How Diet can Help You during Chicken Pox

Chicken pox is a viral infection that is caused by the varicella zoster virus or human herpes virus. 

3. AS is the case with all other viral infections, chicken pox can not be treated with anti bacterial medications. Instead of such treatment therapies need to be adopted to treat and relieve the symptoms of infection, while the body’s natural defenses; the immune system works at the eradication of the virus. Your diet is therefore one of the most important aspects of chicken pox treatment, as the appropriate diet can health strengthen and boost your immune system.  In some viral infections, anti viral drugs are also prescribed, and this holds true in the case of chicken pox as well. Keep in mind however that both aspects of your treatment are equally important and can not be completely successful independent of each other.  It would therefore be wise to adopt certain dietary changes in conjunction with the prescribed medical treatment.

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Before moving onto the recommended diet and self care practices it would to well to keep yourself informed about the nature of the disease. It is highly contagious and particularly common during childhood. Infants under six months however, seem to have some level of immunity.  Most people prefer that their children endure an infection during their childhood as recovery is much more successful during childhood and immunizes the child against a future infection. On the other hand an infection can result in complications in an adult.

Here are the dietary recommendations for a chicken pox patient:

• Fruit and vegetable juices are recommended at the inception of treatment.  Lemon juice is particularly helpful.
• A daily warm water enema can help cleanse the bowels.
• With improvements in health, the diet can be switched to all fruits for another 2 to 3 days.
• Within this time the patient should begin to show improvement, and may begin to gradually resume a normal and well balanced diet. The emphasis should however remain on fresh fruits and raw veggies.
• One food that is particularly beneficial is a ‘carrot and coriander’ soup. After boiling the tow ingredients in water, discard the residue and consume the soup at least once daily.
• Herbal teas that have mild sedative properties can also help with the treatment. Basil, lemon balm, and marigold are just a few examples.

Apart from the above mentioned dietary recommendations, make it a point to never scratch at the blisters no matter how itchy. To relieve the itching use either margosa or mint leaves to brush the area that is the source of irritation. Calamine lotion can also help provide relief.