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Viral Post How To Fight Covid at Home Provides Problematic Advice

Always consult your healthcare provider to ensure the information displayed on this page applies to your personal circumstances.

Mucinex DM

Generic name: dextromethorphan and guaifenesin [ DEX-troe-me-THOR-fan-and-gwye-FEN-e-sin ]
Brand names: Aquatab DM, Broncotron, Coricidin HBP Chest Congestion & Cough, DayQuil Mucus Control DM, Delsym Cough Plus Chest Congestion DM, . show all 15 brands Fenesin DM IR, G-Zyncof, Mucinex DM, Phlemex, Robitussin Cough + Chest Congestion DM, Safetussin DM, Siltussin DM, TabTussin DM, Tussin DM, Zyncof
Drug class: Upper respiratory combinations

Medically reviewed by Drugs.com on Oct 24, 2022. Written by Cerner Multum.

What is Mucinex DM?

Dextromethorphan is a cough suppressant. Guaifenesin is an expectorant.

Mucinex DM is a combination medicine used to treat cough and chest congestion caused by the common cold or allergies.

Dextromethorphan will not treat a cough that is caused by smoking.

One of the most important and most popular changes to the health insurance landscape brought about by the passing of the Affordable Care Act was the prohibition against denying patients health insurance, or charging them more, if they had preexisting conditions. Research shows that 27% of Americans in the 18 to 64 age group have what would have been considered a “declinable medical condition” before the Affordable Care Act took effect, and in some regions, the percentage of patients with preexisting conditions rises to nearly four in 10, the Henry J. Kaiser Family Foundation

There are many brands and forms of this medication available and not all brands are listed on this leaflet.

Mucinex DM may also be used for purposes not listed in this medication guide.

Warnings

Do not use Mucinex DM if you have used an MAO inhibitor in the past 14 days, such as isocarboxazid, linezolid, methylene blue injection, phenelzine, rasagiline, selegiline, or tranylcypromine.

Before taking this medicine

Do not use this medicine if you have taken an MAO inhibitor in the past 14 days. A dangerous drug interaction could occur. MAO inhibitors include isocarboxazid, linezolid, methylene blue injection, phenelzine, rasagiline, selegiline, and tranylcypromine.

Ask a doctor or pharmacist if this medicine is safe to use if you have:

a cough with mucus; or
asthma, emphysema, or chronic bronchitis.

Ask a doctor before using this medicine if you are pregnant or breast-feeding.

This medicine may contain phenylalanine. Check the medication label if you have phenylketonuria (PKU).

How should I take Mucinex DM?

Use exactly as directed on the label, or as prescribed by your doctor. Cold or cough medicine is only for short-term use until your symptoms clear up.

Always follow directions on the medicine label about giving cough or cold medicine to a child. Do not use the medicine only to make a child sleepy. Death can occur from the misuse of cough or cold medicines in very young children.

Measure liquid medicine carefully. Use the dosing syringe provided, or use a medicine dose-measuring device (not a kitchen spoon).

You may need to shake the liquid before you measure a dose. Follow all directions on the label.

Swallow the extended-release tablet whole and do not crush, chew, or break it.

Sprinkle the granules directly onto your tongue and swallow right away.

Drink extra fluids to help loosen the congestion and lubricate your throat while you are taking Mucinex DM.

Call your doctor if your symptoms do not improve after 7 days, or if you have a fever, rash, or headaches.

If you need to have any type of surgery, tell the surgeon ahead of time if you have taken this medicine within the past few days.

Store at room temperature away from moisture and heat.

What happens if I miss a dose?

Since Mucinex DM is used when needed, you may not be on a dosing schedule. Skip any missed dose if it’s almost time for your next dose. Do not use two doses at one time.

What happens if I overdose?

Seek emergency medical attention or call the Poison Help line at 1-800-222-1222.

What should I avoid while taking Mucinex DM?

Avoid driving or hazardous activity until you know how Mucinex DM will affect you. Your reactions could be impaired.

