Korean Medicine Treatment for Dyspepsia and Constipation in a Patient with HIV: A Case Report

Abstract

Functional dyspepsia (FD) is a chronic and recurrent upper gastrointestinal symptom that has no organic cause. A 49-year-old male patient positive for human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) visited the clinic because of FD and constipation. He received complex Korean medicine treatment, including acupuncture and herbal medicines, from April 14 to July 18, 2022 (27 times) in the outpatient department. Gastrointestinal Symptom Rating Scale (GSRS), Nepean Dyspepsia Index (NDI), FD-related quality of life (FD-QoL), Euro QoL visual analog scale (EQ-VAS), and Numerical Rating Scale (NRS) were used as evaluation tools in this study. Symptoms were relieved after 3 months of treatment, and his QoL improved (GSRS, 15–3; NDI, 110–21; FD-QoL, 52–20 [eating status, 10–3; liveliness status, 12–8; psychological, 1–0; role-functioning status, 18–9]; EQ-VAS, 40–65; NRS, 8–4). The results revealed that complex Korean medicine treatment could alleviate FD and constipation in patients with HIV.

Keywords

• acupuncture
• dyspepsia
• herbal medicine
• hiv
• medicine
• korean traditional