OT? Metformin may reduce long Covid

So, just for the heck of it and and because of a feeling of deja vu all over again … thinking of all the “highly promising” preventives and alleged treatments that’ve been clanging round the internet echo chamber since early 2020 (hydroxychloroquin, azithromycin, etc.etc) by virtue of press releases on pre-prints/early publications and whatnot … I went a-Googling on the title of this latest bit of research. Sure enough, site after site with near-identical stenography came up.

Remember when a number of these drugs that were in use for fairly debilitating conditions at the time were disappearing from the market as folk were requesting prescriptions for Covid prevention based upon highly publicised studies alleging efficacy. Studies that were either never replicated by independent labs or ended up being retracted.

Yep immediately some folks will rush to sell Metformin to anyone they can.

And yes people will buy metformin. The drug is already being touted as the fountain of youth a longevity drug. A lot of people who do not need the drug are now using it.

The studies if you they exist and they probably do show that metformin extends life. Not necessarily true at all. How do you undo a suggestion? Understand the studies are not solid.

Here’s an interesting article on the role of evidence based healthcare in the era of Covid…

Trish Greenhalgh has long been one of my fave medical writers…along with Ben Goldacre … since the late 1980s when she started writing a column in the BMJ. Always an engaging look at general practice through the eyes of a newly appointed junior associate. A sort of human equivalent of James Herriot’s books. She’s since gone back into academic medicine.

She’s also written what’s become a standard text of how to read a paper. I bought the first iteration years ago…before Science By Press Release became such a problem (Ben Goldacre’s “Bad Science” column in The Guardian opened my eyes there) … so little was made of just how so many can be bamboozled by so few. Oftentimes with pretty serious consequences from a public health standpoint. I’m almost tempted to spring for the most recent edition to see if this has been added as a special section

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My dad’s real worry through his entire career were the first five years of a new med on the market. He would not use it for the first five years. He would watch the wards to see what happened, the side effects. Very few survived in the market for the entire five years.

Plenty of the other doctors ran with the latest drug in the market.

In the last year I came across an excellent PA in dermatology. She gave me the latest dosing on a cortisone that was safe with limited use. The approach has really changed.

I went back to her last month for the same mild problem. She tried me on a new topical non steroidal. There were several side effects to watch for, the one in my case that mattered was insomnia. Sure enough. I had to stop taking it.

I need to reconsider the PA. She recommends drugs that are too recently on the market.

Unless I have something terminal I do not want a potential sledge hammer to any of my milder conditions.

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