Ivermectin's Side Effects and Statistics

Updated Feb 2nd 2025

There are those who say, Substack is a platform of misinformation, because those who were banned from other social media sites come here. But then, who are these censors who decide what we can or cannot say, with authority to revoke accounts? Freedom of speech is a founding principle, and so it is no wonder Substack is becoming one of the fastest growing platforms. The rampant censorship going on at YouTube, Facebook, and Twitter, fuels this growth. And so to all the detractors of Substack, I say bite me. There is misinformation everywhere, and censorship has never been the answer. Not in a free country. Once freedom of speech goes, the experiment we call democracy is next.

I have argued with doctors, professors and medical professionals many times, who spread misleading information on YouTube and other platforms. And I’m always confident, because I’m backed with evidence that is hard to refute. But with the rampant censorship going on these days, it becomes very difficult to rebut their misleading propaganda. Science is all about debate and testing different opinions, theories, analyses, and censorship is trying to shut this down. This my way or the highway train of thought is frankly childish and un-American.

One time, I was laying out the evidence on Ivermectin, when someone replied to my post, in the YouTube comment section,… “Tell that to Danny Lemoi.” If your not familiar with him, he’s like the only guy to have died while taking Ivermectin throughout the entire pandemic. There was another, earlier report of a couple of people dying in New Mexico, but it turned out to be a bogus story. So this guy Danny Lemoi became the poster boy, showcasing Ivermectin was dangerous. Mainly because he was a staunch advocate for Ivermectin. His death made many headlines.

An Ivermectin Influencer Died. Now His Followers Are Worried About Their Own ‘Severe’ Symptoms - Vice

Man who urged followers to take daily dose of veterinary-grade ivermectin found dead - Mirror Online

Ivermectin advocate dies from horrifying side effects — and followers report 'severe' symptoms - Raw Story

Now if you read these headlines, you would think Ivermectin is poison. That’s just what they want you to think. But if you read the story, a different picture emerges. Danny been taking Ivermectin for over ten years. And taking the veterinary-grade to boot. He was using it to treat Lyme disease. So, according to these headlines, we are to believe he died from a medication he’d been taking for 10 years, and not the disease it was used to treat? Also mentioned in these articles is that he died with an enlarged heart. And Lyme carditis, a complication of Lyme disease, involves swelling of the heart through inflammation. And even if it was the horse paste that killed him after all these years, you would have to admit, that’s some really slow acting poison. LOL!

As previously reported (not here of course),.. The American Association of Poison Control Centers reported, no one died from Ivermectin poisoning among the 2,112 cases logged from January 1 to December 14, 2021. Whereas, Acetaminophen (Tylenol) generated 47,000 reports in 2019 and led to 164 deaths.

If there were other deaths from Ivermectin, there is no doubt they would have made headlines as well. There was an earlier case involving two people in New Mexico which also made headlines. But as mentioned earlier, it was bogus. They died from COVID not Ivermectin. A State official made a big deal of it as best he could. One person was in his 70’s and the other in his 30’s. And one of them had severe COVID being on a ventilator, and the other patient was on dialysis. This official mentions this in a publicized zoom chat at the 47:10 mark. And as we know,.. not many make it on a ventilator. But yet this State official says it was the Ivermectin causing this ventilated patient’s death,… plus the guy on dialysis, his renal failure…

“Cardiac and renal dysfunction is common among the patients who die [from COVID]”. Effect of COVID-19 on the Organs (USA 2020)

“Studies indicate more than 30% of patients hospitalized with COVID-19 develop kidney injury, and more than 50% of patients in the intensive care unit with kidney injury may require dialysis.” Coronavirus: Kidney Damage Caused by COVID-19 Edit: Amazing, another broken link. You can no longer find this evidence at John Hopkins’ site. They just don’t want you to know. Here are the studies where they likely got this information…

“Several studies have reported that more than 30-50% of hospitalized patients with COVID-19 develop AKI [acute kidney injury], with a higher proportion of patients requiring ICU admission” Acute kidney injury in Coronavirus disease (Saudi Arabia 2023)

