Advised to give Tamiflu but 2nd day she seems not so bad, what shall I do?

[devotion]

DD3 came down with high temp yesterday at 11am, I managed it alternating between calpol and nurofen for most of the day but each time the temp came back 2.3 -3 hours.

From 5pm onwards it would just no go down with both meds, it was over 39 so I called out out of ours gp.

She was in alot of distress and really crying and then vomited quite a bit.

The go told me to bring her to the out of hours surgery to have a look at her.

We there at 9pm and her temp was still soaring high. The gp said she reckons she has swine flu because an persistant temp is classical symptom and her throat was very red but had no white spots which would have suggested something else. PLus she was lethargic and had just fallen asleep during teh day.

She looked terrible and at that moment I though she must. The gp advised me to give her tamilflu and sent us off to get it and told me I could give her a fourth dose of nurofen (normally its three).

So through the night we checked her and gave her calpol and nurofen.

This morning she looks alot better, she does look ill but on a scale of 1 - 10 would say 5 and last night I would say 10!

My concerns are I have given her two doses of tamiflu so far, what if she does not have swine flu and what if she gets it in a few weeks? She cant have it then?

My own gp told me a week ago that if my children get it to let them fight it themselves unless its a bad case of it. because tamiflu has some nasty side effects.

the gp last nigt and pharmacist said that its important to take it to reduce the possible complications, they said at her age her lungs can fill with excess fluid quite quickly.

i am pregnant, stressed, tired and confused. i want to do the best for my child and feel like no-one can really tell me.

if i stop tamiflu and she gets over this alone and then gets swine flu in a few weeks could i giver her tamilflu even though she has had two doses of it?

i just hope she has got it so at least i know i am not pumping these drugs into her little body for nothing.

ahhhh..............

bump

anyone about?

No expert, but friends whose ds had exactly same symptoms (sore throat, high uncontrollable temps, slightly runny nose and a bit of diarrhoea) was given Tamiflu within 12 hours of starting the fever, and responded v v fast. He wasn't responding to other meds, but Tamiflu brought his temp down within hours - and he got better very fast.

They are sure its thanks to the Tamiflu, and as there's heaps of SF around our area, and he'd been in contact with it, they are also sure he had SF (as they can be).

So odds are good your dd has it too, and has responded well - which is good

I'd keep giving, and stop worrying, if thats ever possible with Mum-dom

Hope she's all well fast, xx

Thank you

We could just not get her temp down and maybe its just a concidence with the tamilfu it has.

Us mums just read TOO much and here you read so much conflicting advice.

Hopefully she has got it and this is the right treatment for her.

Did the rest of her family get it?

Thanks

My DD has got swine flu and has had the Tamiflu and has responded very well, very quickly. Kids do seem often to be bouncing back quickly, provided they're treated promptly. I think we should both be pleased that they're doing so well!

Four days in, no-one else in the family is showing any signs of it, and I think that the prompt treatment has probably helped with that too - Tamiflu works by reducing the viral replication, so by keeping that down, there is less to transmit, as it were. The risk of stopping treatment is that the virus may not be eradicated and may start replicating again, leading to more high temp and possibly mutating to become resistant to the now low-level remaining drug... It is the same as antibiotics - you have to finish the course

Thanks for that, my gp could not tell me all that

Good to hear these positive experiences. I was concerned about the possible complications of stopping the drugs so I will carry on.

Do you know if its effects your immunity to swine flu?

tamiflu doesn't affect immunity as far as I know and if you have had swine flu and it continues to get milder and milder (which they think it is) you will have some immunity if you've had it. My GP said if you've had it you've had it.

My little girl had a very bad case and had what appeared to be an accute asthma attack and was really struggling to breathe. I'd deliberated earlier whether to give her the tamiflu and was so glad I had. She is fine now had to have a course of steroids and an inhaler but was more or less fine except for cough within a week.

I was late taking tamiflu and don't think it worked for me as the SF really knocked me off my feet and I did get a secondary infection too.

My girls didn't have any funny reactions to tamiflu and I beieve it helped them fight it off. It could have been the tamiflu that has helped your daughter by stopping the virus multiplying. People have been taking antivirals for years for shingles but that is usually properly diagnosed.

I'm not a medic so this is just my opinion as a Mum but personally having read up on it a lot I think you are better to give tamiflu (particularly if your child is over 1 as they are less likely to have side effects and under 5 so at risk of complications with SF) in order to avoid serious health problems from the swine flu which although rare can be a bit dramatic in my experience.

