My incredibly healthy and happy son had active mono for four months when he was 18. He seemed to recover, but he was physically and mentally changed. Since that time, he has experienced terrible insomnia, very loose bowel habits, and darkly colored urine. He also withdrew from family and friends. At 19 1/2, as a junior at Georgia Tech, he again became very ill with something that seemed like mono. This time, he was also diagnosed as also having very low testosterone levels. He somewhat recovered from the illness after about 8 weeks but was forced to leave Tech because he had been incapable of handing a class load during the depth of the illness. Again, he was further reduced physically and mentally with all of the mentioned issues worsening and his appetite dwindled in comparison to his high school years, losing about 25 pounds. He was also diagnosed as paranoid schizophrenic at this time. Finally, two years later, he attempted to resume his biomedical engineering degree at Tech. All seemed to be going well then last week, it all begam again. 104 fever for 6 days, extreme headache that does not reduce and debilitating fatigue. Back to the doctor and initial mono test is negative but experience has taught us that that one is always negative; diagnosis comes with the blood work. I understand that Epstein Barr is permanent but something seems to be missing. General practitioners seem very matter of fact about it. Is there a specialty that deals with cases such as reoccurring mono? These other issues all presented during mono episodes to a young man who was never sick a day in his life until mono struck but they do not seem to leave with the active illness. Is it possible that he has something that is presenting like mono? In all likelihood, he will again be forced to medically withdraw from school because of an inability to attend classes. We are all losing hope.