Risk of liver damage and kidney failure when using imported herbal medicines of unknown origin

1. When sick, pray to all directions.

Patients always have the mentality of "when sick, pray to all directions" or "when hungry, eat, when in pain, take medicine". With "winged" advertisements and a preference for foreign medicines, many people believe and are even willing to spend a large amount of money to buy and use "100% complete treatment" or "non-toxic to the body, completely from natural herbs"...

In particular, for many people with chronic diseases such as bone and joint diseases, diabetes, high blood pressure, etc., the long-term use of modern medicine (Western medicine) makes patients tired. They often think that oriental medicine is benign and highly effective. Therefore, even without a medical examination, patients rush to "bet" their lives and health on luck, misfortune, and cannot foresee the consequences...

Oriental medicine is a remedy that, if used correctly, with appropriate dosage according to each patient's condition, and is certified by competent authorities, is very effective. However, currently, the market is flooded with smuggled drugs from foreign countries into Vietnam that are advertised as a panacea for all diseases. In particular, there are modern medicines that are disguised as herbal medicines to be sold on the market.

It is not difficult to find people selling herbal medicines to treat bone and joint diseases, from spinal degeneration to osteoporosis, rheumatoid arthritis... Or medicines that have the effect of beautifying the skin, gaining weight and nourishing the body... These medicines all have foreign language labels, so it is difficult to understand the content of the ingredients, the manufacturing unit and the reputation of the product... However, the products are quite popular with many people, especially the elderly, with the mentality of liking "foreign medicines".

2. Consequences of using herbal medicines of unknown origin

Oriental medicine uses medicine according to the principle of "dialectical treatment", which means that depending on the symptoms of the patient, different treatments and prescriptions are used. It is impossible to use one prescription to treat "all diseases" as rumored on the internet.

Therefore, using drugs without permission will lead to many health risks:

2.1. Risk of drug poisoning

Imported oriental medicines of unknown origin are often mixed with ingredients from 20-30 years old western medicines with many side effects, and are even banned now. Therefore, using these medicines can easily lead to poisoning for long-term users.

Typically, people with bone and joint diseases (knee osteoarthritis, lumbar spine degeneration, rheumatoid arthritis, etc.) often tend to use traditional medicine for a long time. Some drugs currently on the market contain anti-inflammatory pain relievers (corticoids), which quickly relieve pain, making many people mistakenly believe that the drug is highly effective.

In fact, corticosteroids are a "double-edged sword", only reducing symptoms but not treating the root cause. Corticosteroids also have many side effects such as water retention, fatigue, diabetes, poor wound healing, muscle atrophy, cataracts, high blood pressure, liver damage, osteoporosis, slow growth...

In addition, traditional medicines also contain heavy metals such as lead, copper, zinc, arsenic, etc. When taking these medicines, they will affect the heart, eyes, liver, kidneys, etc. These poisoning cases require long-term and expensive treatment, and even the toxins accumulated in the body for a long time can cause many very dangerous complications.

In addition to common medicinal herbs, oriental medicinal products can also contain many medicinal ingredients derived from minerals such as arsenic, mercury, etc. If prepared incorrectly or used indiscriminately, they can be toxic.

2.2. Risk of liver failure, kidney failure

With the concept that oriental medicine is made from herbs, patients tend to use the medicine for a long time without the control of a doctor, leading to drug dependence, drug addiction, damage to the liver, kidneys and other organs.

More dangerous are smuggled drugs, floating on the market, when used, causing harm slowly, not easy to detect, by the time it is detected, liver and kidney function have already decreased to a severe level, even cirrhosis or kidney failure requiring dialysis.

2.3. Harmful to children

Many people, when seeing their children sick and weak, buy imported herbal medicines to help their children improve their health. However, children are particularly sensitive and need to consider carefully before using any medicine or dietary supplement. Because the functions of children's organs are not yet complete, the absorption, metabolism and excretion processes are worse, so the toxicity of drugs for children is often more obvious and serious.

If you use medicine for children arbitrarily, without knowing the origin or ingredients, based on advice or from non-professionals, it will not only not bring health benefits but also harm the child and the child's future development.

Therefore, people need to be alert when choosing a treatment method, be vigilant and stay away from word of mouth or advertising images of imported drugs on social networks and the internet.

At the same time, it is necessary to be aware that drugs, whether modern or traditional, cannot be used arbitrarily, without a doctor's prescription, and traditional medicine is not benign and has few side effects.

You should visit and receive treatment at traditional medicine hospitals or hospitals with traditional medicine departments when you need to use herbal medicine.

Imported herbal medicines or functional foods must have a full origin with basic criteria such as: Name and address of the manufacturer; licensed by the Department of Traditional Medicine Management, Ministry of Health; full expiry date; ingredients of the medicine, clear content of each ingredient; uses of each ingredient, uses of the medicine; indications and contraindications; usage; dosage; precautions when using; side effects of the medicine; medicine storage...