Many patients with jaundice and yellow eyes were hospitalized because they recklessly did this.

Critical condition due to self-treatment of hepatitis B

Not knowing that she had hepatitis B, around August 2024, Ms. BTH (47 years old, in Lac Son, Hoa Binh ) had a gradually increasing abdominal distension. When she went to the doctor, she discovered that she had hepatitis B and had developed cirrhosis. However, Ms. H did not take the medicine prescribed by the doctor but bought herbal medicine of unknown origin to treat the disease. After taking herbal medicine for 10 days, the patient began to experience jaundice, increasing yellowing of the eyes, fatigue, poor appetite, and a large abdominal distension.

A patient with yellow skin and eyes was hospitalized due to self-medicating with traditional medicine to treat hepatitis B (Photo: BVCC).

On September 4, the patient was admitted to a local medical facility for treatment with cirrhosis and ascites, with liver function reaching 15%, so the abdominal fluid was drained. Nearly 2 weeks later, Ms. H was transferred to the Hepatitis Department, Central Hospital for Tropical Diseases in a state of severe liver failure on the basis of hepatitis B cirrhosis, accompanied by pneumonia, liver enzymes increased more than 11 times, and obvious jaundice and yellow eyes. Liver function only reached 13.6% and there was a very high risk of hepatic coma.

After 2 weeks of treatment, the patient had a disturbance of consciousness and was lethargic, so he was transferred to the Intensive Care Unit and had to be placed on a ventilator. However, the patient did not respond to the treatment and his condition became more critical. The family requested that the patient be transferred to home care.

A luckier case is Ms. BTQ, 34 years old, also in Hoa Binh, who did not know when she contracted hepatitis B. In August 2023, she felt tired and had a poor appetite, so she went for a health check and discovered she had hepatitis B. Ms. Q was prescribed antiviral medication by the doctor on a regular basis. After 4 months of taking the medication, she stopped taking it on her own and switched to using Solanum procumbens, Gynostemma pentaphyllum, and An xoa to detoxify her liver.

Recently, Ms. Q showed signs of fatigue, poor appetite, and unusual jaundice and was admitted to a hospital near her home with a diagnosis of acute liver failure on the basis of hepatitis B. After five days of treatment, but the disease did not improve, Ms. Q was transferred to the Hepatitis Department, Central Hospital for Tropical Diseases with symptoms of jaundice, yellow eyes increased more than 20 times, acute liver failure, liver function reached 49%, liver enzyme index increased 25 times higher than normal index. After 3 weeks of treatment, patient Q's liver failure condition has improved.

Control hepatitis B to avoid liver cancer

Sharing about Ms. H's case, Dr. Nguyen Quang Huy, Department of Hepatitis, Central Hospital for Tropical Diseases, said: "Initially, the patient had hepatitis B but did not receive treatment, so the disease progressed to cirrhosis with ascites. At this stage, the patient made another mistake by taking herbal medicine to treat the disease. From there, it led to severe acute liver failure."

To avoid unfortunate cases like the two patients above, Dr. Huy recommends: To know if you have Hepatitis B or not, people can go to local medical facilities near their homes such as district hospitals, county hospitals, preventive medicine centers, vaccine centers, provincial hospitals, and the Central Hospital for Tropical Diseases to do HBsAg testing. If HBsAg is positive, it means you have Hepatitis B. At that time, you need to go to the infectious disease specialist or hepatobiliary specialist to check your condition periodically according to your doctor's appointment.

"Normally, people with chronic hepatitis B often feel healthy and have no symptoms. Therefore, patients are often subjective and the disease will progress without knowing it. Therefore, people with hepatitis B need to follow the schedule of regular check-ups as scheduled by a specialist. This is extremely important, helping patients discuss their condition with their doctor, as well as promptly detect the stage of the disease for treatment, preventing complications such as liver failure, cirrhosis and liver cancer from occurring.

Currently, the specific treatment for hepatitis B is antiviral drugs that help inhibit the hepatitis B virus. There are many different antiviral drugs, suitable for each specific patient, so you need to talk to your doctor to get the best and most suitable treatment method," Dr. Huy emphasized.

Source: https://www.baogiaothong.vn/nhieu-benh-nhan-vang-da-vang-mat-nhu-nghe-nhap-vien-cap-cuu-vi-lieu-linh-lam-dieu-nay-192241015142454763.htm