Health and illness are part of life. When one comes, the other goes and both change positions very often in one’s life. Even though there are numerous measures to stay healthy and avoid illnesses (which all of us should definitely be following), neglecting only a single measure on just one occasion can sometimes result in prolonged illness.

A other factors that can prolong an illness are not consulting an expert and resting immediately when the very first signs of an ailment starts to appear. Many people, particularly the otherwise healthy youth, question the need to take rest in case of an illness. They are probably unaware that not taking adequate rest only prolongs an illness, and it can also worsen the symptoms, leading to something way graver. This was what happened to me a few months ago.

My illness had been an outcome of the factors I have mentioned in the beginning — compromising on one of the measures to stay healthy, and not taking rest when the signs of the ailment first appeared. In the following paragraphs, I’m mentioning an account of the suffering I had to endure for making the afore-mentioned mistakes, so that readers may learn the lesson of not repeating the mistake I made.

On the second day of Eid, I had lunch at an eatery with some friends. On the same day, just a few hours after having lunch, I started to feel under the weather. So, here is the first lesson: always try to eat homemade and thoroughly cooked food, and avoid dinning outside as much as possible.

That day, I did not bother the least about my sickness and thought of it as a minor headache that would resolve itself in a matter of hours. The night passed, and I felt mild fever throughout the night. However, the very next morning, I was ready for exercise!

I have a routine of exercising daily and I did not want to miss out a single day. Little did I know back then that exercising while being ill would land me in bed, not being able to exercise for the following three weeks! After exercising, I followed my usual routine, despite the fact that I was unwell. In the evening, I also went to play cricket despite having mild fever!

The corollary of my activities that day was that my headache grew more intense the next day, and my body temperature also rose. However, I still did not learn a lesson and again went to the gym for exercise. This was when my situation started to worsen, leaving me unable to do a lot of my routine activities for some time. As soon as I felt better, I again started the usual activities, some involving physical exertion as well.

In the afternoon, I had high grade fever, which rendered me unable to do anything other than lying in the bed. That day, I was unable to go to play cricket. I passed the night with fever, and though I wanted to exercise the next day, I couldn’t.

In the night, I had intense shivering, followed by high grade fever. My fever persisted throughout the day as well, reaching its peak in the afternoon. With fever, I had severe headache and body ache. In simple words, I was unable to do anything at all, other than lying in the bed helplessly!

Seeing my condition, my parents were alarmed and I started having regular consultations with doctors. I was prescribed oral antibiotics, followed by an anti-malarial, but to no avail. Throughout this time, I was registering a body temperature ranging from 102 to 104 degrees Fahrenheit!

Finally, a learned doctor, after observing my symptoms and reports, came to the conclusion that I was suffering from typhoid. He told us that my situation had worsened, and now oral antibiotics would be of no avail.

I was prescribed IV injections in the form of drips, and I had to complete a ten-day course of them. After that, I completed a five-day course of oral antibiotics. Along with the injections, I had to take vitamin tablets (at least for a month) and painkillers. I was also recommended dietary restraint and complete bedrest.

The treatment itself was very painful. A cannula for the IV injections was inserted in my arm thrice during the 10 days’ course. Inserting and taking it out caused me immense pain. Furthermore, the cannula remained in a vein in my arm throughout the ten days, leaving me with continuous pain and the inability to move that arm much. Such a long bedrest felt as if I had been cut off from the world outside. According to my estimate, I must have taken around 100 different tablets during the course of my illness which, in turn, took a significant toll on the working of my digestive system!

Even after completing the course of all the antibiotics prescribed to me, weakness persisted. Complete recovery took many more days.

In a nutshell, just a small negligence from my side, of dinning outside and then not taking care of my sickness (which was mild at that time and could have resolved in just a couple of days with medication and bedrest) left me extremely ill and unable to do anything for almost three weeks. And those three weeks were full of pain and suffering.

In case, due to any unfortunate happening, if any of you falls ill, remember to always tell the full extent of your illness to your parents. Take expert help timely, have all the medication prescribed and rest well. Health should be our top most priority; it should not be compromised.

Published in Dawn, Young World, October 22nd, 2022