Thread by @mariliacout

1 / Some well meaning journalists are confused with the term "steroid" and with the nature of the @Regeneron REGN-COV2 "cocktail".

Please read: some serious claims and even jokes are being made on wrong assumptions.

medpagetoday.com/washington-wat…

2 / Let's start with the word "steroid". We avoid the use of this term because it creates confusion. There are thousands of bioactive molecules based on the steroidal skeleton. They are modified from the much feared cholesterol molecule:

3 / The corticoids used in treatment to control hyper-immune response and allergies are usually hydrocortisone (the thing you use for insect bites), prednisone and dexametasone.

4 / The figurative expression "(something) on steroids" does NOT refer to THESE steroids but rather to a class of molecules which we call "androgenic anabolic steroids" (they are testosterone analogs or testosterone itself). Some examples:

5 / See how similar they look? Because they are all derived from the basic steroidal skeleton. However, their biological action is completely different. While the cortisone-type corticoid have side effects such as depression, immune-suppression, psychosis, ....

6 / ... dyslipedemia and many other unwanted effects, Androgenic Anabolic Steroids (AAS) have virilizing side-effects (hair loss, body hair, and other things you can look up) and are known to cause a general feeling of excitement, euphoria and possibly aggression.

7 / The expression "(whatever) on steroids" is akin to "(whatever) on crack": both refer to a maniac or "turbo", ENHANCED (hence "performance enhancing drugs") behavior.

8 / What Trump *allegedly* used was the "down" type of steroid (a corticosteroid) and not the AAS type.

However, he is a known user of stimulants (adderall is an amphetamine) and I wouldn't doubt he is a candidate for androgenic hormonal replacement.

9 / His "enhanced" behavior is NOT because of the dexamethasone. Ok? Any doubts, ask.

Something else can cause euphoria: a sophisticated pain cocktail including different opioids, muscle relaxants and other "feel good drugs".

10 / We will NEVER know what pharmacological agent affected the behavior of an individual diagnosed with several psychiatric co-morbidities.

But it's not the dexamethasone.

11 / Another confusion refers to the the experimental @Regeneron REGN-COV2 cocktail. This is NOT a drug or a drug combo, mix, cocktail - whatever you want to call it. These are anti-SARS-CoV-2 antibodies.

newsroom.regeneron.com/news-releases/…

12 / Here is a good material explaining MONOCLONAL ANTIBODIES.

nih.gov/research-train…

13 / "Monoclonal" refers to the fact that they come from one single clone of antibody producing cell line. That is how they can be scaled up into a treatment product. This is different, for example, from an ANTI-SERUM, which was considered as an option for COVID...

14 / ... and is used, for example, against snake bites. In an anti-serum you have several different types of antibodies against one single ANTIGEN.

In the case of a monoclonal anti-covid antibody, a strain producing particularly effective AB is selected...

15 / ... and then CLONED.

Why does it take so long? For the same reason vaccines take long. We don't know when we will select that great strain whose monoclonal antibodies will...

16 / INHIBIT HOST-CELL-VIRUS ADHESION. That's the trick: sometimes you never find. You can come close, some strains "almost" do the job.

What the Regeneron treatment does is to (hopefully) do what our immune system would naturally do, ...

17 / ... except orders of magnitude more powerfully and faster.

What else was Trump given in terms of pharmacological treatment and recreational drugs?

18 / Who the fuck knows? He was always unhinged, had maniac and psychopathic behavior and had a pretty unhealthy relationship with drugs (and people).

So let's not blame antibodies and drugs for his present psychotic reactions.

19 / Instead, let's point our fingers to the irresponsible individuals and organisms that are enabling an already deranged, depraved and sadistic individual to magnify his pathological behavior with drugs and disease.

20 / Oh yes: the disease itself has neurological manifestations. And in elderly patients, ANY infection can cause a temporary dissociative or "dream-like" state.

21 / That's it.

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