Inside Medicine. What Are You Seeing? [COVID-19 medical news]

Ivermectin at even a lower than normal dose was very hard to tolerate, in my experience.

1 Like

This is what I got out of that paper I read. A human world have had to literally take a horse dose.

1 Like

Thatā€™s a REALLY big leap. This is not even close to my area of expertise, but tiny similarities between organisms does not mean therapeutics designed to treat said organisms would defacto be effective. Youā€™d have to know the mechanism of action of each drug towards each pathogen. My strong suspicion is that they have nothing to do with those similarities.

I also find it deeply disheartening that a significant swath of the public, armed with Google and a few parroted buzz words feel like they can oneup men and women who have devoted years of their lives to deep study of these very complicated problems.

The internet has given people ā€˜doing their own researchā€™ the illusion of knowledge. To a degree, this includes me too. I do have a BS and a clinical degree. I have worked in many labs an been a sub-investigator in more than a dozen clinical trials, but most of this is way over my head. Very few of us can admit that anymore.

14 Likes

I agree. My PCP, before COVID, told me he was discouraged by this phenomenon. He got so fed up for this and other reasons that he quit to do something else. I feel for the professionals.

3 Likes

I canā€™t agree totally TBH. I had three doctors tell me what I was experiencing was stress after treatment for my brain tumor finished. I didnā€™t think so (hence three doctors). I looked online and pretty much pinpointed what I thought it was, printed it off, and took it to the last one (at JHU) and all she did was trash it telling me to stay off the internet. None of the doctors would even order a test I wanted just to see if I might be correct.

Fast forward 7 years and guess what. The problem (hearing my pulse) never went away and medical lad is pretty sure I might be correct having another patient with the exact same thing - except her doctor believed her. The type of brain tumor I have even puts me at higher risk for it. He wants me to go to her doctor (where he is) and get it checked out, esp since the death rate of this is about 10% annually and he thinks I might have already had a stroke from it not long ago (during Covid). The problem now is me. 7 years ago I wanted it gone and would have done pretty much anything. Now Iā€™ve learned to live with it and donā€™t want to get involved again, esp making regular trips 6 hours from home. Iā€™ve always known it could be lethal, so thatā€™s not much of a prod anymore. The whole thing just sā€“ks.

As another personal example, my mom had a deadly cancer. We stayed off the internet and followed her doctor. Toward the end I learned about a substance my sister saw on the internet that is widely used in other parts of the world (like Japan) as an addition to treatment from the beginning and had some good reports from places like the Mayo Clinic. WTH? I asked momā€™s doctor about it at her next appointment and she said something to the effect, ā€œOh yes, some of my patients use that. It might help and does no harm.ā€ Why did she NEVER mention it to us? Who knows if it could have helped my mom have a couple more decent months to enjoy things like her grandsonā€™s wedding (that she just missed).

Use the internet - just use it wisely. Donā€™t look for the snake oil salesman making money off his/her great product even if there is an MD or PhD after their name. Look at sites like Mayo or Harvard to see what they have to say. I debunked far more things people suggested for mom than the one I wish I had known about for her to consider.

Doctors arenā€™t perfect. Theyā€™re human. To this day no one has been able to explain why three different doctors wouldnā€™t even order a single test to see if what I thought was accurate back when I had medical issues. Our family made jokes about it. I recall posting about it on here too. The best answer we can come up with is the first one (not JHU) posted his thoughts, then the other two read them and just agreed that in front of them was merely a stressed out middle aged woman. ā€œWhat can we do to help you ease your stress?ā€ was asked more than once. (One test would have done it - had I been wrong, then so be it.) If I were a man we all think it would have gone differently.

6 Likes

ps The key to know about Ivermectin is to look at the double blind studies. Since most people recover from Covid anyway, anecdotes donā€™t show anything. The studies promoted by the ā€œproā€ side have been genuinely discredited and a major one was even withdrawn. I recall reading about it from a link someone had posted either on here or the vaccine reluctance thread. If someone kept it, perhaps it could be reposted for readers to consider? Not all studies are good studies and the handful of positive ones (vs the double blind negative ones) really did have serious flaws in them.

1 Like

And often seeing too many patients, with too little time to listen, consider nuance, and often, just adequately explain things.

