Ugh, I think my 3 1/2 year old has swine flu...should I give Tamilflu?

So I think the kid has swine flu, he has high fevers (controllable with nurofen) and a cough. I don't think he has any other symptoms, but after speaking with an NHS Direct nurse, she seems to think he has flu, not necessarily Swine Flu, but a case of Flu. Its been a tough week for us, he started school, he was with his childminder (whose son had Swine flu last week, the kids didn't have more than 5 minutes contact, but they had contact nonetheless...she sent him away to stay with a family member once he got sick enough) and now...Noah has it. Oh yeah, and I am 17 weeks pregnant. 2009 can't end quickly enough for us...

Anyway, the question I have now is this, they are telling me that he should have Tamiflu because of the high risk area, but everyone is telling me not to give him the Tamiflu, thats the side effects are worse than the actual effect of the medication. I just don't know what to do...double this up with a particularly challenging two weeks at work for both my husband and myself, and I am feeling completely overwhelmed...

Any advice would be welcomed. TIA.

I'm sorry that you're dealing with so much. I probably would give my son Tamiflu if it was me. People have so many opinions and different experiences. I think that I would listen to the doctor over other's advice.

I agree, I'd go with the medical advice as well I think. sorry you're having such a stressful time!

I am sorry to hear what a difficult time you are having. I honestly don't know what I would do I am sure you already have researched the information so I won't post links. There is research that indicates the side effects could be worse than the help in children. Unfortunately there is never an easy decision. No matter what you decide you will never know if it was the best choice. Go with your gut instinct, I would discuss your concerns with your GP first before making a final decision.

When the chicken pox vaccine first came out I had heard mixed things and couldn't decide if I should give it to my daughter....I asked her doctor if she was giving it to her children. She said nope, not yet- that was answer enough for me. In the end I am sure it would have been fine, but she got the chicken pox before I enough time of it being used has passed for me to reconsider it.

Sorry I am rambling! Good Luck in whatever decision you make..and hope he is feeling better soon.

My three (then 3, 5 and 7 months) were prescribed Tamiflu after swabs came up positive for swine flu, but we chose not to because we were worried about the side effects.

A couple of the other mums gave it, and some of the children had side effects and others didn't.

It's really your call.

I had it prescribed for me as well, as my swabs and bloods came up positive, but chose not to take it, either.

I had a flu vaccine whilst pregnant with Roisin, about 30 weeks along, and it made me soooo sick, and the flu vaccine had never done that to me before.

Just one of those things, I guess.

Oh Rach sorry to hear N isn't feeling well. I don't know what I would do so my heart goes out to you.  Roll on 2010!

So in the end what seemed to be swine flu manifested itself into a bad ear infection, so he has been on antibiotics since Monday. He went back to school on Wednesday and he seems 100% himself again. Watch out South Manchester!!! lol!

Glad he is feeling better and it didn't turn out to be the dreaded swine flu. Hope the rest of it gets better soon! 

My daughter has a cough and a bit of a fever (well seems like that might be gone this morning). I guess I need to brush up on flu symptoms. I'm also struggling on whether or not to get H1N1 vaccines for us and I'm 24 weeks pregnant. I have a love/hate relationship with vaccines. Glad it was just an ear infection.

I'm torn on the vaccine, too. I'm ok with it for things like measles and all that, but when it comes to flu and chickenpox, I'm not so sure.

I'm torn on the vaccine, too. I'm ok with it for things like measles and all that, but when it comes to flu and chickenpox, I'm not so sure.

I'm sure you've done a ton of research, but I just wanted to share an email from a friend whose husband is an infectious disease specialist.

<message from friend>

Several of you know my husband is an infectious disease doctor who was called back to the White House about 5 months ago to help manage the national response to swine flu.  He recently posted some valuable information on his Facebook page, and I thought I would forward it to you.  A few of you have asked what his opinion is on the H1N1 vaccine; well, here it is.  This is meant purely for informational purposes; I know the vaccine issue is always an emotional one, and my intention is not to open a can of worms.  I am merely putting forth his expert opinion on the topic (and he really is an expert on this) to hopefully better inform you on this important issue.  Read if you like.  And if you have any questions, please email me off-list and I'd be happy to pass them on.


