I had mononucleosis in late 95/early 96.

I also had shingles in December of 95. (think Shingles is a retrovirus also linked to MS)

The mono knocked me flat on my back about the first or second week of January 96, but I'm pretty sure I was sick with it for at least a month before it got so bad that I had to stay in bed for about a month. So, I'm pretty sure that I had mono AND shingles at the same time.

I've read somewhere about a retro virus (shingles) and a herpesvirus (mono) at the same time having some sort of connection to triggering MS. I'll have to look and see if I can find those links again.

The mono did a number on me. I had weird little cold sores all over the inside of my mouth. I lost my hearing AND my voice for at least several weeks. I'm pretty sure I was awake for nearly two weeks (would sleep about a half hour between some weird nasal drainage problem that I had. Literally constant drainage. I had to sleep sitting up or risk drowning in it. sorry...TMI)

My throat had swollen up so bad that it affected my hearing. I was happy that I'd gotten a brand new tv for Xmas that year and it had closed captioning (something that wasnt quite standard yet) I had the worst bout of laryngitis that I've ever had. I was taking sign language classes at the time and had to drop out of school because of the mono, but I taught my parents a few signs so that I could at least ask for food and water and to tell them how crappy I felt.

I have never been that sick before or since. I've never felt as if I recovered all the way after that. It was about a year after the mono that I started having vertigo attacks. I was pretty sure they were connected to the mono, but thought it was because the sore throat and ear infections I had during the mono had damaged my inner ear or something. I'm pretty sure the vertigo and some of The Hug were my first MS symptoms way back then. I'd get the vertigo at least two or three times a year.

I had a really high fever for a few days during the mono. Had a few that reached 104 degrees. I kind of wonder if getting the MS after an episode of mono has anything to do with the fever and how high and long it lasts. Or if it's just the mono virus interacting with our immune systems that causes the damage.

When I had my blood tests for diagnosis for the MS, my EBV titer was positive. So, I know what I had in 96 was mononucleosis. I even know that I got it from someone at work. We had a little mono epidemic where I worked at the time. (and no, I didnt get mine from kissing anyone.)