Dr. Kiran Dintyala lists five mistakes to avoid treating COVID: starting steroids in the first 5-7 days, spending on remdesivir or plasma without clear benefit, rushing to the hospital when asymptomatic or mildly symptomatic, getting unnecessary CT scans and labs, and panicking. Watch oxygen levels and admit only if SpO2 drops below 90%.
Chapters
I would like to kick off this meeting with the topic five things you should never do in Covid treatment. All right? Number one, do not start steroids on the first day of COVID diagnosis. So the reason is this. When someone got a COVID test positive or, okay, let's say they got exposed yesterday and then they got worried and in the next two or three days they just got the tested and they really do not have any symptoms or their symptoms are very minimal. Just a little bit fever. Usually what happens is in the first five to seven days, the virus is replicating, multiplying in the body. And if you start steroids at that point of time, number one, it is not really helpful. Number two, maybe it could cause some harm, making the virus multiply even more. The role of steroids usually starts in the second week or late first week when the virus is fighting with our immune system. So usually it is like in the second week that our immune system gets activated. It sees, oh my God, there's so much virus, I need to do something about it. And then it starts fighting with the virus. And then when that happens, there is inflammation in the body, in your lungs and things like cough, maybe sometimes difficulty breathing, these things may happen. So to reduce the chances for that inflammation to harm us, we start steroids. Okay? And that helps a lot. So do not start steroids in the first five days. Okay? Of course we need to know which is the first day to make this decision. Right? So how do you determine the first day? The first day is when you have some sort of symptoms, you know, like maybe some fever, maybe I'm not feeling right, something is wrong, or any other symptom. It could be loss of smell when you notice it. That is the first day of symptom, that how I would put it. Okay? Now there are always exceptions to any rule, okay? And that's the reason I want you to definitely contact your doctor and make sure that they know you know your situation so that they can decide when is the first day, when is the second day, something like that. Okay? Now the second thing is don't, don't spend all your money on remdesivir and plasma therapy, okay? I know in the black market they're trying to sell a lot of remdesivir. And even though everyone was excited initially that this remdesivir can reduce the viral replication, but what happens is when the research was conducted, it was not really helpful. It was not really helpful. Yeah, a little bit of benefit, but it is not life changing. It is not Life saving. So do not run after remdesivir. Don't sell your home, don't waste all your money on remdesivir. And the same thing with plasma therapy too. We thought it would help, but it didn't really help that much. Okay? Now the third thing that you should never do is do not run to the hospital as soon as your COVID test is positive. And if you really do not have any symptoms, okay? Just because Covid is positive, it doesn't mean that you're dying. Okay? It doesn't mean that you have to go to the hospital. 80 to 85% people just recover from COVID without you doing anything, without even taking any treatment. 10 to 15% people develop a little bit more disease, you know, some cough, maybe a little bit of shortness of breath, which can be treated at home with steroids and a few other medications. Okay? So a vast majority of people, 95% never need to go to the hospital. Alright? You'll be simply sitting there in the hospital doing nothing and paying the hospital bills unnecessarily. So stay home, but talk to your doctor and get treated for most part that you do. There is 5% of people who have lot of cough, a lot of difficulty breathing, oxygen levels dropping below 90%. These are the people who definitely needs to get admitted in the hospital. Okay? But you need to educate yourselves about this treatment so that you know, oh, okay, yeah. Do I need to go? Do I not need to go? You make the right decision, okay? If your oxygen levels are right around 95%, 94%, 93%, even 92%, you're kind of doing okay. Make sure you speak with the doctor, take the medication, but if it is dropping below 90%, then you know, you don't wait anymore at home because you just need to go to the hospital. Okay? The point is, if you do not really need to go to the hospital, and if you go in the hospital and a lot of people do that, then there will be a shortage in beds in the hospital. And so those people who really need to be there in the hospital to save their lives, we won't be able to save it. Right? Okay. So let us be judicious in how we use our hospital beds. Number four. Another thing never to do is do not go after a CT scan for the chest and don't get thousands of labs in the first few days of having COVID positive because the virus is still replicating, multiplying. So when you do your CT scan in the first few days, it's going to be negative. It's not going to be showing anything. Okay? The same thing with the labs. It may not show much in the first few days of COVID positivity of COVID symptoms. It is usually during the second week when the inflammation sets in, that the CT scan might show that your lungs are affected. And also the labs might come back positive. And also, no need to keep repeating labs every second day, every third day, all right? No need to keep repeating your CT scan every week. We need to go based on our symptoms. Symptoms. If your symptoms are getting worse for any reason, they keep getting worse. Yeah. I think it is reasonable to repeat labs, but your symptoms are stable, then you don't necessarily need to do that. Okay? The last thing in the midst of COVID we should never do is don't panic. Do not panic, because panic is not going to help you. As you know, if you panic and run around, you lose your focus and you may not be able to exactly face the situation and tackle the situation in a way that helps you. Even when there is a real reason to panic. Panic never helps. Yes. To be afraid a little bit, to be anxious a little bit, to be worried a little bit in the midst of a pandemic, that is expected. And it is only normal as human beings that we have that emotion, okay? But do not let your fear or any other negative emotion take over, okay? Do not let your emotions take you over. You need to maintain a rational way of thinking and doing things, right? If you are bitten by a snake, if you run around, the poison is going to enter your body and go everywhere faster, right? But if you calm down, sit down, think rationally, okay? No, I'm not going to run around. I'm going to put a tourniquet around. I'm going to call someone to come take me to the hospital. If you think like that rationally and do things calmly, then you'll be able to survive. Same thing holds true for the pandemic also. Okay?