“Data for AKI were available for 30,639 patients (54 studies)…. The pooled prevalence of AKI was 28%…. The pooled prevalence of AKI among patients admitted to the ICU was 46%…” The Prevalence of Acute Kidney Injury in Patients Hospitalized With COVID-19: A Meta-analysis (Canada 2021)

“Ivermectin isn’t known to cause kidney side effects” Ivermectin Oral Tablet Side Effects and How to Manage Them (healthline.com)

Ivermectin is best used as a prophylactic or as an early treatment, not for late stage disease. As shown in this graph below…

COVID-19 early treatment: real-time analysis of 5,215 studies

Another bogus Ivermectin story had to be retracted in Rolling Stone magazine, as it was a complete fabrication.

Now no one is saying there isn’t any risk at all. There isn’t a drug on the planet that is perfectly safe. Hell, people have overdosed on water. But as far as drugs go, you would be very hard pressed to find one that is safer than Ivermectin. Now you wouldn’t think of Tylenol or Aspirin as dangerous, but Ivermectin, is a 100 times safer than both of them.

This study below looked at serious adverse reactions with Ivermectin on a global scale from 2003 to 2020…

“The aim of this study was to identify sADRs [suspected serious adverse drug reactions] reported after ivermectin administration in VigiBase, the World Health Organization’s global individual case safety reports database and analyze their frequency relative to the frequency of these events after other anti-nematodal [anti-parasitic] drugs reported in SSA [Sub-Saharan Africa] and other areas of the world (ROW)…. from December 2003 (first ever report of ivermectin-associated suspected sADR recorded) up to July 15, 2020 were extracted…. post-ivermectin or post-benzimidazole suspected sADRs were identified including 667 after ivermectin exposure…. We found an increased reporting for toxidermias, encephalopathies, confusional disorders after ivermectin compared to benzimidazole drug administration. We described for the first time suspected sADRs associated with ivermectin exposure according to geographical origin. While our results do not put in question ivermectin’s excellent safety profile, they show that as for all drugs, appropriate pharmacovigilance for adverse reactions is indicated. Serious adverse reactions associated with ivermectin: A systematic pharmacovigilance study in sub-Saharan Africa and in the rest of the World (France 2021)

Now let us put into context, what they had found. Because there is no mention of how many people used Ivermectin in that 16 year time frame…

“The Mectizan Donation Program was established in 1987 by the pharmaceutical company MSD [Merck] to facilitate access to its drug Mectizan® (Ivermectin) for the elimination of river blindness. The Program reaches more than 400 million people annually and over 12 billion Mectizan® 3 mg tablets have been shipped to endemic countries by MSD since the inception of the program,” said Dr Yao Sodahlon, Director, Mectizan Donation Program. Global Onchocerciasis Network for Elimination (GONE) - WHO (Nov. 2023)

Now I don’t know what to make of Merck’s statement above. If Ivermectin was given to 400 million annually, for the last 36 years or so, 12 billion tablets will come up short. Considering, they are only 3 mg tablets. Dosage for this med goes by your weight. For parasites, like this program was designed for, it’s usually 0.2 mg/kg. So someone weighing 100 lbs, would need 9 mg (3 tabs). So you see how these numbers don’t add up. So let’s say conservatively, for the sake of argument, only 3 billion took Ivermectin in the last 30 some odd years, and you have to admit that is a very conservative number considering what Merck said,…. you could say roughly half, 1.5 billion took it from Dec. 2003 to July 2020 like they looked at in that study above finding 600+ adverse events. You know how many of that 1.5 billion died, while taking Ivermectin in that 16 year span? A total of 76 people. Their odds of dying from Ivermectin was 19 million to 1. And their odds of toxidermias and encephalopathies, which are skin reactions and brain fog were 2.5 million to 1. This is why I always liked stats. They can be very powerful tools.

