Glandular Fever

[skater]

I hate glandular fever. First No 2 daughter has it & is sick, tired & grumpy for several weeks, then No 1 daughter catches it. She has been much worse than her younger sister & after 4 weeks of it can only go to school for around 2 hours before feeling dizzy & having to come home.

She is doing year 11, so really cannot afford to have too much time off. Added to that, we have Nationals (for skating of course) in 3 weeks & she is devastated that she cannot train & very worried that she isn't going to do as well as she had hoped.

I wake up this morning with No 2 daughter feeling ill again & after I come home from running errands all morning find her in bed, glands once again swollen, tired grumpy & generally horrible (as we all are when sick). It appears that she has had a relapse. She must be really bad, as the two of them are cuddled up together on the lounge (anyone who knows them will tell you that they usually hate each other & would rather not even be in the same room, let alone cuddling each other).

I don't know what is worse, sick men, or sick teenagers (two of them at once this time).

 

[Olly]

My son in law had glandular fever about 9 years ago and it didn't last for weeks - he had it for a few months. Then he got shingles which hung around for a while as well It was about this time that he and my daughter met and a 'spark' developed between them. He wanted to take her out on a date but was broke from not working for so long. So, he sold his leather jacket to his mate and took her ice skating. While there he had his Reebok shoes stolen and my daughter had to piggy back him across the gravel car park to the car so they could drive home. She was 5'1" and a size 8 at the time! The story was told at their wedding for all his big boofy mates to hear and we often joke among the family that she's still 'carrying' him.

Eight years and 2 gorgeous grandsons for me later they are still going strong (and he's hardly been sick since).

A nasty illness, and you poor thing - you've got 2 people suffering from it. I don't envy you.

Cheers
Olly

 

[Simon]

Glandular Fever sucks. I had it once and whilst I wasn't bedridden, I was sick for about six months with it.

My wife has had it as well but was only really crook for about two months.

I hope your patients recover fast.

 

[Ricardo29]

oh nooooooo......worst thing ever i reckon. i had it a few years ago. and still affects me.

woke up one morning feeling just like i had a cold.
by noon i was almost dead. had to be carried upstairs to a bed...lay there sweating in sheer heat, followed be freezing in sheer cold. vaguely remember a doctor visiting. next thing i knew it was a full 2 days later!!
thats when the pain hit (ie. i was conscious). i couldnt swallow, breath, do anything, and would happily have had someone smother me with a pillow, if i was able to communicate to them to do so, which i wasnt.
then gradually came to/semi alive after 4 days...spent the next 7 days in bed...very very crook. slept about 18hrs a day.
over next month or so...would wake about noon, take things very very slowly till about 6pm...then off to sleep again, totally exhausted.
after another month or so managed to get to work for a few hrs per day, but totally exhausted.
after about 4 months i was kind of back to normal...couldnt drink however (and i love a drink), and couldnt really do anything physical.
about 9 months i was back to normality.

didnt stop there though.

got a sore throat a year later....back to bed for 5 days, totally dead, fever for 4 days. feel the throat at 9am, then by midday absolutely shot to peices, fevered, bed ridden etc.
this has happened once per year since, getting further apart however which is a good sign i guess.

had gland fever, which also brought on chronic fatigue, then get tonsilites/remnants of GF every year or so. penicillin seems to be the only thing that stops it...although i still get about 4 days of it...penicillin probably only means i dont get 7 days of it.

wouldnt wish this on anyone, the worst worst thing anyone can get i believe.
ive broken every bone, been in accidents, been seriously sick etc before, but this hands down was the worst most painful experience i think il ever live through. thank god for my mum is all i can say

have heard though it doesnt always get this extreme, so perhaps things are so depressing as my story!! best of luck skater

 

[skater]

Thanks for all the support. Looks like I'm going to have a lot of fun with the two of them.

 

[cava]

I got glandular fever midway through my last year at high school and failed the mid year exams and was quarantineed for 4 weeks? It really knocked me around and I took about 3 years to fully recover.

