Advice needed, been prescribed TAMIFLU....Help!

[Disenchanted3]

I got ill yesterday, sore throat, ears hurting, backache, headache nausea ... took some ibuprofen and perked up,

by night time I was very hot, sweaty and was feverish all night, having nightmares etc.

DS1 was ill last night, off fod,ect... we both slept into the afternoon today,

I am still hot, sore ears, sore throat, very sweaty,

DS was lathargic, runny poops, vomited.

We phone GP, prescribes tamiflu,

Dad drives to get it, they have mine, but DS wont have his till tomorrow (some cock up)

Basically I'm worried that we've been diagnosed with this over the phone with no assesment, no test...

is there a way to find out if we actually ahve it??

Im reluctant to start DS on tamiflu if he hasn't got it, he's perked up alot and is crreenlt eating jam on toast and rolling about on the floor laughing.

Am just confused!!

they arent doing swabs in most areas. dd2[2.6yrs] was diagnosed over the ohone on sat. got her tamiflu and wasnt going to give it to her until her temp went up again. since taking tamiflu there has been big improvement but still on an off with temp etc, she deffo has some sort of flu and tamiflu seems to be helping

he seemed BAD this morning but seems fine now, wish we could get a def yes/no.

I know what you mean, part of me feels a bit annoyed we dont know for sure and we are stuck in while we sit it out but the reality is dd2 is ill whether its swineflu or some other flu bug. Had fun phoning around nursery etc this morning and am now sitting hawk eyed waiting for asthmatic 3yr old to show signs or 4wk old dd3!!

The swabs take several days to come back and as tamiflu should be started in the first 48 hours if you want to take it they are useless to help guide whether or not you should have tamiflu and were only used really to chart the spread in the early days. There is a blood test but it is not immediate, is very expensive, is only done in a few labs in the uk and GPs don't have access to it (it is used if people are in ITU or seriously ill only).

If your DS seems to be getting better he may not get much benefit from tamilfu anyway - most people get better on their own from flu anyway and with normal flu we don't even give tamiflu because it is so vile. Call your GP (before 6.30) for advice or the out of hours GP service after that and speak to someone for advice. If it was me on the end of the phone I'd probably say to leave it and just treat with calpol and fluids if he is improving but call them and they will go through the options with you properly.