Abstract
We report the case of a middle aged woman who was previously diagnosed with hypertension. She had been drinking a kelp concentrate solution daily for her hypertension instead of taking the prescribed medicine due to her personal beliefs about the kelp solution. As a consequence, she experienced vasospastic angina complicated by myocardial infarction and cardiogenic syncope resulting from iatrogenic thyrotoxicosis. Complementary medicine is widely used by the general population. However, there is still a lack of evidence regarding their efficacy and safety. This case shows that inadequate use of complementary medicine could have no effect and may even be harmful. In patients with chronic diseases such as hypertension, self-care in the form of life style modification, home blood pressure monitoring and medial adherence are important for disease management.
Original language | English |
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Pages (from-to) | 870-874 |
Number of pages | 5 |
Journal | Korean Circulation Journal |
Volume | 46 |
Issue number | 6 |
DOIs | |
State | Published - Nov 2016 |
Bibliographical note
Publisher Copyright:Copyright © 2016 The Korean Society of Cardiology.
Keywords
- Adherence
- Angina pectoris
- Complementary medicine
- Kelp
- Thyrotoxicosis
- Variant