Dengue Fever and the recovery
A lot of people have been asking me, how I have been since I have been struck by dengue fever. Well, I was not back at work last week because of complications to my dengue fever.
What do I mean by complications?
It seems that dengue can also affect the brain, the heart or the liver.
According to my doctor, I had the less of the 3 evils, as it affected my liver.
What does that mean?
In simple terms, I made me feel very tired and listless, and I experienced a lack of energy to do the things I normally do.
Medically speaking, before this complication, I wasn’t even sure what the liver did. I just thought of the liver as an organ that was somewhere in my body, and an ingredient that my wife liked to drink in her ZHU ZHA TANG (Pig organ soup).
Well, the problem made me do some research on the net, and here are my findings (Skip this, if you are not into scientific mumbo jumbo)
It seems that humans can only last up to 24 hours without the liver functioning properly. It plays a major role in metabolism and has a number of functions in the body, including glycogen storage, decomposition of red blood cells, plasma protein synthesis, and detoxification.
The doctor told me that I had to eat good food…I went…And that means?
According to my research:
Food that is good for me to eat at this time:
Broccoli,Brown Rice, Carrots, Eggs, Garlic, Spinach, Tomatoes, Wheatgerm, Melonn, pepeers & Mushrooms.
Foods for the General Health of the Liver
Drink lots of water (6–12 cups per day) because it helps the kidneys to get rid of the toxins that the liver has broken down.
Soy Beans & plenty of fresh fruits and lightly cooked vegetables
Foods that can Make the Liver Work Harder
High fat meats like sausage, bacon, salami, hot dogs and high fat dairy products like whole milk, ice cream and cheese, which contain saturated fats.
Other foods to limit that have a lot of saturated fat are french fries and high fat snack foods like potato chips, Doritos and Cheese Doodles.
Limit processed foods like white bread, white rice, cakes, cookies, donuts and candy.
Limit caffeine to 2-3 cups/day.
Eat light meals more frequently. Eating a light evening meal can help to reduce the liver’s work during the healing hours of sleep.
Avoid alcohol. Alcohol is known to be a powerful toxin than can also be stressful to the liver.
My Personal View
During the whole week, I had lots of porridge and skipped my favorite fast foods.
Presently, my enzyme levels are not back to normal yet, while means another blood check next week, but my energy levels have slowly returned.
I suspect, I caught dengue while I was in Taiwan, as I had to visit some camp sites with lots of mosquitos.
So, I guess it explains the tiredness that I felt during Camp Phenomena and why I had to experience the extremely painful Chinese Massage as well.
But PTL! that I am much better, and I have the energy to take on the world again!