Mono: The Kissing Disease
 

The guy getting it? Probably not. He would have to have a tear in his skin or some such (no biting girls). And even then i think its unlikely.

But its kind of rare for a girl to go down on a guy without at least some kissing before that . . so its hard to say.

When I was a freshman in high school I tried so hard to get mono so I could be home schooled with my best friend.

I guess I should have made out with her.

Not if you're a pimp. :cool:

WOW I have never heard that. I got Mono in high school and again multiple times in College. You are only supposed to be able to get it once but like how some people can get chicken pocks more than once I was able to get Mono more than once. And just to add...When I had Mono I was so miserably sick that I couldn't imagine going anything let alone that.

Either I got it multiple times, or it took a really long time for me to get over it. I got it my senior year of high school (Homecoming Week, no less), but I kept periodically getting the fatigue and feeling crummy for several years after. The doctors told me that you can only get it once, but my French teacher said that was a load of old crap because her daughter had had it way back when and was still dealing with it. In my understanding, mono is one of those weird diseases that they don't really know as much about as they think they do, and it affects everyone differently. I know people who've had it who were over it within a couple weeks, and then people like my French teacher's daughter. It just depends, I guess.

I've had mono a few times. Apparently there are a few different strains of it, so it actually is possible to get it more than once -- just different kinds. I have no idea how I got it either time though. I wasn't kissing anybody at the time (both were during high school), and I've always been a total freak about not sharing drinks or anything with people.

I think I may have caught it awhile back. A chick told me afterwards 'oh, yeah. I'm just getting over mone'...I"m like DAMNIT!

I had a really sore throat and was tired for a week or two. I'm fine now. Of course, those symptoms could have just as easily been from going out too much.

??
 

I know nothing about it short of its called the Kissing Disease. Other than that, I don't know anything.

Can someone explain it to me? Thanks!

According to this site it is possible to mono from oral sex.
Q & A on mono and oral sex

Then there's further detail about how mono is part of Epstein-Barr which is herpes related. If you can get herpes from oral sex then it sounds like you could get mono that way.
scroll down to the section on mononucleosis

I got mono when I was 16, and I have no clue HOW I got it because I gave it TO my boyfriend.

Same here. The thing that sucks is that you are contagous (sp?) for like 6-12 months. So you can give it to someone long after you have recovered.

To answer how you can keep getting it: Mono is a virus like chicken pox that once you are infected with the virus it will always be in your system. It is just dormant. If the conditions are right, i.e. your immune system is low, you are burrning the wick at both ends, you can "relapse" and get mono again. (Shingles in the case of chicken pox).

In collage I relapsed almost every year. Luckily I haven't had a relapse in a while. Sometimes the relapse can be worse than the initial infection.

That is what I was told also. However most people will not relapse with mono, like most people will not relapse with Shingles. When I got it several times in college it came on from my immune system being weak from months on month of strep throat. 8 Months to be exact. Me having Mono again was one of the deciding reasons for me to have my tonsils taken out. The strep wouldn't go away and I kept getting worse.

My sister had Shingles a few times. It was agony. The doctor said that sometimes people get different strains of the same virus or they never really recovered from it to begin with. Maybe that applies to mono also.

Shingles can be confused with herpes, so it may not be a relapse....just an outbreak.

I got mono my freshman semester in college from a sorority sister (no....it's not like that!! We shared a coke before we knew she had it). I was sick for over a MONTH before anyone figured out it was mono. I was treated for a throat/upper respiratory infection twice....soon as I didn't take an antibiotic, the symptoms came back. I was so sick I thought my throat would swell shut and I would suffocate. I was sleeping until 1pm in the afternoon, going to bed at 8pm, and never heard my alarm. Even my roommate said that she would try to wake me up and couldn't.

Finally when I got diagnosed, I was told not to return to campus for a minimum of 3 weeks. So I went home to mommy. I literally slept on the couch for 3 days and don't remember anything from those three days. Nothing. And missing 3 weeks of classes was a bitch too.

Afterward, I've never really returned back to my original level of energy. And when I get stressed, I get tired and get that mono feeling again. My doctor told me that the virus can become active again....just depends on your body and the stress it's under. It's just lovely.

PsychTau

once you have had mono, you will always test positive for mono.

Can I just vent?

I HATE when people call mono the kissing disease, cause I certianly did NOT get it from kissing. My bf at the time had mono when he was in high school, and he was the only boy I was kissing. Nor did he suffer a replase at any time we were dating.

My doctor thinks I got it from my roommate, who was SUPPOSED to use plastic knives and plates for 3 months after she got mono, but instead decided she was going to resume using the apts plates after 3 weeks...without telling anyone. I never knew she was using them, and since I was the only person who never had mono in the apt- BAM, I get mono.
That or somehow I got it from one of my pole vaulting teammates, who proably coughed on a pole or the mat or something, and I got it that way...cause I never shared waterbottles.

Either way, I made it 21 years without mono...and then missed most of my senior year because of it. I went from mono, to strep, to upper respitory infection, to pnemonia and a really bad asthama attack in a week. And I wondered why my asthma doctor insisted I get a flu shot this year...

End vent.

When I was in high school, the entire girl's basketball team got it. How? They shared a tube of chapstick.