my nephew most likely has h1n1 and he goes to the same pedi as my kids. they said he has all the symptoms, but are refusing to give out tamiflu unless there are underlying medical conditions. anyone else hear of pedi's being so strict about this? i totally understand not handing out prescriptions willy nilly, but saying that they won't give it out unless you have asthma, etc seems odd to me and definitely not the norm from what i am hearing here. i mean, some people are getting it for even healthy family members to prevent them from getting sick, yet others won't prescribe it at all?? i feel like i need to start pedi-shopping if my kids end up sick and he remains so adament...
Some dr's are hesitant to prescribe Tamiflu because it has some potentially nasty side effects. When Juliette came down with the flu last season, I talked to her doctor, and he said that he has seen some pretty potent side effects, like the kids having nightmares and getting disoriented/confused or not being able to sleep at all, and he said vomiting and diarhea are fairly common.
Basically, sometimes the treatment can be as bas as the disease. 2/3 of the kids that are being hospitalized from H1N1 have an underlying condition, so they are more at risk.
If it were me, I would give Juliette Tamiflu because of her asthma, but would just provide supportive care for Danielle, since she is otherwise healthy.
We went on Friday with all the symptoms besides a fever, and they told me that they are not even rapid testing for flu anymore. If all the symptoms (fever being the major problem) are present, they give Tamiflu out for those under 2, and the kids 2-5 only get Tamiflu on a case by case basis, 5 and over only rarely will get a rx.
If they are catching early, I'd go to urgent care and try there, if she isn't happy with the answer. I'm not exactly sure how I feel about it. On one hand, I trust Hannah's pediatrician - and on the other I've heard some nasty h1n1 stories, and some great results with Tamiflu.
i guess it would make me feel better if it were a "there can be some nasty side effects. do you still want it for your child?" situation rather than an absolute no, kwim? i can't imagine how it would feel to have your child hospitalized or worse from this flu knowing that although you caught it early on your dr. wouldn't give you tamiflu because there wasn't an underlying condition...
Wow, that kind of stinks in my opinion. My pediatrician didn't think twice about it when Hannah tested postiive, he prescribed it for her and Bryson. Hannah does not have asthma but when she gets respiratory illnesses they seem to be really hard on her lungs but as far as i'm concerned she's not considered to have an underlying condition. We caught it in time and i'm glad he gave it to her, granted I don't have a non-tamiflu case to compare it to but it seems like she is recovering pretty easy and so far Bryson does not seem to have it. I can see not prescribing it to a child that is presenting with a very mild case, if Hannah wasn't so sick maybe he wouldn't have prescribed it and I probably wouldn't have thought she needed it. I don't know this whole flu thing is crazy!
Ours is giving it to under twos and over twos who are either very sick or have underlying health conditions.
He offered it to us because Kate's fever went up to 105.2 and they hadn't seen any fevers that high. We didn't fill it. I decided it wasn't worth it to me, since both my girls are healthy otherwise. Of course now she is on abx because she has other infections, but I would still rather that than the Tamiflu, personally.
As far as I know, they are not prescribing it for adults. And he said good luck finding a pharmacy that even had it (at least the oral suspension).
All three of my kids were prescribed it. Bryce tested positive for the Type A flu and Keegan had just started running a fever before we got for his appt. He also put Owen on it as preventive.
