I’d like to suggest not using ibuprofen, or any other anti-inflammatory (NSAID or steroid: also includes aspirin, cortisone, etc. with the presumed exception of pre-prescribed steroids for e.g. asthma).
This is on the basis of this article from the BMJ. In summary, there are a handful of COVID-19 specific cases of young fit people becoming severely ill following ibuprofen use, combined with small studies on SARS-CoV and other illnesses.
Paracetamol should probably be used instead of ibuprofen/NSAIDs.
This seems like a cheap switch as they’re likely roughly equivalent in symptom control excepting this effect. Please let me know if you see or read any reason this may be dangerous/untrue. (Is this an appropriate place to post this? Or does it belong in the generalised advice thread?)
I am trying to keep my wording simple—not managed it here so thanks for asking.
pyrexia = fever.
pyro ~ heat, fire (from both Latin and Greek) pyromaniac a more familiar word?
so anti-pyretic is something “against-fever” i.e. treats a fever/reduces temperature.
I would not take anything to reduce my temperature and I would recommend the same to friends and family, so yes I suggest avoiding paracetamol too.
Personal note—I eat a clove of raw garlic if I think I’ve picked something up. Giving it a really good crunch between the teeth to release the juices. Not pleasant (even to a garlic lover, and a little easier to take wrapped in bread) but great for keeping people away for a few hours.…
Garlic has been shown to have anti-viral properties, no idea if it has any affect on the coronavirus but unless there’s a reason not to take it, it’s worth a shot. (I wouldn’t bother with garlic tablets—just fresh)
Fwiw Chris Masterjohn (see below) also recommends garlic. He recommends crushing it before eating though:
180 micrograms per day of stabilized allicin; or one clove of fresh, raw garlic, crushed, exposed to open air for ten minutes, and eaten without cooking or mixing with other ingredients; or 4 grams of garlic powder, mixed with water, exposed to open air for ten minutes, and eaten without cooking or mixing with other ingredients.
...
Garlic does not contain allicin itself. Rather, it contains alliin, which is converted to allicin within ten minutes when raw garlic is crushed, or when garlic powder is mixed with water, and either are allowed to sit at room temperature in the open air for ten minutes.
Having been in isolation for the last 10 days with a possible covid19 case (gut says no, head says hope so because we’re past the worst).
I felt a bit rough yesterday.
Temperature 36.6 C which is normal sublingual (under the tongue) reading for our thermometer.
I crushed some garlic (oh 1st world problems not being able to find the inner bit of the garlic press).
Whilst giving it 10 minutes to brew I decided digital application to the nasal mucosa might be an efficient way to use the juice, targeted application a primary infection site.
(yes—I stuck my finger in the juice and then up my nose. Different finger for each nostril, gotta maintain some standards!)
I don’t personally know more than that. The citation for the second bit that I quoted is: Lawson, L. D. & Hughes, B. G. Characterization of the formation of allicin and other thiosulfinates from garlic. Planta Med. 58, 345–350 (1992).
I personally do recommend avoiding NSAIDS (but not other painkillers) for any cold, common or uncommon, and I have an anecdote to base my choices on.
In 2018, I got a cold (no idea whether rhino or corona), and I figured I’d take a single ibuprofen because the inside of my nose felt sore where it was pumping out the mucus. Within a day it turned into a horrible chest cold. Not only was the mucus I coughed and sneezed unpleasantly thicker, so was the mucus I was swallowing, despite my usual cold hydration routine. At night, I had to lie prone (on my belly) and cough for ten to twenty minutes into the trash can to clear my lungs enough to stop coughing and sleep. By the time I fell asleep, I felt like I’d jogged a quarter mile.
Even after all other symptoms faded away after two weeks, I had to continue this nighttime routine. I just wasn’t getting better. And then the daytime cough turned into a dry persistent cough. It took me another two weeks of this hell to finally see a doctor. They prescribed a mucus reducer and cough reflex suppressor, both with the potential for serious side effects which I didn’t experience. This worked, though my usual back-of-the-throat mucus remained sludge-like for another month.
I will never take an ibuprofen during a cold again. Even if it did something for the pain inside my nose, any pain reduction was overshadowed by the other symptoms, and the possibility that it somehow exacerbated the symptoms would be enough to make me avoid it even if it were the only painkiller available.
For every cold since, I’ve taken one 50mg zinc pill (with food) as soon as I noticed the characteristic sinus dryness/thirst that heralds the arrival of a cold, and DayQuil/NyQuil generics during the day and night respectively during the symptoms. None of these colds have resulted in more than two days of work missed, and none have become chest colds.
In March, I had a cold I caught at the post office that started with the same nasal pain I remember from 2018, plus slightly thicker mucus and a lack of taste for salt, so I plan to get a COVID-19 antibody test as soon as it’s available to see if I accidentally killed the big one with my usual cold routine.