The problem with using the internet wisely is that most of us donā€™t have the foundational wisdom to do that. We canā€™t deeply understand most of what weā€™re reading, let alone vet its validity. Weā€™re prone to association and affirmation.

5 Likes

The Internet has helped guide us through many health problems. I believe we do use it wisely but always check with docs, and sometimes yes, bring ideas to the doc, but presented diplomatically :slight_smile:

@Creekland PMā€™ing you about what sounds like pulsatile tinnitus.

3 Likes

I agree, but the bigger problem can come when itā€™s totally dismissed putting oneā€™s health and life into other peopleā€™s hands when those other people donā€™t have nearly the concern for them. For doctors, itā€™s a job. For the individual, itā€™s a life.

My life has been seriously affected by two bad doctor judgments now - the first being when I was kicked out of the AF (medical discharge) for having asthma - except they never tested for asthma, they tested for exercise induced asthma which I donā€™t have, then concluded I must have asthma without testing for it. I was too young then to know to get a second opinion.

No doctor since has even remotely thought I have asthma and one of the last ones tested for it just to be sure. Nope. Nor had I ever done a test like they did. When I asked if it was a ā€œnewā€ test they said no. Theyā€™ve been doing the same thing for eons. When I told them what test I did (treadmill et al) they reasoned backward to what likely happened.

A life trajectory totally changed based on a mistake. That was fun having to deal with mentally when I found out.

The internet wasnā€™t really around back then to be of assistance. It was there, but it was still at that pay per minute of use period.

1 Like

I think @Creeklandā€™s son is worried that her pulsatile tinnitus is caused by a vascular stenosis or fistula. MRI/MRA would go a long way in ruling that out. The question is, if itā€™s equivocal or negative, how far down the rabbit hole do you go, especially considering the morbidity and mortality rate of cerebral angiography.

I think this is the biggest problem with medicine right now. Everyone has their hammer and all they want to do is turn everything into nails. Listening, understanding nuance, and taking the time to explain diagnoses completely is becoming a lost art.

6 Likes

Agreed on both - just answered @compmom about the whole fistula thing.

Fortunately my medical lad has learned from my (horrid) experience and is pretty darn good at the latter getting a bit of praise from patients. Heā€™s definitely my ā€œgo to consultantā€ now and will be even more once he has more experience.

But stillā€¦ enough with my issues and back to regularly scheduled programming.

If using the internet for Covid, use it correctly - checking reputable sources. Those arenā€™t political or FB or ā€œmy friend saidā€ sources. Thereā€™s a lot unknown about Covid, but thereā€™s a lot known too. Ivermectin has not worked in double blind tests. Vaccines have worked.

4 Likes

My kid had a fistula from the healing process of blood vessels after a serious brain injury and had the cerebral angiography. They put coils into blood vessels and she has been fine. Her choice to do it

3 Likes

https://www.thelancet.com/journals/langlo/article/PIIS2214-109X(21)00448-4/fulltext

Otherwise known as Luvox.

I think women often have to resort to the internet for medical research because our complaints are too often attributed to stress or pms. My doctor is very good about following up with patient concerns, but not all of them are.

8 Likes

Isnā€™t that a description of specialists? Meanwhile, they leave primary care (and emergency) physicians to have to know about everything possible, which may be a hard thing to do with respect to rare diseases and conditions.

1 Like

Too many of us for sure, but not the good ones. I learned a lesson from my Dadā€¦ā€œlisten to your patients.ā€ Itā€™s embarrassing how many times Iā€™ve figured out things misdiagnosed or ignored by other doctors. Usually thereā€™s some relation to the eye, but not always. I canā€™t tell you how many patients Iā€™ve seen because they fell on their face and no one asked them how it happened. They return after I get the wheels turning to get their carotids addressed (drop attack is a particularly violent form of TIA). Your optometrist shouldnā€™t be the one relied on to figure out such things. :rofl:

5 Likes

Fluvoxamine is Luvox.
Prozac is Fluoxetine.

Fluvoxamine is the one showing efficacy against Covid.

2 Likes

I was just coming on to correct my post! A site that I googled earlier had it wrong :slight_smile:
They are apparently going to test flouxetine at some point due to similarity. (Editing previous post.)

I guess it makes sense. SSRIs and SNRIs are cytokine inhibiters. Whoā€™da thunk it. :rofl:

1 Like