Uncle has Covid

General
1

My uncle is old and was diagnosed with Covid this morning. All three of his doctors told him to stay at home and monitor himself, and told him to go to the hospital if he developed shortness of breath.

My uncle retired as an internal medicine doctor in England. He can't practice here in the US. He said he needs a prescription for Hydroxychloroquine - all three of his doctors have refused him.

Do any of you know a doctor who will prescribe it? (He lives in Utah, by the way). He identified doctors in New York, Texas and elsewhere who prescribe Hydroxycholoroquine, but those doctors don't do phone/video consults outside their states.

All help much appreciated. Please feel free to private-message me if you like.

2

I can only tell you what I been hearing from family friends who's relatives have been diagnosed with covid 19 and YouTube videos

Do not stay at home for a week or 10 days without going to a Dr or hospital. By then things get bad real fast.

How old is your Uncle?

I was told you need to see a respiratory specialist Dr. ASAP. Imho.

These are the Drs who can prescribe the Hydroxychloroquine.

I truly believe from what I've heard and read. That waiting on this the worst thing you can do.

If it was my uncle I get him to see a specialist immediately.

Maybe other people in give more detail ideas.

The Drs he spoke to was telemedicine?

Again I cannot stress strongly enough if it was my uncle I get him into a specialist immediately. Especially if he's elderly

I seen a youtube video or tv news.
Where the patient insisted on speaking to a respiratory specialist at the hospital. This what is the only type of specialist that could prescribe that medication. Temptations in the video at the hospital. When he insisted on seeing a specialist.

PS. I believe most people get that med in a hospital setting.

3

maybe try this drug

4

Mark's reply is way better than mine, but the direct answer to your question is...

Apologies...[strike]Los Algodones, Baja California, Mexico (basically Yuma, AZ) is the closest border town to Utah and is very famous for its pharmacies and dentist offices meant for Americans and Canadians. Google is yer friend.[/strike]...please disregard, border is closed.

5

Personally I feel your uncle is just feeling desperate and over panicking. Since he isn't really exhibiting serious symptoms what the docs have already suggested seems best. It seems premature to be trying what are basically experimental drugs that could do him as much harm as good. Rest and care is the best medicine right now. Though good luck trying to convince him otherwise.

Sorry he has it. I hope he recovers swiftly.

6
7
8

Until there are scientifically proven treatments, the best your uncle can do is use common sense and best available data.

Your uncle can discuss with his doctors if safe for him to take the following nutritional supplements and at what daily regimen/dosing:

Vitamin A (eg; 5000 IU/daily)
Vitamin C (eg; 1000 mg/daily)
Vitamin D (eg; 5000-10000 IU/daily)
Zinc (eg; 50 mg/daily)
Multivitamin/mineral

Statin medications to reduce cholesterol MAY be helpful. If your uncle is not already taking a statin, he can discuss with his doctors if he should start.

High testosterone MAY be associated with more severe illness. If necessary, your uncle can discuss with his doctors ways to reduce testosterone.

Related:
NBC: New studies clarify what drugs help, hurt for COVID-19

9

I think it is a serious disease. I seen many YouTube videos. Where people wait 10 days to go to hospital and by then they are in serious trouble and go directly to ICU

I think it is important that his Uncle sees a specialist. Let that Dr determine the best course of action.

10

Only in America do people sometimes have to seek medical advice from an internet forum.

11

In all fairness, the 3 of 3 doctors do not believe HCQ would help. That's not a negative on availability of health insurance or lack of doctors.Also, it was not mentioned whether his uncle may have conditions that make taking HCQ dangerous.

12

To answer the questions folks asked - my uncle is in his 70s, he lives all alone in Utah, he's an MBBS-PhD, an acclaimed researcher in his field who is very well-published, extremely well informed about Covid research, and he did drive down to two flagship hospitals in the state and on his way back went to another hospital. Thank you for all the replies so far. Just two specific questions -

(1) Does anyone know a doctor who can write him a prescription for hydroxychloroquine after a phone consult or internet consult?

(2) Can anyone suggest a dependable and reliable pharmacy in Mexico that will ship hydroxychloroquine to him in Utah without a doctor's prescription?