Drinking alcohol with this medicine can cause side effects.

Ask a doctor or pharmacist before using other cough or cold medicines that may contain similar ingredients.

Mucinex DM side effects

Get emergency medical help if you have signs of an allergic reaction: hives; difficult breathing; swelling of your face, lips, tongue, or throat.

This medicine may cause serious side effects. Stop using this medicine and call your doctor at once if you have:

mood changes;
severe headache; or
severe dizziness or anxiety, feeling like you might pass out;.

Common side effects of Mucinex DM may include:

dizziness, drowsiness;
sleep problems (insomnia);
diarrhea; or
feeling nervous, restless, anxious, or irritable;.

This is not a complete list of side effects and others may occur. Call your doctor for medical advice about side effects. You may report side effects to FDA at 1-800-FDA-1088.

What other drugs will affect Mucinex DM?

Avoid using Mucinex DM with other drugs that cause drowsiness or slow your breathing (such as opioid medicine, a muscle relaxer, or medicine for anxiety or seizures).

Ask a doctor or pharmacist before using this medicine if you are also using any other drugs, including prescription and over-the-counter medicines, vitamins, and herbal products. Some medicines can cause unwanted or dangerous effects when used together. Not all possible interactions are listed in this medication guide.

Where can I get more information?

Remember, keep this and all other medicines out of the reach of children, never share your medicines with others, and use this medication only for the indication prescribed.

Frequently asked questions

I have high blood pressure. Can I take Mucinex DM safely?
Can I take Claritin with Mucinex DM?

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Viral Post ‘How To Fight Covid at Home’ Provides Problematic Advice

Though not all of the post’s assertions lack a theoretical basis, their applicability to COVID-19 home care is largely flawed.

Alex Kasprak

Published Dec 29, 2020

Snopes is still fighting an “infodemic” of rumors and misinformation surrounding the COVID-19 pandemic, and you can help. Find out what we’ve learned and how to inoculate yourself against COVID-19 misinformation. Read the latest fact checks about the vaccines. Submit any questionable rumors and “advice” you encounter. Become a Founding Member to help us hire more fact-checkers. And, please, follow the CDC or WHO for guidance on protecting your community from the disease.

We refer to repeatedly copy-and-pasted text shared across multiple digital platforms as “copypasta” — a sort of chain email for the social media age. Copypasta has been a major feature of the COVID-19 pandemic and the misinformation associated with it, often claiming to provide anonymously sourced “insider” information on how to treat, cure, or avoid the disease that is often incorrect and dangerous. As always, we remind our readers that anonymous claims on the internet should never be taken as factual, efficacious, or even safe.

In late December 2020, a piece of copypasta allegedly written by someone whose friend “came down with Covid in November” and received information from a nurse on how to fight the disease “at home” went viral:

HOW TO FIGHT COVID AT HOME

No one ever talks about how to fight Covid at home.

A friend came down with Covid in November. She went to the hospital, running a fever of 103, a rapid heart beat, and other common symptoms that come with Covid. While she was there they treated her for the high fever, dehydration and pneumonia. The doctor sent her home to fight Covid with two prescriptions – Azithromycin 250mg & Dexamethason [sic] 6mg. When the nurse came in to discharge her, she asked her, “What can I do to help fight this at home?”

[. ]

Though the post, narratively speaking, seems to make a series of recommendations for post-hospitalization recovery, the title — and several of the points made throughout — suggest or mislead the reader into thinking these tips are meant to be preventive or curative in absence of, or prior to, hospitalization. This latter interpretation is the most problematic way to view these suggestions.

In some cases, the suggestions have some scientific basis but are misapplied to home-care situations; in others, the information is flat out wrong. In general, experts say, the post’s content risks providing people who are actually sick a reason to delay professional care that could be life-saving. Below, we go through the post point by point.

Sleeping On Your Stomach

The post makes this claim:

Sleep on your stomach at all times with Covid. If you can’t sleep on your stomach because of heath issues sleep on your side. Do not lay on your back no matter what because it smashes your lungs and that will allow fluid to set in.

