Episode 46 of the Living Life Well Show: Mono--it's not just for teens!!!!
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[00:00:00] Welcome to the Living Life Well Show, the intersection of God's Word, today's science, and healthy living with common sense application, all based on the truth of the Word of God. I'm your host, Dr. Jon Skelton. Now let's get straight to the truth.
All right. Welcome back to the Living Life show. Today I'm excited to talk about mono. Most of us have heard of mono. Most of us, at least if you're probably over age 40 or so have heard it referred to as the kissing disease and typically have thought about that. In adolescence, maybe junior high or high school some friends may have been diagnosed with mono and typically what mono was known to me as growing [00:01:00] up was essentially just severe fatigue, horrible sore throat.
Fevers and basically just being miserable for weeks on end, sometimes two weeks, a month maybe two months really depending upon the severity of the disease. And so. We have known about mono and we know that it causes significant symptoms when somebody has it, when somebody's been diagnosed with it.
However, we have had some difficulty really testing for mono and making that diagnosis of mono acutely. Meaning, in the moment when the patient is having the most significant symptoms. Why is that? Mono is related to the herpes family. So, similar to like herpes simplex, like a cold sore, or the more sexually transmitted herpes.
or even [00:02:00] similar to shingles. Now the zoster that comes from basically getting chicken pox is part of the two headed monster that is chicken pox and zoster then goes and lives in the spinal cord. We know that with herpes, with cold sores with sexually transmitted herpes and with zoster all of these things tend to live inside of our body for lack of a better way to describe it and then they tend to reactivate at different times so If you'll notice, a lot of people will say that they get cold sores every spring or when they're under significant stress or things like this.
You'll also hear of people that have had shingles outbreaks shingles outbreaks that have been associated with an acute illness. With again, times of stress [00:03:00] or somebody that is generally just ill in general can have this. But many times it's not. Many times someone's otherwise perfectly healthy they can start with a little bit of pain or even tingling in a specific small area typically just on one side or the other.
And then several days later, a rash will appear many times is associated with a severe excruciating pain and many times, even in the 1930s and on it's described in the previous literature as being so painful and Patients unable to find relief that they ultimately committed suicide even over the severity of that pain.
So, this herpes family of viruses, which the monovirus is akin to, can cause severe destruction and or just general annoyance with a [00:04:00] cold sore. And so, When we look at mono, it typically comes from the Epstein Barr virus, which, again, is something that is typically passed in saliva, could also be potentially somewhat airborne, so to speak.
And the reason I say this is because, quite honestly, most likely, you've had it. You don't know that you've had it, but you've had it. And the reason I say this is that 95 percent of us have antibodies specific to the Epstein Barr virus. A very small percentage of us. actually have known that we acutely had the virus.
Why is that? If it causes such severe symptoms, why are only so few of us knowing that? And why are we even really talking about it today if it's a teenage issue? It's because of that [00:05:00] recurrence factor and the downstream effects that can be associated with it. You see, Epstein Barr virus is one of the main disruptors for thyroid disease.
It tends to help proliferate thyroid disease as well as turn on multiple different autoimmune diseases. It creates an environment to allow that autoimmune disease to either express itself initially, Or potentially even worsen. And it is also associated with cancer. Now, we saw this a lot associated with patients that had organ transplants.
Specifically we would see lymphomas coming about. But we've also seen multiple other types of cancer that are associated with Epstein Barr virus. So, that's why I'm really talking about this today. Not to try and scare you, not to have you run out and get screening for [00:06:00] Epstein Barr virus but something to consider if you're having long standing symptoms that we're going to talk about and don't ever seem to be able to get to the source of the issue.
