You know when you’ve been Dengued. Or do you’

After spending two weeks in the south of Thailand, I caught an over night bus from Sarat Thani back to Bangkok. That morning, to my surprise I managed to reschedule my flight due out the following day to Australia. Delighted that I had extended my stay in Thailand I went out that night and celebrated.

After sleeping for four hours, I woke with a rumbling stomach. I tried to ignore it. Dozing in and out of consciousness, my bowels decided that I needed to perch on the toilet. In Thailand, this seemed hardly unusual and I was not alarmed until daylight appeared: I realized I had been decorating the toilet at least ten times in three hours. Was I glad not to be on that fourteen-hour flight to Australia!

I had a persistent headache throughout the day and I noticed a pain in my lower back had become worse. That afternoon I went to the cinema. While seated the pain in my back spread down into my legs. Constantly fidgeting, I struggled to concentrate on the movie. The walk back to the house was exhausting so I went straight to bed.

OK so every one has been ill or felt pain at some point in life. Independent self-diagnosis of symptoms overrides concern about our well being and we often think nothing of it. Let’s look at the symptoms:

Diarrhoea – Is that not compulsory when travelling abroad?

Back pain – My backpack, one week sleeping in a wooden hut and then the overnight bus …..

Fever – What fever? It was the beginning of May – 40 degrees centigrade plus – Thailand's hottest time of year. The rainy season was building up and the air was extremely close.

Headache – Not much sleep recently, possible dehydration from the heat and, … erm …. hangover.

Leg ache – Did I drink any cheap Thai whiskey last night?

The next morning, I was no better. Noi, my host, took me to the doctor. Once inside the hospital, the nurse routinely took my blood pressure before seeing the doctor. I recounted my symptoms and he suggested I have a blood test. OK, so I hate needles! It’s not so much that I hate injections – they just jab into you and then that is it over and done. No, it’s the searching for a suitable vein first (can understand that, Beetle!).

The nurse hunted up and down my arms and around my hands for ages. Hurry up, I thought. I started to hyperventilate. Failing on the first vein, the nurse got some blood on the second. Then another needle appeared with a clear bag of liquid attached to it. I became nervous again. “What's it for?” I asked Noi. 'It is to make you strong” she said. “OK but what is it?” I asked. “Water. Don’t worry. It is OK” Noi tried to reassure me. “I will come back in six hours when it is finished.”

Six hours! Now lets slow down a minute. If I go to the doctor back home, I do not get put on a drip of water for six hours. Promising to drink plenty of mineral water, and with a recommendation to return in three days, I left the hospital.

Two days passed and I still felt unwell. I decided to have a flick through my travel health book. OK, what am I looking for here? I started with back pain. Sprains. Slipped discs… other types of back pain: Dengue Fever. What is that, I had never heard of it before. I read the symptoms. Hang on a minute – back pain yep, fever yep, diarrhoea yep, banging headaches yep. Oh no! Please don't tell me, I have this …… wait for it … tropical disease!

I realised it was quite possible. The white-backed mosquito carries Dengue Fever and outbreaks are particularly common in South East Asia – where I had been. They generally bite in the daytime. On reflection, I had fallen asleep in my hut one afternoon and woke up to find a circle of mosquito bites on my left leg.

I read on: although the symptoms are similar to that of Malaria, I discovered there is nothing you can do to prevent catching it, except slap on lots of insect repellent. A vaccine is still in the process of being developed. The good news is that you cannot catch it from another person. The bad news is that it is serious. There are four different strains of Dengue fever. Catching one kind only gives immunity to that strain. There is also the far more serious Dengue Haemorrhagic Fever, which causes the sufferer to bleed to death without immediate medical attention. This usually only occurs in children under fifteen.

Gulp…what if I am infected, am I going to die or be permanently affected by it?

It was now day three and I was feeling worse than ever. For the first time in my life, when a doctor has told me to return, I had to obey.

In part 2, Ingrid tells us of her stay in a Thai hospital, visits from ants and priests and how she recovered!

If you would like to contact Ingrid, who is currently in Chile, you can e-mail her on:gr.ing.a.rid@latinmail.com