Four weeks with no activity seems excessive... Did you explain your situation to the doc? A lot of times MDs err on the safe side (for example when I busted my knee up the most common response was lots of rest, ice, ibuprofen, etc.... I bet if I were a pro athlete there may have been a more proactive approach to my recovery)

You don't want to participate in activities where you might possible rupture your spleen (so no contact sports) but once you feel up to it, I'm not sure there's a lot of harm in resuming at least some light training. At least that's what the doc told me when I had mono - I think I was only really acutely ill for about a week.

If I were you I'd either go back to my original doctor and explain my race schedule, or seek additional opinions. You might find that you can get the OK to get back to training earlier than 4 weeks, but I would abide the the total rest prescription until that happens. I don't know when you're A priority races are, but it's possible that you won't be able to get a lot of really intense training in this month, so you may have to adjust your expectations accordingly.

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I had Epstein-Barr once, a somewhat similar disease. I took eight months off and it did eventually go away but took a lot of care and about a year.

Don't mess with this. It is very serious. Err on the side of caution. There will always be another race season next year and the year after that. You have nothing to prove to anyone. You will be an athlete again but you need time to recover and get well. You have to give yourself that time. It is an opportunity to develop yourself in other areas. Use your mind. Read, learn a musical intrument, learn to speak Arabic or Russian. Start writing. Keep yourself busy but don;t exert your body. Rest.

Something got you sick in the first place, that alone is worthy of note. Think about how you got this and try to figure out how to avoid it in the future.

Best of luck and take good care of yourself!

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Tom Demerly
The Tri Shop.com

Mono occurss when your immune system is weak enough that the virus can have an effect. This spurs on growth of WBC (white-blood cells_ which are counted and used to estimate when you are "back to normal".

Any activity will hamper the immune system to do its job. So to "play through it" will just prolong it. "Rupturing the spleen" isn't the only thing to watch for ... it's just the most "instantaneously serious".

In organized sports you cannot participate until you're done with mono ... for the athlete's protection.

In essense, you get mono when you are "run down". SO, more activity will just contribute to the infection.

I had mono in HS and college ... staying out all night combined with sports will do that. You have to rest to get over it.

If you continue to workout, you may be fine for awhile, but you'll eventually crash and have a serious illness, complete with (likely) tonsilitis, etc ... where you end up in a bed, unable to feed, and losing wieght and muscle. Or, you can sacrifice a bit now, rest, and recover.

Do some searches on webmd.com for mono and find out some information on what you can do to spead up the recovery process.

Again, anything you do to hamper your immune system (i.e. exercise) will just prolong the infection.

Mono is generally harmless ... unless it's ignored. Take care of it now, and don't let it blow up into something serious.

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-- Every morning brings opportunity;
Each evening offers judgement. --

Do what the Doc ordered. I had mono go from an annoying little illness to a major 4 month ordeal--I did loose 15lbs though. The medical community has a hard time with this one and I pushed it a little too early. My sore throat went away, I felt great but still had a very small fever, 99--this was after 3 weeks. The doc said your fine. I did a 30mi ride and relapsed into mono hell. I had to sit on the floor at Kmart as sweat poored off my head and my throat was swollen. I just couldn't get better, doc thought I had AIDS as I self destructed. Finally it left me and I thought I would never feel good again. If at the end of 1 month you even have one small symptom don't go out. For now rest and drink water take vitamins, do whatever it takes to kick this early.

Been there done that. I don't know if you will need to be inactive for four weeks. It could be less, it could be more. This is a serious illness. If you try to fight it by pushing the envelope, it will just make the situation worse.

I had this about thirty years ago and I remember bragging that I had walked around the block one day. My sister observed that bragging that way showed just how ill I really had been.

Take it easy until you start feeling better. Then take it even easier for another week or two. At that point you might be good to go.

The summer after I graduated high school, I ignored the systems of mono and ended up in the hospital for 2 weeks and could have died. It can get very serious in rare cases. Be very careful with your recovery and don't over do it.

The thing about mono, as some folks have already mentioned, is that the more you do, the worse it gets. Not being a medical professional, I can't formally disagree with the people who say that no activity is an extreme recommendation, however when I had mono, I tried to keep going(not knowing what I had), and it just wore me down until I had no choice but to go home(from my first semester in college), spend the next 8 weeks in bed, and rest. Every time I started to feel better and tried getting up and around, it would knock me down again, until I finally gave in and rested.

