Would you take tamiflu if.....

[tmarie]

....dd#2 had all the symptoms of flu (including 104-105 fever for 4-5 days) this past week. She is now on antibiotics for an ear infection and the fever is down. She was tested for the flu twice (ped was convinced she had it) but both tests came back negative. I was told that only 80% of h1n1 cases test postiive with the regular flu test, so she still could have had it.

The last two days i felt more tired than usual and had a fever like headache, but no fever. Last night I went to bed at 7:30 pm and haven't been able to get out of bed since--its around noon the next day. I have no appetite, a sore throat, my chest hurts, and I feel achy. Still no fever though. Should I take Tamiflu? (we have a script on hand)

tmarie

[Tondi G]

I would take it!

[vludmilla]

Probably not. A lot of viruses can cause those symptoms and your DD did not test positive for any flu either time she was tested. It seems unlikely to be flu.

[bubbaray]

I was in this exact scenario. I'm high risk (asthma) and called our nurse line and they said to take it, even though I had no fever. I chickened out, though and d/n take it. Still no fever, though I feel like @#$%.

[JustMe]

Hmmn, not sure...just wanted to give you our experience. Dd also tested negative, but the dr stated that this meant exactly nothing. A positive is positive, but a negative does not mean anything b/c the test is so insensitive...she was given Tamiflu and it worked miracles for her. A couple of days letter I felt like crap, had a sore throat, the body aches, no real fever, although my normal temp is around 97.6 and I was at 99.1, It only lasted a day for me..I am not sure what I would do if I was you...if it is not going to get any worse, I would ride it out. I know that you need to take Tamiflu within 24 hrs of symptoms, but am not sure if that means fever or the preliminary symptoms you describe. I might call an advice nurse, or someone similar, if Tamiflu is effective from the period after the fever or the first other symptoms. If it is the fever, I would continue to watch my temp and take Tamiflu immediately if I got a fever...otherwise I would not take it.

[nrp]

I've heard that the accuracy of the flu test for H1N1 is actually a lot less than 80%, so I too wouldn't be surprised at all if your DD did have the flu. The CDC doesn't recommend tamiflu in cases of healthy adults where there is no increased risk of complications (see http://www.cdc.gov/H1N1flu/recommendations.htm), so not sure if I would take it, even if I was pretty sure it was the flu. In the case of a healthy person, the antivirals tend to shave a day or so off the duration of the symptoms, and I don't know if I think that's worth it for the risk of side effects from the medication. JMO, of course!