glandular fever - what are the symptoms

[roundabout1]

dd1 - 6 has suspected glandular fever. For the last 6 weeks she's had 2 bouts tonsillitis, permenantly enlarged tonsills & glands in her neck. She's pale, dark shadows under her eyes, seems to pick up everything thats going round. Had a rash on her front & back in the early days & swelling under one eye. I've googled & all these seem like gf symptoms but she'#s complaning of feeling sick virtually all the time & is hot & cold too, does this sound like gf too or could there me an infection too?

Doesn't sound like GF to me. I had it as a teen and the over-riding symptom was the bone-aching tiredness and swollen neck glands, with some nausea, but there was no rash and it didn't coincide with catching other viruses etc.

The other stuff you mention and her young age wouldn't immediately make me think of GF, have you been to Drs rather than just googling? (I'm a terrible one for self-diagnosing, so I'm not judging but google can really distract you from whats actually going on). GPs can do a blood test to confirm either way.

Thanks for your reply, we've been seeing the nurse practitioner at the gp practice on average weekly since 2nd week in Jan, after two bouts of tonsillitis which antibiotics didn't completely clear up she suggested it may be gf & suggested if dd didn't pick up in the next wk to see gp. Gp thinks it may well be gf but doesn't see the point in doing blood tests as there is no treatment & there are no signs of it being more than that. Dd is the biggest wimp & worrier of all time so I don;t really want to subject her to bloods unless it's absolutely necessary. I have googled (only after the poss diagnosis although was tempted to before!) a rash sometimes occurs apparently, at the time she did have a temperature so I just put it down to that. She is very tired, has short bursts of energy usually followed by feeling much worse. I'm trying to get her to take it easy but it's hard as she's so miserable as this has been going on for so long that when she feels well she just wants to go berserk. The hot & cold thing is a relatively new symptom, she has a younger sister who is bringing home germs & endless colds that then dd1 seems to have forever so it could just be one of those.

Not sure:
When I had it (as a student) the first thing I noticed was a had a really stiff neck. Could hardly turn it because of the glands up.

Then I used to feel fine in the morning, desperately tired by lunch time and by the evening my temperature was well up. I also went totally off chocolate (very strange) couldn't even stand the smell, and was very thirsty, particularly overnight, I used to stand 3 pint glasses full of water by my bed-and have to refill them.

The up and down is like me, but mine were very much okay in the morning, and going downhill rather than up and down.

Sucking fruit pastilles helps with blood tests... I told my dd2 that if she sucked them all through the blood test it would help her, and she believed me (and having 2-3 in the mouth reduces how much they can yell too)

My teenage dd got it very badly a couple of years ago.

Initially she was very tired with lots of aches and pains and then came down with what the doctor thought was tonsillitis. He gave her antibiotics but 5 days later her symptoms were worse, huge neck glands the size of golf balls and very ill. She eventually ended up in hospital on intravenous antibiotics as her throat was so swollen and whilst in hospital they tested for GF which was positive.

Sounds very possibly like GF to me and only cure lots of rest and good diet.

My teenage dd got it very badly a couple of years ago.

Initially she was very tired with lots of aches pains and a rash, then came down with what the doctor thought was tonsillitis. He gave her antibiotics but 5 days later her symptoms were worse, huge neck glands the size of golf balls and very ill. She eventually ended up in hospital on intravenous antibiotics as her throat was so swollen and whilst in hospital they tested for GF which was positive.

Sounds very possibly like GF to me and only cure lots of rest and good diet.

Oops bloody phone!

Well as long as they've got their eye on her.

Hope she feels better soon x.

Thanks everyone, she's perked up now so I think it may well be the gf or whatever it is & not an underlying infection. I have visited the gp's so often with her this year I'm beginning to think I'm paranoid! She feels worse in the morning is often brighter 10-3 ish & then fades as the day goes on. De We dd's temperature goes up a lot of evenings & she drinks huge amounts of water. I think perhaps feeling sick coincides with when she's at her most tired, I presume if it's that all consuming/flu like tiredness it makes you feel wretched & quite likely sick with it. She complains of feeling sick but will eat, although not much compared to usual. School are happy to treat it as gf without it being confirmed & for her to go in when she can, she's averaging 3 days a week at school that's all. She hasn't been in today but fingers crossed will be in tomorrow & see how she goes x

HI, my dd had GF when she was 8. It was misdiagnosed by the GP 3 times. She ended up in A&E with it. Yes she had rash, and she also had nausea and vomiting, to the point where she was severely dehydrated and then she had enlarged spleen and liver. She had blood tests and Epstien Barr virus was confirmed (that is the glandular fever virus). Really the sore throat was the least of her problems. Glandular fever is quite different in younger children and does not display the same symptoms as it does in teens and young adults.

Our GPs were crap to be honest and I only got any sense out of proper paediatric doctors who had seen it before. She was ill for over 2 weeks before it was diagnosed, she also had swollen eyes too.

Thanks Framey - yes my dd had two days of nausea & vomiting combined with a high temperature, since then the temperature comes & go but complaining of stomach ache every day, & feeling sick virtually every hour. I'm finding it hard regarding school though, they are being understanding but haven't suggested half days & I haven't as I'm worried I'm being a bit overprotective of her. Will see how we go on from now this week & go from there, the head is understanding but I fear her teacher thinks she complains of feeling poorly for attention or that she makes herself feel worse by worrying about it.

DD had almost a month off school and did not participate in PE or games for another month after that, this was following the advice from hospital. This was because of the enlarged spleen, but also the paediatric docs said that rest was very important in getting over glandular fever. DD was wiped out every day after lunch and started sleeping on short car journeys and on the sofa in the afternoons which is VERY unlike her! (she normally bounces off the walls!)
She is fine now and didn't suffer from any chronic fatigue or post viral fatigue afterwards.
Hope your DD recovers quickly and that the school are understanding.

Thanks Framey, well she is doing mornings this week & then we will have a meeting with the head & her teacher if we think that she still needs more time off. She came home at lunchtime today & was quite animated after a morning with her friends & then spent the rest of the day watching tv on the sofa. She seemed much better for this, best of both worlds in a way, isn't feeling isolated & yet still gets her rest.