Taking Tamiflu for the Flu

[snappy]

I am just back from taking DD9 to the pediatrician. She woke up with 102.7 fever this am after being fine yesterday, even after a full day of school, soccer practice and homework.

They did this swab thing, she has the flu. The doc, who happens to be our neighbor as well, prescribed Tamiflu, a liquid for her and capsules for me. I don't have it yet, but as the caregiver, I am most susceptible. Also, I have had other health issues the last year and my immune system is probably not up to speed. She also gave me scripts for the rest of the family. In addition to lessening the severity if the patient has had the flu less than 2 days, it can help prevent the onset of flu in other family members who are exposed.

Just wondering if anyone has had any experience with Tamiflu, and if it helped ward off the flu for anyone else.

It is rather pricey too, the cheapest cash price I could find was at Sam's-about $70.

 

[bballmom56]

DS was given Tamiflu last year when he was diagnosed with the flu. It caused some reaction in him, I think it upset his stomach. He didn't take it after one or two doses because of the reaction. I don't know exactly what it cost as we paid a $20 copay.

 

[Toby'sFriend]

DH took it last week. He still had a pretty nasty case for about 4 days. He still has a cough this week, but no fever for 3 or 4 days now. I was hoping for a little better results from it, I make a lousy nurse and I hate taking care of people I know are virus buckets.

The toddler got sick for a couple of days, but nothing too drastic.

 

[chrissyk]

I took it within 24 hours of the onset of the flu last Dec. I felt a lot better by day 4, and pretty much back to normal within a week. DH took it as a preventative, and he never ended up coming down with the flu. I hope that the Tamiflu works as well for your DD as it did for me, because that is one nasty flu.

 

[snappy]

Thanks for the thought, chrissk. And thanks to my sister too who recently had the flu and gave me the scoop on Tamiflu. I am so glad I brought DD9 to see the doc right away.

 

[MUFFYCAT]

I took it last year as soon as I got the flu. I was still in bed for 3 days and felt horrible, so I don't know if it helped any.

 

[chrissyk]

I took it last year as soon as I got the flu. I was still in bed for 3 days and felt horrible, so I don't know if it helped any.

Our nurse practitioner told me that I would likely have flu symptoms for two weeks w/o the Tamiflu. If you were out of bed in 3 days, the Tamiflu probably did help quite a bit!

 

[TTFN]

I finished 5 days of Tamiflu yesterday. Fever stopped after about 3 doses. I think it helped a lot, but I did start it very early (I had made an appointment to see if I had bronchitis and saw the doctor within a few hours of starting a fever). I only had the "hit by a truck" feeling for a day, but still have a cough and tend to tire quickly. The cost for me was about $65 with insurance.

 

[MScott1851]

Well.. the doctors at the ER aren't prescribing to people unless they fit very strict criteria. One, their symptoms have to be less than 48 hours old, and second, they have to have insurance.

Tamiflu is very expensive, and from every single study I've seen, it only shortens your illness ONE DAY. Most of the docs I work for don't think it helps enough to justify the cost and side effects.

 

[Otimon]

My dr. gave me a prescription for Rimantadine (must be a generic for Tamiflu) and the cost was only $9.00 for ten tablets through our health plan. I was finally able to get the flu shot so never used them but my whole family had their own prescription for it just in case.

 

[delilah]

Rimatidine is Flumadine, which is chemically related to amantadine. Amantadine and Flumadine are active against influenza A, only, where as Tamiflu is active against both influenza A and B. The influenza screens do not differentiate influenza A and B, so, when I have a patient with a positive screen, I give them Tamiflu. Amantadine is relatively inexpensive, and is effective for prophylaxis, so, I will give it to a patient who is not immunized, but is likely to be exposed, primarily because of relative cost. Like the ER doctors cited above, I only give Tamiflu within 48 hrs of developing symptoms, since it does little good beyond that time frame.

 

[4greatboys]

Evan and Connor took it about a month ago when they had the flu. Thank God we had decent rx coverage so we only had a $20 copay and the stuff tastes awful. I had a hard time getting them to take it. They did seem to feel okay once they started it but its hard to say if it was the meds or if they were feeling better anyway. I only had a light case of the flu and felt okay after about a day with no meds.

 

[Cindyluwho]

Just a warning, this poster has spammed another site that I run trying to sell tamiflu.

Wow! How do they pick up on the thread so quick? Eerie...
It sounds like this year's flu has been a doozy. Lot's of kids at my DDs school out for weeks at a time. Doesn't flu season end soon (crossing fingers)

 

[lsyorke]

They can find anything!!! I had to ban two different people with similar names selling the same thing..

 

[Toby'sFriend]

Wow! How do they pick up on the thread so quick? Eerie..

take a look at the original dates on this thread -- it is over a year old.
The did a search on key words, found this thread, and added a reply to bump it up to the top.

 

[Mskanga]

And I still get people asking me , why do I give my kids the flu shot? and they look at me like I am an idiot. So far it has worked like a charm.

 

[Regina]

We removed the Spam. I always find that chicken soup does a much better job of fighting the flu than spam.

I'm guessing that everyone who had this last year is feeling better by now.