This advice is not applicable to home care. In the medical world, placing patients on their stomach (the prone position) for respiratory reasons is known as proning. Evidence that predates the COVID-19 pandemic derived from patients who have Acute Respiratory Distress Syndrome (ARDS) suggests that patients who require ventilation in an ICU setting could benefit from prolonged time in the prone position. A limited study of proning in severe cases of COVID-19 in an ICU setting suggests some benefit as well.

Though a clinical trial is underway investigating the question, no evidence suggests any benefit to a person who does not already require ventilation. If you require ventilation you should not, it bears highlighting, be attempting home care. David Vines, a principal investigator on the COVID-19 trial for proning in milder cases, told Snopes by email that with around 200 patients participating so far, they “have not seen a significant trend in benefit or harm.”

“The concern with the public using the prone positioning at home to lessen symptoms,” Vines told us, is that using this technique “may delay necessary medical care with proven benefits. Their delay in receiving this care from a medical provider could result in their death,” he explained, stressing that “anyone having trouble breathing, bluish lips, or inability to stay awake should seek emergency care immediately.”

Exercise

Building off the flawed assertions about sleeping in the prone position, the post additionally claims:

Set your clock every two hours while sleeping on your stomach, then get out of bed and walk for 15-30 min, no matter how tired or weak that you are. Also move your arms around frequently, it helps to open your lungs.

Breathe in thru your nose, and out thru your mouth. This will help build up your lungs, plus help get rid of the Pneumonia or other fluid you may have. When sitting in a recliner, sit up straight – do not lay back in the recliner, again this will smash your lungs. While watching TV – get up and walk during every commercial.

At least as phrased here, this is dangerous advice. The notion that you should exercise even if you feel too “tired or weak” goes against virtually all medical advice regarding breathing and COVID-19. Shortness of breath from basic activities like short walks is an indicator that professional medical care may be needed, according to Joseph Khabbaza, a pulmonary doctor at Cleveland Clinic who spoke to WBUR about caring for a COVID patient at home:

The main indication for going to the hospital would be shortness of breath — and that kind of is a general term. But if you find you’re winded just from walking from the bedroom to the bathroom, that’s a good gauge that you might be short of breath because significant lung inflammation may be developing. You also may be short of breath because your oxygen level is too low. The lungs cannot absorb enough oxygen to meet the needs to do such a small task, such as walking to the bathroom. That is really the most important thing because the way this virus can kill people is by that respiratory failure that lands people on the ventilator. The earlier recognition of that, the better.

Broadly speaking, the advice regarding breathing exercises may be more relevant to people who have spent time in an ICU during the course of their illness with COVID-19. For example, experts with the Johns Hopkins Rehabilitation Network recommend breathing exercises during recovery from COVID-19 hospitalizations, as prolonged time on a respirator weakens muscles in the lungs, among other things. Some of those exercises do involve arm movements that increase oxygen capacity in the lungs. Again, though, even in recovery, the notion that you should work through exhaustion is dangerous. On the Hopkins breathing exercise page, the facility explicitly states:

When recovering from a respiratory illness like COVID-19, it’s important not to rush recovery. … Only increase repetitions or move to the next phase when you can complete the exercise without feeling too out of breath.

Cold Beverages

The post then makes this claim about staying hydrated with non-cold beverages:

Drink Pedialyte, Gatorade Zero, Powerade Zero & Water with Electrolytes to prevent you from becoming dehydrated. Do not drink anything cold – have it at room temperature or warm it up. Water with lemon, and little honey, peppermint tea, apple cider are good suggestions for getting in fluids.

In general, staying hydrated is important for maintaining good health, or for replacing fluids lost during a fever. As such the suggestion of water and electrolytes is not controversial. Hydration and electrolytes, as well, are indicated as important for recovery from COVID-19 specifically. Problems emerge, however, with the claim that beverages used for hydration must not be cold.

