And yet, I use it anyway...

This is totally how I feel.

My experience with mononucleosis

I have noticed that the majority of people that stumble onto my blog via Google are finding it because of one little image that I posted when I had mono in January and February 2008. The image was of my penicillin-induced rash that I got because I was taking penicillin for a "sinus infection" which most likely was, in fact, the first sign of mono rearing its ugly head. I have had many people contact me asking for more details about the rash, as it is apparently quite common, but unfortunately there isn't much information about it to be found. I have done my best to answer their questions, and finally decided that I should just write up a summary of what I experienced. (It is probably relevant to note that I was in Denmark during all of this.)

First of all, when I first went in to the doctor, before knowing I had mono, she asked me if I had a rash. I said no, and she mentioned that sometimes that is a symptom of mono. She said nothing of the penicillin-mono rash, even though I had specifically mentioned to her that I was taking antibiotics, and even brought the container to show her. Actually that is what made her think I had mono in the first place because she said I shouldn't have strep if I was already taking those. I suppose I should back up a bit...

The first symptom I experienced was a horrible headache, with a fever. This went on for days until I finally thought maybe I had a sinus infection and went into the doctor. (Since it was late on a Friday night, I wasn't able to see my regular doctor but instead went to the after-hours clinic at the hospital. I was also having a movie night at my house that night, so after the first person arrived, I left him there and told him to let everyone else in--sorry about that, Lasse!)

At this point my throat was starting to hurt as well (I thought maybe it was post-nasal drip. Incidentally, I also taught that term to the doctor, who had never heard it before. He seemed delighted. He also taught me what it was in Danish, but I can't remember now). The doctor listened to my description of my symptoms, barely even looked at me, and put me on antibiotics. In retrospect, I really wish he hadn't. I am very very against taking unnecessary antibiotics, and I'm fairly sure these were not necessary.

My headache did go away and I thought the antibiotics were working, but a few days later I developed a horrible sore throat. It was so bad I couldn't even sleep because of the pain. My tonsils were swollen and had white spots on them. I knew this was a symptom of strep, but also knew I was on antibiotics so I shouldn't have strep. I called my regular doctor and even though she was very booked, she managed to get me in later that day. I think part of this was due to the fact that I was pretty much crying on the phone when I called.

Anyhow, as I was saying, she said nothing of the penicillin-mono rash, but maybe she thought if I didn't already have it, I wouldn't get it. She sent me to get blood drawn for a mono test. (Side note: this was interesting because I had to take a number at the blood clinic place and then they called out numbers, but I wasn't entirely sure how to say my number in Danish, so I was a little worried I would miss my turn... it all worked out in the end, though.) They told me it would take until Tuesday to get the results. I think this was on a Thursday or Friday. I was a little upset that I had to wait the whole weekend without knowing.

At this time I still wasn't feeling very bad except for the sore throat. On Friday night a few friends came over to my apartment and we watched a movie. I was starting to feel a little fatigued so I was just lying on the couch with a blanket. At one point close to the end of the evening one friend remarked that my face looked red. I thought it was because I perhaps had a fever, and didn't think much of it, until said friend was leaving and I went to say goodbye and walked past the mirror in the hall. My response "holy cow, my face really IS red!" Not only was it red but it was also swollen a little. I looked horrible. This was the start of the lovely rash which I would come to be so familiar with.

Most people that contact me want to know how long the rash lasts, and what, if anything, they can do for it. In my case, the rash slowly spread from my face down my body hitting my legs and feel last. It lasted about 10 days or so, and went away in the same order it started, so my face was rash-free first, and the finally my legs (and everywhere else). (The residual redness on my legs actually lasted a good 2 weeks or so, though.) It also itched like crazy the entire time!!! To the point I couldn't sleep for a few nights because if it. A few things I did that helped were:
-wear silky pajamas turned inside-out so the seams wouldn't rub and cause itching
-ice packs helped the itch go away, but unfortunately it's very hard to apply ice packs to your entire body all at once.
-lotion seemed to help a lot, too, since it made my skin less dry. For me, the best kind seemed to be some Bath and Body Works Body Cream, it was nice and think and smelled like apples. During the worst I think I was putting lotion on every couple hours.
-drinking a lot of fluids. Good advice for any time you're sick.