Mono is like IM; if you do not treat it with respect, it will crush you.

Just a thought: Is it possible that you got mono because you're already training to hard, too long?

Get your rest. I hope you feel better soon.

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I'd agree with everyone who said to do what the doctor said and play it conservatively. I had mono in high school--in the hospital for 2 weeks, out of school for about a month. I tried to do too much after IM NZ in 2001 and didn't recover long enough and ended up with Epstein Barr in August. After about three weeks of doing nothing, I finally was able to resume training and did a few more races at the end of the season. Good luck.

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clm
Nashville, TN
https://twitter.com/ironclm | http://ironclm.typepad.com

i contracted mono in april the year i was preparing to do my first IM, IMMOO ( a early sept race ). i am an RN, and knew the score - i rested for 4 weeks no ifs and or buts. i took off work entirely the first week, and then worked 2 days a week for two weeks and then 3 days a week for a week ( any physician will sign such a medical request if you ask him/her - consider it if you have sick days - this is what they are for!). otherwise i hydrated and read books and laid around on the couch. in this path lies wisdom, friend.

i climbed back in the saddle in mid may, and while a tad weak, i was able to resume training easily. i did a 1/2 IM just 3-4 weeks later, in fact. a couple weeks after that i was burning up the road riding centuries ( including the infamous 100 mi powercrank day 3 ride) and coming into form ( such as i am able. . . . . ) just fine.

the IM came 4 short months after i got out of bed and it was if i had not had the disease at all - thop i would like to claim otherwise as an excuse, of course :), which for a 40-something year old attempting a first IM is sorta remarkable. not that i myself am in any way - just saying that if you take the time and do the right thing now the effects will likely be far less than you fear. do the wrong thing and you can expect to increase the likelyhood of being one of those " mono trashed me for a whole year" guys.

I contracted mono in college, actually got really sick in may got better, then got sick again, then got better again. This was my entire summer and I was always fatigued. In september when after several days of 103 degree temps I passed out in my college XC coachs office. They wanted to hospitalize me. I gave them my bike and running shoes to keep until I got back to school after Christmas break. It was 12 weeks of sleeping 15-17 hrs a day before I was felt halfway normal. Night sweats so bad that I could wring fluid out of my shirt every night for 2 months, a neck that was swollen beyond my jaw and a sore throat that only went away when my fever broke twice a day. It plain sucked, it was january before I recovered.
You need to pack it in, take naps, drink fluids, take naps, and sleep.

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Brian Stover USAT LII
Accelerate3 Coaching
Insta

I have a brother who worked hard to get 'through' the mono (before knowing what it was) and got it really bad. He proceeded to take lots of vitamin C. This was at the time Linus Pauling was getting press, so he sucked back as much as he could (crystals dissolved in whatever). I don't recall how short the time was that he got over it, but it was incredibly short compared to the forecast (the doctor was skeptical), and yet blood tests showed it was entirely gone.

This is obviously not medical advice. :-) Investigate the pros and cons of whatever course you take before acting.

hi Aaron,

I had mono when I was a freshman in college. I was a competitive swimmer and it took me completely out. I went through several phases. Some days I could practice, others I would be dead tired just swimming 200yrds. It got to the point where I took naps in university buildings when I walked to the doc. That was only 1mile away...

But I guess it depends on severity of the disease and varies from person to person. I couldn't eat, had to get IVs, lost 20lbs (175 to 155lbs) and had a high fever, lost hair, etc. Not a really nice time, believe me. Some days I literally slept 22hrs. My roomate who had "mono" a couple weeks before me felt great after only one week.

I would definitely take it easy. There is no reason to put additional stress onto your system. I know it's hard but keep it easy or skip sessions alltogether. Get plenty of rest, what's loosing a month or two, or even the entire season when looking at the big picture? I'm not saying that you will but health definitely comes first.

You didn't mention anything about your appetite. I lost it alltogether and had trouble drinking as well. If you decrease your overall caloric intake, at least make sure you're consuming nutrient dense foods. Shakes worked best for me at that time.



I wish you lots of rest and that you get better soon,



Daniel

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�The greater danger for most of us is not that our aim is too high and we miss it, but that it is too low and we reach it.� -Michelangelo

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