Dengue sucks. Yes, that’s exactly how I feel about the illness after being bedridden for 2 weeks. Who would have thought a tiny mosquito bite would do so much damage to a fully-grown healthy adult? The thing is, I can’t even remember when I was bitten.

How it began

It was an eventful Saturday. I went to Heguru classes with the girls, dropped them off at home, headed to Sample Store bloggers event at Jen Hotel. On my way back home, I checked out Haji Lane Street party. It is Nick’s brainchild, something he does for fun.

All was well until sometime past midnight, I felt chills and retired early to bed, thinking maybe I have overtired myself.

I couldn’t sleep. I shivered under my duvet for hours and asked Nick to check if I had a fever around 3am. I wasn’t able to tell by myself because while my body was heating up, my hands felt cold and couldn’t feel a thing. Nick said I was burning up. I popped some Paracetamols and was able to fall asleep until the next morning.

The next morning was just as horrible. I was still running a fever, although I was feeling cold. I couldn’t believe my thermometer when it said my body temperature was 39˚C. I had a splitting headache, my whole body felt beaten and my lower back was hurting, kind of like having contraction pain, minus the wave-like motion and pauses in between. Constant dull lower back pain. So yeah, you know how painful it can be if you have children. I spent most of that Sunday in bed, with a plastic bag right next to me. Because I was also puking my guts out.

By 7pm, I knew something wasn’t right. I wasn’t feeling any better. In fact, I was getting worse. Nick took me to A&E at Raffles Hospital and they confirmed I had dengue. My blood pressure had dropped pretty low too, to 80 over 60 or something. They immediately gave me a shot of paracetamol and hooked me up to a drip. The doctor told Nick it’s very likely that I would have to be admitted. I didn’t want to, so as soon as I stopped shivering and finally was able to feel relaxed.. probably from the effects of the drugs in my system at this point.. I feigned alertness and acted well enough, so the doctor would send me home.

You see. I didn’t want to be hospitalised. I wasn’t ready. How about the kids at home? How about my mountain of work waiting for me to clear? I was supposed to pitch my business at an event the very next day!

It took 3 bags of drips to bring my temperature down to 38˚C. After insisting that I really didn’t want to be admitted and promised that I would return to the hospital every day to get my blood tested, the doctor let me go home and we were presented with a parting gift – the bill.

The first night’s bill came to $531.90 and subsequent daily blood tests cost more than $100 a pop. Even our wallets hurt too.

Extreme tiredness, the puking, and hell

The next few days were excruciating. Needless to say, I had to cancel my event and laid in bed the whole time. No, it wasn’t some “Yeah, let’s catch up on sleep” kind of rest, but the “I’m so tired but I can’t sleep because my joints are aching all over” kind.

My walk to the kitchen to have some water left me panting and tired as if I’ve just run a marathon. I felt dizzy when I stood up. Honestly, I didn’t even have the strength to have a shower and I may have skipped a few days in the first 2 weeks. Some days when I really felt like a shower would do me good, I had to sit on the floor.

I’ve also developed a sore throat and ulcers in my mouth. I have no appetite to eat and I’ve lost over 3kg in the process. I soon discovered that all I lost was muscles, not fat. When I recovered, an everyday functional movement like walking up stairs and carrying heavy grocery bags left me with aching muscles for days.

I’ve also developed rashes all over my hands and legs by the 4th day. The doctor said the rashes were normal and it’s the second stage of dengue. It was itchy and it was hard not to scratch. At this point, my skin had also become terribly dry. Even to this day.

My fever was gone by this stage. But the fatigue, dizziness and loss of appetite continued.

Road to recovery

The thing about dengue virus is that there is no cure for it. A doctor can prescribe medication to control the symptoms but it is really up to each individual body to fight it out. I really shouldn’t have taken it lightly and refused admission to the hospital. When I was recovering at home, I read that a man in his sixties died of dengue.

I went back to the hospital on a daily basis for my blood tests. Luckily for me, my fever lasted 2 days and my platelet didn’t fall too low. My lowest was at 90,000 platelets per microlitre of blood. If a patient platelet drops below 20,0000, her body could go into shock and die.

In a way, I’m glad that I was me and the mosquito didn’t bite my daughters. Their small bodies may not be able to take it and the consequences would have been a lot worse.

One month on…

I feel better now. At least I can carry on my daily routine. Occasionally I’m still hit by bouts of headaches and fatigue – something that I had never experienced before dengue. I read that there are cases where people’s hair fall out months after. I’m not looking forward to that.

My immune system is still very low. I’m currently having a flu that I caught from my daughters. I guess I need more sleep and supplements to bring my body to full recovery.

Prevention goes a long way

So please, I beg you. Do the simple 5 steps to prevent mosquito breeding, you can even skip a couple if you don’t own any plants or have no roof gutter:

1. Turn over water storage containers when not in use
2. Flip the flower pot plates
3. Tip and change water in vases and bowls
4. Cap the bamboo pole holders when not in use
5. Clear your roof gutter and put Bti insecticide

Do it every day and make it a habit. I turn over my pail after every use and it has since become a habit. I don’t even think about it anymore. For added protection, prevent mosquito bites by applying insect repellent regularly and spray insecticide at dark corners of your home to kill adult mosquitoes.

Please. Do it.

Remember, these simple steps could save your life, your family and the community.