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Comment by kcplate | Hacker News Reader

Pretty sure if your case of Covid is severe enough to warrant treatment, you will not be calling around looking for a second opinion just because your doc prescribed an Rx that might be “internet controversial”.

Frankly I trust my doctor more than I trust FB, YouTube, and the government.

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Well… if we start from the premise I am desperate enough to throw reason out the window, then yeah, why not take horse dewormer, malaria drugs, fish tank cleaner, crystals and prayer?

Honestly…people who toss out the whole “horse dewormer” talking point should also refuse to take penicillin if your doctor prescribed it because they also give that drug to horses too.

It’s not just a “horse dewormer” folks, it’s a “people dewormer” that has also been used in anti-viral treatments as well. Argue that’s it’s not effective, but stop pretending that this isn’t a drug that is prescribed to people all over the world.

I would also add, before you argue that it's ineffective, please consider it in the context of its place in the "triple therapy". We use drug combinations to treat things like cancer and peptic ulcers because of synergies. My understanding is that the ivermectin and doxycycline help zinc to get into our cells and the zinc is what does the work to inhibit virus replication.

I think you are going to have a hard time convincing someone who only refers to ivermectin as a “horse dewormer” to think of it beyond whatever their summary talking points tell them. That is why the talking point is to try and mislead folks as it being only a veterinary Rx, they don’t have to go into details…just dump the misinfo out there.

BTW, I’m not arguing for or against it for Covid. I am just saying that if my doctor decided to prescribe it for me, I’m going to trust their judgement, because I trust them.

There's probably a proper term for this but it seems to me there's a lot of absolute-izing language being thrown around, on issues that aren't absolute. Eg, anyone not 100% onboard with immediately taking whatever vaccine is on offer is an anti-vaxxer. Anyone interested in searching out possible off-label uses of ivermectin might as well just cease and desist because we all know ivermectin is just for killing worms in horses.

It's designed to shut down any reasoned discourse or critical thinking and I'm surprised it's still working.

Yep, “dichotomous thinking”.

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