At this point, it seems like getting a CV test is irrelevant.

Monitor your symptoms. It appears that they are only taking people into the hospital that need to be put on oxygen or on a ventilator. Otherwise, even with a positive test, the patient will be sent home to self-isolate and ride it out.

If you have the CV Virus, but can't prove it with a test, how can you go about getting hydrochloroquine and a Z-pak? This seems like it would greatly help those that are trying to ride it out get better faster and perhaps help keep them from getting worse to the point that they NEED oxygen and/or a ventilator. No?

90% of tests are negative despite symptoms they have. Way too many would be taking it for no reason, dwindling supplies for those that do.

Not sure but people with auto immune diseases and arthritis are not able to get medications that have been proven to help them. Seems these "maybe they work" meds should be reserved for people established on them for their real purposes and those in danger of losing their lives with no other options.

I bet you can go to mexico and get it. Probably take in a donkey show while you are there.

barney94 said:

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Interested in doctor response here too.

I think the answer is going to be that they don't have enough supply for that type of use.

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I think it's a really bad idea, for multiple reasons. First, we have nothing even remotely resembling adequate efficacy data. Second, Plaquenil is very much NOT a benign drug. Third, we are already straining supply and those with conditions which we actually do know the drug works for (like lupus and RA) are having a hard time getting their medication. Fourth, these drugs in combination are very high risk for anyone with diagnosed or undiagnosed underlying heart conditions.

Physicians (most with little to not experience prescribing this) calling this in for patients on the basis of symptoms, or patients obtaining these drugs elsewhere, is incredibly problematic.

This is from another forum:

Quote:

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Anecdotally from what ER and critical care docs have told me...

Works great if you give it early with only cough and fever

But once you come in sick as **** with ARDS the damage is already done and you just have to wait it out.

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And if this is accurate, then you can see the problem!

If we are not going to give it to the people until they are too far gone, then it is not going to be used in the most efficient way...

That's why data is so important. The vast majority of cases are going to be mild. So to say that if you give it early when its only a cough and fever and it works great does not actually speak to the efficacy of the treatment, in all likelihood the patient would have been fine anyway. There is no data to suggest that hcq+azithro improves mortality/morbidity.

The only peer reviewed study thus far that I am aware of threw out any patients that died while on the treatment or went to the ICU. This was 4 of the 26 patients.

Our current practice is to only give this if the patient is positive and meeting inpatient criteria

TurkeyBaconLeg said:

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This is from another forum:

Quote:

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Anecdotally from what ER and critical care docs have told me...

Works great if you give it early with only cough and fever

But once you come in sick as **** with ARDS the damage is already done and you just have to wait it out.

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And if this is accurate, then you can see the problem!

If we are not going to give it to the people until they are too far gone, then it is not going to be used in the most efficient way...

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The majority of people that get admitted to the hospital for this never develop moderate to severe ARDS and never get intubated.

Plaquenil (WITHOUT azithromycin in my humble opinion) should be administered to very symptomatic patients
who test positive, require hospital admission and only after a discussion of the risks/benefits with the patient. The patient should also receive a thorough lab workup and an ECG beforehand.

This is NOT a medication I would ever start on an outpatient basis for a condition for which very minimal efficacy data exists.

BCO07 said:

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Our current practice is to only give this if the patient is positive an meeting inpatient criteria

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Ours as well, and those of us in the ID and pulm departments pushed hard for this.

Even offering the medication to patients without a confirmed diagnosis or symptoms so mild they don't feel the need to even come to the ER is grossly irresponsible IMO.

I have never seen a medicine so politicized. It's really unbelievable. The media is slamming this medication as worthless ever chance they get, but doctors are still using and people appear to be getting better. I don't mean to politicize this but it appears that I t already has Been. It would have been interesting to see the response had it been Obama that touted the medicine - at a minimum he wouldn't have been blamed for the old people dying for drinking aquarium cleaner.

Also, I really think there is an element in this country (and on this forum) that really want to see the world burn or are just so negative that it clouds any objectivity.

That said, politics aside, it will either work or it won't work.

Also, I don't think people will die overnight if they cannot get their RA or lupus treatment. These are chronic conditions that rob you of life over years. The companies see an opportunity to make money and they will start making this stuff quickly.

Lastly, I particularly love how people can on one hand say "the people with RA or lupus need this safe life saving drug," but on the other hand say "this drug is very dangerous."

We absolutely need common sense!! We're not going to get it from the doomsayers or the TP hoarders.

queso said:

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Lastly, I particularly love how people can on one hand say "the people with RA or lupus need this safe life saving drug," but on the other hand say "this drug is very dangerous."

We absolutely need common sense!! We're not going to get it from the doomsayers or the TP hoarders.

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It isnt "very dangerous", but it is a medication with multiple well known potential deleterious effects that have to be weighed against the potential benefit.

In several autoimmune diseases, we KNOW based on mountains of data over decades that it works. For COVID19, we really have no idea yet. The potential benefit may outweigh the risk in individuals with more serious disease, but at this point there is simply no objective scientific argument that this is true with mild disease.

And common sense rarely applies to medicine, where many concepts are decidedly uncommon and counter-intuitive.

queso1 said:

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I have never seen a medicine so politicized. It's really unbelievable. The media is slamming this medication as worthless ever chance they get, but doctors are still using and people appear to be getting better. I don't mean to politicize this but it appears that I t already has Been. It would have been interesting to see the response had it been Obama that touted the medicine - at a minimum he wouldn't have been blamed for the old people dying for drinking aquarium cleaner.

Also, I really think there is an element in this country (and on this forum) that really want to see the world burn or are just so negative that it clouds any objectivity.

That said, politics aside, it will either work or it won't work.

Also, I don't think people will die overnight if they cannot get their RA or lupus treatment. These are chronic conditions that rob you of life over years. The companies see an opportunity to make money and they will start making this stuff quickly.

Lastly, I particularly love how people can on one hand say "the people with RA or lupus need this safe life saving drug," but on the other hand say "this drug is very dangerous."

We absolutely need common sense!! We're not going to get it from the doomsayers or the TP hoarders.

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Take your conspiracies to the Politics board

Where's the conspiracy? I didn't say anything about a conspiracy? All I said was about the media.