Be careful when using oriental medicine

(Baonghean) - According to many people, using traditional Chinese medicine or herbal medicine is much more beneficial than Western medicine, because these are all natural ingredients, easy to drink, easy to use, and cheap. Therefore, many people have the habit of using traditional Chinese medicine to treat diseases. However, complications are very likely to occur if the patient is subjective and arbitrary in using medicine...

Six months ago, patient Le Van Hoang, from Hung Binh Ward (Vinh City) fell while playing soccer. After that, he went for an X-ray and was diagnosed with a sprain, so he went to Ha Tinh to buy medicine from a famous herbalist. However, after taking nearly 10 doses, his condition only improved for a short time, but when the season changed, he was in pain and could not walk. He went to Nghe An General Hospital for a CT scan and was diagnosed with a torn ligament, which needed immediate surgery because it had been left too long. The doctor also warned him: In cases of torn ligaments, there is no better solution than surgery to reconnect the ligament.

Using traditional medicine or other folk medicines only has a temporary pain-relieving effect, making the patient think he is cured without having to see a doctor. Doctor Hoang Hoa Tham, Head of Spinal Neurosurgery Department, Nghe An General Hospital, said: According to Traditional Medicine Practitioner Hai Thuong Lan Ong, using traditional medicine combined with modern medicine to treat the disease is very good. However, recently, the use of traditional medicine and traditional medicine is difficult to control, especially in terms of origin, so it can lead to adverse effects. Not all diseases can use Oriental medicine, but must use modern scientific methods, if left for a long time, it will affect health.

An oriental medicine counter. Illustration photo

At the Intensive Care and Anti-Poison Department, Dr. Vu Ngoc Lan, Head of the Department, said: Every year, the department treats more than a dozen patients who need emergency care due to adrenal insufficiency. Most of them suffer from joint pain, due to the habit of people who often buy traditional medicine for treatment. Using it for a few weeks will quickly relieve the disease, but using it for a long time is extremely dangerous because it is actually called traditional medicine, but many traditional healers often grind the medicine and mix it with dexamethasone to help relieve pain quickly. After using it for a while, the patient will have symptoms such as a swollen face, but the limbs will shrink, called pseudo-biomechanical syndrome. When the disease affects the kidneys, cardiovascular complications will occur, which cannot be cured.

Some other cases, if used incorrectly, can also cause dangerous complications. Simply, when sprained, many people often use heated leaves with salt to apply on the foot, but applying it for too long causes the skin to blister, redden, swell... which can lead to blood infection and death. People also have the habit of using bear bile, wine soaked with gac seeds, balm oil... to rub on the wound because it feels very comfortable. However, they do not understand that doing so does not reduce the disease but also has the risk of leading to ligament fibrosis causing chronic pain, joint stiffness, muscle atrophy, requiring surgery to reconstruct the ligament.

Talking with Doctor Hoang Thi Hiep, Department of Tropical Infectious Diseases, it is known that: Many cases of severe hepatitis and hepatitis B before being treated at the department had taken traditional medicine for many years. However, the disease did not improve but could also lead to cirrhosis and liver cancer. Such as the case of patient Hoang The Thuong, in Dien Chau district. Because of using traditional medicine for a long time, when he was hospitalized, he not only suffered liver damage, but also suffered lead poisoning, causing his skin to turn black. The liver's function system was worse and its ability to detoxify was reduced. Doctor Nguyen Van Son, Head of the Department of Infectious Diseases, Obstetrics and Pediatrics Hospital, warned: People should not arbitrarily treat measles with traditional methods such as steaming and bathing with coriander leaves, especially in young children. Because at this age, children's skin is very sensitive and has poor protection, so it is inevitable that they will have allergies when bathing with leaves. Coriander seeds and coriander leaves contain a lot of essential oils that are highly irritating to the skin. Not to mention, during the bathing process, scrubbing causes scratches on the skin; Or if the child's skin has a lot of rashes, scratches, sores, etc., the disease will get worse and easily lead to infection. In particular, in the case of measles with respiratory complications such as pneumonia, inhaling too much essential oil from coriander seeds and coriander leaves will make the disease progress quickly, possibly leading to respiratory failure.

In fact, Oriental medicine has many types of tonics but not everyone can use them. Discussing this issue further, Mr. Hoang Dang Hao, Deputy Director of Nghe An Department of Health, said: The disadvantage of Oriental medicine is that quality control is difficult, it is impossible to accurately quantify the proportion of medicinal ingredients. The worrying thing is that currently in Nghe An there are nearly 400 Oriental medicine establishments, but only about 30% of the establishments are licensed. The rest are not qualified. Inspection and testing only stops at whether or not there is a license, but quality control is very difficult because the substances in the medicinal ingredients cannot be quantified.

Therefore, to avoid health effects when using Oriental medicine, according to Dr. Vu Ngoc Lan, Head of the Poison Control Emergency Department, patients need to strictly follow the doctor's instructions, not arbitrarily use Oriental medicine without a prescription, not arbitrarily increase the dose and prolong the use. Some simple herbs and remedies based on folk experience can be used by oneself, but it is best to have full advice from a specialist. When using, if you see any unusual signs, you must stop taking the medicine immediately and report it to the doctor for timely treatment. In addition, when going to see a doctor, patients need to go to legal and reputable facilities. For doctors, it is necessary to examine carefully, understand the patient's allergy history, make use of necessary modern tests to know the condition of important organs and predict the results when using drugs, be extremely careful in prescribing toxic drugs, carefully instruct patients on how to use drugs, not carelessly combine Western and Eastern drugs, and carefully check the quality of drugs before weighing prescriptions for patients.

Article and photos:My Ha