Florida Man With Coronavirus Say Drug Touted By President Trump Saved His Life
A Florida man diagnosed with coronavirus is praising a drug touted by Donald Trump, claiming it saved his life. As we previously reported, during the president’s recent address to the nation, he said he was instructing the FDA to fast-track testing of existing drugs hydroxychloroquine and chloroquine, as treatment for COVID-19.
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Now, though the compounds are already widely available, as they’re used to treat existing ailments like malaria and arthritis, FDA Commissioner Dr. Stephen Hahn cautioned that they haven’t yet been approved as treatment for coronavirus. Despite that, patient Rio Giardinieri, 52, recently told Los Angeles’ Fox 11 that he took the drug after feeling like he was near death.
Giardinieri explained that he was struggling with horrendous back pain, headaches, cough and fatigue for five days after catching COVID-19. Doctors at the Memorial Regional Hospital in South Florida later diagnosed him with the coronavirus and pneumonia and put him on oxygen in the ICU, he told the outlet. After more than a week, doctors told him there was nothing more they could do. From there, on Friday evening, Giardinieri began saying goodbye to his wife and three children. He said, “I was at the point where I was barely able to speak and breathing was very challenging. I really thought my end was there.”
One friend had sent him a recent article about hydroxychloroquine, a prescription drug that’s been used to treat malaria for decades and auto-immune diseases like lupus. Studies have found it to be promising as a treatment for COVID-19. However, it hasn’t been approved by health officials. Still, Giardinieri decided to give it a try and contacted an infectious disease doctor about the drug.
“He gave me all the reasons why I would probably not want to try it because there are no trials, there’s no testing, it was not something that was approved,” said Giardinieri, adding “I said, ‘Look, I don’t know if I’m going to make it until the morning,’ because at that point I really thought I was coming to the end because I couldn’t breathe anymore,” Giardinieri continued.
Giardinieri was authorized to take the pills and the nurse gave it to him 30 minutes later. Now, about an hour after taking the pills, Giardinieri said his heart felt like it was racing out of his chest and just about two hours later, he had another episode where he couldn’t even breathe. He was given Benadryl and some other drugs and said when he woke up around 4 a.m., it was “like nothing ever happened.”
Giardinieri said doctors believe the episodes he experienced were not a reaction to the medicine but his body fighting off the virus, The New York Post reports.
Since then, he has had no fever or pain and can breathe again. “To me, there was no doubt in mind that I wouldn’t make it until morning,” said Giardinieri. “So to me, the drug saved my life.” He is hoping to be discharged from the hospital in five days.
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