Tawa Tawa Tea for Dengue

I'm happy to report that my hubby has now been discharged from the hospital and is now home!  Yay! :-)  He still isn't 100% dengue-free, but he's well on his way to a full recovery.  We were given the green light to go home by his hematologist, my wonderful and uber talented aunt, since his platelet count has been steadily increasing since the other night.

His dengue fever had me feeling helpless because all we could really do was to have him confined so that the hospital staff could monitor his condition.  He was on an IV drip and they were doing blood tests every 4-6 hours.  Aside from that, Yuri was just supposed to weather it out and hope for the best.  Things were starting to look bleak when my aunt told us that she had reserved two bags of blood from the Blood Bank in the event that a blood transfusion was needed.

When the word spread that Yuri had been diagnosed with dengue, we got texts from friends telling us about this tawa tawa herb.  I was getting desperate since Yuri's platelet count was going down rapidly.  His lowest count was 38 (machine count), but my aunt did a manual count and said it was 90.  Thank God for my aunt!  Still, that was pretty low so I decided to investigate more on this tawa tawa tea.  Somehow, I ended up talking to Rose Uy, a very sweet and generous lady who gave me a lot of helpful advice about tawa tawa.  She helped me look for tawa tawa too, but luckily I managed to find some on my own.  I promised her that I would pay it forward.  I thought sharing it here would be the best way to do it.  

Tawa- Tawa (Euphorbia hirta) Tea

Tawa Tawa (Euphorbia hirta)

     Ingredients:

• 5-6 whole tawa tawa plants (including roots)
• water (about 20 cups)

     Procedure:

1. Rinse the tawa tawa at least 3 times to make sure all dirt and soil is completely washed off.
2. Boil water in a pot.
3. Once boiling, place tawa tawa inside the pot, and continue to boil (rolling boil) for 20 minutes.
4. Once done, turn off the heat, remove tawa tawa, and strain into a thermos.  

I was told that it was best to have the patient drink it lukewarm.  Also, you may vary the amount of water you use to boil the tawa tawa in.  The less water you use the more potent and bitter it will be.  I tasted the batch I made and it was actually pretty tasty.  The taste is really similar to tea just a tad grassier.  I read that others mix in honey into the tea to make it more drinkable.  I had Yuri drink it pure.  We were told to make sure he drank 5 cups of tawa tawa immediately given his low platelet count.  You're only supposed to drink 1-1.5 glasses every hour for 2 to 3 days.

All I know is that 24 hours after he started drinking tawa tawa tea, his platelet count slowly started increasing and the same went for the his PT blood test (evaluates ability to clot) which is EQUALLY important when you have dengue.

Even if there are hundreds of testimonials regarding tawa tawa tea and it's ability to cure dengue, I would still suggest going to your doctor first and maybe taking tawa tawa tea together with the prescribed medicine.  Tawa tawa tea alone is not enough to cure dengue when it's in the critical stages!  Yuri's dengue was detected early so we were really lucky.

Tawa tawa was surprisingly easy to find.  One of our staff members found some growing outside the walls of our house.  Apparently she has been using tawa tawa leaves for healing minor cuts and bruises since she was a kid.  Who would've thought that this inexpensive weed-like plant would have all these healing properties.

During this scary episode, we've been bombarded with all sorts of advice from our relatives, friends, and doctors on how to fight dengue.  I'd like to share the most helpful ones here just in case you or someone you know gets diagnosed with dengue.

• Drinks lots and lots of liquid.  Hydration is key during this time.  Gatorade is a good supplement, but stick to the light-colored ones.  Hydrite (oral rehydration salts) is better for your body though even if it tastes icky since it's esentially like Gatorade but without the sugar.
• Abstain from eating red meat since this can distort the platelet count.
• Blood samples for your blood tests (CBC) should be taken from your anticubital area (the opposite side of your elbow) and not from your fingertips since that gives a more accurate reading of your platelet count.
• Look out for any signs of bleeding (gums, nose, internal bleeding which usually manifests through any sort of unusual stomach pain) and rashes.  Things can get pretty severe once bleeding starts.
• Lastly, drink tawa tawa tea, together with all your prescribed medication from your doctor, for 2-3 days to boost the healing process.

Mosquitoes carrying the dengue virus bite during the day.  There are currently four strains of the dengue virus.  This means that can get dengue up to four times!  Yikes.

Also, contrary to popular belief, dengue is now a year round threat.  It's important to be constantly protected.  The easiest way would be to use mosquito repellent lotions.  Planting insect-repelling plants/trees in your garden like Neem wouldn't hurt too.  We're He's planning on buying some and planting them around the house as soon as Yuri's well enough to do it.  Harhar.  I'm pretty useless when it comes to gardening.

My aunt gave us this all-natural insect repellent called B Gone.  It has Andiroba and Neem extracts to ward off bugs causing dengue and malaria.  We're a bit paranoid now after this.

Well, that's the end of my dengue crash course!  I'll be going back to writing about food after this (promise!).  I just had to spread the word about dengue since it is fatal and it did scare the crap out of me!  I've learned so much about it since then.

Remember, prevention is key! :-)



P.S. If anyone needs tawa tawa just let me know.  Apparently we have lots in our village I'd be glad to help.  :-)