I had passed the Chinese herbal shop many times on my shopping trips into Liverpool. It looked harmless enough, clean and clinical, and the fact that it was selling herbal medicines made me somehow think it was run by doctors.
Since my youngest child Daisy was born in March 2003, I had suffered from thinning hair, so I asked around friends and family for ideas.
SOME said they'd had good results with vitamins or minerals, so I decided to help myself. In early September last year, Daisy and I popped into the shop. The lady was very friendly, although she didn't speak much English, and when I told her my hair was thinning she pointed to Daisy and said it was because of pregnancy.
She didn't take a medical history or ask me if I was on any medication. She simply reached to the counter behind her and passed me a packet of pills called Shou Wu Wan. They were like little black peppercorns and she told me to take a scoop in a glass of water, morning and night.
She didn't volunteer any information about what they were made from, or how long I should take them. I just trusted her, paid my £15 and left.
I took the pills every morning and night and after a few months I went back for some more, though I didn't see any benefit to my hair.
At Christmas I started to feel a little below par. Nothing serious, just tired and run down but there are lots of bugs at that time of year so I thought nothing of it.
Then one Monday in early January I was talking to a customer on the phone when I suddenly felt really poorly, hot, faint and nauseous. I spent the rest of that week on the sofa at home. I carried on taking my Chinese pills.
The following Monday I started to itch all over. Thinking I'd had an allergic reaction to something, I took some anti-histamines but it made no difference. Two days later I went to my GP, who prescribed more antihistamines.
Next morning I was washing my face when I noticed I had a slight tan and that my eyeballs were slightly yellow. I knew yellow skin was connected to liver problems, and my stomach churned.
My doctor saw me that afternoon and was reassuring. He explained that I probably had gallstones or a mild hepatitis virus which can be picked up through poor hygiene. So I was sent for blood tests and told to come back the following Thursday.
When I did return, the GP seemed shocked by my appearance. The blood tests had come back negative for Hepatitis A and C, so he didn't expect to see me looking so ill.
He called in a partner for a second opinion, then they called the Royal Liverpool Hospital liver unit who came back with a list of questions. Had I been to Africa? Was I a drug user? Had I had a tattoo recently? I kept saying no, no, getting more and more anxious.
As I lay on the sofa at home, I realised it was up to me to work out what had caused this illness. Suddenly, I remembered the herbs. But it seemed so unlikely that at first I discounted it. I didn't think you could buy something so dangerous from a health food shop.
WHEN I was rushed into hospital, I took the Shou Wu Wan tablets with me. But when I mentioned them to a junior doctor he just laughed. The consultant saw me the next day and though I mentioned the tablets again, he thought it must be gallstones. I was so frustrated I began waving the box of pills in front of him.
Finally, he wrote down the name and said he would check them out. He returned just half an hour later. A computer search had thrown up several reports of liver damage in other people who had taken Shou Wu Wan.
It was such a relief to think we'd found the cause, and I just assumed the doctors could give me some medicine to help my liver recover. But an hour later, the consultant was back to break the news that my liver had been so damaged by the herbal medicine that it was in danger of imminent failure.
It was incredibly scary. I was told there was no treatment apart from bed rest and drinking as much water as possible to help my liver to detoxify. It was just a case of hoping that it would gradually recover.
It took five days before the pills started to come out of my system and my bilirubin levels began to drop. I was still bright yellow and friends and family tried to make me laugh by calling me Marge Simpson, but I was on the verge of tears the whole time.
The head pharmacist took the pills away for analysis and the Medicines and Healthcare Product Regulatory Body was alerted. They are still investigating the tablets.
I was discharged from hospital in February. My bilirubin levels were still high but they were coming down and although I was still yellow I had an appetite at last.
Gradually as I got better, I got angry. Those pills nearly killed me. But I can't bear to even go near to the shop, so I am leaving the investigating to the authorities.
To my horror, though, I have learned that Chinese medicine is not regulated in this country, that anyone can call themselves a Chinese doctor and sell pills and there is no way of knowing what has been put in them.
The main ingredient of Shou Wu Wan is polygonum multiflorum, a herb which is apparently harmless and has been used in China for hundreds of years to tone the kidneys and liver and help with hair nutrition. You can even get it on the internet.
But because there are no checks in this country, people, like me who take Chinese Medicine are really taking a chance that they have been responsibly produced back in China and that nothing nasty has been added to them. Sadly, in my case, it appears that this is exactly what has happened.
I am over the worst but am still not back to full health and it is possible that I will have some longterm liver damage.
I would warn anyone thinking of taking Chinese medicines to think carefully. You could be dicing with death. |
