ASIAN JOURNAL OF CLINICAL CASE REPORTS FOR TRADITIONAL AND ALTERNATIVE MEDICINE
Year:2017 | Volume:1 | Issue:1|Papers Count:8

Background: Diabetic foot ulcer is one of the major problems suffered by diabetic patients, so much so that the annual incidence of this problem has increased from 0.1% to 4.1% in diabetic patients and the probability of its incidence is over 25% during the diabetic individual's life.Case Presentation: The patient was a 74-year-old woman with diabetes for more than 20 years. She was hospitalized with complaint of diabetic foot ulcers, uncontrolled blood sugar, and sepsis at Emam Reza Hospital of Bojnurd in March 2014. She was under the primary treatment of sugar control drugs and infection control. The patient's foot ulcer did not respond to current treatments, and the orthopaedist advised amputation of the affected foot. The patient referred to traditional medicine clinic for counselling. The patient had a sore on the big toe of her right foot, and the severe inflammation was spread over the other fingers and continued to the ankle. The wound had cyanosis and severe infection for at least two months. During this time, the patient was treated with modern medicine methods, which did not give any effective result, so the patient's wound and overall health situation were getting worse every day. After entering the traditional medicine clinic, the patient was under the control of health and nutrition. Pharmaceutical measures of this patient were according to disease temperament and conditions including medicinal herbs, combination drugs, and modern blood sugar control drugs. The manual measures were utilized including full back cupping every night until the end of therapy and leech therapy inside and around the wound with six medium-to-fine-size leeches in 10 sessions once every three days. The diabetic foot ulcer healed completely, the patient's physical and mental states improved, and her blood sugar was controlled after 40 days of treatment.Conclusion: Given the patient's healing process, it seems that combining the modern and Iranian traditional medicine as ‘Iranian Effective Medicine’ can treat most of the common diseases, and it is essential to perform a wide range of assessments and studies in different diseases based on the teachings of medicine.

Background: Systemic Lupus Erythematosus is a kind of multi-system autoimmune disorder with unknown aetiology and it produces antibodies against various tissues.Case Presentation: The patient was a 44-year-old woman with a history of Systemic Lupus Erythematosus for approximately five years, along with underlying diseases including peptic ulcers, asthma, hypertension and diabetes in the past 10 years. The patient was referred to a traditional medicine clinic for counselling in July 2012 with a bad complaint related to Systemic Lupus Erythematosus in addition to relevant medical treatment complications. The patient was put under health and nutrition control after arrival at the traditional medicine clinic. In this case, pharmaceutical measures were taken according to the temperament and the disease status, and medicinal plants and combination drugs were applied. Manual actions, including cupping therapy, massage, Hijama and leech therapy, were used on the patient according to a compiled program. The pain and the disease symptoms completely disappeared, and clinical tests began for investigating the patient’s laboratory status after about three months. The first experiment indicated that the lupus and diabetes items were normalized, so that there were no more effects of clinical and laboratory symptoms of the diseases after six months and the patient did not take any chemical drug. Finally, during four years of patient follow-up from 2012 to 2016, the patient did not have any symptoms of lupus, diabetes, hypertension, asthma, headache and digestive problems; and all the tests were repeated and all the results came out normal in 2016.Conclusion: Given the patient’s recovery process with an approach to her physical power, mental status, blood sugar control, and significant recovery of her Systemic Lupus Erythematosus and underlying diseases, it seems that the combination of modern and traditional medicine can pave the way for curing most of the common diseases, and thus it is essential to conduct widespread assessments of different diseases based on the teachings of Iranian Effective Medicine.