<message from her husband>

Dear friends,

My sister asked me a question about the new H1N1 vaccine and seasonal flu vaccine. I thought I would adapt my answer to her and provide it as a friendly public service announcement. As most of you know, I was called back to the large house of pale color in April to assist in the response to the new H1N1 flu. While I was not so happy to be be plucked from the lab and the good things we had going on there, it has been an interesting challenge and every once in a while has even been fun. For your purposes, however, it means I have been living this stuff for the last 5 months. So I am not completely making this up. Anyway, here goes:

I recommend getting the flu vaccine every year. About 10% of Americans get flu in an average year - although most don't realize it is flu. With seasonal flu, most severe disease and death occurs in people over 65 years old, and most of the rest occurs in children under 5. Flu vaccines have the best safety profile of all the vaccines we use. The risk is minimal for seasonal vaccine and is definitely worth it to avoid illness and missing work-school etc. And the more flu vaccinations you get, you may potentially get better protection from slightly drifted flu viruses that may not be perfect matches for the vaccine. This is probably more likely with FluMist, which is why I recommend it over the regular shot. It probably works a little better anyway.

The need for vaccination is more urgent with the new H1N1. This virus is infecting school aged kids and younger adults at a high rate. And almost all of the deaths associated with novel H1N1 are in younger adults - the mortality rate in people between the ages of 4 - 49 is way out of proportion compared with normal flu, and we probably haven't seen anything like it since 1957. Certainly we haven't seen flu in Sept like this year since the pandemic of 1957. So t has been really misleading when people say it is no worse than seasonal flu - that's true if you are 70 (in fact it's better) but not if you are 30. We have a long way to go until the end of flu season (April) - and we may see multiple waves of the H1N1 before that is over.

The new H1N1 vaccine is made the exact same way as seasonal flu vaccine every year. Next year, it will almost certainly be incorporated into the regular seasonal vaccine (which always contains 3 viruses). It was not "rushed" to market - in fact, there was a lot more clinical testing done with this vaccine than is normally done with seasonal vaccines (because we needed to make sure the dose was right, not for safety purposes.) We have no reason to believe there are any safety concerns.

Use caution interpreting media reports which will arise after vaccinations begin. We are trying to immunize greater than 160 million people in the next 2 1/2 months. in such a large population at any given time, people will have strokes, heart attacks, miscarriages, new onset seizures etc. People will automatically want to blame the vaccine - and we will be looking harder so will likely find more adverse events - but it will take rigorous statistical analysis to figure out whether any event is truly associated. Everybody knows about the 1976 vaccine and Guillain-Barre syndrome. It has never been clear that there was a true association, although the stats suggest a modest one - and nobody has figured out a mechanism. Meanwhile, we've never seen such an association since, the vaccine production has better quality control now, and we know that flu itself probably causes GBS. So your risk of a bad outcome from the flu is far, far greater than any risk of GBS or other theoretical event. In the US, we have given about 1 billion doses of flu vaccine over the last 25 years. it is safe and it works (wen well-matched, which the H1N1 is).

So bottom line - get both. Seasonal now, H1N1 when available. You can get FluMist for both - officially the recommendation may be to wait a month after a FluMist dose to get anothe FLuMist doser, but I think 2 weeks is probably sufficient, frankly. If you are getting the inactivated vaccines (shots) you can get them any time.

I will get off my soap box now. Vaccines are an emotional issue for many people, and there is a tremendous amount of mis-information out there - even among healthcare professionals, unfortunately. I definitely recommend that everyone educate themselves (from credible sources) and definitely get yourselves and your children vaccinated - it is important. I will breath easier when my kids get their vaccine!

Thanks, S. I did go ahead and get the vaccine for them - before I read this but this makes me feel better. I've yet to do it for myself. The H1N1 is not available through Kaiser Permanente yet, but I think it will be soon. I decided to do it not because Sammy seems prone to illness at all, but given he's such a skinny little thing, I worried any flu could make him lose too much weight.