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Hydroxychloroquine and the People Who Really Need It Hydroxychloroquine and the People That Really Need It

Living with Sjogren's Syndrome

By Racquel Stephen

ELAINE HAUMAN:
Probably in a week or two I’ll have to reorder up, and I’m not sure how that will work out.

REPORTER:
Elaine Hauman lived a normal life with her husband and kids until she was diagnosed with Showgrins Syndrome in 2002. It’s an autoimmune disease that affects the body’s ability to produce tears and saliva. Hydroxychloroquinn is the only drug that has effectively treated her symptoms.

HAUMAN:
It’s basically telling the immune system ‘stop attacking yourself’..so when it does that, and it’s effective at that…then I can live a pretty normal life.

REPORTER:
Hauman takes the drug twice a day, and gets a refill every 3 months. However, the fear of a shortage is soon becoming a reality.

HAUMAN:
The president of the United States saying that it’s a ‘wonder drug’…and everyone oughta go try it…it’s wrong. What its done is made a rarity of the drug now, and for all of us that have autoimmune illnesses that are on it…we’re gonna be in a lot of trouble if we don’t have that drug.

REPORTER:
President Trump has frequently endorsed the antimalarial drug as a possible treatment for COVID-19. Even placing himself on a two week trial course despite the warnings from the Food and Drug Administration. According to Trump the issue becomes “What Do you have to lose?” A question Hauman wished she didn’t have to answer.

HAUMAN:
I get tested every six month for my liver because it can damage your liver; and every six months for my eye site because it can make you go blind.

REPORTER:
A new normal that Hauman has grown accustom to. Racquel Stephen, NCC News.

SYRACUSE, N.Y. (NCC News) – President Trump has openly endorsed the antimalarial drug, hydroxychloroquine, as the solution to combat COVID-19.   Despite the medical warnings from the Food and Drug Administration, and other doctor reports, the president underwent a two-week course of the drug in an effort to prove his theory.

The myth behind the effectiveness of the drug has caused a surge of panic buying, and clinical trials that has left those that really need the drug fearful of a shortage.

Elaine Hauman, of Central New York, has been battling Sjogren’s Syndrome from 18 years.  After trying multiple drugs, hydroxychloroquine proved to be the most effective for treating her symptoms with the least amount of side effects.

“It’s basically telling the immune system ‘stop attacking yourself’… So when it does that, and is effective at that… I can live a pretty normal life,” said Hauman.

Sjogren’s Syndrome is an autoimmune disease that affects the glands that produce saliva and tears.

Hauman takes hydroxychloroquine twice a day to help manage the disease, but she is concerned that the hype surrounding the drug’s possible .. to COVID-19 will cause a serious problem for those that took it to survive before the pandemic.

“The president of the United States saying that it’s a wonder drug, and everyone has got to try it is wrong,”  said Hauman. “What it’s done is made a rarity of the drug now; and for all of us that have autoimmune illnesses that are on it…we are going to be in a lot of trouble if we don’t have that drug.”

If a shortage does occur, Hauman will be able to use other drug and treatments, but the side effects may just be too unbearable.

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