TRAVEL|MOSQUITOES

My Frustration With Mosquitoes As They Kissed Me And Paralyzed Me

I fell sick due to mosquitoes during my vacation

Mosquitoes love me and suck my blood

Mosquitoes bite me all the time. You will see my forehead red or my cheeks full of mosquito bites as it sucks my blood. Often people say that if you are of the blood group of O+ they are bound to find you attractive. I do not know if this is true or just a fallacy or a myth.

In my home, mosquitoes steer clear of my husband and only suck my blood. His blood group is B+ and he boasts the mosquitoes do not go near him.

For days my face is red with mosquitoes troubling me. They find me anywhere. While sleeping, standing, sitting, washing my face, mosquitoes give me a quick kiss. It hurts and it is painful. Judging by its size I feel helpless and silly that they can overpower me.

Let me tell you the tale of sorrow with the mosquitoes.

My vacation to Jaipur

I went several times to the beautiful pink city named Jaipur. I traveled during different times with friends, cousins, family members, children, students, and with my husband. Every experience was different. I have many tales to tell of my Jaipur visits.

This specific trip that I am mentioning was when I went for a short vacation with my husband.

A friend suggested to us that we should stay at one of the mini palaces of the maharaja.

Several small palaces in Jaipur have been converted into hotels and even smaller ones into motels. This hotel in reference was called ‘Arya Niwas’.

When we entered the hotel we found that it was full of people. Most of the visitors were foreigners. The visitors were from different parts of Europe and there were a few from the USA. It was a favorite hotel for people from foreign countries.

I also found out that this hotel served only vegetarian food in the dining room and there was no room service. At the large dining hall, there was self-service. So all those who plan to give their stomach a non-vegetarian holiday can fit in this hotel.

The food was simple, clean, and very tasty. I found that the foreigners loved the place. In the morning they sat on the lawns and the cool breeze was beautiful.

The walls were adorned and there were little windows for princesses and queens to look outside from their rooms like the picture below.

Shopping and fun

There is so much to shop around in Jaipur. They have beautiful block-printed cotton fabric as well as readymades for men and women. You can also place an order and get things ready in a day. The place is famous for bedcovers, bed sheets, and handmade shoes.

Jaipur is known for its amazing artifacts and paintings. To top it all it has breathtaking jewels that steal the heart of so many people.

You can just go on shopping in the meandering small lanes. Hidden inside those lanes are huge shops covering many floors.

I did a lot of shopping and then came back to the hotel. I had my evening tea on the lawn with my foreign friends that I had met at the hotel and we did some shopping in the hotel shop too.

Then I went to change and be ready for some friends who I had invited for dinner to the hotel.

Dinner and mosquitoes

The young couple came at 8.30 PM. We were at the dining room to receive them. They looked around and said that many new places had come up in Jaipur, but these old buildings renovated and updated with the basic structure intact had their own charm.

While we were talking I was uncomfortable and asked my husband and the two guests to change the table where we were sitting three times. No one else was uncomfortable. Neither the couple nor my husband and were wondering what happened to me. I told them that mosquitoes were troubling me.

I was embarrassed and also frustrated that mosquitoes were whizzing past me and first I could feel a light bite and then I went into a trance. I could not get up. Everyone asked me what happened but I did not say anything.

Since there was self-service, I got up and brought the snacks on some plates. I could not pick up the plate. I tried hard and the plate almost slipped from my hand. With great difficulty, I lifted the plate that was actually very light and did not need any help but something had indeed gone wrong with me. Then I felt as though I was stuck in a place and could not move. I slowly limpingly brought the food to the table.

The young couple were very well-mannered and helped me to bring the rest of the food to the table. We chatted pleasantly but all the time I felt sick and as though I was ready to throw up all the food.

I have strong willpower and managed somehow to pass the evening. After they left I headed for my room. The staff and my husband had to help me to the room. I could not move. My body was completely stiff. The hotel staff felt that my arm was very warm and took my temperature. My forehead was burning. I had 102 degrees temperature whereas 98.4 was the normal temperature.

I passed the night in quite a delirious state with pain and stiffness in my body. The next morning we were booked by bus to come back to Delhi. It was the most uncomfortable for me to travel but somehow I managed and we reached home in the evening.

Back home in Delhi

It was a sigh of relief and my husband called the doctor and asked him if an SOS medicine could be administered to me till we could go to the clinic. The doctor prescribed some pain killers and fever medicine. After three days the fever went down and I decided to go to work and I did too.

I could not stand, walk, raise my arm and I was in a horrible condition. I broke out into urticaria. My whole face and body were covered with red rashes. My husband took me to a skin specialist in one of the big hospitals in New Delhi.

One look at me and the doctor said that I was down with chikungunya the dreaded mosquito disease that became a epidemic in Delhi that year. For three months all my joints hurt. No medicines worked. If I raised my hand it would stay there. I was immobile. The doctor suggested physiotherapy but even that did not work.

No massage, medicine homeopathy, allopathy, or ayurvedic treatment helped me.

Just to let the readers know Chikungunya does not cause death but causes paralytic conditions due to swelling of the joints with a lot of pain. Till today there is no medicine for this disease. It is spread by the bite of an infected mosquito as stated by the Centre for Prevention disease and Control.

According to WHO “Chikungunia virus was first identified in Tanzania in 1952 and for the following, ~50 years was isolated and caused occasional outbreaks in Africa and Asia. Since 2004, chikungunya has spread rapidly and been identified in over 60 countries throughout Asia, Africa, Europe, and the Americas”.

Learning from this incident

#1. Never travel or go anywhere out of your house without mosquito repellent protection.

#2. Be very careful to disinfect your house every day as a small mosquito causes a lot of problems. Even though a patient suffering from Chickungunia is supposed to be alright after a week. Do not accept it as people recover between 3–12 months.

#3. The movement of the body is a big problem because the joints get swollen up.

#4. Keep a safe distance from mosquitos. They are carriers of viruses like yellow fever, filariasis, tularemia, dirofilariasis, Japanese encephalitis,

To conclude

Do not underestimate the power of mosquitoes. They are small but vicious and their kiss is not a pleasure.

They can give you several illnesses like malaria, dengue and chikunguniya. Protect yourself by using a spray, roll on or sticker to be safe from them.

Never travel without protecting yourself or your frustration will be like mine.

I was paralyzed, in great pain and sick for 6 months and work life was a problem.

Yoga and strong will to get well brought me back to life.

©Dr. Preeti Singh, 2021.