Originally Posted by Erin524

I cant find the link now, but last night I was reading about MS on a website and was really surprised to read that some doctors think that MS comes from having Epstein-Barr (mononucleosis) at the same time as a retrovirus, such as Shingles, is one of the triggers for MS.

Scary thing is, I got mononucleosis in late 1995, I wasnt full blown sick with it until mid-January when my spleen and liver both decided to fight for domination of my abdominal cavity. (they ballooned up and I had to stay in bed to avoid breaking either one of them)

About a month before that, I apparently had Shingles for a few weeks. Gosh, Shingles is PAINFUL! I didnt know what it was, and for some reason, I didnt go to the doctor for it. (probably because of where the little sores showed up. I have a scar that runs across the right side of my....chest... When the sores started to get icky, I was putting washcloths and sanitary napkins in my bra to keep the nasty stuff from the sores leaking out onto my shirts. Ewww!


I only found out within the last year that what I had was Shingles. I know I already had Mononucleosis before the shingles started. I was working in a McDonald's at the time and a girl who worked there was out sick for a month because she had mono. But, she was sick and still working before she actually knew she had mono. Whenever the pop tanks in the store would go out, she could never tell if she got the tanks hooked up right, so she'd draw some pop into a cup, and then hand it to both me and my store manager to taste after she'd tasted it.

Well, both me and the store manager came down with mono... Guess what? The store manager was diagnosed with MS back in 2000 or 2001. Saw her when she was working for a department store. It was her last day at work, she had really bad optic neuritis. She'd been diagnosed about a week or two before and was having a bad exacerbation. She had ON, and her lower body was numb, and she was using a store scooter to get around that day.

It really freaks me out that someone I worked with for 8 years probably developed MS at the same time I did, probably from the same source.

I'd been having problems with vertigo (misdiagnosed as ear infections) since 1997, and every few months I'd wake up with numbness in my hands (thought it was Carpal Tunnel) that would go away by the end of the day.

I havent seen my former manager since that day that I found out she has MS. I'd love to see her again and talk to her about the MS. If anything just to be friends again.