Topics: Drugs, Health, Coronavirus, US News, News
Danny Lemoi’s followers are sharing their concerns about their ‘severe’ symptoms after the influencer died this month after taking the drug Ivermectin daily.
The influencer, who has a huge following on Telegram, had taken a daily dose of the veterinary drug, which is usually used as a dewormer for large animals like horses and cows.
In 2021, anti-vaxxers started using the drug as an alternative treatment for Covid-19. They mostly opted for the veterinary formulation of the drug, which is more concentrated than the one designed for humans.
However, The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has said that the use of ivermectin to treat or prevent Covid-19 is misinformation and has warned against it.
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The drug has not been approved by the FDA for preventing or treating coronavirus in humans or animals and 'taking large doses of the drug is dangerous'.
The FDA also warned that humans should never use medications intended for animals.
Despite this warning, Lemoi promoted the use of the drug and had even instructed parents to give it to their children.
He started taking the version of the drug designed for animals daily in 2012, following his Lyme disease diagnosis, which he explained on a podcast in November last year.
Although Lemoi’s cause of death has yet to be confirmed, the administrators for Lemoi’s Telegram page have said that he died of an engorged heart.
Side effects to using ivermectin may include nausea, vomiting, diarrhoea, hypotension, allergic reactions like hives or itchiness, dizziness and seizures. The person could also go into a coma or even die.
The Missouri Poison Center also warned that taking large doses of ivermectin which is intended for animals can lead to heart problems.
In a statement confirming his death, the admins for Lemoi’s page wrote that his heart ‘was quite literally overworking and overgrowing beyond its capacity, nearly doubled in size from what it should have been’.
It is unclear whether Lemoi’s heart problems stemmed from using ivermectin, and the admins said that his heart was tested last year, but the results were not a cause for concern.
“Danny was fully convinced that his heart had regenerated after his incident with Lyme disease that almost ended in congestive heart failure,” the statement added.
According to the admins, Lemoi had a ‘family history of heart disease and chronic stress’ and that ‘all of his other organs were unremarkable’.
They also claimed that Lemoi's death was due to ‘unfortunate natural causes’.
However, Lemoi’s followers are apparently experiencing side effects, Vice News reports.
On Friday, a Telegram user listed the numerous painful symptoms they’re reportedly enduring.
“I’m 4 months now and all hell’s breaking loose, all pain has hit my waist down with sciatic, shin splints, restless leg syndrome, tight sore calves & it feels like some pain in the bones,” they wrote.
While someone else said that their wife had been taking the drug for 'three months' and 'had a migraine, vomiting and severe stomach pain'.
Lemoi had previously claimed that the negative side effects were due to ‘herxing’, a real term that describes a bad response in those who take antibiotics as a treatment for Lyme disease, for example.
The FDA says that the best way to limit the spread of COVID-19 is to get the vaccine, not by taking ivermectin.
