Liver enzymes are 30 times higher after self-administering traditional Chinese medicine

Seeing stomach pain and heartburn, the 61-year-old man thought he had a stomach disease so he bought unknown herbal medicine to take. The liver enzyme results were 30 times higher, causing acute liver damage.

On September 4, a representative of the Central Hospital of Tropical Diseases said that the patient has a history of high blood pressure for many years and is maintaining regular treatment. The family has not recorded any relatives suffering from cirrhosis or liver cancer.

About two months before admission, he had a dull pain in the epigastric area, spreading to his back, accompanied by heartburn. Thinking he had a stomach disease, he researched and bought herbal medicine of unknown origin to use.

After 6 weeks of taking it, the patient feels tired, has poor appetite, quickly becomes exhausted when exercising, has yellow eyes, yellow skin and dark yellow urine, so he should go to the hospital for examination. Test results showed that the liver was seriously damaged, with liver enzyme index 30 times higher than the normal limit.

After carefully exploring the drug use process and excluding other causes of hepatitis, doctors determined that the patient had serious acute liver damage, most likely related to the use of herbal medicine of unknown origin. He was hospitalized for treatment at the Hepatitis department.

Doctor Tran Minh Quan, Deputy Head of the Hepatitis Department, said that this case was fortunately discovered promptly. After nearly 20 days, the indicators improved significantly. Traditional herbal medicine products of unknown origin and uncontrolled quality can pose many potential risks. Some products may contain undeclared ingredients, impurities, heavy metals or potentially hepatotoxic substances.

Liver damage related to drugs or herbs can progress silently, and symptoms may not be clear in the early stages. When symptoms such as prolonged fatigue, loss of appetite, nausea, jaundice, yellow eyes, dark urine or pain in the right lower quadrant appear after using traditional medicine, Chinese medicine or herbal products, people need to stop using it and go to a medical facility for examination and liver function testing.

Doctors advise people not to use it based on word of mouth or in combination with medication being prescribed by a doctor. The use of oriental medicine, traditional medicine, and Chinese medicine needs to be examined, consulted, and monitored by a doctor.