swine flu, should I give him the tamiflu?

[gogsi]

My son woke up saying he had a tummy ache and various pains around his body, called the helpline, and they said yes to tamiflu for him, checked with doc she didn't think symptoms were bad enough but so called him in for an appointment as she thought it maybe tonsilitis,upon taking him to docs his temperature shot up to 39 and then she thought he should tamiflu so picked up prescription, he was sick on the way home, gave him some calpol and he slept from 3.30 til 7. He awoke saying he felt a bit better.The nurse said that tamiflu can cause sickness and diarrohea....don't know whether to stick with calpol for today then if bad tomorrow administer it then if worse, but the calpol seems to be keeping it at bay...what do you lot think?

hello

i have a thread on here at the moment about how i wished i had not rushed into giving my three year tamiflu.

she was really ill on Wednesday (think i said monday on other thread - all stressed )and I could not get her temp down and the doc told me to give her tamiflu straight away so i did that night and first thing the next morning. Few hours later she was much better and today she seems fine.

My own gp said it probably was swine flu but mild and if i had spoken to him he would have told me to wait until Tuesday morning to see how she was.

But now i have started it i need to complete it or it could cause more problems.

she has had no side effects so far (fingers crossed).

Its horrible that we have to make that decision.

YOu need to take tamiflu within the first 48 hours so if my other dd gets ill with it, i wont rush into it the first day i will make a desicion teh second day and if she is coping ok with calpol and nurofen i will not use the tamilflu and let her fight it herself.

You know your child best and if he looks very ill I would give it.

is he over 5?

it's a really hard decision isn't it and one you could do with a crytsal ball to make. My eldest had real problems with her breathing less that 24 hours after her first SF symptoms that really scared me and for that reason am glad had already (rather reluctantly) started her on the tamiflu, she had a wheeze from early on though that the doc was particularly concerned about - an indication that it was straight away affecting her breathing. She was unlucky though most kids don't have such problems. She's fine now too, she had to have a course of steroids and an inhaler for a week but she's fine.

My youngest had taiflu cos I was frightened that she might get as poorly as my eldest but she never did.

I had it too but think I took tamiflu too late which was pointless in a way but I thought I might just make the 48 hour window and had crappy advice from NHSdirect that delayed me getting it, as my daughter had such a bad reaction to the SF I should've been given it you see.

I had terrible flu and a secondary chest infection, am still fighting off the flu 10 days later and have got rib pain and even still got a temperature. I wouldn't mess with the SF it's as strong as an ox and in my opinion you have to be as strong as an ox to battle with it, I wasn't I'd had a horrid time worrying about my girls, hardly had any sleep in days and spent a night in A&E with my eldest so didn't stand a chance against it.

You'll have to decide what you thinks best the tamiflu works best the earlier you take it and also helps protect others in the house from catching SF as it works by limiting reproduction of the virus.

It's a gamble either way you could give it him and then he could be fine tom and you might wish you hadn't or if you're unlucky like me with my eldest you might be really glad you gave him it as a precaution - sorry isn't an easy answer.

Has he a sudden cough/sore throat/headache or any other symptoms except temp and aches? Aches are more common of a flu I believe but I'm not a medic, I certainly had terrible aches. Hope he has a good night and is better soon, even if it is SF am sure he will bounce back in a few days like my girls did x

Turns out he was fine by 7.30 last night, didn't give him any thing for the night and he is all back to normal. I appreciate how lucky we've been , you guys have had a rough ride, hope you all are better asap

thanks, thats great news he's all better