Trump taking steroid dexamethasone and other coronavirus drugs
President Trump’s doctors revealed that he’s trying to bolster his fight against the coronavirus by taking a steroid — on top of the other two drugs doctors have been using to help the president.
Dexamethasone, the new powerful steroid, mostly has been eyed for use in sick people who are having severe responses. Like most steroids, dexamethasone helps the body get rid of inflammation, which can be a dangerous complication of a severe COVID-19 illness.
A recent study in the United Kingdom suggested that the steroid did reduce deaths among people on ventilators and, to a lesser extent, people on less-invasive supplemental oxygen, as doctors say Trump was for two brief periods over the past three days.
But the study actually suggested it slightly worsened the mortality rate among people who weren’t on oxygen. That’s because it lowers immune response, so giving it too early in a diagnosis or to someone who’s not having issues of inflammation could weaken their ability to fight the virus.
Dr. Sean Dooley, one of the doctors treating the president, said that they gave Trump his first dose of dexamethasone after an incident on Saturday when his oxygen levels dropped, after a similar dip on Friday.
“Our plan is to continue that for the time being,” Dooley said of the use of the steroid.
In the days since Trump was diagnosed with the virus on Thursday, he began to take two other experimental treatments for the virus.
First reported on Friday was the use of an antibody cocktail from the company Regeneron, which said just this past week that a double-blind trial showed “reduced viral load and the time to alleviate symptoms in non-hospitalized patients with COVID-19.”
Then on Saturday doctors said Trump began using remdesivir, a drug that’s made headlines for a few months after studies have suggested it can help cut mortality rates among people sick with the virus. Its use is the inverse of that of dexamethasone, where it appears to be more effective the earlier a sick person takes it. Trump’s doctors said Sunday that the president showed no negative side effects through the first two daily doses of it on Friday and Saturday.
The president is also taking vitamin D; famotidine, which is typically used to treat heartburn and acid reflux; the sleep aid melatonin; and a daily aspirin.
from Boston Herald https://ift.tt/2HXiYqM
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