ALERT: dextromethorphan

[redbird]

Signal boosting siderea here:

Stop taking dextromethorphan now, it might make COVID-19 more dangerous.

siderea linked to the relevant article with "talk about burying the lede." The finding that dextromethorphan might be dangerous is after lots of "here's this thing we think might help, and that one..." and says that clinical testing is needed before you act on it. I agree with her that no, testing is not needed to stop taking dextromethorphan.

The original article says

Interestingly, a seventh compound – an ingredient commonly found in cough suppressants, called dextromethorphan – does the opposite: Its presence helps the virus. When our partners tested infected cells with this compound, the virus was able to replicate more easily, and more cells died.
Laboratory testing is excellent at generating leads but clinical trials must be done to know if these findings translate to the real world.

This is potentially a very important finding, but, and I cannot stress this enough, more tests are needed to determine if cough syrup with this ingredient should be avoided by someone who has COVID-19.

One thing it doesn't mention is that almost nobody needs dextromethorphan: it's used widely as an over-the-counter cough suppressant, but it doesn't work. It's no better than taking a placebo, and basically a waste of money. (I say "almost" because it has at least one other use, as an adjuvant in a combination pill with quinidine sulfate for pseudo-bulbar affect.)

Comments

[calimac]

But I know that homeopathic nostrums don't work. Nobody's hiding that information.

[redbird]

My thought is, the same drugstores that stock homeopathic crap because "the customers want them" and don't say "are you sure you want this? X product is just as safe and works better" either don't know or don't care that it's crap, because capitalism gives them a reason to ignore that and take the money. And then the customer sees something labeled "cough suppressant" on the shelf and assume that it does what it says on the label. *sigh*

And the slightly more cynical or educated shopper (who knows that "homeopathic" isn't Latin for "natural" or "herbal") thinks "Airborne is useless crap, but my doctor suggested Robitussin" and buys some. *sigh*

Less cynically, there's a LOT to keep up with in medicine; a pediatrician will tell parents not to give dextromethorphan to children under 12 because it's not safe for them, but may not have been told that there's no reason to give it to anyone. A safety campaign that includes relabeling packages as "under 12: Do Not Use; 12 and over, X amount every four hours, no more than 4X per day" strongly suggests that this is real and useful medicine.

[conuly]

Somebody thinks they work or they wouldn't buy them. And this cough medicine knowledge isn't "hidden" either - so long as you know to look.

[redbird]

Somebody thinks they work, yes.

I read that a lot of shoppers think that "homeopathic" means "herbal" or "natural," not "diluted until there's unlikely to be even one molecule of the claimed ingredient." So while it's likely that at least some of the people selling homeopathic nostrums believe in homeopathy, many of the customers don't.

[calimac]

But if you don't know to look, it is hidden. And as my previous examples were there to show, often enough this news gets around. I've heard plenty of stories over the years of one promoted nostrum or other than turned out not to work. This one is pretty obvious and straightforward, and yet it didn't get passed around. Until years later, in a blog.