Dengue fever affects millions of people every year with children being the most prone. It is a mosquito-borne sickness that usually affects areas with poor environmental upkeep and tends to develop ditches of water where mosquitos love. It often takes 3-10 days to recover from dengue fever, of course when things are left to negligence it could be longer. It is very flu-like but a lot more memorably discomforting and exhausting with your immune system on haywire. No fret, dengue has always been around and is easily curable if one lives in a clean enough home and can provide enough water, a good bed and room to rest and plenty of water and medicinal foods of course.
The dreaded illness manifests menacingly as a sudden wave of symptoms such a severe headaches or migraines, chills which is never good, extreme fatigue, very-flue like symptoms, general muscle pain especially in the lower back and even in the eyeballs when moved. Throbbing pain and aching in the legs and joints then occur or clinically referred to as myalgias and arthralgias- severe pain that gives it the moniker break-bone fever or bonecrusher disease. This all happens in the first few hours that the symptoms start off. Stressfully, the core temperature rises to a quick and tormenting 40 Celsius with a heart rate and blood pressure that is relatively low in contrast.
The bright red dengue rashes usually appear on the chest and limbs but if they do not appear right away hospitalization is indeed dire.The rashes can actually form internally. The glands or lymph nodes in the neck and groin are often swollen. In some patients, it spreads to cover most of the body. Gastritis and other more or less severe abdominal and gastrointestinal-related difficulties will sprout along with possible abdominal pain, nausea, vomiting, or diarrhea. Some cases develop much milder symptoms which can be misdiagnosed as influenza or another viral infection if the rashes do not appear yet. The platelet count will drop as the patient’s temperature hits normal, a classic roller coaster characteristic of dengue.
Keep in mind everything heals faster with a positive outlook or more calm and happy state of mind. Invest in your happiness and make sure the sick room for you or another patient is always clean and your bed is making you as comfortable as possible. Make sure you rid the room, sheets and cushions of bed bugs. Extra blankets and definitely cloths and tissues with sanitizers by the table side.
Here is a list of affordable and accessible home remedies for comforting and speeding up the healing process of dengue sufferers.
1. Water
8-10 glasses is easily forgotten when we are healthy and not very aware but it can seem so little all of a sudden when you are sick like this. Drink as much as you need and keep a bottle by your side if necessary. Do not force yourself too much though not enough that you cause a tummy ache or worse vomiting but enough forcing to your body forces hydration throughout.
2. Coconut Water!
Yum Low calorie, naturally sweet and amazingly refreshing is great keeping water in the body, being more hydrating than water itself.
3. Vitamin C – consider guavas
A no-brainer and mandatory vitamin for your grocery shopping carts in the form of food and good quality supplements. Vitamin C rich fruit juice made of real juice and pulp, mind you, is fine and encouraged to be given to the patient especially if they have difficulty getting whole food in their mouth. Good thing there are many items rich in Vitamin C and a lot of them are appetizing like tomatoes, Brussel sprouts (I love them), red peppers, dark leafy greens, all kinds of citrus but more sour ones like lime and lemon are better, guavas for sure they are hella packed and papayas. Guava has the highest known source of Vitamin C naturally and around 2nd place are peppers. Guava tea is also great for coughs, wet or dry and colds.
4. Vitamin A – consider coriander tea or eating lots of fresh cilantro leaves
Before I mention the many wonderful things Vitamin A does let me tell you that Cilantro or Coriander has 134% of your daily value based on a 2000 calorie diet in only 100 grams! 100 grams of cilantro leaves that only contain around 23 calories. The potassium level is over 500mg per 100g too. The coriander seeds are also packed with all the precious mineral metals our bodies need to survive. Vitamin A is crucial for the function and health of our eyes and vision, liver and intestinal health, skin and cellular function, antioxidant dispersal, immune function and even gene transcription.
5. Potassium- how about sweet potatoes instead of bananas?
Potassium is a vital mineral that is crucial for the function of the heart, kidneys, lungs, liver and other organs to work normally. Low potassium levels get easily associated with heightened cancers risks, heart ailments, digestive ailments, arthritis, stroke and infertility. Sweet potatoes actually have a whopping 695mg of K or Potassium for every 131 calories. Tomatoes are packed as well with 550mg per cup in puree and as for tomato paste 640mg.
6. Going Protein-rich – try hummus, it is light and can get your appetite slowly back
This is a yay for meat lovers especially. But hey vegans and vegetarians have delicious protein sources too! Always go for the healthy option especially when you are sick. Couscous, quinoa, kale, chickpeas or garbanzo beans, soy, peas, beans, lentils, lima beans, broccoli, yellow sweet corn, spinach artichokes are high in protein and plant-based. You really need proteins to repair your body, you are very sick and sicknesses drain a lot from you- to the point you can treat yourself to some richer protein when you are feeling much better and your stomach is lined with other healthier things. Chicken is always a light and easy choice along with fish. Pork and beef are better for the days you are mostly recovered.
7.Leafy Greens
Anything with structure seems hard to chew when you are so ill so chopping and juicing the veggies with beets and lemon and whatever else veggie and fruits you want will make a nice, easy get-well smoothie your immune system will thank you for later. And if you do have an appetite don’t fall for your bad cravings and go for a bright salad with cooked chicken, fish or lean pork bits if you like.
