You’ve had a sore throat for days, and no matter how many glasses of orange juice you’ve swigged down in the caf, it’s just not going away. You’re also super tired, and just don’t have the energy lately to make it through class and hang out with your friends. What gives? If you’re dealing with symptoms like this, you could be dealing with mono, a super common illness that pops up on college campuses every year. Luckily, HC has you covered with this complete guide to treating, diagnosing, curing, and preventing mono!
What is mono exactly?
Mono is actually short for mononucleosis, an infection caused by something called the Epstein-Barr virus. Since mono is a viral disease, it’s an illness your body has to fight off on its own, similar to a cold. Mono is not something that can be killed off by drugs or other forms of medicine alone. “Mono is a virus, so your body knows how to get rid of it on its own. Medication or treatments can’t make it go away any faster,” says Stephanie Walters, the medical director of Macalester College’s Health and Wellness Center. “Likely many people have had mono at some point in their lives but don’t realize it.” On the plus side, once you’ve had it and have been exposed to it, your body builds up antibodies, meaning your chances of getting sick with mono again are slim to none! Since mono is a virus though, it’s also possible to be a carrier and not feel affected. In other words, if you’ve been around a roommate, friend, or boyfriend who’s been officially diagnosed with mono, there could be a chance that you have it too even if you have yet to feel symptoms.
Contrary to popular middle school belief, kissing a person who is infected with mono is not the only way to get it. The virus that causes mono is spread through saliva, meaning kissing is one way you could come into contact with the virus, but not the only way you can get infected. You’re just as likely to “catch” mono from sharing drinks, touching a hand or object that’s been sneezed on by an infected person, or through other saliva exchanges.
What are the symptoms of mono?
Part of the problem with recognizing mono is that they overlap with common ailments that are easy to shrug off. Many collegiettes who have dealt with mono cite common aches like a sore throat or feeling really tired during the day, which are typically considered to be a part of the college lifestyle.
“I was really tired all the time, which was the first tip-off,” says Jenny, a Northwestern collegiette who had mono. “I also had what seemed like a perpetual cold; at first I thought my allergies were just really bad, but then I lost my voice during Wildcat Welcome… and couldn’t seem to knock it out of my system.”
Oftentimes, these symptoms begin to feel more extreme than just a cold or bug. “I know for a lot of people the worst part is the sore throat, but for me it was fatigue. My throat didn’t hurt at all, but I felt like the living dead,” says Elizabeth Tompkins, a senior at the College of William and Mary who had mono. Symptoms that linger or seem more painful than they should be are one of your biggest clues that what you originally wrote off could actually be mono.
Another super obvious sign that prompts many collegiettes to get an official diagnosis is how exhausted they feel day after day. “What really made me realize [I had mono] was how unbearably tired I was. I could barely move!” explains Theresa*, a junior at Boston College.
Dr. Walters agrees that some of the most common symptoms are a sore throat and fatigue, and adds that other signs of mono include swollen lymph nodes (glands along the sides of your neck), feeling weak or having no appetite, a fever, or night sweats.
How do I know if I actually have mono?
Going in to get tested for mono tends to be a fairly quick, easy procedure that most college health centers are able to perform. “Getting tested for mono is usually a blood test,” says Dr. Walters. “This sometimes can be a ‘rapid’ test that tells you within 5 minutes if you have it.” She cautions students from going out and immediately getting tested the second their throat to get scratchy, though. “This test is not always positive in first few days of illness, even if a student does have mono, so sometimes we ask people to come back if they are still sick another week later,” she explains.
Dr. Walters’s explanation matches up with what collegiettes have experienced in the past. “I had my results back by the end of the day, and was honestly shocked,” says Jenny. “I was so certain that I didn’t have it because no one I knew had mono.”
Kimberly Horner, a senior at the College of New Jersey experienced issues with a misdiagnosis like the ones Dr. Walters cautions against. “The first time I went to the doctor they did a strep test and it came back positive. After I finished the medicine I still wasn’t feeling better so I went back to the doctor. They finally gave me a mono test and that came back positive,” she explains.
Dr. Walters is quick to remind collegiettes that, unfortunately, since mono is a virus, there’s not much you can do other than wait it out and treat some of the symptoms like a sore throat or a fever. “Most people want to be tested just for ‘an answer’ or peace of mind,” she says.
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If I have mono, how do I treat it?
The best treatment for the virus that causes mono itself is by making what many doctors call “lifestyle changes.” “If you think [you] have mono, avoid contact sports! Avoid binge drinking where you are more likely to be clumsy or have people run into you at a party when they are clumsy,” advises Dr. Walters. “Use general hand washing and avoid germ spreading that you are hopefully doing anyway during cold and flu season. Try not to spread it to friends, dating partners, roommates, so no sharing of cups and no intimate contact. Focus on rest, sleep, nutrition.” She also mentions that some doctors can and will prescribe different medications you can take to relieve some of the more severe symptoms like a sore throat.
