Many years
ago, Jim’s parents, Bill and Virginia, noticed a squirrel that hopped up on
their patio, day after day. They started to feed the little fellow and looked
forward to his daily visits.
One day
the power went out. A couple of linemen from the electric cooperative where I
worked drove out to fix the problem. The line superintendent called me on the
intercom and said, “We found the problem. Their pet squirrel got into the
transformer.”
Later,
my grandson Colby told me that the squirrel had “an unfortunate accident.”
People
have unfortunate accidents too. I recently read about a couple who heard the
president talking about an anti-malarial drug, chloroquine, showing promise as a
treatment for COVID-19. They knew that they had chloroquine phosphate to treat
their koi. They mixed up a small amount and took it. They both immediately
became ill. The woman vomited and lived; her husband, unfortunately, died.
Why
would they do such a thing? They had probably heard about off-label use of
drugs for years. Once they heard about the studies, they probably felt
fortunate enough to have some on hand. Other people are enrolling in studies
and trying other drugs to stave off or shorten the effects of COVID-19.
France
and Italy are using hydroxychloroquine to treat COVID-19 although its
effectiveness is unknown. The unfortunate thing about experimental off-label use
of a drug in a pandemic is that people who take the drug for chronic conditions such as lupus, rheumatoid
arthritis, or sarcoidosis find it “out of stock.”
India,
where many of our drugs are manufactured, is not exporting the raw ingredients
for hydroxychloroquine. They are recommending their medical professionals take
the drug to prevent developing COVID-19. In the USA, pharmacists are reporting
shortages as off-label use of the drug for the pandemic soars. People who have
used the drugs for years to maintain their health are now finding it
unavailable. It is unreasonable for healthy people to take a drug for off-label
use when it might endanger the health of people whose lives depend on an uninterrupted
supply of medication. These drugs have side-effects and it may be a case where
the cure can be worse than the disease.
Off-label
use can be a slippery slope. I took issue with the anti-psychotic drugs physicians
prescribed for Jim. First, Jim was on a new Alzheimer’s drug that caused him to
start bleeding and to feel bad. He had only been off the drug for a few days
when he got into a scuffle with another resident and was kicked out of the
nursing home. Fast forward to “regenerations.” They prescribed an
anti-psychotic drug that made foam flow out of his mouth. Jim couldn’t eat or
drink and he paced constantly, and acted as if he were an angry insane man. He dropped
weight and appeared to be on the verge of dying.
My son
and I told the doctor to him off the drug, or we would take him to a
different hospital. The doctor said that the drug couldn’t have those side effects
and that the hospital “would not be responsible” for how he acted without the drug.
We
insisted. Signed papers, etc. Within a few days of being off the drug, he
returned to his normal self. Throughout Jim’s disease, we fought the
anti-psychotic drugs since most of them did not work on him and made him worse.
Drugs that “calmed” or more accurately “zoned out” other residents would agitate
Jim.
My
feelings are that when using a drug off-label, use with extreme caution and
only under a physician’s close supervision. If you start having strange side
effects, stop taking the drug! In addition, don’t try a long shot off-label use
when others need them for chronic conditions.
Copyright © March 2020 by L.S. Fisher
#ENDALZ
