Not everything that you read on the internet is true, especially these days. Most of this is well meaning, but some of it is not.
Case number one: I was exercising and got a text at 17:58 from a patient who takes ibuprofen and was concerned that he not do this because of the corona virus. He wasn’t sick. He just wanted to know if he should stop it. 15 minutes later, this was mentioned on the NBC Nightly News and was traced to comments by the French Health Minister. There is no evidence that taking Ibuprofen worsens the clinical course of Covid-19, but if you are seriously ill from any cause, non steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs such as Ibuprofen/Motrin/Advil and Naprosyn/ Aleve, may impair kidney function. If one is concerned, Acetaminophen/Tylenol is a safer choice as long as you keep the total daily dose to 3,250 mg or less.
Case number two: There was a letter to the editor in Lancet, a British medical journal, that began to circulate Monday AM that suggested that ACE inhibitors and ARB inhibitors, two classes of blood pressure medicine commonly used especially in diabetics, might make COVID infections worse. While the facts in the letter were true, there is no proof that this is the case. Here is the letter:
Later in the day, I received and email and a text from patients asking whether they should stop their blood pressure medications. The following day The American Heart Association and The American College of Cardiology weighed in.
Case Number Three: The Russians are sowing disinformation about Covid-19 to destabilize our country.
https://www.msn.com/en-gb/news/world/russia-feeding-coronavirus-disinformation-to-sow-panic-in-west-eu-document-says/ar-BB11lEtI
Dealing with 1 and 2 are one thing, I don’t know how to deal with number 3, except to advise you to take everything that you read online with a grain of salt. If your read something disturbing, put your phone down and take a deep breath. Wait and see if it corroborated from reliable sites and if it hasn’t been resolved in a day or two, SEND ME AN EMAIL, NOT A CALL OR A TEXT, and I will investigate.
