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Cheap antidepressant shows promise treating early Covid-19

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Re: Cheap antidepressant shows promise treating early Covid-19

#211
Covid news is propaganda. I suggest you all pick up a book on empathy on how to talk to marginalized communities that have dealt with state backed violence for decades.

By participating in and distributing "covid news" you are perpetuating a harmful atmosphere to those attacked by the state.

Trigger words include "covid", "covid-19", "masking", "vaccine mandate", "vaccine", "mask mandate", "lockdown", "stay at home orders" and more.

Please exclude this harmful language from your vocabulary and please stop distributing "covid news" on hacker news.

Re: Cheap antidepressant shows promise treating early Covid-19

#212
post #37

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It would depend greatly on their age, I would posit for that those over 65, any drug that killed less than 10% of the people who took it would be acceptable. Vaccines are part of a broader political debate, the problem in politics is people are picking sides. It's very rare to run into a person who doesn't support the vaccine mandates but did get vaccinated. People are generally either anti-vax & anti-mandate, or vac…

It's very rare to run into a person who doesn't support the vaccine mandates but did get vaccinated. Or it's very rare for them to say so in the presence of fear mobs. Mixed opinions are far more common than their (in)visibility would suggest.

This matches my experience. Ive recently been more open about science-based (to the extent i can as a layperson) perspectives that dont fit neatly into the binary news representation(s), and discovered many more nuanced perspectives than the internet would have you beleive.

Re: Cheap antidepressant shows promise treating early Covid-19

#213
post #47

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I hope this isn't attacked, because this isn't an "alternative" drug. Things move from "alternative medicine" to being "medicine" when people do good, peer-reviewed science to actually study the effects and find them to be effective. "Alternative medicine" like ivermectine or hydroxychloroquine have no scientific, properly studied basis for being used.

Things go from “under investigation” medicine to medicine once good peer reviewed science shows them to be effective. If the peer reviewed research shows them to not be effective, and if snake oil salesmen figure out a business model to fleece people with it, that’s when it becomes “alternative” medicine.

I am somewhat curious how many products used in scams were not actually scams themselves. Meaning, the molecule had benefits but the people pushing it were shady and deceptive exaggerating claims of beneifts so now people psychologically associate the word with a scam or quackery. I ask this as someone that consumes Krill Oil, Coconut Oil, Oregano Oil and misc other oils.

Perhaps Snake Oil [1] is worth a study or two.

[1] - https://www.organicfacts.net/health-benefits/oils/snake-oil....

Re: Cheap antidepressant shows promise treating early Covid-19

#214
post #142

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> It doesn't look like it works, though there is some possibility it will, but we'll only know when the Oxford trial is complete. Given the knowledge we have today, it just isn't a therapy for COVID. There's a big trial ongoing, and the rest of the evidence is mixed. You can't say that "it doesn't look like it works"...we just don't know. I personally put the prior probability of any intervention working for any illn…

"and the rest of the evidence is mixed." That means it (probably) doesn't work. They've given Ivermectin to a lot of people by now - if it was a solution, then it would stand out. The Oxford trial will give us a better answer but I'm doubtful.

No, it doesn't. That's a leap to a conclusion. Why not just stop doing that, and wait for the data?

Re: Cheap antidepressant shows promise treating early Covid-19

#216

Earlier quoted context omitted.

>There is a case of a woman whose condition deteriorated rapidly after having consumed some common herbs and died within a day or two. I think she had MS. I'm so, so glad I can finally downvote friend-of-a-friend rumourmongering like this. Maybe this is something legitimate, but handwaving an entire anecdote on a forum like this, with no definite information except "a case" involving "a woman" and her "condition", is…

I am too lazy to look for it. It is on PubMed. In any case, there are many cases of n=1 on HN. Plus, it is not unheard of that immunostimulants may be quite harmful for people with an autoimmune disorder, say, MS. I merely mentioned this case because it is an odd one. She was fine. She took some herbs, and her condition worsened until she died like a day after. I will never forget it. Too bad I cannot seem to find it…

>In any case, there are many cases of n=1 on HN. Plus, it is not unheard of that immunostimulants may be quite harmful for people with an autoimmune disorder, say, MS.

That's not the point! Perhaps it is on PubMed, but with the FUD-like "information" you've provided it's just a scary rumour about "herbs", and entirely unhelpful. Is MS even the illness at issue? Should people with that illness avoid cilantro? Milk thistle? Oregano?

>I will never forget it.

You have not remembered it!

Re: Cheap antidepressant shows promise treating early Covid-19

#217

Earlier quoted context omitted.

No. It's called p-hacking, and it's a sleazy way to get published. https://youtu.be/42QuXLucH3Q

This is not p-hacking. p-hacking is when you don't pre-register your hypothesis and you hunt for ones which hit .05 after the fact. There was a single hypothesis being tested here.

It was an adaptive clinical trial with multiple arms, so it wasn't a single hypothesis. Apparently this is considered legitimate in medical trials, but I have some reservations about the concept.

Re: Cheap antidepressant shows promise treating early Covid-19

#218

Earlier quoted context omitted.

In that case alcohol would do the job just as well

Not sure what you guys are talking about. It's just going to make you feel worse. You want to be sick and drunk/high? Sounds miserable

I grew up in the Soviet Russia. Vodka cures everything. Prove me wrong! Ok, I was making a joke in the original reply to begin with

Re: Cheap antidepressant shows promise treating early Covid-19

#219

Earlier quoted context omitted.

"Alternative treatment" implies an unapproved, off-label use. Maybe you meant "promising therapeutic" or something along those lines? Throwing around the term "alternative" is dicey, especially in a world where people take advice about COVID vaccines and "alternative treatments" from podcasts hosted by former comedians. Once enough studies have been done, this off-label use for fluvoxamine will likely be blessed by t…

First define the terms, therapeutic and treatment have effectively the same meanings. https://www.askdifference.com/therapy-vs-treatment/ Joe rogan explained what his doc gave him. He’s also had multiple doctors and researchers on his show providing information regarding treatments they are attempting. Frankly, Ivermectin and the like have more research than the vaccine, they’ve been deployed for longer and at least…

>In terms of “off-label” drugs, the FDA approval process is there to protect against liability. Effectively, the government accepts some liability and in return medical companies get some protections. It’s highly likely you’ve taken drugs “off label” yourself.

Off label drug use/ approval isn't about government liability. As far as I know, it has none. The noteworthy exception is the vaccine's, where the government has a special injury compensation fund, but I wouldn't call this liability . It IS about manufacturer liability, and insurance reimbursement.

Re: Cheap antidepressant shows promise treating early Covid-19

#220
post #58

Earlier quoted context omitted.

IANAD but I'd expect taking it during an infection to have different risks from taking it over a long period or permanently.

I still would urge caution before taking any amount of SSRI[1]. They are very useful tools that work well for many people, but some people do get very serious side effects. They can also be difficult to stop, sometimes requiring very slow dose tapering over many months. In my personal experience from both a multi-year experience with fluoxetine and (~5 years later) a short (~4-weeks-ish? I think?) experience with tra…

I'm sorry to hear of those troubles. Yes, I'd have said some of the same things minus the direct experience if I were to give my opinions -- just wanted to counter where the GP comment seemed unreasonable.
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