Anti-inflammatory drugs and COVID

https://www.google.com/amp/s/amp.th...ise-nhs-advice-to-take-ibuprofen-for-covid-19

 

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/m/pubmed/28158479/

 

I heard the head of the doctors' union in France speak on national news the other night in Paris, in French about the 4 young men who had serious cases of the virus and were very young men.

The only thing that those 4 had in common was that they had taken ibuprofen for fever reduction early in the course of their coronavirus onset of symptoms.

I think it is best not to use anything and let the fever bring on your immune system, but if you very uncomfortable, take paracetamol (tylenol). And that's my old RN POV

 

I posted a thread asking about the poor fever response that many PwME get. It got moved into another thread by the mods and has no replies, so again am wondering: is this another thing that will work against us ? We need the high temp to fight it, but do not develop the high temp - is there a way to artificially heat ourselves up as it were ?

 

How many took ibprufen and it didn't affect the course of their illness? Tens of thousands? I have trouble believing a small dose of advil could do that. Seems like it was the most obvious thing amongst these 4 men but there may well have been a more nuanced factor or simply random clustering looking significant.

 

I think NSAIDs can have some effects on people. With asthma and With stomach issues. It could possibly have an effect on lungs.

because of what I’ve heard from France, I would rather be careful and have told those around me not to take Ibuprofen. I don’t take it anyway due to side effects.

 

A message from Dickson chemist - they supply LDN in the UK, but there is advice in here about taking NSAIDs too:

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COVID-19 and Low Dose Naltrexone.
Please stop panicking.
We are receiving very high call volumes, so ask all patients not to email us or call us unless they urgently need LDN or related medicines supplied. This email is intended to answer the majority of questions. For further updates, please follow "Dickson Chemist" on Facebook.

Every additional call that we answer, or email that we have to reply to asking the same question, further delays our ability to continue to maintain a safe and expedient supply chain. We understand that everyone is concerned, especially with the vulnerable groups we supply LDN and other medicines to. We also understand that a large movement has formed on social media - and would advise those who have made comments on the use of LDN with COVID to remove those comments from social media with immediate effect. This will help calm the unnecessary panic we are seeing today.

• We have enough LDN liquid / sublingual for 12 months minimum. This isn't going to run out.
• There is no reason to expect Royal Mail to completely fall apart either, so please do not call us and ask for 6 months of LDN "just in case".
• We have no interruption in the capsule supply chain at this point, and our suppliers are taking extreme measures to continue to supply us with these.
• We will be pushing forward with automatic dispensing, for all patients who are on automatic with us - if you are not on automatic and normally call us to pay - or pay online - we recommend going onto automatic. (This is not new advice.)
• Doing this enables us to be one to two weeks ahead of your dispensing needs should one or more of our staff need to isolate due to COVID-19.
• If you pay online through your account, please note there is currently a 7-10 day lag due to the number of outstanding requests for double and triple supplies. Do call us if you paid online and are running out. Be prepared for a short wait on the phone, we are all in - it's just busy.

ANTI-INFLAMMATORIES & LDN & COVID-19

• There was some "fake news" from the Health and Safety Executive in Ireland - saying Ibuprofen and associated NSAIDS could be harmful in COVID-19. This was proven to be malicious and untrue. The information did not come from the government or the doctor named. SEE HERE
• The French health minister made a comment about not using Ibuprofen to treat fever or suspected COVID-19. This may have been in response to seeing this fabricated advice message from Ireland - and not based on any empirical evidence.
• Neither Italy nor China has reported problems with Ibuprofen in COVID-19 - suggesting to the UK NHS that a trend would have been spotted by now. This may be subject to change as we see more cases hospitalised in the UK.
• The comments made by the French health minister on social media have been embellished and expanded vastly beyond their value by the media and should be ignored in their entirety. SEE HERE
• The actual advice was really quite sensible if you don't take NSAIDS(Ibuprofen etc) regularly - then choose paracetamol first if you need something to make you feel better. This is good advice at all times!
• There *IS* advice on not using Ibuprofen in children with chickenpox, as it may cause complications. This is a very different scenario and a totally different mechanism.

SHOULD I STOP TAKING LDN?

• People are calling worried that dampening down inflammation may make them sicker.
• People are calling asking if they should stop LDN - just in case, not sure why, but worried having read some of the social media storms.
• People are calling asking to be STARTED on LDN to prevent COVID-19 (no we will not prescribe or dispense for this).

The basic answer is, there is no advice specifically regarding LDN.

There is no reason it would make your condition worse if you were to get COVID-19.

There is also no reason it will make you more likely to get COVID-19.

There has been a lot of discussion in the LDN healthcare professionals groups about using LDN as an adjunct to help treat people with severe COVID-19 as it may help reduce the severity of something called a Cytokine Storm (the main reason why people with COVID-19 die).

WHAT ABOUT MY OTHER DRUGS! I'm on Immunosuppressants!

• The reason why people are on immunosuppressants varies wildly.
• Generally being on an immunosuppressant will increase your risk of catching any infection, and patients on these will already know this.
• Do not stop taking these drugs unless on medical advice! Instead practice good hygiene, social isolation and follow the latest government advice on gatherings.

The best thing you can do is to stay calm, don't perpetuate panic - especially on social media - and make sure you have some support in place to do shopping / errands if you have to isolate yourself for a while.






Copyright © 2020 Dickson Chemist, All rights reserved.

 

However, this from Science Media Centre: https://www.sciencemediacentre.org/...-covid-19-rather-than-ibuprofen-or-cortisone/

And BMJ: https://www.bmj.com/content/368/bmj.m1086

 

Just reported on SkyNews - apparently NHS official advice is, for Covid 19, take paracetamol not ibuprofen unless otherwise advised by a doctor.

 

This is just for interest - I'm definitely NOT recommending this, so please don't try it at home!

In people who are otherwise healthy but have a fever drinking plenty of water can reduce the fever. I wonder if cutting back on liquid intake would create a higher fever in someone who was ill?

My husband annoys me terribly whenever he is ill. He refuses to drink anything much at all. And his temperature always spikes 2 degrees F higher than mine if we ever have the same illness at the same time. I am convinced that him refusing to drink much is at least partly the cause of his higher fevers. (I'm hypothyroid and that also keeps my temperature lower than his all the time not just when he is ill.)

 

I used to use not drinking anything as a way of remaining at least partially functional when ill - the reason was simple - if I drank then there was liquid to make flem, and if there was flem then I choked and couldn't stop coughing. The drier I got the less I coughed, the choking fits stopped, and, although weak, I could still function.

So I didn't drink.

Just negative reinforcement in action, everytime I drank I couldn't stop coughing, so not drinking was re enforced as otherwise I was out of action and helpless.

Probably not advisable - but things like doctors rarely occur to me, and on the few times I tried them back then they were useless, so I used to handle everything myself.

 

If you need it seek medical advice. ALL NSAIDs may be dangerous in a viral attack, they ALL suppress the immune system, as do cortisol style treatments.

 

My father has a regular flu and was hospitalized last weekend partly because he barely drank anything. I wouldn't recommend it. Uncle had the same last year, hospitalized because of dehydration while being sick.