Glandular fever and uni

[Summertime2]

DD has just been diagnosed with Glandular fever, on top of Covid. She is due to start at Durham in 3 weeks, has enrolled etc.

Looking online makes me seriously worry whether she will be well enough to go.

Do you know if universities allow deferral at this point on medical grounds? Or would she have to drop out and apply again?

I know it's early days and I'm desperately hoping she will be ok but with Covid too she may take a while.

Has anyone experienced similar?

I went to uni with glandular fever. It was fine, but I was disciplined is religious about not drinking (drank a lot of Diet Coke - nobody cared) and getting enough sleep. Didn’t stop me socialising and meeting people though - I was doing humanities subjects to able to have afternoon naps when I wanted. I was fine by the second term. I would have been pretty depressed to have deferred for a year just because of that, but I had already had a gap year so that wasn’t really an option.

The key with GF is taking it easy and sleeping when you need sleep (as well as avoiding alcohol) and actually 1st year uni isn’t a bad place for that

My two both caught glandular fever in their first years at Durham Uni. Many of their friends did too. On a positive note, your DD won't catch it in the important 2nd and 3rd years. Best advice is don't touch alcohol - not a drop - eat well, sleep well, and a full and relatively quick recovery can be hoped for. No contact sports either. There is very little work to be done in the first term at Durham but it may be worth her letting her tutors know. My DD did this and was granted extensions when she needed them.

My DD went down with GF then covid at Easter in her second year. She was so ill she couldn't do anything for three whole months and had to defer her year end exams until September. She could only work for a few hours at a time for several months after that and took most of the following year to get reasonably strong again. If your DD is really poorly and seems likely to need the same length of time to recover then I would 100% recommend asking Durham to defer her place - I am sure they will allow it. The first term is so important for establishing friendships and getting settled in and some courses give you a ton of work! I hope she makes a speedy recovery but if she's really ill, then I would recommend waiting a year so she can really get the best out of her Durham opportunity. Best wishes either way xx

I had glandular fever in my final year. My experience would be that if they'll let her defer for a year then I would do that.

I would wake up feeling okay, then gradually deteriorate and by lunch time would struggle to stay awake. I'd fall asleep wherever I was and then wake with a high temperature, and try and do some more studying. Overnight my temperature was so high, that I'd drink 4-6 pints of water.

I did everything wrong. Tbf I both got engaged and had my 21st birthday over that time, and I tried to continue as normal which included drinking, although I wasn't a big drinker, and playing tennis as well and studying.

It took me about 4-5 years to recover, and even now, 25 years later I have some issues left over. None of them major, but never totally recovered from the fatigue and also my glands swell up at the tiniest thing.

Thanks for these replies. Seeing the Dr here tomorrow (the blood test was at the hospital on holiday when she became so unwell) and I guess we will have to see how she does over the next couple of weeks. Any advice on supplements/vitamins etc gratefully received also.

Some people bounce back quickly with gf. I didn’t - it wiped me out for a good 2 months. I slept for England. Sleeping is the only way to recover and eating well.

It's early to know how she'll be.
The majority (I would say the vast majority) of people with GF will bounce back within a couple of weeks and have no ongoing effects.
A few will have longer lasting symptoms but that's really not very common.

Get them to check her blood iron as well. Might also be low. Even if not low enough to treat, put her on floradix. That bone-tiredness is bad enough without a bit of low level anaemia on top.