Mr. Trump continues to push the use of hydroxy-chloroquine as a treatment for, or preventative from COVID-19. He often follows the recommendation with “why not take It, what could it hurt?”
Well, Mr. Trump, it could hurt in many ways. Here are a few:
SIDE EFFECTS:
There are multiple recorded side effects associated with oral administration of hydroxy-chloroquine.
Severe side effects:
Cardiomyopathy which can result in fatal cardiac failure
Biventricular hypertrophy (hardening of both of the large chambers in your heart, reducing heart function)
Pigment changes in skin and mucous membranes
Bleaching of hair, and Alopecia (loss of hair)
Nausea and abdominal pain, Diarrhea, vomiting
Abnormal liver function tests including liver failure
Low blood sugar
Porphyria (a loss of the ability to make red blood cells)
Muscle disease leading to progressive weakness and atrophy of muscles
Abnormal nerve conduction studies
Nerve deafness, Ataxia (loss of muscle control)
Hearing loss, Tinnitus (ringing in your ears) Blurred vision
Headache, Dizziness, Seizure, Vertigo (loss of a sense of balance)
OVERDOSE
Most people who self-medicate, even if they have uninformed medical advice, may take dosages higher than recommended
These overdoes can cause very severe problems including:
Life-threatening low blood pressure
Nerve conduction problems
Life-threatening low levels of potassium in the blood.
Here is just one example: After overdosing on hydroxy-chloroquine, a 64-year-old woman presented in an ER with an acute headache, tinnitus in both ears, and numbness and tingling in the face. By the next morning, there was worse tingling that spread to her left arm, thigh, hands and feet. The patient also complained of blurred vision and vertigo. Despite hospitalization and treatment, the patient had no improvement in her tinnitus, the tingling in her hands and feet, visual disturbance or neural problems, resulting in permanent nerve damage.
WASTING RESOURCES
All of those people who have severe side effects or life-threatening reactions to overdoses will need to be hospitalized, taking up bed space, physician time, equipment and resources that need to be reserved for COVID-19 patients.
SHORTAGES FOR THOSE PEOPLE WHO NEED THE DRUG
Hydroxy-chloroquine is successful for malaria.
Is malaria a virus? NO. it is a parasite. To compare such a parasite to a virus is like comparing a rhinoceros to a toaster. The two are completely different and effects on one are irrelevant to any effects on the other.
Hydroxy-chloroquine is successful in some case for Lupus.
Is Lupus a virus? NO. It is an autoimmune disease unassociated with ANY infectious agent.
Hydroxy-chloroquine is successful in some cases with arthritis.
Is arthritis a virus? NO. it is a degenerative disease with hints of autoimmunity.
WASTING IMPORTANT CLINICAL TRIALS.
Because Mr. Trump wants to do down in history as being prescient in recommending a “miracle cure”, he has used the power of his position to promote this drug to the public, initiating a tremendous push to propel doctors to prescribe this to their patients.
More troubling is the announcement of several clinical trials of this drug at major hospitals around the country. So, what is the problem with this? There is virtually no evidence that this drug can have any effect, but we are now wasting money (not that important), academic research time (VERY important), and groups of patients that could be used for more important studies (VERY VERY important). Rather than study potentially useful drugs like remdesivir, or some of the interesting ACE2 inhibitors or ARBs, we are wasting precious time and resources on chasing a red herring.
So, what could it hurt? Actually, quite a lot.