Background: Venous ulcers are a major problem for patients with chronic venous disease (CVD) such as varicose veins. Its treatment is very complex and requires great care, such that inappropriate responses to various medical and surgical treatment could change this condition. This report aims to provide clinical experiences of Iranian traditional medicine that has been the most effective treatment in the shortest period of time.Case Presentation: Patient is an 85-year-old female with a known history of lower limb varicose for more than twenty five years and hyperlipidaemia, ischemic heart disease (IHD), headache, and fatty liver. She presented complains from severely infected venous ulcer of the right leg, inflamed with damaged skin, which is associated with weakness and fatigue. Patient has been hospitalized and undergone surgery as a result of femoral fractures caused by osteoporosis in right leg in 2015. Venous leg ulcers were observed two weeks prior to the visit. Leg amputation has been suggested for the treatment of foot ulcer by the respective specialist advice, but modern medicine has not started due to lack of patient's satisfaction. Patient has referred to the Ahmadiyyeh Health Center for treatment guided by an acquaintance. Patient has had two ulcers on the right foot with a diameter of 15 cm´ 7cm and 2´2cm. Due to clinical examination by traditional medicine doctors and based on Clinical-Etiology-Anatomy-Pathophysiology (CEAP) classification criteria for venous ulcer classification system, they were classified to be equivalent to basic CEAP: C6, S, Ep, a, Pn, respectively. Patient has been treated using health and nutritional measures of traditional medicine after visiting the clinic. Pharmaceutical measures for this case included medicinal herbs, and combinational drugs owing to the nature and condition of the illness. Manual therapies include massage therapy and leech therapy applied around the wound once in a day. After 60 days of treatment, patient's ulcer, physical and mental state had completely improved.Conclusion: Considering the recovery process of patient with the approach of physical force and mental state and a significant improvement in wound, it seems that traditional medicine can pave the way for the treatment of many common diseases while informed assessment of different diseases based on the teachings of traditional medicine seems necessary.

Background: Rosacea is a chronic inflammatory skin disease that affects 0.5–10% of the population. Common symptoms are redness and itching in the nose bridge area, especially cheeks. The cause is not completely understood but genetics, increased growth of bacteria in the small intestine, and increased activity of Demodex mites are considered responsible. There is no certain cure for it; however, oral antibiotics, including tetracycline and doxycycline, and topical medications including metronidazole gel and azelaic acid cream are effective in improving symptoms. Due to the chronicity of the disease, regular use of these drugs is associated with many complications. The complications of synthetic drugs and the lack of favourable outcome of the treatment have led to increasing prevalence of the treatment approach with traditional medicine.Case Presentation: The patient was a 62-year-old man who complained of redness and pustules on the face. During the illness, he visited numerous doctors, who, after diagnosing rosacea, had prescribed various drugs, but the patient did not consume any of these drugs. After following the dietary recommendations and using herbal medicines, noticeable improvement was achieved after two months.Conclusion: Considering the significant improvement in the patient’s condition after appropriate diet and appropriate use of herbal medicines, it seems that traditional medicinal therapies have great results in the treatment of rosacea.

Background: Atopic dermatitis is a common skin disease associated with chronic inflammation in the skin and itches and most patients have a positive family history of dermatitis. The major treatment of dermatitis, based on allopathic medicine, includes symptomatic treatment by oral antihistamines and topical or oral corticosteroids, which, in long-term, will cause various side effects. Iranian Traditional Medicine (ITM) have cited the treatment of various skin diseases like jarab that resembles the characteristics of dermatitis. The basics of Iranian Medical School, which include reduction of symptoms, treatment of disease-causing agents have also been considered, which leads to a longer period of disease-free period for the patients.Case Presentation: A 38-year-old female patient presented with more than 15 years of chronic dermatitis of the hands and feet with itchy areas on the skin (seen as dark spots). Various chemical treatments received by the patient had no acceptable satisfaction for the patient and symptoms relapsed after cessation of treatment. At admission to traditional medicine clinic, first, the patient was visited by a dermatologist, then complete history was taken, and after checking the disease symptoms, she received ITM on Setteh-e-Zarurieah, especially nutrition and treating the root cause of the disease. After two months of drug therapy, popular lesions were significantly reduced in this period and only occurred temporarily after hair removal. Itching was improved by>80% and dermatology life quality index (DLQI) declined from 10 to 1. Dark spots remained but became a little bit lighter which was satisfactory considering the long duration of the disease and the various chemical treatments received. After one year of follow up, there was no incidence of new lesions even without medication.Conclusion: Iranian traditional medicine focuses on treating the root cause of the disease using therapies with low side effects and considering nutrition and lifestyle modification in patients that can help with chronic skin diseases in reducing the symptoms and long disease-free period. According to the World Health organization's approach to increase usage of traditional medicines in treatment of diseases, further research is necessary in this area.