Jennifer Nuzzo, a senior scholar at the Johns Hopkins Center for Health Security, addressed the notion that cold water is harmful in the context of COVID-19 recovery on a March 20, 2020, edition of Johns Hopkins’ “Public on Call” Podcast. “There’s also a claim that if people drink cold water, their lungs will become fibrotic,” she told listeners, referring to a condition in which lung tissue is scarred and degraded. “I want to stress that there’s no evidence at all to support these claims.”

Foods to Eat

In terms of food, the post asserts:

Eat at least 1 – 2 eggs a day, plus bananas, avocado and asparagus.These are good for Potassium. [. ] Drink a smoothie of blueberries, strawberries, bananas, honey, tea and a spoon or two of peanut butter.

In terms of recovery, these are all fine foods to eat, and many are included on lists specifically made for COVID-19 recovery diets authored by medical professionals. These suggestions should not be considered effective at preventing infection, however. While a link may exist between low blood levels of potassium and severe COVID cases, this fact should not be viewed as evidence that increased potassium uptake could be effective in preventing COVID-19.

Foods To Avoid

The copypasta post asserts that people recovering from COVID-19 should not drink dairy or eat pork. This information is not supported by any reputable source. In terms of dairy, it is contradicted by several reputable sources that explicitly recommend dairy products, among many other foods, during COVID-19 recovery. There has been, since long before COVID, a misconception that dairy products create more phlegm in the lungs. While it’s possible dairy products make existing phlegm thicker and feel more irritating, it does not actively contribute to production.

In terms of pork, we are unclear what exactly the author of the viral post is referring to. There is a belief held by some practitioners of alternative medicine that pork can contribute to “dampness” and phlegm, but this is not supported by peer-reviewed science. While several processed pork products may be counterproductive in terms of health, a ban on pork as a source of protein does not seem to be supported by any COVID-19 related medical advice. The Hospital for Special Surgeries in New York recommends pork chops as a source of meat that contains zinc, for example.

Vitamins And Probiotics

Speaking of Zinc, the viral copypasta recommends “Vitamin’s D3, C, B, Zinc” as well as daily probiotics. In terms of recovery following COVID-19 infection, this advice is not at all controversial, though any dietary changes made during recovery from COVID-19 should be assessed by a medical professional.

This advice is, however, problematic if interpreted to be a way to “boost” your immune system in a way that could prevent infection from COVID-19. This notion relies on a flawed understanding of how the immune system functions. According to Amesh Adalja, a senior scholar at Johns Hopkins Center for Health Security, “There is no evidence that you can boost your immune system by . taking specific vitamins or supplements.”

Over-the-Counter Drugs

The post also makes a series of recommendations regarding over the counter drugs:

Tylenol for fever. Mucinex, or Mucinex DM for drainage, plus helps the cough. Pepcid helps for cramps in your legs. One baby aspirin everyday can help prevent getting a blood clot, which can occur from low activity.

Any use of drugs, including over-the-counter ones, should be informed by recommendations made by a doctor, nurse, or pharmacist, not online posts — even this one. Both Tylenol, which reduces fevers, and Mucinex, which reduces phlegm, are commonly used to treat symptoms associated with a variety of viral or bacterial infections. However, the use of Pepcid (an antacid used to treat heartburn-related diseases) for leg cramps is unsupported by any research that we are aware of, and the drug is not approved for that purpose.

In terms of aspirin, evidence does suggest that COVID-19 patients clot more easily. Hopkins’ Adalja, quoted on the Johns Hopkins School of Public Health website, said that, “People with coronavirus have the ability to form clots more easily.” In terms of using aspirin to prevent complications from clotting, limited evidence suggests that it may reduce mortality in severe COVID cases that require hospitalization. Evidence for use in milder cases or in non-hospital recovery settings is currently lacking, however. As always, talk to a doctor before starting a regular aspirin regimen for any purpose, as it could lead to other complications.