So, all of us are familiar in the medical field with Epstein Barr virus. It's one of the things that, you know, is covered in nursing school nurse practitioner school, PA school, med school naturopathic school chiropractic. And we do, we spend a little bit of time on it. We definitely talk a lot about viruses because there are many.
hundreds, if not thousands of viruses that we know about and no cause significant issues. Obviously, everybody now is living in this post covid world. One of the things that we're really seeing that's associated with the patients with long covid is a turning on of Mono, a reactivation of mono, and when [00:07:00] mono is reactivated, it can cause very significant symptoms and this may just be fatigue.
This may be upper respiratory symptoms. This may be headache. Or it could lead down a whole cascade of symptoms related to hormone dysregulation be it the thyroid, be it the sex hormones. And so mono is a very destructive virus. And unfortunately it can live in you for years and years, and we really haven't been good about diagnosing it.
Now, when someone is acutely infected with mono and it is suspected because we've maybe checked for flu, we've checked for strep now we're checking for COVID with a swab and all of these swabs tend to come up negative but you're still feeling pretty ill, your doctor may send something called a monospot.
That monospot is very time [00:08:00] dependent as to when it's going to come back positive. And so if you are too early or too late in the course, you may get a false negative. Now, many times after somebody's had symptoms for several weeks, they'll go a step further and they'll check for antibodies. These antibodies looking at I.
G. M. And I. G. That will tell you if you've ever had mono, if it could be acute or if it could be something that you've had in the past. Now, when we see I. G. M. Elevated, that's going to tell us that you are having an acute If IgM and IgG are elevated, it could be that it is currently acute or you're just getting over it.
If we just see IgG elevated, then that means that you have had mono at some time in the past. Maybe just a couple of weeks ago, maybe several months ago. [00:09:00] And Mono is very much like COVID I like to tell people because COVID, when it first started, we were told that, Oh my gosh, everybody's just dying.
It's just horrible. We come to find out that about 25 to 40 percent of us really I had no idea we had COVID. We thought, wow, I've got some allergies that are kind of flaring up, or I've got a common cold, or maybe I just have you know, a typical flu, but really it was COVID and mono is much the same way in that there's this variable degree of what we would call morbidity or symptoms associated with it.
the acute mono infection. Same thing with regards to reactivation. And so mono is very difficult to diagnose sometimes because quite frankly, many of us aren't even going to the doctor with our acute infection to know that we have it now. [00:10:00] Even if you go to your typical doctor and find out that you have mono, what is the typical prescription going to be?
It's going to be rest, it's going to be fluids. If it is an acute phase where you're having a lot of sore throat or you're having a lot of fever. fever. Typically that's going to be Tylenol, ibuprofen for those things. Sometimes giving a steroid injection to help if you're really unable to eat or drink at all because of the pain associated with the throat that can be something that your physician may prescribe.
May also recommend a little bit of vitamin C, but then in general they're going to. you know, recommend rest. Now, that's if you're diagnosed with the acute infection. Now, being diagnosed with reactivated mono is a completely different story, and that's what I would like to talk about .
Okay, so reactivated mono, what we're talking about is you've already had the acute [00:11:00] infection and so now this is a reactivation, meaning it is now active and present and causing symptoms. Now, that could represent. The acute infection that could be manifest by feelings of, of fever, sore throat, cough, congestion generally flu like symptoms would be what you could experience.
Now, what I see a lot with my clients is I see that really it's manifesting itself as, as fatigue, as adrenal issues, really just having an inability to get that energy boost, a reliance on caffeine. And that is because it's really affecting two primary organ systems that I see. One is the adrenals and the second is the thyroid.
And then thirdly, it then seems to affect the reproductive organs. in the [00:12:00] sense that your production of testosterone if you're a male or estrogen if you're a female may be somewhat off. Now when I really see this occur quite often is after a lady is given birth. Now we see mono quite a bit in my practice and primarily We're, we're seeing it being manifested as just severe fatigue inability to, to lose weight despite adequate exercise, despite adequate dieting.
