Mononucleosis and Hereditary Spherocytosis: My Personal Experience

Sometime around 2014–2015, when I was about 22 or 23 years old, I spent a lot of time in bars and clubs. It wasn’t exactly the healthiest lifestyle, but back then it just felt normal to me.

One evening, I started feeling unwell. Looking back, it had actually been building up for about two to three weeks. I had persistent headaches during that time – nothing that completely stopped me, but definitely something that wasn’t right.

Eventually, I visited a neurologist. After an examination, I was prescribed Nimesil for the headaches.

Honestly, it made me feel even worse.

Within a few days, I suddenly developed a high fever – around 39°C (102°F). Along with that came a severe sore throat, and overall I started feeling really bad. I went to my general practitioner, who took a blood sample.

The blood test was done on a Thursday or Friday, and the following four days I spent at home. And I have to say – it was one of the worst conditions I’ve ever experienced.

High fever, intense throat pain, wheezing… at times it felt like I couldn’t properly breathe.

That weekend was brutal. I had never felt that bad in my life.

I could barely eat, barely drink, and swallowing was extremely painful.

After the weekend, I went back to the doctor to get my results. By then, I felt slightly better, but still far from okay.

The results showed very high CRP levels – over 120 – and abnormal liver function tests. My doctor told me that with values like that, I should have been hospitalized. But somehow, I managed to get through the worst of it at home in bed.

The following month to month and a half, I stayed at home and slowly recovered. The biggest issue during that time was extreme fatigue, which lingered for quite a while. I don’t remember all the details anymore – it’s been years.

Further testing eventually confirmed that it was infectious mononucleosis – commonly known as the “kissing disease.”

I can’t really say whether I handled it better or worse because of my hereditary spherocytosis. That’s probably very individual.

But based on my experience, even with hereditary spherocytosis, mononucleosis can be managed.