When You Get Sick

Getting sick is normal. Every child in Pakistan gets fever, cough, loose motions, or headache many times before they turn fifteen. The question is not whether you will fall sick. The question is what your family does next. In our culture, sometimes the first call is to a hakim, a dam, or an aunty in the gali who has a recipe. For small things like a runny nose, that is fine. But for some illnesses, every hour matters, and only a doctor with proper training can save the situation. This lesson is about telling the difference.

Dengue specifically deserves its own list. Dengue fever lives in city mosquitoes in Karachi, Lahore, Rawalpindi, and Peshawar, and the season is roughly August to November. Dengue starts as a normal high fever with body ache, but the dangerous moment is on day three to seven, sometimes after the fever has gone down. Watch for these signs: severe stomach pain, repeated vomiting, bleeding from gums or nose, blood spots under the skin, very tired, very cold hands and feet. Any of these and you go straight to a hospital that has a dengue ward. Do not wait. Do not try home remedies. Dengue gets serious fast and gets unserious fast with proper drips.

What about hakim, dam, and home remedies. Honest answer: chicken yakhni is good for you. A teaspoon of honey for a sore throat after age one is fine. Resting and drinking water is always smart. But a dam or a taveez or a herbal mixture is not a treatment for a 39 degree fever, dengue, severe diarrhea, or trouble breathing. There is no shame in those traditions, but they were built before we had antibiotics, oral rehydration salts, and dengue drips. Use them for comfort, not for cure. The doctor is the cure. The hakim is not the doctor.