Infectious Diseases Forum - mono or strep symptoms ?

I know its far-fetched, but someone might have had the same issues or problems and will know a solution Smile

Thats what I hope.

Let me start off by backdating to when the process started...

I don't mention drinking water because I've gone through 20 Bottles in 3 days. I'd rather not go into that much detail. (Its very detailed already).

I'd say it must have been 3.5 weeks ago (rough estimate). I'll explain everything I did so that it'll make more sense.

I received lower level probation and figured I'd smoke a little bit of pot just to remember what it was like. (Keep in mind I'm 20, healthy, active). I hadn't done it for at least 2 years, and definitely did not have the best time due to the paranoia I had.

I wake up the next morning with a muffled ear, so I decided to use the internet as a resource as I do not have medical insurance (job that I have does not offer it), so I looked up all the different options and found out that I might have compacted ear wax problems. Went to CVS and bought Deblox, an ear drop tool to fizzle and clean ear wax out. Used it for about 5 days no improvements.

Work was fine for me no problems, went home Friday March 21st and decided to go hang out with my friends. Passed on smoking anything because at this point I felt that it caused the issue. Suffered the uncomfort of having no left ear a little more and called it a night. Saturday March 22nd is a Massive Party in LA called How Sweet It Is. It is a rave party, but I do NOT do drugs (I would definitely tell you at this point as they might help, but I had none.) The loud music and crowd almost deafened my ear, but on the drive home... my hearing was much better and not muffled. It continued to sunday... no issues, great hearing. Monday came around and bam, woke up with the muffle.

I decided it was time, so I sucked it up and went to the doctor for the problem and payed for it. $113 later I was told that it was ETD (Eustachian Tube Dysfunction) and that all I can do for it as wait. I packed up my things, but was told to stop and sit down. He said open your mouth, I did, and he said "you have some puss on your tonsils, here is a prescription for amoxicillin." Went and got it filled, proceeded to go to work, as there was no real pain or suffering, just discomfort... again. Couple days go by, same problems no improvement until Friday when I woke up and felt the issue go away (it must have been the way I was sleeping). Saturday I felt like I had a fever so I decided to take some Ibuprofen and relax. No issues what-so-ever, felt great, no headache or fever, no ear issues!

Sunday rolls around. Eww I didn't get to sleep till 3am and woke up at 9am. Felt the fever, felt the pain, and definitely felt the tonsils. I then took the remainder of the day to try and catch some z's but no luck. Took a shower, felt better and went out with some friends for lunch. Came home at 5:00pm feeling way worse that I had ever felt thus far. My tonsils hurt when I swollowed, my head was pounding with pain, my body was freezing and my brain felt like it was going to explode from the heat. I took it easy all night, getting a little bit of sleep (~5 hours).

Woke up, went to work and felt terrible the entire day, definitely did not want to be there but there was already 3 people gone so I toughened up and said lets do it. Big mistake as I got off of work I came home and tried to sleep, only to keep a fever of 101.8 throughout the night. I decided that maybe its all part of me getting better.

Had a 2 hour of sleep night, woke up and threw up mucus in my bathroom, which actually cleared my sinus' (a very big relief to not be congested). Decided to talk to my chemist friend about some of the drugs and see what his opinion is. He owns a nutrient company and develops new natural enhancers (hopes to one day to replace alcohol with a safer alternative) anyway I am digressing... He gave me some different things that had no effect other than making a nasty taste in my mouth, which accompanied by Hot White Tea and Honey only made the taste worse. From there I relaxed on his couch for a bit listening to some soundscapes and hypnosis stuff and trying to relax a bit. At about 5:45 the fever started to kick in, and I felt that same coolness come over me mixed with a hot head. I decided to call it a night and go home.

I sat at my computer, analyzing my new symptoms:
Congestion
Fever (At that point it was 102.2)
Body Aches
Chills
Swollen Tonsils
Dry Mouth
Confusion
Trouble Hearing
What looks like a kanker sore or herpes on my lip (swollen upper lip)

So I panicked and looked up "at what temperature should one go to the ER" keep in mind its about 6:30 and the doctors office closed at 6:00. So I'm frantically searching around while my friend is telling me to put a damp cloth on my head and take some more aspirin and relax. Another friend, Med Student, says that its scary because I have almost all the symptoms of Mono.

Immediately I decided that it was time to relax or else nothing would get better. So thats what I did. After a good 30-45 minutes my fever had dropped to 101.2 and then to 100.8. I felt almost 20x better, almost euphoric.

None the less I recognized that I might have mono and that it isn't smart to just go on about your daily life when you might have mono, its highly contagious to my knowledge.

I went to the doctor, who was very generous and did a mono test and strep test for $42.00 and said that's all he is charging me. Both came back negative. So he ran it again, negative. He felt around and said it doesn't make any sense that my Spline(sp) is the way it is and my lymph nodes are the way they are, yet the mono test says negative. He prescribed me Keflex, Prednisone, and Vicodin.

(Keep in mind I had been taking aspirin or advil and the amoxicillin as directed for this period of time)

So yesterday I took them as directed and felt OK other than the usually 5:00-6:00pm harsh 102.0 fever. The vicodin really helped me relax and my fever went away eventually, and I did decide to go get a little fresh air (well wrapped in warm clothes). I came back feeling excellent taking my last dose of meds and decided to lay down. I felt decently tired and went to sleep.

Finally I had a good night sleep, other than waking up with the dryest mouth ever and what feels like a sinus clogging of a lifetime. I am sitting here with freezing cold hands and a decent fever, a headache, a definite pain in my ears and pains throughout my body. I know its only been a couple days on the new meds, but I am very weary about everything now... as it has been a very long time of being sick (for me).

If there is any suggestions, advice, anything... I could use it, I'm in a world of congestion pain right now.