I had shingles around the same time that I had mononucleosis. I developed shingles a few weeks before christmas of 1995. Had an ever-so-uncomfortable line of shingle thingies running down the side of my...chest area and it went down the side of...that area and down the side of my rib cage.

I was putting soft washcloths in my bra in an attempt to keep my bra from rubbing on the area that the shingles was affecting. It didnt help much.

I'm pretty sure I got exposed to mononucleosis around Thanksgiving time that year. My uncle (dad's brother) died a few days before Thanksgiving and I think the stress of him dying (he was my favorite uncle) lowered my resistance and that's how I got shingles and mono at the same time.

December of that year was not a great month for me. I was missing my uncle, trying to go to school, and all I wanted to do was sleep. Had no idea I was sick till one day at work, I just had an emotional breakdown. Right in the middle of a busy shift. I just started crying and told my boss that I was so tired that I didnt know what I was doing. (worked in a McD's) That was about the same time that the sore throat hit me. (early january 1996)

My boss sent me home and told me that I couldnt come back without a doctor's note. Went to the doctor and promptly got misdiagnosed with a sinus infection. (stupid PA ignored me when I told her my aunt, a nurse practitioner told me to get a mono spot test) The PA gave me an antibiotic, that I took when I got home, and promptly had a reaction to the antibiotic (mono and antibiotics = a ton of hives all over the body)

Went back the next day, and suddenly the PA goes "maybe you have mono? I'll get a test for that set up!"

I spent the next few months sick from the mono. Sickest that I've ever been and I would never ever wish being that ill on anyone. It was horrible.

My first symptom of MS that I can think of was vertigo. I started getting that within a year or two of having the mono. (I did have a month or so of vertigo when I was 10 or 11 that I cant explain..no infections then, just had vertigo. makes me wonder if I had juvenile MS)

I blame the mono and the shingles for jumpstarting the MS. I blame a tooth abscess (that only just got fixed last month, got my crown today. yay!) and strep throat for causing my first really big MS exacerbation that I had in 2006, just before getting diagnosed in Jan of 2007.