Bottom Line

If we interpret the post as presenting recommendations made for people who were hospitalized with COVID-19 and sent home for further recovery, the post misses the mark in several cases described above. If, however, the post is interpreted as ways to keep people safe at home without going to the hospital, the post is dangerous, as it encourages notions that could prolong the decision to seek medical care in urgent situations. All told, it’s a good reminder to not get medical advice from posts that end in “copy paste and share.”

By Alex Kasprak

Alex Kasprak is an investigative journalist and science writer reporting on scientific misinformation, online fraud, and financial crime.

A rundown of coronavirus drugs for home

There is no cure for the coronavirus. But there are drugs that can help with symptoms at home and ones that, in a hospital environment, may – or may not – improve the chances of a person who is seriously ill.

The state-of-the-art of COVID-19 pharmacology seems to change by the day.

Medical experts around the world are sharing as much information as quickly as they can as researchers race to find therapies to quell the coronavirus pandemic.

“It’s kind of nuts. In the last four months, there have been more than 2,000 publications for COVID-19-related therapies, descriptions of the disease – it’s just an insane amount of data to keep up with, and unfortunately none of it is of the highest quality,” said Matthew Miller, who has a doctorate in pharmacy and is a clinical specialist in infectious diseases at UCHealth University of Colorado Hospital and the University of Colorado Skaggs School of Pharmacy, both at the Anschutz Medical Campus.

Miller shared with UCHealth Today his state of knowledge as of the afternoon of March 23. He considered drugs for the specific coronavirus, which causes COVID-19, SARS-CoV-2, on two fronts: medications that a person who has contracted the virus can take at home to ease symptoms, and ones that hospital providers are using for those admitted for serious cases.

Try this at home

Roughly 80% of coronavirus cases do not require hospitalization. Information about testing for COVID-19 at UCHealth may be found here. Most cases, identified via a test or not, can be cared for just as well at home, test or not. You treat the symptoms as you would that of a bad flu – adding a major focus on hand hygiene and household disinfection to prevent the coronavirus from spreading to others in the household, Miller says.

Hydrate with water or other clear fluids (the caffeine in coffee, cola, and many teas is a mild diuretic, diminishing the hydrating effect). “People with high fevers can lose more fluids,” Miller said.
Pain relievers and fever reducers – including NSAIDs such as ibuprofen – should be fine. A March 11 article in the British medical journal The Lancet raised temporary alarm about the hypothetical possibility of ibuprofen/NSAIDs being a hindrance to COVID-19 treatment. That has since been contradicted by World Health Organization and the Food and Drug Administration. With the exception of patients with conditions that would preclude ibuprofen and other NSAIDs anyway (kidney conditions, high blood pressure, and others), “There’s no specific reason to avoid NSAIDs,” Miller said.
Lozenges, cough drops, and over-the-counter medicines such as dextromethorphan (Robitussin and others) and guaifenesin (Mucinex and others) can help with the cough that often comes with COVID-19. Dextromethorphan could be the choice for the dry cough that COVID-19 is best known for; guaifenesin that for wetter coughs. Some formulations include both. Again, the idea is to improve symptoms – neither will address the underlying virus.
Sinus congestion and runny nose isn’t a typical symptom, but over-the-counter decongestants can help here.
Zinc lozenges may help (or may not) reduce viral replication in the nose and throat, but their effectiveness with SARS-CoV-2 remains unproven.
Those taking ACE inhibitors or ARBs for cardiovascular issues should continue to do so, Miller says, citing a March 17 American College of Cardiology statement that reads, in part, “The continued highest standard of care for cardiovascular disease patients diagnosed with COVID-19 is top priority, but there are no experimental or clinical data demonstrating beneficial or adverse outcomes among COVID-19 patients using ACE-I or ARB medications.” The statement does add the caveat that the recommendation could change with a better understanding of COVID-19 on these patients.

Miller says that a community pharmacist can help recommend specific products for specific patients. He urges those with symptoms to send a proxy for onsite inquiries, though. People who have any symptoms of illness – such as a fever, cough or shortness of breath, should stay home and isolate themselves so they don’t infect anyone else since COVID-19 is proving to be extremely contagious.