While you don’t need to be cooped up in your apartment or dorm room while you wait out mono, it’s super important to avoid any sort of rough or strenuous activity. If you do anything too physical while the mono virus is still active in your body, there’s a possibility your spleen could become enlarged, or even rupture, which is a super dangerous scenario.
It’s also very important that you abstain from drinking alcohol while you have mono—doctors usually recommend not drinking for about four to six weeks—because mono affects your liver, so your body cannot properly break down the alcohol.
Jenny says the doctor she was diagnosed by “recommended no caffeine, no alcohol, at least two healthy meals a day, limited physical activity and no contact sports and resting as much as possible.”
Theresa’s remedies? “I drank a LOT of water. And slept all the time. It was just extremely difficult to eat because my throat was swollen, so I ate lots of liquefied foods.
“The more you sleep, the quicker you will get better,” recommends Michelle Lewis, a senior at UNC-Chapel Hill who has also dealt with mono. “Don’t feel like you have to be an alpha-student and keep going to all your clubs and extracurriculars. It’s better to halt everything now and get better faster than try to keep going on your normal schedule and feel worse for longer.
Dr. Walters says that it takes about four to six weeks for symptoms to develop. These symptoms will start to notably disappear about a month or so later. During this month, you should definitely avoid sharing food or drinks with friends, kissing (even if you’ve got a gorgeous BF), and any other situations where others could come into contact with saliva.
Experts and collegiettes alike seem to agree that the best thing you can do for a quicker recovery is to rest, focus on eating and drinking healthy, and don’t push yourself too hard too soon. After all, staying in your dorm doesn’t have to be boring at all!
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Will I have to miss classes if I have mono?
One of the trickier parts of dealing with mono as a college student is trying to figure out how to stick to your normal schedule and keep from getting swamped with school while still allowing for time to recover.
Striking a balance between your normal routine and the recovery process depends on what your normal routine consists of in the first place. The solution is a little different for everyone. “I only missed one day of school and that was the day that I went to the doctor and got diagnosed,” says Kimberly. “Since I was living at home, I basically woke up to go to class and then came back home to sleep until class the next day… Even though it was difficult to force myself to go to class each day, I think that was the best thing I could have done. I didn’t fall behind in my classes or have repeat the semester.”
Jenny didn’t have much time to allow for recovery. “Because I’m a typical Northwestern student with far too many commitments, I didn’t take any time off. I slept through one class on a particularly intolerable morning and skipped two days of work at my internship, but was just trying to drag myself through the day and get everything done that needed to be done.”
Elizabeth, on the other hand, had a much different experience. “Inevitably I had to go home to recuperate,” she describes. “I missed midterms, almost the entire second half of that semester, and finals. I kept up with classes remotely, and made up two finals in the spring semester. It was such a mess, made so much worse by the fact that I was dealing with the stress of transitioning into college life.”
Play around with your schedule, think about cutting down or eliminating an activity or two, at least temporarily, talk to professors, coaches, and whoever else you have commitments with on a regular basis to explain the situation and work out compromises that will allow you to stay involved and keep from getting behind, but also give you plenty of time to rest and let your body recuperate.
Give me a straight answer – how big of a bummer is having mono?
Again, the answer to this question really depends on what your life looks like on a daily basis and how the illness affects you personally. For the most part, most collegiettes seem to find that mono is an annoying disruption, but doesn’t drastically alter their lives at school as long as they make an effort to rest up.
“It’s really hard to go out, not just because you have absolutely no energy but also because you don’t want to infect anyone else since most friends share cups and food,” shares Jenny. “And also, whenever I told anyone I had mono they literally took three steps back. No, you can’t get mono from breathing the same air as me. Not even a handshake will do it.”
Theresa agrees, describing, “It’s just kind of embarrassing because it’s known as the ‘kissing disease.’ So when you tell people you have it, they’re kind of like ‘oh, really?’ and keep their distance.”
Sometimes the recovery process and the steps towards getting better can be frustrating as well. “The worst part of mono is just being tired all the time. I felt really sad and just wanted to spend all my time sleeping,” says Kimberly.
As hard as it might be to miss out on things happening on and around campus, rest up and remember that the better you are about treating the virus smartly, the sooner you’ll be able to join in once again!
Are there things I can do to prevent from getting mono?
The best way to avoid contracting mono is by making smart decisions. Shared Theresa, “When you’re out and about don’t drink out of random cups! I know this is common sense… but as college students we get way too comfortable casually sharing a drink with a friend or sipping or ‘trying’ their drink at the bar. I figured my carefree ways had somehow led me to contract it!”
Keep in mind that mono is spread through different body fluids like mucus or saliva. That means you contract the virus through sharing drinks or utensils, or by being around an infected person who is coughing or sneezing a lot. If someone in your circle of friends or your significant other seems to display prolonged cold symptoms, encourage them to think about going in for a mono test, and refrain from sharing glasses or plates for awhile.
College students are a demographic more likely than others to come into contact with viruses like mono. When in doubt, it never hurts to get signs and symptoms checked out. Listen to the signals your body is giving you, and always put your health first. After all, you only get one college experience. You don’t want to suffer through parts of it because you didn’t take enough time to recover!