u/PavlisBeats

I caught mono from my wife in August 2025. She was pretty sick for 6 weeks (swollen lymph nodes, sore throat, exhaustion) and then boom it just vanished and all was fine. Right after I started having symptoms but it was just exhaustion, lingering and very latent. I could still go on about my day and do some excercise but something felt off all the time and my muscles were sore A LOT quicker than normal, so I got my blood checked after a couple weeks and tested positive for EBV but already inactive.

I still didn't really take it seriously since it didn't feel that bad and went on to live quite normally with the always present feeling of something being off. I traveled to a bachelor party to Napoli, Italy and went on a trip with my dad for 10 days. I drank alcohol and partied occasionally. The only thing I had totally stopped was doing sports + I paused my studies at Uni. The lingering exhaustion just did not go away (surprise) and a new symptom started to emerge, which was pelvic floor weakness and urine dribbling after I had a wee. This probably came from having sex with my wife and feeling like a truck hit me after we were done (we tried having a baby). I went to the urologist and got completely checked out. Everything was fine infection and prostate wise, so it had to be functional and exhaustion related. He still prescribed me antibiotics (Cotrim forte), which in hindsight was a big mistake. I was supposed to take it for 10 days and after the 6th day I felt really bad and stopped taking it after he advised me. I was completely drained, it felt like all my energy had left my body, I was dizzy and my heart was racing. I honestly thought I was going to die, so my wife took me to the ER where I got my heart checked + a scan of my spleen and aorta. Also a blood test was done. Everything was totally fine and healthy. The cardiologist said I could restart physical exercise in about 3 weeks (lol). This was in November 2025 and I felt like a complete wreck and was at my absolute low point.

From there I totally quit all alcohol, no more traveling and almost didn't meet any friends or my family. I was very sensitive to most stimuli (TV, reading books, too many people - I just couldn't handle it). Going to the supermarket could be too much at points and set me back for days. My stomach was unwell, everything felt wrong, I was dizzy at times and rarely felt fully rested, my muscles ached etc. At this point I finally started to research as good as I could about this virus and learned about pacing and the importance of a strict routine (especially diet and sleep wise). I tried quite a lot in many self experiments or after doctors or science advise over the next weeks/months and found my rhythm at around the beginning of April this year.

What really helped and made me recover fully:

1. Orthomol Vital against exhaustion for 30 days every morning (this was the first thing that actually helped me to not feel like I had ran a marathon after taking 5 steps)
2. CONSISTENT EARLY SLEEP at 10:30 - 11 pm with no distractions beforehand, no phone, no TV, nothing (every night the same time, no matter what day, no matter the circumstances)
3. REST - I can not stress this enough. REST for as long as it takes and if it takes 1 year then that's what your body needs to recover. In the end I completely paused Uni and stopped all sports or exhaustive activities. I know it is hard but I prolonged this way too long because I did not take the warning signs seriously and resting is SO important!
4. Cutting out bad foods and having the same thing for breakfast every day while pairing this with a good morning routine. You need B-Vitamins, you need Vitamin D, you need fermented unpasteurised foods to rebalance your gut bacteria and maybe some Magnesium (120mg magnesium bisgylcinate before bed time) for your Mitochondria to refill. So a perfect mix is going out for a short walk in the morning and having a soy yoghurt with fruits, nuts, 1 ts psyllium husk, 1 ts wheat germ, a scoop of vegan protein powder and some dark chocolate (at least 80% cocoa) right after. I also take 1 ts olive oil, eat some sauerkraut and drink 100ml of red beet juice before my walk on an empty stomach. I'm also having a very light lunch at around 3pm and a healthy dinner with lots of protein and healthy fats at roughly 7pm.
5. PACING - Slowly but steady. Listen to your body and don't push too quick too far. Monotonous and slowly is the name of the game in everything with postviral fatigue. Your battery is not fully loaded, so you might empty it a lot quicker by doing things you normally did when you were healthy. Make sure you don't, because otherwise you might crash and undo a good amount of work you had already put in to recover.
6. ALWAYS REMEMBER - You will VERY probably get back to your normal self. Science and data is clearly on your side here. 98% of people have caught this virus before they turn 40 and the vast majority just normally goes on with their lifes. For around 10-17% it just takes longer but the majority also recovers fully with the right routine.
7. STAY POSITIVE (even if it's hard) - a positive mind heals your body quicker.
8. And PLEASE get yourself fully checked before starting any physical exercise, especially when you stopped for more than 3 months. Bloodtests, internist and sport-check at cardiologist.

I'm still not fully back to my old and energetic self of course but I rarely have energy drops anymore and can basically do all day to day tasks without any weird sensations like the months before. I will try very light physical exercise beginning next week and see how it goes.

I know for each person life circumstances are different and telling a single mother of 3 to rest for 1 year is probably a joke to her so this is just how I recovered and even if it helps you a little bit in your process to getting back to normal I'm glad. Good luck!