Encouraged by right-wing doctor groups, desperate patients turn to ivermectin for long Covid

[Nevilledog]

https://www.statnews.com/2022/07/26/ivermectin-has-become-a-popular-treatment-for-long-covid-with-a-push-from-doctors-with-ties-to-right-wing-political-groups/

Almost two years have passed since Dean Fritzemeier fell ill with Covid in October 2020. As the rest of the world moves on, shrugging off new variants and traveling with a vengeance, he remains trapped in a life weighed down by the virus. Fritzemeier is always tired, but can’t sleep. The 52-year-old once walked 7 miles a day, but now can only get outside if he’s pushed in a wheelchair.

Along with millions of others, the Michigan resident has long Covid. He’s sought treatment at a rehab hospital and traveled to the Mayo Clinic in Minnesota, one of dozens of U.S. hospitals that have created programs to treat the still-mysterious syndrome. Nothing has helped. Out of desperation, he turned to an unproven remedy. Fritzemeier’s wife, Karen, heard about ivermectin from a cousin. “She said these people have the answers and the government is trying to kill us,” said Karen. “I didn’t believe all that. I just wanted to try something we had heard helped.”

They’re hardly alone. A horse dewormer and treatment for some human parasites, ivermectin was initially promoted, despite the lack of research, as a way to treat or prevent Covid infections. Now it is increasingly being marketed for long Covid, pushed by physicians with ties to political groups spreading anti-vaccine and anti-science messaging. There’s no credible evidence that supports ivermectin’s use for this purpose, and doctors at long-hauler clinics say they frequently see patients who’ve tried the drug without relief. But anecdotes of ivermectin working as a miracle cure swirl around social media, repeatedly referenced on Facebook groups for people suffering from long Covid.

One patient posted that he started to feel better within two days of taking ivermectin. “Don’t believe all the media lies. It’s been around for many many years,” he wrote, adding that Big Pharma dismissed the drug because it’s cheap. Another patient said it cured her long-hauler symptoms in 24 hours. Though Karen Fritzemeier once worked as a respiratory therapist, is trained to weigh medical evidence, and knows to be skeptical of such anecdotes, she said for patients at a loss for treatment, it’s hard to resist these personal stories.

*snip*


All these quacks need to have their licenses pulled. Bunch of fucking ghouls.

[ret5hd]

1. "...because it's cheap."

How much cheaper do ya’ want than a free VACCINE and not get Covid at all? You f’n idiots.

[Ms. Toad]

6. You don't really think Big Pharma is giving the vaccine away, do you?

Big Pharma dismissed the drug because it’s cheap

Cheap does't refer to the price paid by the patients. It refers to how much Big Pharma can make by selling the drugs (to patients or to the government to provide to patients for free)

[ret5hd]

9. I'm not ignorant...

of course what you say is correct.

But that doesn’t negate the fact they are paying for a “cure” that they could have avoided for free.

[Ms. Toad]

10. Absolutely.

You just seemed to be responding to the comment in the article, which wasn't about the cost to patients.

[SheltieLover]

2. Yup. Pull licenses.

Freaks!

[Walleye]

3. Sounds like Dr. Oz, quack for US Senate.

[texasfiddler]

4. Unvaccinated Right Wingers were dropping like flies

In our area for about a year. I had mixed feelings about my feelings about it. At least a lot of them died worm free.

[Sky Jewels]

8. They died worm free but ultimately became worm food.

[OneBro]

5. Poetic irony.

There are people ingesting sheep dewormer while calling mask wearers and vaccinated people . . . sheep.

‘Merica! Fuck yea!

[AllaN01Bear]

7. donnie ding dong promoted it.

[Hermit-The-Prog]

11. Sure, get medical advice from the same kooks who said covid was a hoax.

[Celerity]

12. paste up bellends!