POST-MON AND FATIGUE

I don't feel like I was ever the same after I had mono. Like your daughter, the fatigue continued long after my mono was supposed to have been gone. I also got sick very easily with repeated strep throat and other illnesses. Doctors couldn't figure out what was wrong with me either and about 3 years after I had mono I go diagnosed with CFS. Slowly I did start to get some of my energy back and was able to lead a pretty normal life until I got lupus aout 4 years ago. I get so frustrated when I hear about doctors trying to blame fatigue on depression - I've decided it's their favorite thing to say when they can't find any positive bloodwork. Doctors tried to tell me I was depressed both when I had mono and when I first developed lupus symptoms. I would always tell them that the only thing I was down about was having more energy and that if I had more energy I wouldn't feel down. Has your daughter seen any specialists such as an endochronologist or an infectious disease doc? Another thing to look into is possible lyme disease which has symptoms very similar to cfs. Also, has your daughter been tested for any autoimmune diseases? The ANA blood test is the best way to start - if it is positive then more tests can be done to try to help determine what she might have. I know how frustrating all of this can be. My son had mono when he was in 1st grade (he's now in 4th) and he never recovered from his. He ended up developing juvenile arthritis and I believe that mono is what triggered the arthritis. Hang in there and don't give up and don't let the doctors off the hook by trying to tell your daughter that she is depressed - I think that's a cop-out and the easy route for doctors to take when they don't know what is wrong. Diagnosis:  UCTD (lupus) 2006; Raynauds 2006; Sjogren's 2006; lupus symptoms began 2003; CFS 1991; Mono 1985 Meds:  Plaquenil 400mg; Prednisone 5-10mg; Tramadol 100mg 3-4x daily; Doxepin 25-50mg; Prevacid; Evoxac; Steriod Cream and Mouth Rinse for tongue and mouth ulcers; Hydrocodone 5/500 prn for severe pain; Artificial tears   Clickable:   LUPUS INFORMATION & LUPUS RESOURCES . Please allow HealingWell to continue helping others by donating: https://www.healingwell.com/donate/   Co-Moderator: Lupus and CFS Forums

Mousesmom, I'm not sure - are you saying the doctor blames the mono for causing the depression, like the depression is an aftereffect, or is the other way around like hippimom said ?
Right enough, doctors' default setting seems to be "tired, can't find an illness - must be depression" and that does nothing at all to find the cause. But in a way they are correct, because the term "depression" originally meant a depressed level of arousal, which was a way of saying that the nervous system is ticking away slower than usual. Nowadays, people think of depression as an illness, but originally it meant a malfunction which caused a specific set of symptoms - rather like a mechanic saying "Your car has a problem with the electrics" when all the lights etc switch on and off at random.
The problem is, many doctors think an antidepressant will help all depression, so until they've screwed up going down that road - which can take forever - they never look for the underlying cause. Hippimom is so right about the other things to check out.
The other things I would add are, mono tests are not always accurate - doctors tend to treat tests as if they are gospel, but very few are even 95% accurate. (I think you will find previous threads in this forum discussing this - if you search for posts by mono_girl, something like that, you may find out more.) If you want to challenge medics on this score, you will need to find out what the different tests done are, and discover from the FDA or somewhere how many false positives/negatives they give. Then ask the doctor, if you cannot tell which patient will be the 1 in 20/10/8/whatever who gets a wrong answer, don't you have to assume that all the test results you see will be inaccurate ? Any doctor who does not appreciate this point, I would ditch.
Also, vitamins are not as important as good nutrition, because it is the combinations of nutrients that tend to be important, and there is a lot more than vitamins that is vital - magnesium, Essential Fatty Acids, zinc, salicylates...basically, foods are nutritional supplements that we are tailormade to digest (when we are not too ill and they are not deficient due to poor growing conditions). Because some vitamins are "antagonists" - they stop the actions of other vitamins - the wrong dosage of some can be counterproductive, particularly the B Complex ones.
I have never had lupus, but I have a friend who had it years ago, and has had repeated bouts of ill health as a result. Prolonged periods of fatigue are not that uncommon whenever she overdoes the partying, as well as the sore throats, opportunistic infections etc. In her, it is a very distinctive pattern, and the cure is basically rest and missing out "wrong" foods. (Not partying is not an option in her mind ! )