Pre-symptoms

It might be hard to diagnose the disease before the onset of fever, but if proper attention is given to your health its pre-symptoms can help in its early management.

Following are the pre-symptoms of Dengue –

• Generalised weakness without any exertion
• Dyspepsia (Pain or bloating in upper part of stomach)
• Loss of appetite and taste sensation
• Body ache, etc.

In case even if you are the in the pre stage of dengue, best would be you take good rest. As rest will help your body to recover and fight against the infection right from the early stage; thus preventing any other complication thereafter.

Symptoms

The major symptom pointing towards the diagnoses of the disease is ‘fever’.  Apart from fever following are the characteristic features of dengue –

• High grade fever with chills and temperature ranging between 103 to 105 degrees Fahrenheit (F)
• Severe joint pain, as been beaten by a solid object
• Fleeting/shifting joint pain with swelling
• Reddish rashes over the body, which may subside and reoccur within a couple of days
• Itching all over body
• Throat pain
• Hypotension (low blood pressure)
• Severe drop in platelet count i.e. below 1 lakhs (normal platelet count: 1.5 to 4.5 lakhs)

Cold and cough may or may not be associated in dengue. The fever usually subsides up to the 8^th or 10^th day. Also the pulse may or may not be as proportionately fast as it usually is during viral fever.

How to fight against Dengue? –

Indeed prevention from mosquito bite is the best way to keep dengue away. But in case if you are diagnosed with the disease, rest is most essential element while you have fever. Apart from that appropriate management of symptoms should be taken. Ayurveda has a lot to help you out with Dengue; you can consult an experienced Ayurvedic physician for help. Here are a few highly effective recommendations to help you out of Dengue fever.

Importance of diet –

In fever the digestive system is affected to a great extent, thus causing symptoms like loss of appetite and also aggravates generalised weakness. Hence, proper diet is very essential to get rid of sluggish digestion.

Dietary suggestions –

Rice gruel or porridge (khichari) cooked with added ginger to it helps as it is easy to digest. Spicy, salty, sour and oily food stuff should be strictly avoided as they are quite heavy on digestion. Also if you are a tea lover or consume tea at least once a day, then Basil tea (tulsi chai) can be a great aid, as basil has anti-pyretic (helps reduce fever) properties. Ginger and cardamom can also be added to it.

It is also very essential to have plenty of fluids to avoid the fall in blood pressure.

Herbs and fruits for dengue –

Citric fruits are pretty helpful in dengue. Dragon fruit, amla (Indian gooseberry), kiwi, guava, strawberries, oranges, pomegranate, black grapes, etc are quite well known for their effect in dengue. All these fruits help in production of lymphocytes thus improves immune strength. Papaya leaves crushed and squeezed to get the juice help tremendously to recover from the illness.

Amrita (Guduchi / Giloy), Tulasi (Holi basil) Shunthi (Dried ginger), cardamom, wheat grass are few of the commonly available medicinal plants that can be used for effective prevention and as well as in the disease condition itself. These herbs support your immune system and also strengthen your digestion. Vegetables porridge made using carrot, cucumber, beetroot, spinach leaves and other leafy veggies improves strength and helps your immunity to fight against the viral fever. Decoction prepared of Guduchi and basil leaves helps to lower the temperature. Herbal tea can be quite soothing; you can also prepare an herbal tea of your own.

With good care of immunity and preventive measure dengue can be avoided. Even after getting hit by dengue you can fight back and regain to health.

Check out more on Recipes for dengue.