It would be a lot better if they'd swab each case and prescribe it properly but as that is not currently an option unfortunately it's up to us to weigh it up isn't it, big responsibility if you ask me!

Hope she's better soon x

yummymummy310 - thank you!

your poor dd, that must been worrying for you. glad to hear it helped her.

it is such a responsibility for us parents and i guess its better to be safe than sorry.

my main conern now is that i just hope she has got swine flu so i am not wasting her chance of taking tamiflu.

Hope she is feeling a bit better, but I agree with Jennywren and Yummymummy that it is better to keep giving the Tamiflu and complete the course to ensure that any virus which is left cannot start replicating itself again. This not only protects your dd but also the rest of the family as there will be less 'virus shedding'. Also, if it turns out that this is not swine flu and she does contract it in future you can again give tamiflu (for example, healtworkers/people who would be high risk can take tamiflu prophylactically for 6 weeks in a row!). According to the Tamiflu leaflet the greatest chance of side effects is with the first two doses after that it tends to calm down. Also, sometimes it is difficult to distinguish between the side effects of tamiflu and the symptoms of the flu (they can be very similar).

Isn't it frustrating that you can't know for sure that they've had it? My 15-month old girl was given tamiflu a couple of weeks ago as she had a high temp (39.5) and a sore throat. She recovered quickly and the temperature returned to normal the next day, even though she had spat out most of the tamiflu I had given her. Did you get capsules which you had to open and then 'disguise' the powder in favorite foods? Impossible task - it is so bitter in taste! I'm grateful she got better quickly, of course. However, this week she developed a cold and a high temperature again!!! I thought - what if she didn't have it last time and this is IT!? Luckily, she recovered quickly again and was only ill for two days. So scary though, isn't it! I guess we won't be able to feel more relaxed for a long, long time - or at least until they've definitely had it or have had the vaccine when that becomes available. Hope all your little ones are getting better!

Agree that it would be great if we could find out whether we had it and hence didn't have to worry about it anymore. I discussed this with our GP. They can do a bloodtest to detect anti-bodies to swine flu, it is possible, however, he told me that lots of people would ask for it, so they don't do it. Maybe some private doctor or private hospital would be willing to do such a test?

devotion - Your DD3 sounded like my DS1! On Monday afternoon, the nursery called me to come and pick him up as he was having a temp and crying (very unlike him!). I took him home and he wouldn't eat but that night, he vomitted twice and his temp remained despite repeated dosings of Calpol and Ibuprofen! We did the online survery and got the Tamiflu prescription and on Tuesday, he still wasn't too well - temp remained (but not worryingly high). He vomitted but not much as he wasn't eating and very teary. DH and I decided not to give him the Tamiflu as we just didn't know and because he wasn't coughing or sneezing or having breathing issues, we took the chance. His temperature went overnight and by Wednesday morning, he seemed fine. He still wasn't 100% but the temp was gone, he was playing normally but still not eating. He's fine today and we have sent him back to nursery. In my opinion, he either had a 24-hour bug or is going through a particular bad episode of teething.

I called the GP and hotline repeatedly and they couldn't give me ANY good advice! The NHS hotline told me 'you know your child best' and I was thinking 'FGS, I am not a f*ing doctor or medic!' In the end, we took the chance and at least we have the Tamiflu on standby now. I'm glad your DD is better. I'm pregannt too and it's very testing when you don't know how best to protect your child as well as the unborn one so I know how you feel.

Hi

My gp rang back and he said it too early for the tamiflu to take any effect and it takes 3/4days.

But there are so many on here who said it did hekp straight away so i think i will go with you guys.

he also sais to carry on giving it now and that i did the right thing because she looked so ill last night but if she has got sf then its a mild dose so she really doesnt need it but i started so hey-ho!

i really hope it is sf because it maybe impossible for her to have it again as everyone only gets one dose. he said the uk is the last on the list for more tamiflu so the sooner she gets the vaccine the better...

now thats a whole new worry!

devotion - Hope your DD feels better soon. My DS had a good day in nursery and apparently is eating like a champ today after 2 days of not eating! Definitely not SF for us, thank goodness.

I understood that you could still get tamiflu again. Let's be honest with any other medication you would be able to get it again, so seems a very odd attitude from your GP. I know that it is not recommended but it is possible to buy it over the internet (I bought it over the internet just in case, really expensive though) and for small children you have to go through a whole palava to get the right dose (but detailed instructions are available). If you want to know where to buy online let me know. However, maybe somebody else knows about being able to get tamiflu twice or more on the NHS. Hope it is getting better anyway.