Chicken pox treatment and diet

Hi friends..

Welcome to my blog. I am sure this post will definitely help you in fighting with Chickenpox..  :)

Everyone might have heard and feared about Chickenpox. Chickenpox is a highly contagious disease caused by infection with varicella zoster virus (VZV). Its an airborne disease spread easily through coughing or sneezing of ill individuals or through direct contact with secretions from the rash. 

Here are some home remedies for chicken pox that I have personally followed which has helped me to recover from chicken pox.

There are 4 important points that need to be taken care for curing chicken pox effectively.

1. A proper diet.
2. Cleanliness.
3. Thermal bath with neem leaves once the blisters start scabbing. 
4. Cool and ventilated room.

Most importantly we need to follow a well balanced diet to cure it soon. It will also help us to improve our body's immune system.



Now..Let me share my experience and diet for chicken pox treatment.

The fever started on a Friday along with a small pimple on my face. I ignored it thinking its a normal pimple. But Alas!! It was THE CHICKENPOX,  which  the doctor confirmed a couple of days later.

Did you know?

Usually, in Hindu culture, people say that when Goddess Devi (Amman) enters our body we get chicken pox. So chicken pox is also considered as a blessing. As Tuesdays and Fridays are special days for Goddess Devi, people say that we see the first symptoms of chicken pox on those days.

For the first couple of days, we ( my husband and me) had a tough time thinking how to manage, what to eat and what to wear etc. Google too did not help us much because it did not have our traditional Indian diets and recipes to be followed for chickenpox. However all these changed when my mother-in-law came to our home to take care of me :-)


Coming to the diet part..


Basically the diet should be bland and food should be at room temperature.

• Drink atleast 2-3 litres of lukewarm herbal water prepared with Ramacham ( Cuscus grass) or Karingali ( dark catechu). These ingredients have a very  good cooling effect on the body.
• Have rice soup/kanji ( without salt ) daily with plain cut mango pieces to taste.
• A glass of  flat rice(aval/poha/chivda) juice will help building the body's immunity.

Recipe for flat rice juice: Soak flat rice in plain boiled water for 1-2hrs. Then squeeze and bring out the juice of it. You can also add a spoonfull of sugar for taste.

• If you suffer from sore throat, the best home remedy is to have a small glass of onion-mango syrup. 

Recipe for onion-mango syrup: Grind together raw mango along with small onions and a pinch of salt and squeeze out the juice. This preparation will help in curing the sore throat and throat pain.

• Have Tender Coconut water atleast once in a day. 

Cucumbers, bananas, oranges and watermelons have excellent cooling characteristics

• Have lots of fruits and raw vegetables like apple,water melon, green grapes, cucumber, carrot and fresh fruit juices like Banana juice, apple juice and carrot juice. They have excellent cooling effect.  

• We can have rice and low fat curd along with cooked vegetables like carrot, beans, bitter guard/raddish/white melon etc.    PS: Never have oil or spice when you have chickenpox. It will increase the itching sensation.
• Tea drinkers - do not be sad. You can have Tea but not hot. Bring it to room temperature before you consume.
• Raisins are very good for health. You can either consume raisins directly or soak few raisins and squeeze out the juice. A spoon of honey to it will make it more yummy!
• Finger Millet/Ragi malt is rich in calcium.Instead of popping a pill, you can substitute that with ragi malt.

Ragi malt

Recipe for Ragi malt: Take a glass of water, put  a spoon of ragi flour and mix it well. Boil it while stirring continuously  Add sufficient 
sugar and let it cool. This will not just cool your body, but also gives you strength and energy.

• Idli lovers? Cheers..  Have idlis with sugar or with any non spicy curry(without oil) eg. potato stew.

Potato stew recipe : Cook together potato pieces, 1 greenchilly, 1-2 pieces of ginger, curry leaves and salt with little water. Once its cooked, add some milk. Potato stew ready :)

• AVOID food like meat and bread because they are heavy food and the body will not be able to digest them properly.

Eye care:

Coriander seeds / Malli seeds

Chicken pox also causes a form of conjunctivitis in which tiny spots affect inside our eyelids.This will result in formation of a thin transparent layer covering the surface of the inner eyelid and the front of eye.  

Natural home remedy to treat eye infection is using coriander (Malli) seeds. 
Take handful of freshly dried coriander seeds and boil them in water. Strain the liquid with strainer and let it cool. Wash the infected eye with this mixture. This remedy helps to relieve burning as well as decrease the pain and swelling. 

People can even use antibiotic or anti inflammatory eye drops  to relieve the pain and discomfort while they heal.

Body care:

Neem leaves are good for treatment of chickenpox shingles

Keep some neem leaves with you for  a week in your room so that when you  feel like itching, rub the rash using neem leaves gently. PS: Never use your  nails for scratching the blisters.







Bath:

It will take around 10-14 days for the blisters to dry. Until then DO NOT take bath or let the blisters come in contact with water. Once the blisters dry , then you take medicated Thermal Bath.

Now let me tell you about Thermal Bath:

• Boil water with neem leaves on the previous day of your bath. Cool it and use that water for taking bath.
• Do not use soap.. Only use natural home made products like kasturi manjal.
• Apply kasturi manjal/cosmetic manjal all over your body and wash it using neem leaves and neem water.
• Do not use shampoo on the first day itself. Wash your hair with neem water. 
• Do not use soap for atleast the first three days.  After that use a mild soap for the next 4 days.

This is what I followed when i suffered from chickenpox..Also ensure that you eat proper home cooked pure vegetarian food for atleast a month after you get chickenpox. This will ensure that your body recovers well ! Hope this post was useful for you too... Take care and get well soon friends :)


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