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Liver injury: the therapeutic dilemma of homeopathy – a case report from Bangladesh

Despite the lack of scientific evidence supporting its effectiveness, homeopathic treatment is increasingly being used as a form of alternative medicine, with many people taking homeopathic remedies instead of drug therapies. It is based on the principle of ‘like cures like’, meaning that a remedy s...

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Autores principales: Shrestha, Abhigan B., Karki, Bikash, Acharya, Prakash, Kafley, Shashwat, Shrestha, Nabaraj, Karki, Shailendra, Acharya, Surya K.
Formato: Online Artículo Texto
Lenguaje:English
Publicado: Lippincott Williams & Wilkins 2023
Materias:
Acceso en línea:https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC10328680/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/37427238
http://dx.doi.org/10.1097/MS9.0000000000000918
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author Shrestha, Abhigan B.
Karki, Bikash
Acharya, Prakash
Kafley, Shashwat
Shrestha, Nabaraj
Karki, Shailendra
Acharya, Surya K.
author_facet Shrestha, Abhigan B.
Karki, Bikash
Acharya, Prakash
Kafley, Shashwat
Shrestha, Nabaraj
Karki, Shailendra
Acharya, Surya K.
author_sort Shrestha, Abhigan B.
collection PubMed
description Despite the lack of scientific evidence supporting its effectiveness, homeopathic treatment is increasingly being used as a form of alternative medicine, with many people taking homeopathic remedies instead of drug therapies. It is based on the principle of ‘like cures like’, meaning that a remedy similar to the illness can be used to treat it. However, there have been several reports suggesting the risks of homeopathic remedies, among which homeopathy-induced liver injury is widely discussed. Here, we report a case of a 35-year-old well-oriented male patient with a typical clinical presentation of liver injury as presented by yellowish discoloration of sclera and skin along with generalized body itching following the use of homeopathic medicine for musculoskeletal pain. Laboratory reports of increased liver markers along with bilirubin were also suggestive. Excluding other differentials like viral hepatitis, alcoholic hepatitis, hemochromatosis, Wilson disease, and standard drug and toxin-induced hepatitis, the recent use of homeopathic remedies was a contributing factor in leading to the diagnosis of homeopathy-induced liver injury. He was then treated with the discontinuation of homeopathic medicine and supportive care. This case highlights the need for public awareness of the possible complications such as headache, tiredness, skin eruption, dizziness, bowel dysfunction, allergic reactions to acute pancreatitis, renal failure, neurological dysfunction, possible liver injury, and even mortality in those patients who pursue homeopathic treatments and health care professionals should take this into account when making a differential diagnosis in patients with liver injury.
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spelling pubmed-103286802023-07-08 Liver injury: the therapeutic dilemma of homeopathy – a case report from Bangladesh Shrestha, Abhigan B. Karki, Bikash Acharya, Prakash Kafley, Shashwat Shrestha, Nabaraj Karki, Shailendra Acharya, Surya K. Ann Med Surg (Lond) Case Reports Despite the lack of scientific evidence supporting its effectiveness, homeopathic treatment is increasingly being used as a form of alternative medicine, with many people taking homeopathic remedies instead of drug therapies. It is based on the principle of ‘like cures like’, meaning that a remedy similar to the illness can be used to treat it. However, there have been several reports suggesting the risks of homeopathic remedies, among which homeopathy-induced liver injury is widely discussed. Here, we report a case of a 35-year-old well-oriented male patient with a typical clinical presentation of liver injury as presented by yellowish discoloration of sclera and skin along with generalized body itching following the use of homeopathic medicine for musculoskeletal pain. Laboratory reports of increased liver markers along with bilirubin were also suggestive. Excluding other differentials like viral hepatitis, alcoholic hepatitis, hemochromatosis, Wilson disease, and standard drug and toxin-induced hepatitis, the recent use of homeopathic remedies was a contributing factor in leading to the diagnosis of homeopathy-induced liver injury. He was then treated with the discontinuation of homeopathic medicine and supportive care. This case highlights the need for public awareness of the possible complications such as headache, tiredness, skin eruption, dizziness, bowel dysfunction, allergic reactions to acute pancreatitis, renal failure, neurological dysfunction, possible liver injury, and even mortality in those patients who pursue homeopathic treatments and health care professionals should take this into account when making a differential diagnosis in patients with liver injury. Lippincott Williams & Wilkins 2023-05-22 /pmc/articles/PMC10328680/ /pubmed/37427238 http://dx.doi.org/10.1097/MS9.0000000000000918 Text en Copyright © 2023 The Author(s). Published by Wolters Kluwer Health, Inc. https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/This is an open access article distributed under the Creative Commons Attribution License 4.0 (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/) (CCBY), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited. http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/)
spellingShingle Case Reports
Shrestha, Abhigan B.
Karki, Bikash
Acharya, Prakash
Kafley, Shashwat
Shrestha, Nabaraj
Karki, Shailendra
Acharya, Surya K.
Liver injury: the therapeutic dilemma of homeopathy – a case report from Bangladesh
title Liver injury: the therapeutic dilemma of homeopathy – a case report from Bangladesh
title_full Liver injury: the therapeutic dilemma of homeopathy – a case report from Bangladesh
title_fullStr Liver injury: the therapeutic dilemma of homeopathy – a case report from Bangladesh
title_full_unstemmed Liver injury: the therapeutic dilemma of homeopathy – a case report from Bangladesh
title_short Liver injury: the therapeutic dilemma of homeopathy – a case report from Bangladesh
title_sort liver injury: the therapeutic dilemma of homeopathy – a case report from bangladesh
topic Case Reports
url https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC10328680/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/37427238
http://dx.doi.org/10.1097/MS9.0000000000000918
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