Mystery Illness - Swollen Lymph Glands

[Indo-Siam]

Awright - I know this sounds like a medical issue - and it is - but I wanted to sample the general readership - including folks who never bother checking the medical/health section.

Here's the story - Starting about yen days ago, I came down with an odd illness - the lymph gland under my left jaw hinge became swollen and sore - as I've experienced before with the flu - but with no other symptoms - no sore throat, congestion,or anything else. Then, a couple days later, I felt overall lousy - but with no specific location for the problem, I had a bit of a fever. That went away. 'Still went out for a few beers after work - noticed as I was taking shoes off at home that my lower back was mildly sore and tender - as in where my kidneys were.

This went on for a couple more days - then my wife wakes up one morning sick the same way - but much more intensely including sore throat. She goes to the hospital - they give here the usual antibiotics and tell her basically nothing. She comes home and basically sleeps 15 hours per day for the next few days.

So - I go to the Internet and start checking out WebMD and similar - and I reach the conclusion that I've got infectious mononucleosis - and so does my wife. Mono guidance says swollen neck glands, fatigue, and inflamed liver and spleen - so don't drink alcohol. I stop drinking - and sore lower back goes away immediately.

So - now I lay low for a couple of days - neck gland is still mildly sore. Next weekend comes, I go out for a bit - tell my story to some buddies - and suddenly - about HALF the people I'm talking to - farang punters, and also Thai waitresses - MANY have the same thing - sore/swollen neck, feel crummy. Then I go visit a couple of customers that I visit frequently - tell them why I'm not shaking hands - and THEY HAVE IT TOO.

Now - I'm figuring that about 50% of all the people that I see regularly have had this same affliction - for between three weeks and three days. No one seems to have had it and seen the end of it - yet.

So - what is this? An epidemic of infectious mononucleosis? Or is this just mass hypochondria???

Does this description of symptoms sound familar to anyone else who frequents lower Sukhumvit.

Doc - tell me -please - am I gonna live ??????????

Typhoid Mary (aka Indo-Siam)

[Nam Kao]

Funny you should say this, 3 people in my wifes family have it also, just recently

My wife knows what it is but doesnt have the english name for it

I can get the Thai name if you want

[Thetyim]

"Epstein-Barr virus, frequently referred to as EBV, is a member of the herpesvirus family and one of the most common human viruses. The virus occurs worldwide, and most people become infected with EBV sometime during their lives. In the United States, as many as 95% of adults between 35 and 40 years of age have been infected. "

Source : www.cdc.gov/ncidod/diseases/ebv.htm

My prognosis is that you will live, but I a'int a doctor

[Pepe']

Number one rest, lots of it is essential. It's highly contageous.

Two good clean diet and did I mention lots of rest...

[Darlek]

can be many things , including HIV !!

[francois]

hi´

Thtyim is right ...

and be very aware that highly contagious

in hospital, serious cases are isolated, even in dermatology ...

two things to do ...

keep clean ... several showers a day, NO SOAP!

dry yourself well, and change clothes as many time as you can.

and wash food stuff more than usual, don´t hesitate to wash dishes with warm water.

if you live with soemone ... don´t share glasses, spoons, forks .. etc (tooth brush of course)

no alcohol ... and no sex ....

francois

ps; hoping that it´s only this ...

but as it is described by so many ... you may undestand that it´s contagious

[rainman]

I've had the same thing. Also slept all day (and night) and had 38-39 degrees fever for about 5 days until i went to Bumrungrad Hospital where they diagnosed me with an 'acute' something ...i forgot the name but its an inflamation of the lymph glands. Not a bacteria or a virus, though - i checked online. I got antibiotics and it was gone within two days. Weird stuff ...

[SoCal]

keep clean ... several showers a day, NO SOAP!

Some advice from a french guy.

[francois]

hi'

LOL ...

seriouly, soap may induce skin reaction ... on this particular herpes stuff ...

and many other skin disease .. better to avoid soap, I mean ordinary one

I did not think that a joke could come out of that

and for sure, go for antibiotic ... amoxycilin would do the job .. never less than 5days, if the infection seems to be gone, don't stop until 5 days passed, if the infection comes back, it would be worse, and more difficult to eradicate.

francois

[SoCal]

I wasn't laughing at the no soap, but the several showers a day.

Just joking Francois. Unsure what it has to do with this problem, but you are spot on about certain soaps being bad for the skin - irritant.

[Ijustwannateach]

I had quite a bad bout of tonsillitis last year, which I fought for several months on and off- and that was probably contracted from a dodgy kiss or two. Naturally, antibiotic abuse here makes the diseases stronger- if you take antibio make sure you do a full run of at least 2 weeks, even if things "get better." This lymph gland thing sounds similar- and if it really IS mononucleosis, be sure to have it treated well. A friend of mine almost died from misdiagnosis of mono a few years back, no joke. It's hard to diagnose, so if you have any doubts ask the doctor for a specific test.

"Steven"

[bina]

here's another fromthe same epstein barr family; another that causes fatigue, etc., contagious, and potentially problematic for pregnant women

National Center for Infectious Diseases

Cytomegalovirus (CMV)

tonsilittis is usually caused by what people call strep (or angina in israel) so dodgy kiss or not, you could have eaten from a person's plate while he/she had strep throat....and some of us are just 'carriers' of strep while others get sick over and over again although removal of tonsils helps somewhat