Including the approved use for arizromycin, chloroquine, and hydroxychloroquine
You know what else was fast tracked by whatever mechanisms existed at the time due to critical needs ? Insulin.
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5 months. After 2 years of clinical trials by Lilly.
Ok… don’t take it then. I give up. Or just wait for 5 years until a drug that’s been taken for 60 years all over the world is studied to your satisfaction.
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Doesn’t seem like critical need was the driving force behind the approval but i might have misread it.
We are all going to get covid eventually. And until a vaccine is developed (12 a 18 months) I plan on making sure i follow the scientific guidance to avoid getting it.
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I was prescribed it for Lupus many years ago. I declined to take it though as I was afraid of getting eye damage, knowing I already had eye complication potential from T1D.
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As a clinician, I practice evidence based medicine. There are currently no double blinded control research studies that indicate efficacy of chloroquine or hydroxychloroquine as a treatment for Covid-19. Until that time, I would NOT take these medications as they can be very toxic.Do not trust anecdotal accounts or the idiocy coming from certain individuals who do not understand anything about medicine and practicing evidence based medicine. Dr. Fauci and Dr. Birx are brilliant scientists and researchers who manage public health around the world. Listen to their recommendations.
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Then your colleagues have practiced irresponsible medicine for many, many years by commonly prescribing a very toxic drug (your words) as a prophalactic for malaria when traveling or living abroad.
I lived in malaria-infected areas for years in the 60s and early 70s. This was given to us along with thorough briefings on the dangers of the drugs and warnings about symptoms that we should watch and immediately see a doctor about.
When you are likely to get malaria, a possibly dangerous drug is a fair exchange of risk. Let’s not trivialize these drugs.
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Yeah let’s not trivialize Zithromax either, which “evidence based clinicians” have been using essentially as a placebo millions of times a year in this country for things it’s not indicated for also
Now we’re real concerned about the risks all of a sudden
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I wouldn’t say we are worried about risks all of a sudden. Everything that is done is medicine is a risk vs reward. When the reward is big enough the risks become worth it, and any physician worth their salts weighs these items, at some level makes the patient aware of them and treatment is commenced. It is highly problematic in my opinion to take drugs when the reward hasn’t been sufficiently defined since the risks are still there. I have seen a number of patients who underwent cardiac procedures that were a bit ill defined and ended up with horrible complications. Made me sad every time.
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Nobody was concerned about their risks before last week. For anything.
Whenever there was any thought that they might have been benecial, even potentially, worldwide, these meds have been widely prescribed without hesitation; for decades
Now there’s a significant possibility that they may be immediately lifesaving, and oh no… big red flag
I guess we will just have to agree to disagree. No problem or ill feelings intended.
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I wouldn’t trivialize any prescription drug, as none, including insulin, are free of potential side effects. It’s always a risk/reward decision. And often that decision isn’t easy. Believe me, I know as I have taken immune system modifying drugs for 22 years, and many of those decisions have been difficult.
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@Chris
I don’t know about you, but I think that if I was intubated and seriously ill with Covid-19, I would be willing to try the hydroxychloroquine protocol (which by the way has been published by China and South Korea). Especially having taken it before. My risk/reward analysis would say the potential reward is worth the risk.
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Of course, but then your reward would be much higher. I was specifically speaking to much of this thread that was focused on prophylactic use. I should have made myself more clear.
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I’d take it the first sniffle, sign of fever, or sore throat.
Like I said we always took it when just passing through ports in west Africa for a few days at a time, it was no big deal and still isn’t, except now just might save life
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Agree with @Chris.
Now, all, please lower the temperature in this thread. This is a diabetes forum, not a political one.
Nobody to my understanding has suggested it for prophylactic use (although it used by millions every day for that re malaria) but for first-line treatments covid19. At least that’s how I’ve read this discussion and the angle from which my comments come