I’d like to suggest not using ibuprofen, or any other anti-inflammatory (NSAID or steroid: also includes aspirin, cortisone, etc. with the presumed exception of pre-prescribed steroids for e.g. asthma).
This is on the basis of this article from the BMJ. In summary, there are a handful of COVID-19 specific cases of young fit people becoming severely ill following ibuprofen use, combined with small studies on SARS-CoV and other illnesses.
Paracetamol should probably be used instead of ibuprofen/NSAIDs.
This seems like a cheap switch as they’re likely roughly equivalent in symptom control excepting this effect. Please let me know if you see or read any reason this may be dangerous/untrue. (Is this an appropriate place to post this? Or does it belong in the generalised advice thread?)
paracetamol a.k.a. acetaminophen appears the safest thing to take but if you have a high temperature I would avoid any anti-pyretic medications.
A fever is a good thing—it’s making the body inhospitable for viruses when they start invading.
Suppressing this immune response at the early infection “fever stage” potentially allows the virus to get hold.
Ride it out, help your body by curling up in a blanket.
Stay hydrated and let your body’s defences work.
I had to look it up: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Antipyretic
So to be clear, you’re saying that paracetamol is probably safer than NSAIDs, but avoid even that if you can?
I am trying to keep my wording simple—not managed it here so thanks for asking.
pyrexia = fever.
pyro ~ heat, fire (from both Latin and Greek) pyromaniac a more familiar word?
so anti-pyretic is something “against-fever” i.e. treats a fever/reduces temperature.
I would not take anything to reduce my temperature and I would recommend the same to friends and family, so yes I suggest avoiding paracetamol too.
Personal note—I eat a clove of raw garlic if I think I’ve picked something up. Giving it a really good crunch between the teeth to release the juices. Not pleasant (even to a garlic lover, and a little easier to take wrapped in bread) but great for keeping people away for a few hours.…
Garlic has been shown to have anti-viral properties, no idea if it has any affect on the coronavirus but unless there’s a reason not to take it, it’s worth a shot. (I wouldn’t bother with garlic tablets—just fresh)
Fwiw Chris Masterjohn (see below) also recommends garlic. He recommends crushing it before eating though:
...
Having been in isolation for the last 10 days with a possible covid19 case (gut says no, head says hope so because we’re past the worst).
I felt a bit rough yesterday.
Temperature 36.6 C which is normal sublingual (under the tongue) reading for our thermometer.
I crushed some garlic (oh 1st world problems not being able to find the inner bit of the garlic press).
Whilst giving it 10 minutes to brew I decided digital application to the nasal mucosa might be an efficient way to use the juice, targeted application a primary infection site.
(yes—I stuck my finger in the juice and then up my nose. Different finger for each nostril, gotta maintain some standards!)
I did not know this.
Have you any links to more info?
I don’t personally know more than that. The citation for the second bit that I quoted is: Lawson, L. D. & Hughes, B. G. Characterization of the formation of allicin and other thiosulfinates from garlic. Planta Med. 58, 345–350 (1992).
WHO doesn’t recommend avoiding Ibuprofen for COVID-19 symptoms.
Source: https://twitter.com/WHO
I personally do recommend avoiding NSAIDS (but not other painkillers) for any cold, common or uncommon, and I have an anecdote to base my choices on.
In 2018, I got a cold (no idea whether rhino or corona), and I figured I’d take a single ibuprofen because the inside of my nose felt sore where it was pumping out the mucus. Within a day it turned into a horrible chest cold. Not only was the mucus I coughed and sneezed unpleasantly thicker, so was the mucus I was swallowing, despite my usual cold hydration routine. At night, I had to lie prone (on my belly) and cough for ten to twenty minutes into the trash can to clear my lungs enough to stop coughing and sleep. By the time I fell asleep, I felt like I’d jogged a quarter mile.
Even after all other symptoms faded away after two weeks, I had to continue this nighttime routine. I just wasn’t getting better. And then the daytime cough turned into a dry persistent cough. It took me another two weeks of this hell to finally see a doctor. They prescribed a mucus reducer and cough reflex suppressor, both with the potential for serious side effects which I didn’t experience. This worked, though my usual back-of-the-throat mucus remained sludge-like for another month.
I will never take an ibuprofen during a cold again. Even if it did something for the pain inside my nose, any pain reduction was overshadowed by the other symptoms, and the possibility that it somehow exacerbated the symptoms would be enough to make me avoid it even if it were the only painkiller available.
For every cold since, I’ve taken one 50mg zinc pill (with food) as soon as I noticed the characteristic sinus dryness/thirst that heralds the arrival of a cold, and DayQuil/NyQuil generics during the day and night respectively during the symptoms. None of these colds have resulted in more than two days of work missed, and none have become chest colds.
In March, I had a cold I caught at the post office that started with the same nasal pain I remember from 2018, plus slightly thicker mucus and a lack of taste for salt, so I plan to get a COVID-19 antibody test as soon as it’s available to see if I accidentally killed the big one with my usual cold routine.