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Don’t Self-Medicate! Leave Experimental COVID Treatments to your Doctor
Yes, I get it. COVID is kind of scary, especially if you or somebody you care about is in a higher risk group. But there’s a growing problem: People taking candidate COVID drugs without medical supervision. There are two particular drugs that are causing problems.
Chloroquine and Hydroxychloroquine
This is Donald Trump’s pet candidate drug. There was some early evidence that a combination of chloroquine or hydroxychloroquine could help COVID patients in combination with another drug, azithromycin. More recent trials, however, have shown little benefit and one Swiss hospital has stopped using it because of severe side effects.
Trump, however, keeps touting the drug as a gamechanger. This has resulted in at least one person drinking fish-tank cleaner (no kidding) containing the chemical in an attempt to self-medicate.
First of all, don’t drink fish tank cleaner!
Second of all, chloroquine has a number of side effects, some of which can be serious. It’s also contraindicated for people with heart problems; and heart problems are a strong risk factor for severe illness. It’s also possible COVID-19 itself may cause or worsen heart problems.