Mono hit me hard. I think I was in bed for about a month. During the worst of it, I barely had the energy to get out of bed and go to the bathroom. I was so sick there was a point where I was worried that my poor little immune system wasn't going to be able to fight it off. But, in the end, it triumphed. Mono was conquered. When I finally recovered enough that I could actually go out and walk to the store to go shopping for some much needed-food, it felt SO weird to be wearing shoes again. One doesn't have much need for shoes when they are in bed all day.

To read some of my inane ramblings from when I was sick in bed all day with nothing but a laptop to keep me company, see the following links:
http://janvswild.blogspot.com/2008/01/insert-pick-up-line-that-has-to-do-with.html
http://janvswild.blogspot.com/2008/01/jm-mono-crazy.html
http://janvswild.blogspot.com/2008/01/recap.html
http://janvswild.blogspot.com/2008/01/im-smooth-one.html


I will add pictures and a better timeline later. And feel free to post a comment and leave your email address if you have any questions. You won't be the first! :)

I'm a smooth one...

First off, to my friend from Canada that found my blog through a Google search for "creams for penicillin mono rash," I totally feel your pain! (Literally, too... I know just what you're going through.) I am so sorry... being in bed for days on end with an itchy rash is enough to drive one insane. Try the Bath and Body Works lotion, though... it really helps. My theory is that part of the problem was that my skin was dry which made the itching worse. Through the worst of it I was putting lotion on my arms like every half hour. Ice packs also work fairly well. And if worse comes to worse, you can always resort to taking a couple of benadryl which will put you to sleep for a while. I did.


Anyway... yesterday I mentioned a dream about Hugh Laurie. This is probably due to the fact that my major pastime while I have been lying in bed all day feeling miserable has been watching episodes of House, MD. I started on Season 1, episode 1, and now I'm up to season 3, episode 5, or something like that. I had better recover soon or I will run out of Houses to watch. Anywho, Mr. Laurie is pretty hot for a 49 year old, and really, what bed-ridden, miserable, and pathetic girl wouldn't want to dream about him? Add to that the fact that in my dream he was much younger-looking, and both of us were much more single. So, just to prove that the mono hasn't done anything to my brain, being the smooth person that I am, the ONE thing I remember saying to him is "You can't kiss me because I have mono!" Nice one, JM... So there you see, it wasn't much of a dream.

Recap

Trouble sleeping last night: bad
Continuously waking up because of strange nightmare-ish dreams: bad
Finally being able to sleep for a couple of hours: good
Dream (NOT a nightmare) about Hugh Laurie: definitely good
Waking up at 4 am with a parched (i.e. completely dry) mouth/throat because I was breathing through my mouth while I slept: bad
Calling the doctor at 8 am and finding out the official mono test was positive: meh
Horrendously painful throat all day that didn't respond to tylenol or advil: bad
Not being able to nap during the day because of strange sensation that I couldn't breathe every time I drifted off, causing me to automatically jolt awake again: bad
Eating McDonalds for dinner: good
Having a visitor that brought said food: good
The pain of trying to swallow my food with (still) sore throat: bad
Changing out of the pajamas I'd been wearing for the past 4 days: good
Nice comments on my blog: good

All in all, I guess today has been decent. I'm still waiting for the rash to go away, though.

JM + Mono = crazy!

Here are some of my favorite conversations for the day...

JM says:
how are you?
Dave says:
meh
JM says:
what does that mean?
Dave says:
it's monday, I'm back at work...
JM says:
oh
JM says:
is it Monday?
JM says:
I've lost all trask of time
Dave says:
I love trasking time
JM says:
me too
JM says:
my schedule has degraded to lying in bed moaning, sleeping when I finally get so tired I can sleep though all the pain/itching/discomfort, eating when I get hungry enough to drag myself out to the kitchen and find some food...
JM says:
sometimes it's light outside when I wake up, sometimes it's dark
JM says:
the passage of actual days has lost most of its meaning
JM says:
this may be my last entry...