TIA

13

Telemedicine means doctors could prescribe meds. Try Google search? Though, I don't know how many different visits he would need to find one who would prescribe it to him. Probably easier/cheaper to convince one of the 3 docs.

Got this list from duckduckgo...

Or maybe this guy. :slight_smile:

14

Sorry to hear about this. COVID is something that should be treated with respect. Its amazing how something so small can wreak havoc at such a large scale! Someone close to me got it and it took that individual 75 days to shake that sucker off. This is someone that rarely gets sick and typically shakes off anything within a few days. Now remains a bunch of side effects and complications.

That said, it is not the same for everyone. I would just urge people to use the old version of common sense (yep, it seems the new age common sense is significantly lacking) and make informed decisions considering your specific circumstances (each body is different thus what's good for some may not be good for others).

I do hope that it all works out for the best! Should I hear of a local doctor that will consider that medication, I will PM you the details.

15

@peterquinn How is your uncle?

16

Hydroxychloroquine has been around for 65 years and, literally, hundreds of millions of doses have been consumed. It's been deemed safe by the FDA for that entire time.

And now, suddenly, it's safer to take rat poison than hydroxychloroquine because Orange Man Bad.

There are lots of things that people can legitimately get tribal about, but a drug that's been considered safe, for 65 years, seems like a silly place for people to dig in.

17

I'm not sure that folks are 'dug in' about rejecting hydroxychloroquine because of objecting to Trump. (Well, I'm sure that some folks are 'dug in' on both sides because of that specific connection-- but I don't believe that the entire medical and scientific community is in that category.)

This, like much else around Covid 19, does not need to be, and should not be, political. It should be medical.

It's entirely possible for HCL to be reasonably safe, and effective, for it's traditionally prescribed purposes, while still being 'unsafe' and of questionable therapeutic value, in treating Covid 19 patients.

Covid 19 patients are by definition suffering from the comorbidity of Covid 19: It's possible that risk factors of use differ in that population than they do in the general population that might normally be candidates for HCL treatment for other purposes. Like all drugs, there are factors in personal health situations that may recommend against usage, even if there is some potential benefit.

Personally, I think that eventual research may come back to recommending HCL as a viable treatment for a certain specific subset of Covid 19 patients, while recognizing that widespread indiscriminate treatment of Covid patients is a bad idea.

This is not radically different than changing medical views on intubation, immune system suppressants, or other treatments for Covid. Until we have a 'global' direct treatment for Covid (like a vaccine), we're not really treating Covid: we're treating the side effects of a Covid infection-- and those side effects vary from person to person, and through the course of the infection.

Aspirin is also considered safe. There are medical conditions that should advise against it's use in particular patients. People who are on blood thinners, for example, may be advised to avoid aspirin: not because it's not effective in lowering temperatures or reducing muscle aches, but because it's a different risk pool than the general population.

18

It is not like Trump looked at various studies and concluded hydroxychloroquine was the solution. We know that is impossible because Trump does not read. He is too lazy to even attend the Task Force Meetings. Don the Con only heard of the drug because he saw it on Faux News and through social media. Once he sees something, he has to satisfy his ego and declare something is absolutely correct even without evidence. He never backtracks or admits he is wrong no matter how stupid. Think for example: less testing.

Anyway, he could have easily seen another treatment on Faux News and proclaimed that as something that works. It just happened that he saw a segment on hydroxychloroquine.

If Don the Con said just something like "we are cautiously optimistic", then nobody would have cared whether he was right or wrong. Instead, he called it "real chance to be one of the biggest game-changer in the history of medicine." Just another example of him BS-ing.

Why people are so willing to perform mental gymnastics for a moron who could care less about the lives of Americans is beyond me. All Don the Con cares about is himself. He only demonstrates this every time he speaks.

19

R U suggesting he saw something similar on Fox about drinking bleach and injecting sunshine???!!!

20

Exactly.

History will eventually record that over several decades, the Republican party, it's donors, Murdoch & Fox News and right wing personalities, and then more recently foreign regimes with nefarious intent (chiefly Russia, Saudi Arabia & Israel), succeeded in creating a brainwashed cult as bad if not worse than those the world witnessed under fascism and communism.