Hospitalized for drinking pennywort juice instead of water

Ms. Thu went to the market to buy a lot of pennywort to make a smoothie, and drank it every day instead of water. However, on the 4th day, she started to feel uncomfortable, her stomach was bloated and she had diarrhea.

Cooling with pennywort

Ms. Nguyen Thi Thu, residing in Hoang Dao Thuy, Hanoi, had to be rushed to the Construction Hospital due to poisoning. Ms. Thu said that during the hot days, she lost her appetite, felt tired, and had many pimples on her skin, so Ms. Thu cooled herself down with pennywort juice.

Ms. Thu went to the market to buy a lot of pennywort to make a smoothie, and drank it every day instead of water. However, on the 4th day, she started to feel uncomfortable, her stomach was bloated, and she had diarrhea. She bought more anti-diarrhea medicine to take, but it didn't help. On the 2nd day, her dehydration got worse, and she had to go to the emergency room to get electrolytes replaced.

At this time, Ms. Thu told the doctor about drinking pennywort juice to cool down. The doctor said that this way of cooling down is dangerous because not everyone can use pennywort juice.

Ms. Quynh Nga, residing in Hang Bot, Dong Da, Hanoi, is similar. Due to the hot weather, Ms. Nga turned to pennywort juice because she thought pennywort was safe and easy to grow. Her house can grow pennywort on the rooftop, so every day she blends it into a smoothie to cool her liver and detoxify.

After two or three days, Ms. Nga fell into a state of fatigue and dizziness. At night, when she was about to go to bed, she felt her limbs go limp and collapsed on the bathroom floor. Her family took her to Xanh Pon Hospital for emergency treatment. The doctor said that her blood pressure had dropped too quickly. At this time, Ms. Nga remembered that she had a history of low blood pressure and was very sensitive to pennywort.

Who should not drink pennywort?

In Oriental medicine, pennywort is also called Tich Tuyet Thao or Lien Tien Thao. Pennywort has a bitter, slightly sweet and cool taste. The vegetable has a neutral nature, so our grandparents often remind their children and grandchildren, "When you're hungry, eat pennywort, don't eat too much or you'll die."

Normally, eating pennywort will have the effect of nourishing yin, clearing heat, moistening the liver, detoxifying, and diuretic. Pennywort is also often used as a tonic, antiseptic, to treat hemoptysis, diarrhea, vaginal discharge, leucorrhea, acne, prickly heat, and female weakness.

Because of its cold nature, people with cold stomachs should not eat pennywort. If you want to eat it, you should only eat a few leaves or use it with a few slices of raw ginger. Pregnant and breastfeeding women should avoid using it.

People with low blood pressure should absolutely not use it because pennywort is known to stabilize blood pressure for people with high blood pressure. If people with low blood pressure use pennywort, it can cause a sudden drop in blood pressure, affecting their health, even causing coma.

Gotu kola reduces the effectiveness of insulin and oral diabetes medications and cholesterol-lowering drugs.

Nowadays, pennywort is grown in large quantities, so it is not excluded that this vegetable is also sprayed with pesticides, making users susceptible to poisoning. Therefore, people should not pick pennywort on the roadside where there are many vehicles or in sewers with waste to ensure health;

After buying pennywort, you must wash it thoroughly and soak it in salt water or ozone. When using pennywort, you need to soak it thoroughly and when using, you should eat it with a slice of ginger to neutralize the cold properties of pennywort.

According to Infonet