2020 Election MEGAthread

[Mead]

Originally Posted by Patriam1066 [You must be logged in to view images. Log in or Register.]

My son has been an ER and ICU nurse prior to becoming a CRNA. I knew a bit about medications from him. As a virus, I suspected the inflammatory response was killing people, especially given how it killed the elderly, diabetic, and obese primarily. Does dexamethasone treatment in early illness stop it from progressing to the worst case, or do they just go ahead and start antivirals immediately when they suspect a bad case (trump being morbidly obese and geriatric)?

Decadron is an anti-inflammatory glucocorticoid. It's being used to stunt the inflammatory process that some patients are experiencing with covid. We've seen very good results starting plasma, remdesivir, and decadron immediately. Some patients receive solu-medrol over decadron. We're cautious starting remdesivir on patients with kidney injury a lot of times associated with sepsis. When or if it resolves we will start the antiviral. These are obviously sick hypoxic and/or septic patients requiring hospitalization.