Posted by Noa on January 30, 2001, at 15:57:22
In reply to Re: Mononucleosis and Depression, posted by Sulpicia on January 29, 2001, at 10:46:57
Another thought--if she just is getting over the mono (had it just in December?), it is still quite early, and from what I hear, it can take a long time to truly recuperate, so it might be good to not go slow getting back into full action mode anyway.
I remember when I was 10 and my sister was 18, she had to come home from college because of mono and it took her a very long time to fully recover. She was exhausted all the time.
I know that when I have a virus or something, my depression worsens. And, when I am exhausted for any reason--lack of sleep, thyroid problems, or illness (I had coxsackie virus last year and that was painful, exhausting, and it made me depressed), I do get depressed. What I have learned to do is to try to interpret the depression differently, though, as a function of the illness, which helps me keep some hope that when the illness is better, my mood will be, too.
Your daughter's body is struggling to regain strength. I would think it could affect her emotionally too.
To her this probably feels like a lifetime and she'll never get her "self" back, and that can create panic. I think it can help if you try to not "catch" her panic, too, which I bet is asking a lot of a mother. But if you can help her put the time in perspective and convey hope that she needs time to recover, that might help.
At the same time, I would keep looking for info and options for helping her medically and therapeutically.
poster:Noa
thread:57
URL: http://www.dr-bob.org/babble/child/20000813/msgs/90.html