I Can See Health

Chapter 84: Licorice Tablets

   Chapter 84 Licorice Tablets

  Lu Chen was very happy and successfully gained a little thanks.

   After the old woman ate snacks, her symptoms of hypoglycemia such as palpitation and cold sweats also improved.

   Back to the duty room, Lu Chen couldn't sleep.

   was woken up halfway through, making him sleepless.

   He simply put on a white coat and came to the office.

  The office was empty, so Mr. Min Ling should also go to rest.

  Lu Chen sat in front of the computer and clicked on the assay system.

   In the little girl with hypokalemia who was admitted to the hospital in the middle of the night, her serum potassium had risen to 2.8mmol/L.

   In the doctor's order, Dr. Min Ling prescribed a few more pots of potassium, and the blood potassium will be rechecked at 6:00 in the morning.

   Taking advantage of his energy, Lu Chen focused his attention on the cause of "hypokalemia".

   Take out a blank A4 paper.

  Lu Chen wrote all the common causes of hypokalemia on paper.

   First of all, potassium intake is insufficient. Including fasting or anorexia, which was previously ruled out.

   Secondly, the excretion of potassium increases.

   Loss of digestive juices, including diarrhea, severe prolonged vomiting, and prolonged gastrointestinal drainage, in addition to loss of potassium from the skin.

   These are also excluded.

   In addition, there is renal potassium loss.

   Including the use of diuretics, hydrochlorothiazide, furosemide, etc., as well as renal disease aldehydes, Cushing's syndrome, renal artery stenosis, reninoma, pheochromocytoma, Liddle syndrome.

   All the patients were excluded one by one through the relevant examinations in the county-level hospital.

   Finally, it is the abnormal distribution of potassium in the body, including heart failure, renal edema, excessive infusion, and insulin action.

   These don't seem to fit.

  Lu Chen fell into thought again.

   He kept looking at the patient's medical records, and at the same time, he used his mobile phone to check the relevant papers in the literature library, trying to find clues.

  …

   Time passed slowly.

   Four in the morning.

   Even though he relied on the super comprehension ability of the "Literature Reading" skill book, he still couldn't find the reason for the girl's low potassium.

   Could it really be attributed to her hypokalemia as "idiopathic hypokalemia" for which no cause could be found?

   But if it is not a last resort, try to find the cause of low potassium.

   This is just a teenage girl after all!

  …

   Five in the morning.

  Lu Chen still did not find the cause of hypokalemia.

   He went back to the duty room, ready to squint for a while.

  Because I have to get up again at 6 o'clock to check my blood sugar.

  …

   Six in the morning.

  Lu Chen opened his eyes, wore a white coat, held a blood glucose meter, and began to measure blood sugar from ward to ward.

   At this time, most of the patients were awake.

   Lu Chen has a lot of blood sugar to measure.

   Started the journey of "Poke Poke" again.

   "Auntie, blood sugar is 6.2mmol/L, which is very well controlled."

   "Mother-in-law, your blood sugar is too high, 16.9mmol/L, did you eat something last night? Hey...don't eat any more at night, you see that your fasting blood sugar is high during the day!"

   "Uncle, your blood sugar is 7.3mmol/L. You don't take medicine or insulin? Then if you continue to control your diet and exercise more, you may not need to take medicine to lower your blood sugar in the future."

  ….

   Came to the ward where bed number 12 was.

   After measuring the blood sugar in the other beds, Lu Chen came to the bed of the 12-bed girl.

  The girl was lying on the bed, curled up in the corner of the bed, and was fast asleep.

   "Is she any better?" Lu Chen looked at the middle-aged woman beside him and said softly.

   "It's better, thank you doctor."

   The middle-aged woman nodded, and then helped the girl tuck the quilt.

"Ah That's good."

  Lu Chen was about to leave when he was suddenly stopped by a middle-aged woman.

   "Doctor, do you have licorice tablets in your hospital?"

   "Licorice tablets?" Lu Chen stopped, "What's wrong? Is she coughing?"

   "Hey, she has a poor constitution since she was a child, and she is prone to colds and coughs."

   The middle-aged woman sighed.

