting morphine every other hour, steroids, and tylenol with codeine. It was horrible. And now i'm 17 and i've been diagnosed with chronic fatigue and lingering mono.

You should try and find a specialist who deals with this type of thing, because my other doctors did nothing for me. I finally went to a CFS specialist and they helped me alot. They seemed to be the only ones who understood me. Get another Mono test to see if it's still lingering in your blood. It's possible that your still just tired from the mono. The fatigue from CF is usually 6 months or greater in order for a diagnosis. I have also developed depression since then, but I was also on the Depo-Provera birth control shot, anti seizure medicine, and depressed from the CF. It could be that you are depressed from the mono. It's really frustrating to not be able to do things that you use to anymore. But other chronic fatigue symptoms are not just depression and fatigue. There's countless others. And usually you have many of them to be diagnosed. It's not fun. I was finally put on Provigil to help with fatigue. Well, if you need any more help or have any more questions I might be able to help you, because i went through almost the same thing. Hope i helped some. http://www.healthboards.com/ubb/smile.gif

dude, come on i have glandular fever... life is hard enough without this! I had depression before this. I overcame that with exercise and social interaction and then once I was over that BAM i get the crappest disease ever. I think i'm on the verge of probably getting the blues again. And the worst thing is I cannot seek comfort in the arms of a woman as I am guilt ridden about giving her my sickness. How you people with the really really bad conditions continue with your lives is beyond me! I have the best Christmas and holidays coming up and I'm going to be SICK all through them. I'm so mad