Goodluck with the girls.

 

[skater]

took about 3 years to fully recover.

Aaarrrggghh, don't say that. I'm going to have nightmares now. Teens are tempermental enough when they are feeling good. When they are sick, it is just horrid.

 

[lauries]

My 18 year old niece contracted glandular fever last year. One of the symptons is swelling of the spleen. Her spleen ruptured and within hours she was dead. Came as a complete shock as she was young and healthy and was resting. There was nothing medical staff could do by the time she got to hospital.

I would advise your daughters not to get inolved in anything too physical until they are over the worst of it.

I too had glandular fever in Senior like cava and I can heartily sympathise.

All the best.

 

[Simon]

My 18 year old niece contracted glandular fever last year. One of the symptons is swelling of the spleen. Her spleen ruptured and within hours she was dead. Came as a complete shock as she was young and healthy and was resting. There was nothing medical staff could do by the time she got to hospital.


All the best.

What an awful thing to happen to her and your family.

I hope that it is a very rare ocurrence and shouldn't worry our Skater too much.

 

[yadreamin]

Skater all l can say is if the girls do not care for themselves 100% and get complete rest now then they will suffer the side effects of this for a long long time.
Good luck and take care of yourself as well during this very difficult time
cheers yadreamin

 

[skater]

shouldn't worry our Skater too much.

Too late.

I'm so sorry for your loss Lauries. Are there any signs to watch for with a swollen spleen? I did know that the spleen can swell, however was under the impression that it was extremely rare.

 

[Ricardo29]

spleen issues are common from what i gathered.
i was told in no uncertain terms not to drink, and to take zinc.

a few years later, ive reversed the trend and now only drink, and dont take zinc. but thats just me

sorry to hear lauries...terrible stuff.

 

[lauries]

Skater, sorry, I don't mean to alarm you. Just making you aware that it is a potential issue. I admit to acting cavalierly when I had glandular fever. I still played football etc.

It was only after she died that I did a bit of research and found it is a symptom. Fortunately not many people suffer a rupture, and even fewer who do rupture die. She was just unlucky.

Much as your girls will hate it at that age, the best thing they can do is do nothing.

 

[see_change]

It's not uncommon for the spleen and liver to get slightly inflammed . I know mine did.... Ended up repeating a year at uni as it occured leading into exams. I was stuffed for about three months and learnt to dislike midday movies. Apart from that it was a good excuse to take a year off uni

Liver is under the right side of your abdomen , under the ribs , spleen in on the left side. Never heard of the spleen rupturing like that ( with glandular fever ) , so it's obviously incredibly uncommon. The most common reason I've seen for ruptured spleen is a Motor bike accident.

Main thing is to take it easy for quite a while. With Glandular fever you will feel better after a while, and go and do too much and then feel stuffed again. I'd be avoiding skating at the moment ...

There's obviously a bit going around in the area skater as I had a guy come in with it last week and that's the first case I've seen for quite a while.

Most people get Glandular Fever as a young child and at that stage it's just like any other virus . You get sick and then get better fairly quickly . A small percentage miss out at that stage and those are the people who get sick in their teens. Most of the time when I think someone has it , the blood tests come back saying they've had it in the past , but not at that stage .

See Change

 

[skater]

Ah, Seech, just what I need, a Doctor's view on it all.

They have been taking it easy. No 1 especially, who is the one that is most affected with it. As for the skating.......well.........Nationals is in 3 weeks & she has worked really hard for a favourable outcome. She is devastated that she can't train & has decided to do a tiny bit a couple of days a week so that she can still do her events. But she doesn't do all the jumps & spins, she does the skating equivalent to ballroom dancing, so it's not too physical if she just does the minimum.

Her day (on a good day) currently looks like this: Go to school for 1 or 2 hours, come home, rest, eat lunch, then bed & sleep for a couple of hours, skating 1/2 hour, rest, eat dinner, then watch TV etc till ready for bed. If she is too tired to do the skating, she doesn't do it. I'm letting her decide if she is up to doing anything at this stage, however I will step in if I feel she is overdoing it.

