Sunday, August 21, 2011

How I Overcome My Dengue Fever

It’s very alarming that the number of dengue victims in the Philippines and in other Asian countries rises exponentially. I too have never escaped the wrath of this deadly infectious tropical disease caused by dengue viruses, which are carried and transmitted by the female, day-biting, Aedes aegytpti mosquito.
(See dengue fever in YouTube.)

I felt that I’m slightly feverish during the eve of Tuesday while at school and I decided to take-up medicine to hopefully regain my temperature back to normal.
As soon as the class dismissed, I went straight at home and have a goodnight rest hoping that by the morning my fever would vanquish.

Well I hoped right. Because that morning, I wake up feeling great and think that the medicine I took the last night work effectively. My body temperature is again back to normal and I assume that I healed already. I even participated in our college sports-fest and played basketball. But sadly, during lunch time my temperature rises again. I felt I was burning. This time I decided to go home already as soon as we finished playing basketball. I took up my medicine once again and start resting. My fever starts to vanished and then starts coming back again-vanished-come again.

This process repeated a lot of times which caught my mom’s attention. She immediately took me to our doctor and had me checked. They checked my blood and the result was a low WBC (white blood cells) and a low platelets count which is 0.63 % and 178 respectively. The doctor said that my blood count is still normal but the alarming sign is that it is too low for a normal condition and it may soon enters dengue condition which is below 150 platelets count. The doctor also said that if my condition is a normal fever only, my WBC count must be higher. But since it’s too low, this is no doubt a dengue fever. She explained that dengue viruses attack both our WBC and platelets which explains why my blood count is low. The next thing that happened is I got admitted in the hospital and started getting medications (dextrose, medicine for my blood), various blood tests which occurs every 4 hours. It’s kind of annoying because every 4 hrs my precious fingers got pinned. Nevertheless, this is just nothing compared to other patients who suffer serious dengue cases.

I wrote this article to warn, help, and inspire others for my experience. Let me start with

When will you have yourself checked by a doctor?
If you have a fever for 2+ days which usually has a behavior of come-and-go. What I mean is that your fever vanishes for a specific time and returns again. Come-and-go fevers are dangerous and this is one of the symptoms of a dengue fever. Having yourself checked even you only had a 2-day fever is good because, the doctor might just give you home medications. Coming too late for a check-up has a greater chance that you might be admitted in the hospital and have your blood count monitored.

I only have a 3-day fever and my blood count is dropping very fast. In just 10 hours my blood count dropped down from 178 to 148 which is a dengue case already. So it’s better to have yourself checked as early as possible to avoid excess medications and a hospital bills.

What are the symptoms of a dengue fever?
Headache, fever, exhaustion, severe muscle pain, skin rash, pain behind the eyes, anorexia, vomiting, nose and gum bleeding, easy bruising, and cough. Nose bleeding is involuntary and it’s the common symptoms of a person suffering from a dengue virus. This is because the platelets which is known to help the blood clot, decreases which in turn giving one, involuntary or excessive bleeding.

What to do while you are admitted in the hospital for having dengue?
Leave it to the nurses and to your doctor. They know best. But you can help yourself too if you want to heal faster and get out of the hospital like I did. Here’s what actually happen:
  1. Your doctor might probably advise you not to eat in your first day of admission in the hospital. So just follow they’re directions.
  2. You might not get enough sleep since you were always bothered by the body temperature monitoring, blood pressure checking and 4-hour blood test/checking. Prepare yourself and have a nap as soon as they’re finish pinning your fingers and pumping the sphygmomanometer in your arm.
  3. You might worry that your blood count keeps dropping down which is very true on your first day of admission. My mom worries too much every-time my blood count keeps dropping down. But the nurse said that it’s just normal for 1st day dengue patients. So don’t worry. Start worrying if your blood count keeps dropping down for 2 days straight.
  4.  If your blood count is very low already, there is a great chance that you might have a platelets transfusion. Don’t worry if the hospital has already a platelets available ready. If they run-out already, start contacting family members and friends that are willing to donate.
  5.  Invite your friends to visit you. But not too many that they may overcrowd your room. Have a nice and happy chat with them. Chatting with your friends can reduce the worrying you are experiencing, and it also makes you feel joyous even in a gloomy hospital atmosphere.
  6.  Have a positive mental attitude. Keep saying to yourself that you will heal faster. Imagine that you’re wolverine who possesses the ability of quick regeneration. This sounds funny but it actually helps. I also tried self-hypnosis to regenerate fast. I also lucid dream which helps in a way. In my dream I was inside my bloodstream together with my RBC (red blood cells) and WBC (white blood cells) in which we fought black entity which are the dengue virus. This sounds ridiculous, but if you are suffering from a disease that you are likely to be saved or not, it’s better to have this opportunity to win against your disease even if it’s only a dream. I assure you as you wake-up you feel empowered and what’s more, you experienced great fun. =)  I will post an article about lucid dreaming very soon for those who had not yet learned how to lucid dream. Last edited (8-27-11)See: A Walkthrough to Lucid Dreaming Part 1. See also:  Directing a Positive Mental Attitude To Your Life.
  7.  Lastly, pray. It works. I don’t care if you are an atheist and don’t believe in any God if you don’t like to pray, then don’t. But for those who believe that God existed and He’s out there somewhere feel free to ask him for strength, courage, and determination. God will surely help us no matter what the circumstances are. Have faith on Him. Praying is just free after-all. It only needs an open heart and soul to communicate with Him.
Final Thoughts
Dengue fever is a very fatal disease. It attacks no matter how big or small a person you are. So as long as you experience symptoms I've mentioned above, be sure to have yourself checked by your doctor. Having yourself checked too late may lead to serious cases which some of this cases commonly lead to death. Always take care and be aware of yourself. Your body is your life-long treasure.

