Glandular fever

[Jimmy]

Hi, I'm a mumsnet novice, but would appreciate any suggestions on helping my 21 mth old son back to full health after a bout of glandular fever three months ago. I've probably had it too! Or maybe it's justlack of sleep! I'm interested in herbal/alternative therapies people have tried and tested.

Hi jimmy - Your poor little boy, hope he's well on the mend now. Not sure about herbal/alternative therapies for young children and I think if you want to try this route it's probably best to see a qualified practitioner first, but I swear by Minadex Tonic (from Boots, chemists, supermarkets) to build up the little ones after a nasty bout of illness. Am giving it to all three of mine at the mo after a nasty bout of gastroenteritis. As for you, take some time for yourself if you can, lots of nice hot baths, lots of fresh fruit and veg and a few glasses of wine to help you relax. Hope you feel better soon x

Hi and welcome Jimmy. I know there has been a lot of speculation about echinacea drops on this website (run a search to see what others have said about it) but I gave them to my dd from about 22 motnhs (it says from 2 on the bottle but she was near enough) and I found them excellent for building up her immune system. She never had a cold all through last winter and although I've stopped them now for the warmer months I will be starting again in October to ward off the nasties... I bought bioforce echinacea for children (about £5 from health food shop.) This might help your son to fight off any future viruses and get him back into tip top condition aswell. Good luck

Just to say I completely agree with Chanel - Minadex is great. Also Floradix for children is very good too. Adults only: the hot baths, fresh fruit and veg and glasses of wine are my cure for everything under the sun! In fact, when I was very poorly last year and couldn't shake off that post-viral feeling, my doctor recommended rest, steak and red wine!

Its good to see things have changed since I was a teenager, and you all take this awful illness so seriously. When I got it aged 13 I was sent to see a psychiatrist!

Hi, and thanks for the warm welcome. Having looked back on previous talks, I was aware of the positive messages and practical suggestions. It's even better to be on the receiving end - so thanks Chanel, Lizzer and Enid for getting me off to a good start. I'll be off to Boots tomorrow for the Minadex and will try the echinacea myself - or maybe the red wine will do the trick! x

Thanks for more info on tackling post-glandular fever. Lou33 - thank goodness we've moved on from psychiatric treatment - no doubt that was the lethargy. Pamina - I gave up on stains and find it very useful to grab handfuls of free stickers when there are any going(dentists etc)as a handy disguise - but not so useful for nightware!

hi everyone

went to the doctor this am with the following symptoms:

• localised sore throat (right side)
• swollen glands in neck and armpit (right side)
• night sweats
• fatigue (ha! - yes much worse than usual, lol!)

her first thought was glandular fever. self diagnosis (aided by the internet of course to pander to that hypochondria) is a speciality of mine so that was also my first thought, but unfortunately these symptoms are also consistent with lymphoma... doctor didn't rule it out and in fact when i sheepishly mentioned it said she was going to test for that too...

eeeeek!!!

am snivellingly, pathetically worried now...

thanks for listening, reading etc...

Bossykate,

Don't think lymphoma is painful, my mum had it and just noticed a chronic, painless lump. The fact that you have pain and your glands are up on one side may indicate a localised infection, even something as silly as sebaceous cyst.

Also there is no specific test for lymphoma, you'd have to have your lumps biopsied etc. I think they do an ESR to see if it's raised but there could be lots of reasons for that.

I worry when I get night sweats and then realise that hubby has left heating on all night.

Please don't worry.

Poor you bossykate!
A friend of ours who is a doc tested his daughter for Glandular fever and lymphoma. He said to dh 'Aww well, if it's lymphome I'll miss her, she's a nice kid!!!!!!'
Unlikely in the extreme! But if you have GF, poor you! I had it as a student (typical eh?) (I was only snogging future dh and he didn't have it!) and my alcohol capacity has never got up to snuff since!
Hope you feel better soon!
p.s. DH the doc says lymphoma is very rare in this age group!

bossykate, I'm a bit of hypochondriac and I often think I've probably got ms or something when actually it's something trivial. In my case I know I must NOT read medical dictionaries or research on the internet unless something has actually been diagnosed as it will worry me more. I have a friend who calls me Mrs Munchausen If it is glandular fever, horrible from what I gather but not the end of the world and if it isn't maybe it's a cold? Something like that? I'm not trivialising how you feel, I hope, just putting myself in your scared position with all the attendant worries about mortality and so on and trying to reassure you as much as I can without a) being a doctor and b)examining you were I a doctor! As susanmt's dh says, lymphoma is rare in our/your age group so that's good to hear. Hey, look after yourself this weekend, try not to worry (easier said than done I know) and let us know what she says.

bossykate - hope you're feeling a little better today. There's a lot of fluey type bugs around, my daughter has been in and out of school for over a week and can't quite shake it off. Sure you'll be fine

Hope you are feeling better bossykate - you do realise that you are probably worrying yourself unnecesarily don't you. But then I always do exactly that too. Let us know how you get on

Bk, will add here to the chorus of persons saying lymphoma is rare in our age group, although I do have a friend who has it (and is luckily doing very well) and she had no pain, just a lump that would not go away, like Clucks' mum.
Do hope you are feeling better soon - this from someone who was crying through her GP's letterbox at 5.30pm the other night, to be diagnosed NOT with breast cancer but with a blocked sweat gland. Nice.
Some echinacea, vitamin C and zinc might help with your symptoms? As will a nice juicy hot toddy.
Let us know how you get on with the tests, I am sure there is nothing to worry about, but do sympathise with the immediate assumption of a worst-case scenario now you are a parent.

hi everyone

thanks so much for the kind words of reassurance. am feeling much better today, both physically and in terms of psychological robustness!

it is probably just some kind of non-specific flu virus, there's a lot of it about at the moment.

clucks, hope your mother is ok now.

am feeling a bit of an idiot now for going all histrionic on you! thanks again everyone, your responses have helped a lot.

blood tests came back today all normal and negative for glandular fever. am going back to the docs however as symptoms are persisting although mild - probably some flu virus or other.

dh and i have diagnosed exhausted working mother syndrome!

thanks again everyone for the reassuring words - looks like you were all right, worrying over nothing!