Recommendations when treating dengue at home

The article is professionally consulted by MSc Nguyen Thi Ngoc - General Doctor, General Health Examination Unit, Vinmec Central Park International General Hospital.

Dengue fever manifests with high fever and accompanied by symptoms such as chills, goosebumps. When treating dengue at home, patients need to follow the doctor's instructions, absolutely do not increase the dose of antipyretic drugs because it can make the disease worse.

1. Do not arbitrarily use antipyretic drugs Because it is not known exactly what disease the fever is caused by, it is not allowed to arbitrarily use antipyretic drugs, especially aspirin and ibuprofen. These two drugs will worsen the bleeding in the patient, potentially leading to severe, life-threatening stomach bleeding. Instead, you can reduce fever by having the patient wear thin clothes, rest in a cool place, apply a towel soaked in warm water, squeeze out, and apply it to the patient's forehead and armpit. If you have to take medicine, you should only use fever-reducing medicine as prescribed by your doctor and absolutely do not shave.
2. Do not eat black, brown, red foods During the illness, if the patient eats brown, black or red foods, it will be difficult to distinguish them from bloody stools when they are discharged. blood in the gastrointestinal tract. Or in case the patient vomits a dark, unusually gray, dark-colored fluid, it is difficult to distinguish whether it is due to the color of the food or due to gastrointestinal bleeding.
3. Do not eat eggs while treating dengue at home Eggs will create a large amount of heat in the patient's body. Therefore, people with high fever, especially children, when eating eggs, their body temperature will rise and cannot be spread out, making the fever last longer. Therefore, eating eggs is a taboo to avoid when having dengue fever.
4. Don't eat greasy foods Too much fat will cause symptoms such as bloating, indigestion, making the patient's body slower to recover.

5. Don't let mosquitoes come into contact with the skin The cause of dengue fever is the mosquito that transmits the disease, so don't let mosquitoes come into contact with your skin, because of the possibility that mosquitoes will bite and transmit an extra amount of virus. disease, not only makes the condition worse, but also has the risk of infecting those around.
6. Don't drink tea when treating dengue at home Drinking too much solid tea will make the brain go into an excited state and lead to increased blood pressure. Patients who are being treated for dengue at home, but drinking solid tea will reduce the effect of antipyretic drugs. In addition, tea also contains a number of substances that can increase body temperature, thereby making dengue fever worse.
7. Do not drink coffee, smoke, drink caffeine and stimulants in general will make the body become more tired and not be able to resist the symptoms of dengue fever.
8. Do not drink soft drinks, carbonated water Patients while treating dengue at home should not use soft drinks, carbonated water, honey and other natural sugars. Because the absorption of sugar into the patient's body will make the activity of the bacteria-killing white blood cells slower and so the disease will take longer to heal.

9. Don't eat hot and spicy food When you're sick, your body's resistance is significantly reduced and your energy is also lost a lot. Eating hot spicy foods not only affects general health but also makes the disease worse and the recovery time longer.
10. Do not go to the wind, take a cold shower. The patient should rest at home, should not go to the wind, do not take a cold shower, should only clean the body by wiping the body with warm water. The reason is because cold water has the ability to constrict blood vessels on the skin but dilate the vessels inside the internal organs, a condition that can lead to sudden death.
Notes on how to treat dengue at home

For the treatment of dengue at home, the patient should absolutely follow the doctor's instructions in the use of the drug, to avoid overdosing on fever-reducing drugs. Because dengue patients often present with high fever, family members always seek to treat dengue fever by reducing fever quickly, especially for young children. However, this fever is caused by a virus, so the temperature after lowering will continue to rise.
Patients should take fever reducers according to the dose indicated in the doctor's prescription, usually 4-5 times / day, 5-6 hours / time. Repeated use of an overdose of antipyretics will lead to liver damage, including rectal antipyretics for children.
Up to now, there is no scientific basis to prove that when dengue fever patients abstain from bathing and fasting, they will recover from the disease. Therefore, patients should not fast or take a bath, but should clean themselves by wiping with moist water, adding enough nutrients, children should eat soft, liquid, easy to digest food, drink a lot. water for rehydration.
Especially with the problem of rehydration, absolutely do not arbitrarily give fluids at home when you have dengue fever because there is a risk of edema, respiratory failure, allergic shock, life-threatening. In addition, many people buy antibiotics every time they see a fever, but for viral fever such as dengue fever, antibiotics will not cure the disease.
In summary, in the first few days after being diagnosed with dengue fever, home treatment for dengue patients only includes taking antipyretic drugs, oral rehydration, or oral rehydration with oresol. or if there is an infusion, it is necessary to have a prescription from the treating doctor.
Pediatrics department at Vinmec International General Hospital is the address for receiving and examining diseases that infants and young children are susceptible to: viral fever, bacterial fever, otitis media, pneumonia in children, .... With modern equipment, sterile space, minimizing the impact as well as the risk of disease spread. Along with that is the dedication from the doctors with professional experience with pediatric patients, making the examination no longer a concern of the parents.