*******************

Jan: I'm doing an experiment on my arms

one is the control arm where I do nothing

the other is the test arm

where I apply various creams and lotions to see if any of them make the itching better or worse

aarona: hahaha

******************

I also ranted about how I hate hearing the phrase "mom and baby are doing fine" whenever I get the news that someone's baby was born... it's so over used and rather pointless, since I'm sure if they weren't doing fine, we would be told of that. No offense to anyone who actually says it. I don't hate you or anything. It just seems like something people say when they really don't have anything to say about it... like when they send an email with pictures attaches, and have to write the obligatory few sentences so it's not just an empty email.


This could all be the mono speaking...

Oh, and as for the results of the experiment, Bath and Body Works Country Apple* Body Cream seems to reduce itching on the test arm by about 90%.



*I'm sure other scents would work equally well, but that's the only one I have here... and I brought it from the States considering there is no Bath and Body Works in Denmark. On the other hand, it could be the "natural apple extract" that this one is "infused" with...

[Insert a pick-up line that has to do with legs here]

These are my legs (and the rest of me, on a boat, on a really pretty lake, but let's focus on the legs here...):


Hi, JM's legs! You're looking very sexy today.

Hi, nice to meet you. Thanks. [[that was the legs speaking]]

These are my legs with a lovely penicillin+mononucleosis induced rash:


Um, go away, legs... stay far, far, away...

No, I'm not contagious, really! I promise!


So, if you haven't picked it up from the context clues, I currently have mono (and I don't know how I got it, so everyone stop asking with winks and smirks). Also, apparently if you are taking penicillin when you get mono, the result is a nice big rash over your entire body that ITCHES LIKE CRAZY. It's not an allergic reaction, so benadryl doesn't help. It's kind of like a drug interaction, but not... like, a virus-drug interaction. Or something. I was taking penicillin for a sinus infection, but the way I feel right now, I wish I still had the sinus infection instead. Picky picky picky... so, now I have to rest a lot and I can't play rough sports for a while because I have to protect my spleen. And, in case you didn't know, when you get mono, the viruses stay in your cells for, oh, the rest of your entire life. So, since I picked it up here in Denmark, I decided it is Danish mono, and now no matter where I go, I will always have a little piece of Denmark with me. Although, I would have rather just bought a keychain...


PS: Since I'm stuck in bed for a while, I'll post some stuff about my fun Christmas trip, and everything else I've been doing around here for an entire month. (My cousin pointed out to me a few days ago that I haven't updated the blog in over a month. I will try to be more dedicated.)

What I did yesterday...

In case you can't tell, that is the original Christus statue that we know and love so well from the replica in the Temple Square Visitors Center, and the picture at lds.org. The original was created by Bertel Thorvaldsen, a Danish sculptor. I knew that it was here in Copenhagen somewhere, and I actually looked it up before coming here, but seeing the address didn't mean much to me at the time, since I had never been to Copenhagen before. So Wednesday night I was thinking I should go see it, and I looked it up again. It turned out to be right in the center of town, close to the City Campus for the University, where I was planning to go anyway to pick up my student ID card. I scribbled down the address just in case. Thursday afternoon I went into the city to pick up my ID card, and then as I exited the building I turned and realized the church (Vor Frue Kirke) was right there! I have walked past it at least a dozen times, and always planned on going in, but was usually in a hurry so I never had. I didn't realize it was THE church with the statue in it! So I went in and took a bunch of pictures. Unfortunately, most of them didn't turn out because of the low-light conditions inside. There are a lot of windows but it was very overcast and dark outside. I finally figured out I could adjust the shutter speed on the camera to stay open for longer, and then figured out how to put a 2 second delay on it so it didn't start exposing the picture until after I took my hand off (so I didn't jiggle it and make it blurry). This picture was the result. I plan to return and take more pictures later, as well as go on an actual tour, rather than just walk around by myself.