19-8 Hospital saves life of patient taking diabetes medication containing banned substance

On the morning of April 2, Dr. Chu Duc Thanh, Department of Intensive Care and Anti-Poison, Hospital 19-8 (Ministry of Public Security) said that the hospital had just saved the life of a male patient who was critically poisoned after taking diabetes medication containing a banned substance.

Previously, Mr. CNC (67 years old, Hanoi) was admitted to the emergency room with severe abdominal pain and fatigue. Initial test results showed that the patient had severe lactic acidosis.

Taking medicine containing banned substances, the patient is in critical condition and must be put on a ventilator.

According to the patient's family, Mr. C had a history of high blood pressure and diabetes for many years, and had been examined and prescribed medication by a doctor. For the past three months, he heard an advertisement online for a traditional medicine (traditional Vietnamese medicine in pill form) that could cure diabetes, so he bought it and took it, causing the above condition to occur.

After investigating and conducting a clinical examination, suspecting that the patient was poisoned, the doctors took a sample of the pill and sent it to the National Institute of Forensic Medicine for testing. The results showed that the herbal medicine that Mr. C used was positive for the toxic substance Phenformin.

According to Dr. Thanh, this is an old diabetes medicine. Because it is highly toxic, causing complications such as acidosis, organ failure, and death in many people, the world has recalled and banned its use since the 1970s.

However, taking advantage of people's lack of knowledge, some people have mixed this banned substance into fake diabetes medications disguised as traditional medicine, herbal medicine, and functional foods to sell on the market, causing poisoning.

The patient was quickly treated with mechanical ventilation, alkaline solution to balance blood pH, high-dose vasopressors, and continuous emergency hemodialysis. However, the patient fell into a state of severe metabolic acidosis and multiple organ failure.

The patient's health is recovering.

Faced with the rapidly critical situation, Master, Doctor Bui Nam Phong, Head of the Department of Intensive Care and Anti-Poisoning, decided to do everything possible to resuscitate the patient. That very night, the doctors urgently deployed a new technique of filtering the patient's blood to absorb toxins using an activated carbon filter.

After 48 hours of continuous blood filtration combined with toxin adsorption blood filtration, the patient was out of critical condition, then progressed well, became alert, and escaped shock. Currently, the patient's health is stable and he is ready to be discharged from the hospital.

Sharing with CAND Newspaper reporters, Mr. C emotionally thanked the doctors and nurses of the Intensive Care and Anti-Poison Department of Hospital 19-8 for their dedication in saving him from "death's door".

He said that 7 years ago he bought herbal medicine in pill form online. According to the advertisement, this medicine was from a traditional doctor in An Giang and was effective in treating diabetes. After taking it, he saw that his blood sugar level had decreased, so he stopped taking the medicine prescribed by the doctor and only took herbal medicine.

The leaders of the Department of Intensive Care and Anti-Poisoning and doctors congratulated the patient on his recovery.

3 months ago, he switched to buying diabetes medicine “T pills” according to an online advertisement of another facility also in An Giang (the model is similar to the medicine he has been buying for the past 7 years), taking 4 pills a day, if his blood sugar goes up, he takes 6 pills. However, after taking it for a while, he experienced high blood pressure, low heart rate, went to the doctor but could not find the cause.

Because he did not know the medicine contained poison, Mr. C continued to take it until the day he was hospitalized.

Dr. Chu Duc Thanh said that diabetes is a common chronic disease. A proper diet and exercise regimen, combined with medication and regular monitoring at reputable medical facilities, will help patients control their blood sugar well, prevent complications, improve their quality of life, and help them live happily and optimistically.

To prevent dangerous complications, patients should absolutely not listen to the advice of non-professionals, advertisements on the internet, use drugs of unknown origin, or stop treatment, which can make complications more severe and lead to dangerous lactic acidosis, as in the case of poisoning with the banned substance Phenformin mentioned above.

Source: https://cand.com.vn/y-te/benh-vien-19-8-cuu-song-benh-nhan-uong-thuoc-tieu-duong-chua-chat-cam-i763858/