Dengue [break-bone fever], as WHO explains, is a viral infection that spreads from mosquitoes to people. It is more common in tropical and subtropical climates. Most people who get dengue will not have symptoms. But, for those who do, the most common symptoms are high fever, headache, body aches, nausea, and rash. Most will get better in 1–2 weeks. Some people develop severe dengue and need care in a hospital. In severe cases, dengue can be fatal. You can lower your risk of dengue by avoiding mosquito bites especially during the day. Dengue is treated with pain medicine as there is no specific treatment currently.
Severe dengue may present with the following symptoms —
- Persistent vomiting
- Severe abdominal pain
- Fluid accumulation
- Mucosal bleeding
- Difficulty in breathing
- Restlessness
- Postural hypotension
- Hepatomegaly [abnormal enlargement of the liver]
- Progressive increase in haematocrit [the ratio of the volume of red blood cells to the total volume of blood].
My daughter, Nastassia, who was down with dengue, had most of the above symptoms, including hepatomegaly. The remedies we gave to Nastassia in this phase were Phosphorous 1M, Phosphoric acid 1M and Aconitum napellus 30C. Phosphorus is a haemorrhagic remedy, and Phosphoric acid is the burnt out state of Phosphorus. I used these remedies to try to control the blood loss and to help with the severe dehydration. Aconite was given when Nastassia went into a frantic, anxious and desperate state with fear that she was going to die.
Nastassia did have persistent vomiting on day 3 and 4, but she only vomited mucous. An ultrasound showed us that the fluid accumulation did not affect the heart and lungs. There was some fluid accumulation around the liver and spleen, which were both enlarged.
Nastassia did experience restlessness. She was unable to get comfortable, and tossed and turned in the bed. Any part of the body that made contact with the bed would be in pain. Most of the pain was in the ankles, knees, hips, shoulders and upper and lower back.
The Critical Phase
“This phase begins after defervescence and typically lasts 24-48 hours. Most patients clinically improve during this phase, however patients with considerable plasma leakage can develop Severe Dengue within a few hours. In such patients, fever starts to reappear. This pattern is called saddleback fever. Increased vascular permeability is the cause of extensive plasma leakage in these patients. Due to the plasma leakage blood volume starts to drop; this ultimately results in hypovolemic shock [Hypovolemic shock is an emergency condition in which severe blood, or other fluid loss makes the heart unable to pump enough blood to the body. This type of shock can cause many organs to stop working]. Due to the plasma leakage, patients may have conditions like pleural effusion, or ascites [the accumulation of fluid in the peritoneal cavity, causing abdominal swelling]. Due to the reduced blood volume the patient may have hypotension [abnormally low blood pressure], tachycardia [abnormally rapid heart rate], tachypnoea [abnormally rapid breathing], reduced level of consciousness, haematemesis, [vomiting of blood], gastrointestinal bleeding, and haematuria [presence of blood in the urine]. The latter symptoms contribute to reduced blood volume. All of this can lead to hypovolemic shock.”
Uncommon Manifestations Of Severe Dengue Include —
- Hepatitis
- Myocarditis
- Pancreatitis
- Encephalitis.
Nastassia may have had encephalitis, as this can be a cause for the hallucinations, which she experienced from day 6, through to day 7.
The Convalescent/Recovery Phase
- During this phase, the blood volume tends to stabilise by reabsorbing extravasated fluids into the blood stream
- Haemodynamic status stabiliaes [of, or, relating to the flow of blood within the organs and tissues of the body]
- Haematocrit stabilises, or may fall
- White blood cell [WBC] count starts to rise
- Increase in the platelet count.
In the convalescent phase, Nastassia’s body reaffirmed Dr Constantine Hering’s Law of Cure. Everything proceeded as Dr Hering predicted it would as the patient improved in health.
On Day 6, Nastassia began to relive every symptom she had experienced from the moment she first got dengue, beginning with the pains in the feet, the body pains, the hot and cold sensations, and the fever with icy coldness and vomiting. All the while, Nastassia was experiencing hallucinations. She was unable to sleep due to the hallucinations and pain. She did a complete retracing of all of her symptoms in one day. Nastassia says that this was the hardest day of her illness.
In the final stage of the disease, Nastassia broke out in an itchy rash that covered her entire body. She was told by her doctor not to scratch, because this could lead to a staph infection. Nastassia was extremely frantic in this stage. She was on antihistamines to try to control the itch, and make her a little more comfortable. I raised her to Aconite 200C at this point, because of the panic and frantic state she was in, along with the fear of death. We continued with room doses of Phosphorus 1M. Nastassia was told by her doctor that she would need to be on antihistamines for an entire month, but she only remained on them for three days.Nastassia’s platelet count was at 25,000 when she was first tested in the clinic in Santa Teresa on day 5 of her illness. It dropped down to 9,000 on day 6 when she was tested in the hospital in San Jose. Due to the extremely low platelet count Nastassia was given a transfusion of platelets, which ordinarily raises the level by 5,000 platelets, yet the next morning Nastassia’s platelet count went up to 26,000. The doctor commented that this means that she was improving on her own beyond the assistance provided by the platelet transfusion. On day 8. the platelet count rose to 44,000; on day 9, it went up to 66,000; on day 10, Nastassia’s platelet count reached 104,000 at which point she met the criteria for being able to check out of the hospital. The normal platelet level is 150,000.
That’s the subtle healing effects of homeopathy, when the right remedy is prescribed [To read the full article: https://homeopathyforhealth.net/2023/07/31/dengue/].