When I was a kid, I used to make board games. I used to use a spinner or dice to determine a move or play or what-have-you. With dice you can calculate the odds of how likely a 7 would come up (6-1) or snake eyes (36-1) and use that to determine the likelihood of a move or play. Like in a baseball game the odds a batter would strike out or hit a homerun. So I was always fascinated by probabilities and statistics. Then along came video games making board games obsolete. But even in video games, probabilities existed that could be adjusted. I use to make rosters for EA Sports NHL games. Adjusting attributes of 600+ players in the game. To make them better goal scorers, playmakers, or hard checkers and the like. So when I see odds of 19 million to 1, using very conservative figures,… I understand the incredible significance of a stat like that. So while an adverse reaction is not outside the realm of possibilities, while taking Ivermectin,…. you have a better chance of dying in a plane crash or getting hit by lightning twice!

Important Note: Of those very rare, 600+ adverse reactions found in that 16 year period, by the French authors of that study,… they note, most cases (490) involved some kind of parasitic infestation. And because Ivermectin is so efficient in killing parasites, the mass die off, all at once, may cause a strong immune response to remove all the debris. Which likely caused the toxidermias (skin reactions) and encephalopathies (confusion/brain fog) found in that study…

“It [Ivermectin] has a well-established safety profile in adults with a significantly low rate of adverse reactions. An exception to this is its well-documented risk in treating loiasis and onchocerciasis, where the death of high loads of microfilaria may lead to severe encephalopathy” Ivermectin: A Multifaceted Drug With a Potential Beyond Anti-parasitic Therapy (USA 2024)

The majority of these parasites, live and procreate just under the skin. So it makes perfect sense, skin reactions (toxidermias) would also be very likely among those infested and treated with Ivermectin…

“larvae would develop into adult worms (microfilariae) that reside in fibrous sub-cutaneous nodules…. Fertilized adult worms produce about 1000 to 1,500 microfilariae daily and have a life span of 10 to 15 years.” Onchocerciasis - StatPearls - NCBI Bookshelf

So unless you have a parasitic infestation, you have practically no shot at all, in having any kind of adverse event from Ivermectin, as is clearly shown in the French study covering 16 years.

You can’t tell me that this French study wasn’t trying to paint Ivermectin in a negative light, with the title,… “Serious adverse reactions associated with Ivermectin” How funny is it, a study with such a heading,.. proves definitively, how remarkably safe Ivermectin truly is. LOL!

One other important observation….. With Africa being the main recipient of that Merck program, eliminating river blindness (onchocerciasis) on the world’s 2nd largest continent, and the main reason why Ivermectin won its Nobel Prize,… you might wonder how Africa did with COVID?

No surprises here. With not only a large percentage of the population taking Ivermectin for river blindness, scabies, etc… Hydroxychloroquine, known as Sunday Sunday in Africa, was also in widespread use. It is taken weekly to prevent malaria. So it’s not surprising at all, that Africa was hardly touched by COVID. And this with Africa having the least vaccinated population on earth.

I want to be crystal clear that I am not recommending treatment for any condition. I am only presenting evidence that makes it very plausible, some interventions might be of great benefit with little to no risk. Any intervention or nutraceutical I give evidence for,… must first be extremely safe, as in first do no harm. And my newsletters on Ivermectin are just that. Always discuss any treatment with your personal physician first. I am not a doctor, nor do I have a medical background. I am just a regular Joe Schmo who has done a ton of research for my own wellbeing. And I present this research to you, so you can make more informed decisions on your health. Cause you have the final word.

“In deciding to use a medicine, the risks of taking the medicine must be weighed against the good it will do [risk/benefit analysis]. This is a decision YOU and your doctor will make.” Ivermectin (Oral Route) Side Effects - Mayo Clinic

While I strongly believe, everyone will most likely benefit with having Ivermectin handy, it is only one tool in the tool box. And no matter how powerful that tool might be, it is always better to have many layers of protection. And so, I will soon begin to cover other tools necessary to help keep us safe and healthy.

Stay safe and be well….