And many times the underlying reactivated mono is to ultimately blame because it's triggering this hypothyroidism or decreased levels of testosterone and or estrogen in some cases. And so when we look for reactivated mono, we can also suspect that it is affecting some of these other organ systems, be it [00:13:00] the adrenals with the cortisol production or DHEA production.
And If those are affected, your ability to get adequate sleep, adequate rest, have energy throughout the day is definitely going to be affected. Whether it's the adrenals, the thyroid, or the sex hormones, any of those are going to create issues. So if you are able to diagnose that you have reactivated mono, what to do?
Well, one is really focus on that adrenal health. Focus on getting plenty of rest. Focus on not pushing through all the time. Give yourself breaks And really just take a step back, take a step back and realize that, Hey, this is a time that I don't really need to push.
The more I push, the more symptoms are going to be exacerbated. Same thing within your workouts. You don't really necessarily want to push. Push for a ton of [00:14:00] real high intensity works, workouts, low or moderate intensity are going to be better than doing a really hard hit workout multiple days a week.
Now, Working out is still going to be a benefit, though, for sure. Supporting the immune system is also going to be a big benefit and potentially helping to suppress that reactivated mono, essentially, quote, turn it off. And there's a couple of ways we do that. We do that through vitamin C sometimes taking vitamin C or Orally is adequate enough.
Sometimes people need to do vitamin C, IV infusions to help this really suppress that, that monos expression within their bodies, specifically as it relates to fatigue. So that would be, that would be one. Two is there's really an extract that we get from coconuts that really seems to be helpful.
Something called monolaurin. Now. You would have to eat a [00:15:00] lot of coconuts to get it in the, the extract level that we see in supplements. But then L Lysine can be helpful. And then olive leaf extract can also be helpful in turning off that reactivated mono. Now, if you're a woman who is recently postpartum, you are nursing.
This is something before you would ever start any of these things. You would really need to discuss that with your physician. There can be issues with breast milk production. And as many supplements aren't really studied in pregnancy or breastfeeding. These would be the same. They generally appear safe.
However your alteration of your, of your breast milk could be affected. So keep that in mind, but. giving yourself adequate rest, having the knowledge that, Hey, this is a reactivated infection. I'm, I'm not crazy. There is something [00:16:00] actually going on that can be just a huge relief in and of itself.
Many times that suppression of those neurotransmitters, because we're worried and concerned can really help to continue to exacerbate that, that expression of that mono. Especially as it manifests as fatigue and hormone imbalance. So As you go through this, if you know that you do have reactivated mono, one of the things and techniques that you can do, and this isn't unique just to mono, is really get a posture of celebrating those small wins.
Hey, today I was able to make it out of the water. all the way till noon before I felt like I needed a nap. Today I slept for six hours straight and I really felt somewhat refreshed. Today I slept for 11 hours straight and I actually felt refreshed when I woke up. So really creating that [00:17:00] environment. of gratitude and really seeing the small things in life as a win really helps to raise those levels of dopamine, serotonin, and oxytocin, and really helps to heal the body and helps to activate the immune system so that you can suppress that reactivated mono.
Now, If this is something that you know that you've had mono in the past and you are now suffering with thyroid issues and or feel as though you may have adrenal issues and or hormone issues, I do recommend having your primary care physician really check that early antigen D, that EBV early antigen to see if you possibly do have reactivated mono and that could be contributing and or causing your symptoms.
So I hope this has been informative. I hope this has beneficial to you. Thanks and God bless.
[00:18:00] That's it for this episode of the Living Life Well Show. If you like what you've heard and want to learn more, or want to know how to put this into practice for yourself, go to livelifewellclinic.com. Until next time, this is Dr. Jon Skelton saying, go out and live the truth so you can live life well. The preceding is for entertainment and educational purposes only. It is not meant to be used to prevent, diagnose, treat, or cure any condition. The information contained in this show does not substitute the need for a qualified medical professional, nor is it meant to provide medical advice or services.
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