   "Take cough medicine as soon as you cough?" Lu Chen frowned.

   "There's nothing I can do, I keep coughing. We feel uncomfortable listening to her cough." The middle-aged woman's expression was helpless and distressed.

   "Didn't you check the reason?"

   "I checked, I have checked all major hospitals in Jinghua, but I haven't found any reason."

   "Auntie, but eating licorice tablets like this all the time is not a solution." Lu Chen frowned, "There is a substance in licorice tablets that will make people addicted."

   Compound Licorice Tablets mainly contain licorice liquid extract powder, opium powder, camphor, star anise oil, sodium benzoate, etc.

   Among them, opioid powder has analgesic, sedative, and antitussive effects, and is a drug that easily causes human dependence.

  Although the content is very low, long-term or large doses can also be addictive.

   Therefore, taking compound licorice tablets for a long time may be addictive, and patients may experience pleasure and gradually develop cravings and dependence on them.

   "Addictive?" The middle-aged woman was stunned. "Doctor, then give us another cough medicine."

   "Yeah." Lu Chen nodded, "But maybe she doesn't have a bad cough, but she just wants to eat licorice tablets."

   "I really didn't pay attention to this." The middle-aged woman said solemnly, "The first time he saw the doctor, he asked him to eat licorice tablets, and then he took it intermittently."

   "How long did she eat?"

   "It's been half a year."

  Lu Chen raised his brows.

   For half a year?

   This seems to be about the same time as her dizziness and weakness in her limbs!

  Lu Chen resisted the doubts in his heart.

   He was going to check all his blood sugar, and then he went to see the instructions of the licorice tablet to see if it caused hypokalemia.

  Just like that, Lu Chen poked his fingers faster.

   Needles see blood!

  …

  After measuring your blood sugar, go back to the doctor's office.

  Lu Chen opened the doctor's order system, entered licorice tablets, and immediately popped up drug-related information, including adverse drug reactions.

  Licorice Tablets Adverse Reactions: Slight nausea and vomiting…

   He did not see a description of low potassium.

   "Isn't it because of the licorice tablets?"

  Lu Chen frowned, and the thoughts he had just had were interrupted again.

   "Xiao Lu, did you get up so early to check your blood sugar?"

   At this time, Min Ling walked into the office.

   She stretched and sat beside Lu Chen.

   "I couldn't sleep, so I checked my blood sugar in advance." Lu Chen smiled.

   "Well." Min Ling nodded slightly, glanced at Lu Chen's computer screen, "What are you looking for? Licorice tablets?"

"Yeah." Lu Chen nodded, "I just found out when I measured my blood sugar that the girl with hypokalemia last night was actually taking licorice tablets all the time. I just wanted to find out if the hypokalemia was related to this. The results were not found."

  Min Ling was shocked when she heard the words.

   "She's been eating licorice tablets?"

   "Well, yes." Lu Chen looked at Min Ling suspiciously, not knowing why she had such a big reaction.

   "No need to check, licorice tablets can cause low potassium!" Min Ling said solemnly.

   "Huh?" Lu Chen was stunned.

Min Ling explained: "Glycyrrhizic acid and glycyrrhetic acid are found in licorice tablets. The chemical structure of these two substances is similar to that of corticosteroids. ."

   "In addition, glycyrrhizic acid can enhance the physiological effects of other glucocorticoids, resulting in intracellular potassium transfer, resulting in hypokalemia."

  Lu Chen touched the back of his head, "But I didn't find this adverse reaction on the drug insert."

   "It takes a long time for the instructions to be updated, and the information lags behind." Min Ling smiled, "Actually, your time in the clinic is too short. As long as you stay for a while, you will understand this knowledge."

  Lu Chen has only been in clinical practice for one year, and he is more exposed to textbook knowledge.

   And medicine is a very empirical science.

   In addition to textbook knowledge, practical experience is equally important!

   "In other words, the reason for her hypokalemia is the long-term oral licorice tablets?"

   "Probably yes." Min Ling nodded and looked at Lu Chen with a smile.

   Thank you PepsiCo Lewei for the tip.

  

  

   (end of this chapter)

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