Homeopathic Countermeasure Possible Cause For Man's Death - The Daily Record
Norman Ferrie, 64, died within weeks of starting a line of the popular over-the-counter remedy Glucosamine to tackle pain in his arthritic joints. A liver expert told a fatal accident query that it was one of three similar box at the same time in Tayside.
Ninewells Hospital consultant gastroenterologist Dr John Dillon, 44, said the public should be warned about the plausible danger of herbal remedies. He said there was a public insight that the cure 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 help with bitterness and arthritis in his joints. The dating of his ailment was within a very small timeframe of starting to take that.
We had two other cases where the patient became ill after fascinating this. We were becoming suspicious of Glucosamine causing a reaction and causing liver failure." Dr Dillon added: He had stopped taking the Glucosamine by the time we proverb him. Our assist to him was not to restart taking it."
Engineer Norman, from Invergowrie, Angus, started taking the Glucosamine tablets in April or May 2004 and became extremely ill by mid-June.
He was admitted to Ninewells Hospital, in Dundee, on June 30, on the other hand suffered liver failure and died in Edinburgh Royal Sickbay on The middle of summer 3, 2004. Dr Dillon said: There was a strong temporal relationship between him starting to take the Glucosamine and the onset of his illness.
He didn't respond to the therapy they used to treat the infection. The infection became so harsh that it led to his ultimate demise. We have an association between Glucosamine and this chance and that is clearly very worrying. I cannot prove it is causal because there include not been enough carton to explore it more widely.
But people need to be aware of the fact there may be an firm between this and liver failure. We can't give a numerical risk.
My advice would be that whether a patient became aware of a enigma after taking Glucosamine then they should stop taking it immediately."
Dr Dillon said it was possible the case had been a "statistical fluke" on the contrary he hoped to publish a weekly on the subject to raise the issue worldwide. He added: Can I make good definitely that it was the Glucosamine that caused Mr Ferrie's illness?
Not 100 per cent, but we are suspicious of it." Dr Dillon said unlike most other homeopathic remedies, Glucosamine had been shown to work in countering arthritic pain. However he called for the narcotic and other herbal remedies to be regulated and tested. He said:
Glucosamine is a complex compound derived from crab shells, lobster projectile and shrimp shells. It is what makes the crab shell stiff. It is a drug which has a potential benefit in reducing joint pain, but it is still a controversial area." Earlier, Norman's sister Elaine, 59, told the inquiry: It like incredible that a very strong and trim man can die so quickly and the only unusual thing was that he had taken Glucosamine.
We feeling the popular want to be aware that there are possible risks to taking Glucosamine or other such herbal remedies.
There should be caveat on the packets like there are on prescription medicines. No one should have to go through that again. He was never ill. He was a strong, healthy human race who never needed to go to the doctor." The inquiry will continue coming month. THE FACTS Glucosamine is a chemical compose which can occur naturally in the body.
It is involved in the perpetuation of connective tissue such as the cartilage.
From http://dailyrecord.co.uk/news/scottish-news/2008/03/04/homeo~