A COVID-19 patient in Sydney has been hospitalised after trying to self-medicate with ivermectin overnight. The patient’s overdose comes just days after Australia’s Therapeutic Goods Administration issued a stark warning after high quantities of the drug have been imported in recent months.
According to Westmead Hospital toxicologist Associate Professor Naren Gunja, the patient arrived to the hospital’s emergency department on Wednesday night after taking a cocktail of Ivermectin and other “supposed COVID ‘cures’” they obtained via the internet.
Ivermectin has been spruiked by the likes of Craig Kelly and controversial podcaster and former Fear Factor host Joe Rogan, who — and I cannot possibly stress this enough — is not a doctor.
The news comes after the TGA issued a warning against self-medicating with ivermectin, which has limited approval for roundworm, scabies and inflammatory rosacea in Australia but no COVID-related benefits.
“The TGA strongly discourages self-medication and self-dosing with Ivermectin for COVID-19 as it may be dangerous to your health,” the TGA said in a release issued on August 23. “There is insufficient evidence to validate the use of Ivermectin in patients with COVID-19.”
In particularly grim news, this isn’t the first patient to be admitted to Westmead’s ER after experimenting with unproven COVID cures.
Thankfully, the patient has since been treated and discharged to recover at home. However, the hospital stressed that this was on the milder side of the potential side effects of taking ivermectin.
“Thankfully they didn’t develop severe toxicity but it didn’t help their COVID either,” the hospital told The Pulse. “There’s no evidence to support the use of Ivermectin to treat COVID-19. Don’t look for magic cures online, and don’t rely on what’s being peddled on the internet, because none of them work.”
Vaccination is the best (and safest) way to protect yourself from COVID-19, but if you are unfortunate enough to catch the virus, please seek legitimate medical help via the Coronavirus hotline on 1800 675 398.
And, as the FDA put it best: you are not a horse.