She has been trying to get a little more study in, which she can do at home while she rests on her bed. It is a lot easier for her to do that, than to remain at school. Just playing it by ear at the moment.

No 2 daughter, however, was hardly affected with it at all. Only a couple of weeks & she was again ready to tackle the world. I think this is only a slight setback with her & she will once again be up & running.

 

[lauries]

Seechange, try typing in the words "glandular fever spleen" into google and I think you will be unpleasantly surprised. While spontaneous spleen rupture is not common, about between 0.1 and 0.2 percent of cases, it cannot be ruled out as a possibility.

The only point I would like to make is that knowing what I now know, I ran some terrible risks with my approach to the disease. I certainly found some of the information eye opening.

http://www.medinfo.co.uk/conditions/glandularfever.html
http://www.netdoctor.co.uk/diseases/facts/glandularfever.htm
http://www.disability.vic.gov.au/bhcv2/bhcarticles.nsf/pages/Spleen_explained?OpenDocument

 

[Simon]

Seechange, try typing in the words "glandular fever spleen" into google and I think you will be unpleasantly surprised. While spontaneous spleen rupture is not common, about between 0.1 and 0.2 percent of cases, it cannot be ruled out as a possibility.

The only point I would like to make is that knowing what I now know, I ran some terrible risks with my approach to the disease. I certainly found some of the information eye opening.

http://www.medinfo.co.uk/conditions/glandularfever.html
http://www.netdoctor.co.uk/diseases/facts/glandularfever.htm
http://www.disability.vic.gov.au/bhcv2/bhcarticles.nsf/pages/Spleen_explained?OpenDocument

I guess SC is balancing his practical experience as a GP with all the varying reports one can find on the internet. I am sure he has access to plenty of medical publications without the need to Google for more info. 0.1 and 0.2% chances are not high risks and I suggest ruling out contact sports and being aware of symptoms is sufficient. As my fridge magnet says "be Alert but Not Alarmed".

We have a daughter with a life threatening peanut allergy. We chose not to bubble wrap her but to educate ourselves and her and face issues as they arise. Reading up on this on the internet would have us lobbying councils to ban peanuts, not taking flights, home schooling etc etc

I have no doubt that you wish to help and certainly pointing out these risks would make any parent read up on it or ask for professional advice. But I am sure Skater has enough on her plate without further alarmist posts about her daughter's medical conditions.

Cyberchondria is a very real condition as well and we should all be careful not to be exposed to this increasingly prevalent disease of our generation.

Cheers,

 

[skater]

Lauries, we all know that complications can, & do arise from time to time with a lot of diseases. I also appreciate that you are only trying to help, but attempting to scare the living daylights out of someone really does not help at all. I honestly feel for you & your sad loss, but please, keep it in perspective, a 0.1% chance is 1 in 1000 cases.

You may not know this, but See-Change is a Doctor & so is Simon's wife. Neither of them are concerned & my local GP is also unconcerned.

I get accounting advice from my accountant, legal advice from my lawyer & medical advice from doctors. Thankyou for you concern.

 

[Ruby]

I can understand your comments skater and although something is very rare, it’s also good to know about it.

My son has an extremely rare condition and although you never think something can happen to you……it sometimes does. Its no use worrying about it….life goes on. But on the extremely rare occasion that there is a problem at least you wont leave it and will jump because you have this extra information on hand.

Thanks for starting this thread, I’m sure its helped a lot of people.


Ruby

 

[lauries]

"Alarmist". "Cyberchondria". Steady on Simon, that's a bit harsh.

All I have done is presented some facts, how you assimilate them is up to you. Just because the facts don't agree with you doesn't mean you have to shoot the messenger.

If you read my post properly you may just see the words "not common" and "between 0.1 and 0.2 percent of cases".

Frankly, I'm disappointed.