I’m more and more skeptical about Tamiflu. The benefits are, if they exist at all, small, and if by going to the doctor, you get your Tamiflu shot and your disease is shortened by 16 hours, but you give someone else the flu, the world is worse off not better off.
It is my understanding that tamiflu reduces the viral load (or shedding) and therefore reduces your ability to spread the flu. I understand there’s a concern it can be passed in the doctor’s office, but an infected person would never know if it was acquired it at the grocery store before the visit to the drs office. You are contagious before you have symptoms.
D1 (at college) and I both had the flu in January. Our start days were far apart so she did not get it from me. We both took Tamiflu and we recovered quickly. I started meds Weds and was at 80% of normal by Friday. she started meds Saturday and went to 2 classes on Wednesday. My doc said I could resume activities when 48 hours fever-free.
I had the unfortunate vomiting side effect with my first dose of Tamiflu, but not with the next 9 doses.
My DH and I were watching an old Law and Order tonight. It was the episode where people died because of fake flu vaccine being sold. It was a timely episode.
Give me a break. If you go to the doctor to get a Tamiflu shot, you haven’t gotten the shot yet, so even if Tamiflu reduces the contagiousness a day after the shot (which is unproven), it does nothing to prevent you from spreading the flu to other people at the doctor’s office.
So what? How is it better to make someone sick if you don’t know who you’re infecting? If my kid dies from the flu because you gave it to them by not staying home, you are equally at fault whether you know it or not. You should keep your germs at home.
Tamiflu is taken orally, right? It isn’t a shot.
Yes
Whatever-- you go to the doctor to get a prescription, you go to the drugstore to fill it, there are people there for you to infect.
I don’t think Tamiflu should be touted as a prophylactic unless it has been proven to be a prophylactic. And if it is a prophylactic, it should be promoted as such. Something like 57,000 people are expected to die from the flu this year. If Tamiflu can prevent that, why isn’t it being used? And if it can’t why are actual doctors using it as a prophylactic?
It is in the drug info that Tamuflu can be taken prophalactically for very susceptible vulnerable populations—folks with lung disease, aged living with persons with active flu are among those.
That’s why our MD put H and me on Tamiflu while we were living with and caring for D who was ill with the flu.
We didn’t want to bring her in to see the MD, but he insisted. We had started her on Tamiflu that he had called in by the time she went in to see him. I didn’t know why he wanted to see her—maybe to be sure she didn’t also have pneumonia or anything else that needed treatment. We hope she didn’t infect anyone.
@cardinalfang When I started with the flu symptoms, I wondered where I acquired it. In the prior 4 days, I’d gone to work, taken a class with 30 people I’d never met before, attended church with hundreds, and gone to the grocery store. And, after the symptoms began, but weren’t sure I saw my hairdresser (she did not get it). My co-workers did not get it. Neither did my husband. (He and I both had flu shots).
I called my doc, spoke with a nurse, asked for the procedure, and when I arrived for the appointment, they had masks for patients, and there was only one other person in the waiiting room.
I don’t understand why you think I shouldn’t have gone to the doctor. I thought I was being prudent by calling them for advice.
For public health, it might be better to dispense Tamiflu (my RX was 10 pills) at the doctor’s office. My RX was sent to a grocery store pharmacy. So, yes, I went there to pick up my prescription and took my first dose in the parking lot!
If someone is not feeling well, going to see the dr. is necessary and sometimes important, even if that person might bring his/her flu to the dr’s office (which is most likely full of flu patients anyway). What drives me crazy is kids/teachers who have not been feeling well but still go to school, and cause chain-infection, that’s the problem. @“Cardinal Fang”
Yes, and MDs and workers who go to work while ill, infecting vulnerable patients. H’s GI doc called to cancel H’s procedure the day before it was scheduled because he had the flu. I was glad H rescheduled with the office for the following week. No one needs to be worked on by ill doc!
I heard on the news the other day there’s a particular kind of UV that kills (flu)germs without harming people. they were talking about installing the UV machine around the hospitals.
There is a UV light in the low income clinic at the local medical center that treats a lot of TB patients and immigrants, to minimize the spread of TB and other infections. It surprised and freaked me out when I noticed it because the only physician in our state who could treat my S was only seeing patients at that clinic.
Usually it’s not necessary to go to the doctor just because you don’t feel well. You should go to the doctor if you think going to the doctor might make a difference.
As I’m on record doubting that Tamiflu makes a difference for generally healthy people (and I will not be swayed by your anecdotes about Tamiflu, because anecdotes are not data), I don’t see the reason for generally healthy people to see a doctor if they are experiencing normal flu symptoms like having a temperature of 102 and feeling like they just got hit by a truck.
As far as I can determine, in my area Tamiflu is generally not prescribed for generally healthy people who have the flu, unless those people live or work with vulnerable populations. So if I went to the doctor with the flu, I probably wouldn’t be prescribed anything and my doctor would just send me home.
[By “generally healthy people” here I mean people who are not babies or elderly people, and who don’t have vulnerabilities like asthma or other conditions that would make them particularly susceptible to complications, and who don’t seem to be exhibiting a flu complication. A fever of 102 is not a flu complication. It is the flu.]
@“Cardinal Fang”
There are quite a few “Generally healthy” people who died soon after getting the flu this season. And asaik, the flu shots have often not been very effective, that does not prevent cdc telling everyone to get flu shots. I only know tamiflu has been shown to shorten the duration of the flu, though I agree with you that it should not be used prophylactically, as it might run out and the truly-needed patients won’t have access to it.
Well, I have to be around people who are medically fragile, had not had the flu shot, and my doctor recommended a prophylactic course of Tamiflu since I was definitively exposed to my Strain A flu-diagnosed daughter. I trust him, the medication inserts clearly addressed the prophylactic use of the medication, and I did not get sick. While I respect the opinions of the posters here, I will continue to respect the opinion and advice of my doctor, who knows me and my situation. He also recommended my D seek medical assistance since she had not had a flu shot and he had seen similar young adult patients admitted to the hospital with flu-related issues, even though her symptoms were, at that point, typical flu - exhaustion, 102.5 fever, cough etc. So, yes, her visit to Urgent Care merely confirmed what we probably already knew, but that doctor also told her it was good that she had come in so quickly and prescribed the Tamiflu. Should we have both had the flu shot, regardless of it’s questionable effectiveness against many strains of this year’s flu? Yes, but we hadn’t, and I believe the advice we were given was well thought out and informed. While I understand the divergent opinions on this issue, it would be nice if the level of judgement that comes through in some of these posts could be moderated.
As for the limited supply of Tamiflu, there is plenty of the oral pill-form, it is the liquid form used for children that is in short supply.
The flu shot still protects you even if it’s the wrong strain. You still get some protection.
Ok, and now explain how their going to the doctor when they were having normal flu symptoms would have prevented those deaths. What evidence do you have that Tamiflu prevents deaths in generally healthy people who didn’t have complications when they got the Tamiflu? I don’t believe such evidence exists, although I promise to look at the studies if you give me links.
@runnersmom
Sorry if I sound judgemental, I apologize. I do believe you act according to your dr’s advice and I am glad that both you and your D have recovered quickly.
Regarding the shortage of oral-tamiflu, our city is running low and we seem to be at the tail-end of the epidemic, lots of new cases just hitting schools around town.