Decease Sparks Safety Charge Over Popular Malaise Remedy (from The Herald )
Norman Ferrie, 64, died within weeks of starting a course of glucosamine, the popular over-the-counter remedy, to tackle pain in his arthritic joints. A liver expert told a fatal accident inquiry it was one of three similar cases that showed up at the same time in the Tayside area. Ninewells Hospital consultant gastroenterologist, Dr John Dillon, 44, said the public should be warned about the potential hazard of different remedies.
He said there was a public perception that additional remedies were safe, despite them not undergoing strict clinical testing like prescribed medication. Dr Dillon told the inquiry at Perth Sheriff Court: We were confident the liver had been normal and that something had attacked it.
It was an illness of weeks' duration. He had been taking glucosamine to hand with pain and arthritis in his joints. The dating of his illness was within a very little time frame of starting to take that. We had two other container where the patient became sick after taking this.
We were becoming dubious of glucosamine causing a reaction and causing liver failure. He had stopped taking the glucosamine next to the time we saw him. Our advice to him was not to re-start fascinating it," Dr Dillon said.
Glucosamine is an amino-monosaccharide that occurs naturally in the body and is involved in the maintenance of connective tissue such as the cartilage. Most addition are a manufactured, man-made form of this compound or derived from shellfish shells, which means it may speed up allergy in susceptible individuals.
It like incredible that a very strong and healthy man can die so quickly It is believed to be the first time that serious health concerns compass been raised above glucosamine, which has been widely tested near mainstream medical authorities, with varying views as to its effectiveness.
The leading endangerment noted by the Medicines and Healthcare Products Regulatory Agency and the UK Comission on Android Medicines are over those who have seafood allergies and interactions with the blood-thinning drug warfarin.
Dr Kate McLintock, a GP and adviser to the Arthritis Research Campaign, said glucosamine was thought of by some researchers as larger than ibuprofen in offering pain relief for people agony from osteoarthritis. She added: No serious adverse reply are known, but allergy to shellfish should be borne in mind.
Some human beings may caution reversible problems such as stomach upset, headache, rash, itch, flushing, drowsiness and insomnia."
Mr Ferrie, from Invergowrie, started taking the glucosamine tablets in April or May 2004 and had be reformed extremely ill beside mid-June. He was admitted to Ninewells Hospital in Dundee on June 30, but suffered liver failure and died in Edinburgh Royal Sickbay on July 3, 2004.
Dr Dillon said: He didn't reciprocate to the therapy they used to treat the infection. The infection became so severe that it led to his forthcoming demise. We accept an association between glucosamine and this event and that is clearly very worrying.
My facilitate would be that if a patient became aware of a difficulty after taking glucosamine then they should stop taking it immediately." Dr Dillon said it was possible the instance had been a "statistical fluke" but he expectation to publish a paper on the text to raise the issue worldwide.
One of the most authoritative trials was the Glucosamine chondroitin Arthritis Intervention Trial (Gait) study, backed by the US Civic Institutes representing Health, which concluded that overall, there were no significant differences between (glucosamine and chondroitin) and placebo. However, for a subset of partaker with moderate-to-severe pain, the treatment provided statistically significant pain relief.