Dengue Tips and Reminders

Last week, I found myself feeling very sluggish and weak. I tried to brush it off as a slight hay fever but after a several doses of biogesic, I still can't snap out of it and saw my temperature continue soar to as high as 40'C. After 48 hours of on-off fever, I was finally coerced by my wife and Mom to finally drop by the hospital. After several tests, I've confirmed what I've feared all along, I was positive for dengue.

Compared to a couple of years ago, Dengue is much more manageable and "curable". I've heard of people who got well even though they were not confined (although it is definitely better if the patient monitored by doctors and nurses.)

I have always been afraid of needles so you could imagine what I felt when they told me that I would have to get my blood checked every 6 hours! :( Let me share with you some reminders given to me by my doctor.

1. Drink plenty of water to prevent dehydration - the water will also help in flushing out the virus in your system.
2. Don't eat dark foods (dinuguan, ketchup, chocolates) - dengue sometimes lead to internal bleeding - the patient needs to refrain from eating food that will look like blood once digested.
3. Manage your temperature
4. Monitor your platelets (normal range is 150-300) - once your platelet start shooting up - you're on your way to recovery! But bear in mind that it will go down before it starts shooting up.
5. Be prepared for rashes

In order to prevent dengue cases in the future - we have to deal with the breeding grounds for the mosquito carriers.... - here are some tips:

1. When doing projects in the garage, make sure you are in a well ventilated area.
2. Don't leave stagnant water around
3. A bit of mosquito repellant wouldn't hurt you - I will use OFF whenever I'm tinkering away in the garage - I often work on my projects late in the afternoon/night (when dengue carriers are known to strike) -  prevention is better than cure right?
4. Clean your surroundings! :)

Hope to get back on my overdue projects soon! :)

Stay Healthy everyone!