18 comments:

AJ Banda said...

nice advice dude! honestly, I'm being sucked now by this stupid mosquito.. sigh...

anyway, congrats for your recovery! :)

Jael said...

@Aj: Thanks.. Those mosquitoes, even though they're so small, are very lethal. So be careful not to get bitten by them. :)

Unknown said...

Good thing you were able to detect it early on. Early detection is also a great way to cope from dengue. =)

Unknown said...

yeah, dengue fever can be fatal. mid of last year, my sis' husband and 2 sons were diagnosed with dengue. But they are all well now.

chrocodiles said...

Nice Share. Much Drink And Eat For Treat Dengue Fever.. And Much rest of course. That helpfully for patient with dengue fever.

Jael said...

@The Average Jane: Yeah, though at first I'm kinda reluctant in having a check-up since it was just a 2-day fever. Thanks to my mom for being persistent enough in bringing me to the doctor. lol

@Jamie: Good to know that they're all well now. You too should be careful with these deadly virus.

@chrocodiles: Thanks for the tips. After I got out of the hospital, I really did eat a lot. Because I lost some weight while I'm hospitalized. All I need now is rest. Thanks again. =)

Anonymous said...

Hi,
Now a days 15-09-2011 , Dengue is widespread in Lahore, Pakistan, effecting many people here.
The main symptoms found are rapid decrease in blood platelets and fever.
Here people are recovering from just one thing , which is Papaya leaves.
Papaya is a yellow fruit , commonly known to many people ,
what people do here is , they are just taking the leaves of Papaya tress, crush it and mix it with water.
Then they pour out the water by the cloth and remains of papaya leaves left behind in the cloth.
They intake about one glass of that water within two days, and very third day number of platelets rises , and fever drops down.
I don,t know what does Papaya leaves contain , but thought to mention it for the experts so that they can find the better cure from Papaya leaves for Dengue virus.
Thankyou.

Jael said...

Wow! That's amazing. I have never thought of that possibility. But if its the reason that a lot of your fellow citizens are recovering from dengue, then it's right to proffer it to the experts. I'll suggests this learning to my friends. You just shared a very valuable tips. Thank you so much for this information you have provided, it might help a lot of people.

I just want to ask you, how long have you been practicing this in your country already?

Abhishek said...

My Mom just got diagnosed with this fevr, hope she recovers soon.. we live in muktsar punjab india. here these days dengue is endemic. We are drinking here Goat's Milk and Kiwi Fruit. Lot's of Orange Juice and Light Vegetables with colmplete bed rest. People around us are recovering faster... hope mum gets fixed too.. pray for her.. :)

Anonymous said...

I live in FLorida and was dignosed with dengue after returning from a cruise to the Caribbean. After feeling fatigued for days, eyes hurting and neck pain I woke in the night with a fever and that terrible bone breaking pain. I went online and tyoed in my symptoms and Dengue Fever came up. The Dr I went too said he never would have tested me for dengue if I hadn't read about it. Going on two weeks I am still exhausted, experiencing headaches. I am going to try the papaya and Kiwi. I quess the only thing that you can do for your immune systen is to try and stay as healthy as possible. I have heard that some are fatigued and feel depressed for some time??

Anonymous said...

The first time you get Dengue you'll be fine, but watch out after that. The SECOND infection is what causes the real problems. There are 4 different types of dengue, so your body thinks it's attacking one type when it's really another causing a lot more damage. What really sucks is that the longer the time period between infections, the worse it is, so getting dengue again 20 years later is very dangerous. It sucks. I got dengue on a trip to Key West and now I'm scared of going anywhere tropical for the off chance I catch a different dengue strain than what I had before.

anjali said...

Its a nice advice friend.My father is admitted in
a hospital due to dengue.I think your advice will help him to recover soon!!!!!!!!!!!
Thanks

Anonymous said...

really a nice advice buddy. Thank you

Anonymous said...

very useful advice buddy.Thank you

Leah Niña Elsie Vega said...

The information about what to do during a Dengue fever is detailed. But, we also have to talk about the prevention. With prevention, there'll be no more victims of the said virus. That's we're doing and you can check it out at www.greatmoms.net.

Kang Nurul Iman said...

Thank you very Steady info ... hopefully more successful.
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Unknown said...

nice info.keep it up.
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