why aren't mono patients put on anti-virals?

[ebethc]

I had mono in 2001 and my doctor didn't put me on antivirals.. In hindsight, this seems like a weird medical choice, but I've never asked a doctor... Why don't doctors do this??

 

[imitate-past-reign]

Threefold - evidence base didn't exist at the time and presently,

ACV was never approved for that specific indication (and it never will be) so its off-label use is required, and
I guarantee some newly graduated doctors do if they have taken virology. The licensing exams for doctors will have a question like "what's the most likely treatment for an adolescent with liver enzyme elevation, fatigue, negative for hepatitis" - the answer will be ibuprofen and bed rest.

 

[JES]

Also don't forget that antivirals only stop the replication of the virus, they don't kill the virus itself, so even if there would be a benefit, it often comes months later (at least in CFS/ME). By that time, most healthy people catching mono would already have recovered anyway.

 

[ebethc]

Also don't forget that antivirals only stop the replication of the virus, they don't kill the virus itself

I know

so even if there would be a benefit, it often comes months later (at least in CFS/ME). By that time, most healthy people catching mono would already have recovered anyway.

so, Rx it a month or two later in a followup appointment if still severely sick... gee, that was easy.

 

[Galixie]

so, Rx it a month or two later in a followup appointment if still severely sick... gee, that was easy.

It still might not work. I tried antivirals and they made no difference in my antibody production. (Which is why I favor the theory that it is an immune system dysfunction rather than a chronic viral infection.)

 

[ebethc]

It still might not work. I tried antivirals and they made no difference in my antibody production. (Which is why I favor the theory that it is an immune system dysfunction rather than a chronic viral infection.)

interesting... I wonder if the immune dysfunction allows the virus to "re-emerge" every once in awhile and that's why it's confusing to ppl.... b/c any herpes virus is forever (chicken pox, ebv.. etc) ..If that's the case, then taking antivirals to augment your dysfunctional immune system amounts to the same thing, right? it's kind of chicken or the egg from a patient pov, but from a medical perspective - for the purpose of root-causing the problem - it makes a difference..

 

[soofke]

because mono usually solves itself within 3 months so there's no need for meds? unless it morphs into M.E but I doubt mono can cause all this by itself..