Glandular Fever Help Services would be worth contacting if any of the below are indicated:

glandular fever recurrence; glandular fever relapse; glandular fever and m.e; glandular fever and chronic fatigue; glandular fever and post viral fatigue; glandular fever and Epstein Barr virus troubles; glandular fever in older adults; on-going glandular fever

It would be helpful to contact Glandular Fever Help services if:

• you need practical help and support to manage your energies after Glandular Fever (mono / epstein barr virus)
• you continue to suffer relapses and bad bouts of glandular fever symptoms (even when blood tests show negative for glandular fever)
• you have an actual diagnosed recurrence of glandular fever (this can happen in some cases)
• you want to make sure you are doing everything you can in recovery from glandular fever.
• you are struggling with post viral fatigue, chronic fatigue or ME, thought to have stemmed from glandular fever, EBV or a similar harsh virus.

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Caused by the Epstein Barr virus (E.B.V.), glandular fever's correct name is infectious mononucleosis (I.M.). In the United States and Canada it is known as mononucleosis or mono. In all other English speaking countries it is known as glandular fever. It is less commonly known as Pfeiffer's Disease or Filatov's disease. A similar condition is caused by cytomegalovirus (CMV) but this gives a negative heterophile antibody test result for glandular fever (monospot test is the common heterophile antibody test for glandular fever). Epstein Barr Virus, therefore, is usually the attributed virus to glandular fever.

Spread via saliva, glandular fever has an incubation period of up to 7 weeks. Acute glandular symptoms can persist for a few weeks but fatigue can continue. Nobody is really sure how long someone remains contagious but it is thought that in some cases this may be many months. Diagnosis can sometimes be troublesome if not tested at exactly the right time. The battery of tests for Epstein Barr Virus can be useful to perform if glandular fever symptoms are there, but other results for glandular fever remain negative (i.e. the monospot test mentioned above). This battery of tests will show whether in fact you have had EBV in the past (at some point) and may help attribute the symptoms and fatigue to a past occurence or gladular fever which may have left you with on-going post viral glandular fever / EBV troubles (send enquiry to Glandular Fever Help Services if you would like practical help /direction in managing your health / energies  with this type of unexplained but possibly glandular fever related trouble).

If the glandular fever fatigue continues, the scenario is often reffered to as post viral fatigue syndrome (PVFS) or chronic fatigue (CFS). If fatigue and symptoms persist for more than 6 months after the acute glandular fever, it can be referred to as M.E. (Myalgic Encephalopathy). Gina Burton who runs her glandular fever help service feels that the term ME is very unhelpful to those continuing with troubles after glandular fever, so prefers to refer to this health scenario as "on-going post glandular fever syndrome". On-going post glandular fever troubles can and do occur in a number of cases. The glandular fever help services link is a very useful one if this is your problem. It offers a service to support and advise you, as you try and get back on track again by offering lots of practical recommendations to impliment, concentrating on foods and specific nutrient complexes which would be conducive to supporting a sluggish body, alongside all sorts of other bits of advice to set you on your way. These recommendations will begin to help you learn how to manage your health and energy levels as effectively as possible.

Acute glandular fever symptoms:

• swollen ulcerated tonsils (white blobs on the tonsils)
• sore throat
  
• enlarged spleen
• elevated liver enzymes, mild liver damage, sometimes leading to jaundice or hepatitis
• high fever
• excessive fatigue
• enlarged lymp glands in the armpits,  neck and groin

Most of the acute glandular fever symptoms disappear after a few weeks.
Rest for at least a month is ideal. 
Symptoms can continue, on an off, for a few months, but in some cases much longer.
In a number of cases, 100% health and energy levels are not regained afterwards. From Gina Burton's experience (who runs Glandular Fever Help Services) it seems that on-going troubles tend to persist in those glandular fever cases which were either: particulalry harsh; had some sort of liver involvement during the acute illness; where no time was taken off from work during the acute phase and where the body was pushed too far, too early on in recovery.

• fatigue not satisfied by sleep. 
• recurrent tonsillitis
• chronic sore throat and swollen lymp glands in the neck. 
• aches and pains in the limbs. 
• brain fag - not being able to find the right words.
• lack of concentration
• depression (feeling very low)
• deep lethargy
• not being able to stand lots of noise, people or strong smells (perfume, cleaning materials etc.) .
• not feeling all there
• digestive inbalance - bloating and pain often cited in lower abdomen.
  

The level of energy can fluctuates so that a few good days and weeks may be followed by energy slumps, fatigue, and bad bouts of glandular fever symptoms.  Delayed reaction fatigue is very common in these cases where exercise, excitement and/or stress brings on the extreme fatigue a few days after the event. Glandular Fever relapse can occur when bad bouts of all the old symptoms can strike, leaving the body struggling to get back to where it was. Actual diagnosed glandular fever recurrence is not unknown, but often the symptoms return along with the heavy fatigue but without a new positive diagnosis. If these sort of troubles continue it is referred to as post viral fatigue syndrome. If the fatigue continues it can be referred to chronic fatigue. If you would like some practical help and direction with the management of these types of ongoing glandular fever troubles, then do send a message to glandular fever help services and Gina will see if she can be of practical assistance.

click here to send a summary of your glandular fever health history for initial comments 

Glandular Fever Treatment and Glandular Fever Help

Click here if you would like to send Gina a summary of your glandular fever history, for her initial comments

GLANDULAR FEVER HELP SERVICES (est 1998)