Background: Polycystic ovary syndrome and oligomenorrhea which is one of its complications are considered as the most common causes of menstrual disorders which increases the risk of depression and psychological effects complications. The prevalence of oligomenorrhea is predicted to be 12 to 15 percent. This syndrome occurs with symptoms such as obesity, impaired glucose metabolism, dysmenorrhea, oligomenorrhea and other symptoms. In addition, incidence of decreased libido, painful sexual intercourse and decreased libido are also observed in the patients concurrently which must be considered during the treatment.Case Presentation: The case is a 27 year old woman married 2 years ago without children, unprotected, housewife who has been referred to the clinic of traditional medicine in June 2016 with palpitation complaints, dizziness, extreme tiredness, poor sleep, fatigue, darkening of skin along with syncopal attacks. She was the candidate for standard treatment for depression with diagnosis of depression by a psychiatrist. Based on the history of the patient, she has experienced delayed period for up to three months, severe pain prior to and during menstruation, dyspareunia and fear of sexual intercourse, decreased libido and progressive lack of sexual satisfaction over the past two years. She suffered from epileptic attack every 7-10 days without falling resulting in organ and head damage. After taking history, medical tonic treatment of ovarian and treatment using sitz-bath and training for sexual intercourse were conducted simultaneously from the perceptive of modern and Iranian medicine and menstruation was regulated in the first three months and sexual intercourse gradually became possible in the next three months and patient experienced regular menstruation and complete sexual intercourse with sexual pleasure at the end of six months.Conclusion: Treatment of this patient by modification of her uterus and ovaries function, creation of menstrual regularity and possibility of sexual intercourse along with sexual pleasure based on sexual pleasure highlights the necessity of more attention to the connection between the different organs in the human body. A woman's uterus and femininity functions make her sick in the case of disorder, one of such is termed strangulation of uterus (Ekhtenagh in Persian) in Iranian medicine.

Background: Dysmenorrhea which means menstrual pain is the most common complaint in women and is one of the problems of health care. Iranian Traditional medicine (ITM) considers dysmenorrhea as Osre- Tams and Mentha Longifolia has been indicated as one of the plants that is effective for its treatment. The objective of this study is to evaluate the effect of Mentha Longifolia on patients with severe dysmenorrhea.Case Presentation: Ten female students with severe dysmenorrhea and cold and wet uterine temperament participated in the study. In this study, the pain intensity was evaluated in the first menstrual cycle without intervention. Thereafter, patients used Mentha Longifolia herbal tea for two consecutive cycles from two days before until the first three days of menstruation and pain intensity of both cycles was evaluated. Pain intensity of all patients was reduced at the end of the study. Pain intensity was reduced from severe to low in 9 patients and it reduced from severe to moderate in one patient. Moreover, there was no exclusion in this study and only one side effect was reported in the form of constipation and one case in the form of increasing bleeding.Conclusion: In this study, Mentha Longifolia reduced the severity of dysmenorrhea. One of the causes of Osre-Tams in ITM is the blood concentration of phlegm and black-bile. Based on ITM texts, Mentha Longifolia is an emenagouge and moshil of sauda. So, it increases menstrual blood flow and reduces menstrual pain. Results of this study confirm the principles of ITM and demonstrate that ITM can improve public health.

Background: Head lice infestation is a major global health challenge which greatly affects school-aged children. This infestation has different rate in different regions of Iran from 0.9% to 30%. In spite of the diversity of Pediculosis treatments, it still has a high prevalence in the country and it becomes regularly epidemic. In Iranian traditional medicine, "Squill vinegar" is one of the most effective medicines for the treatment of head lice. The objective of this report is the provision of an effective treatment for patients that are resistant to the treatment of head lice according to the perspective of traditional medicine in Iran.Case Presentation: Ten 12-14 year old female students with treatment-resistant head lice (based on National Lice Care Guideline (2015) used Squill vinegar locally for one week after using permethrin shampoo twice. Examinations were done on 2nd, 7th and 14th days. Two patients were excluded owing to lack of follow-up. Infestation was not observed in 4 patients in 7th and 14th days examinations. In two cases, infestation was significantly reduced (75%) in 7th and 14th days. In all cases, the itchiness was gone.Conclusion: Public interest, proper acceptance on the part of the patient, presence of scientific evidence, easier access and fewer side effects have made medicinal herbs to be the center of attention for many therapists. World Health Organization has also considered the research on medicinal plants with a long history of consumption to be allowed on humans with acceptance of specific directives and criteria. Accordingly, indigenous experiences including long-term use of the plants and "historical-cultural medicine" contexts can be considered as the starting point for such studies. This report stresses the effectiveness of Squill vinegar in the treatment of head Pediculosis resistant to treatment and recommends its implementation in school health units.