The 2017-2018 flu season is turning out to be one of the worst outbreaks in recent history. Already this year, the flu has claimed the lives of dozens of children and hospitalized countless others. In the midst of the turmoil and sickness, however, the medication to treat the flu—Tamiflu—is also reportedly claiming lives.
As this is one of the worst outbreaks, the makers of Tamiflu are seeing record sales. However, this is not good for the children whose parents are coming forward to expose the horrendous side effects caused by the medicine which—in some instances—have proven to be far worse than getting the flu.
Oseltamivir, the antiviral medication marketed as Tamiflu, is used to treat flu symptoms caused by influenza virus in patients who have had symptoms for less than 2 days. While there are plenty of common side-effects ranging from hives to difficulty breathing, some of the less common side effects have parents crying foul.
Some people using Tamiflu have had rare side effects of sudden confusion, delirium, hallucinations, unusual behavior, or self-injury. Adding to the ominous nature of these side-effects is the fact that these symptoms have occurred most often in children.
Last month, 16-year-old Charlie Harp was given Tamiflu, the entirely normal boy then took his own life hours later.
"Had I known this was an issue, I would've never given it to him," remarked Jackie Ray, Harp's aunt and guardian.
The parents of a six-year-old little girl gave their daughter Tamiflu and she began hallucinating, ran away, and then tried to kill herself by jumping out of a window.
“She was about to jump out the window when my wife came up and grabbed her,” recalled the girl’s father, who wanted to stay anonymous.
As KRBK reports, the Wallens say their 2-year-old son, Steven, was twitching, hallucinating, and slamming his head in pain after taking the medicine after being diagnosed with the flu.
“When I walked in the room I was greeted with him slapping me across the face, and then continually smacking his head into the pillow saying ‘ouch, ouch, ouch,'" says Andrea Wallen, Steven's mother.
When they stopped giving him Tamiflu, the erratic behavior stopped.
“Tamiflu, like any medication, has potential side effects,” Dr. Amy Edwards, a pediatric infectious disease specialist at University Hospitals Rainbow Babies and Children’s Hospital explained to News 5 Cleveland.
Among them: "neuropsychiatric" side effects.
Because there are so many people now taking Tamiflu, the side-effects are skyrocketing. “We are seeing the side effects more this year than we've seen it in previous years, but that's just because the total number of kids taking the medication has gone up, not because there's something wrong with the medicine itself,” cautioned Dr. Edwards.
However, while these dangerous side effects are rare, they are experienced by one to two percent of children. A one in fifty shot that your child may try to take their own life is a pretty big deal. Parents are now faced with the choice to medicate their kids to fight the flu virus or let them ride it out.
Doctors are urging parents to consider their options when their child has the flu, only recommending that high-risk children get the medicine and if they do take it, watch them closely.
“For the parents who are insisting that their kid get Tamiflu because of how scared they are about the pediatric deaths we've had, if your kid is not high risk, then you do need to think about the fact that this drug does come with side effects, and so we do not give it to every person that has influenza routinely,” Dr. Edwards explained.
If your child has taken Tamiflu, experts are saying to take them to the hospital immediately if they experience any change in behavior.
It seems confusing ..
Side effects !! Now it's back to the associations and unions
Truly you will sit helpless
Thanks for sharing with us .
AT BEST Tamiflu will reduce symptoms. But its basically useless.
This is based on 46 trials on drug.
Additionally, the company withheld lots of disturbing information until after the FDA approval.
http://www.cochrane.org/CD008965/ARI_regulatory-information-trials-oseltamivir-tamiflu-and-zanamivir-relenza-influenza-adults-and
The benefits do not outweigh the damage of the pill.
wow, thanks for that link!
This is so sick and it just makes me so mad. This is terrible. Pharmaceutical industry should be sued, I mean this is a serious crime.
I am so tired and sick how this whole pharmaceutical industry and governments work on this together.
I am so glad you shared this with us, it can really save so many lives and this should be spread everywhere and warn all parents of this deadly medicine. Thank you for being the voice on steemit and I will definitely resteem this DANGER.
I don't trust the pharmaceutical industry and I that is why I use natural ways to take care of my family's health like essential oils etc and I try to spread the word that there are different options as to taking care of your health.
I'm not saying that I will never use synthetical medicine, but I will try everything I possibly can before using these synthetics that do more damage than good or even kill you.
Thank you so much for sharing this with us @tftproject
not a bad approach joalvarez. :)
Good luck master
I had no idea that these side effects were possible. My city has been hit hard by the flu and my wife and 2 sons have all had it in the last 3 weeks. I've been lucky enough to have avoided getting it from them. They all 3 were prescribed Tamiflu by our family doctor, and it is NOT cheap. I'm thankful none of them showed these side effects.
Woah Crazzzy
This is the effect of the big Pharma Industry. Very disgusting and sick to say the lease. Good thing they took this guy off of the meds because hallucinating as a child has to be scary
I agree, do NOT take Tamiflu! The risks are NOT worth having the flu last one day less!
It is the flu! This is an illness that is easily treated at home! When I was a kid, and we had the flu, we were laid on the couch, kept hydrated, used washcloths to bring down excessive fever, etc. I do the same thing with my kids today. It just boggles my mind that parents nowadays panic and take their child to the ER every time their child has a fever, cough, etc. Crazy!
We just went through the flu a couple weeks ago. Yes, it was bad. It was the flu, complete with fever, coughing, puking, diarrhea, all the goodies. No fun, but completely handle-able at home. ER visit or prescriptions not needed. When people found out we had the flu, they were shocked that we did NOT go to the ER!
I DO realize some kids or even adults may have medical conditions that warrant medical attention if they come down with the flu, but even then, the possible benefits of Tamiflu are outweighed by the risks...
This is really a big problem, especially for a developing country such as ours. This year we have many people who have been infected with influenza.
Many people died because of lack of medicine, experience, strikes and many reasons. I hope that all countries will overcome this problem. Trying to look at the value of the human being. Keeping it healthy is a priority. Thank you for your consideration. It reflects your tenderness, affection and love for humanity.
I wish you more success and excellence, I am waiting to see more.
Good luck my dear brother @tftproject
with this much report about its side effect,i think its high time the drug is retracted from the market and a thorough research carried out on it to determine the level of severeness of the neuropsychotic side effect and if the results are conclusive and deemed dangerous enough then should be totally banned from the market
This whole flu business has been a nightmare this year. What the h..is going on?🐓🐓
whoa, i mean I heard of things like this before but man its out right ridiculous that they do not care.
OMG that is just awful! Who approves these drugs and why is it still available??
44/5000
My vote for you, give me your vote for me
many peoples facing this condition today, i also faced a patient of swan flu this is more dangerous, tamiflu influenza and swan flu 3 different viruses but very dangerous in this season so be careful you and your family.
Thank you @tftproject for sharing this great informative post.
great post !!Thanks for sharing with us .
As a health care provider, in a pediatric ER, I'm facing a lot of parents coming in demanding tamiflu for flu-like symptoms, with or without a positive flu test. They keep hearing the news talk about kids dying from flu, and missing the point that most of those deaths are high risk or chronic kids with complicated medical histories, or stubborn kids who weren't hydrating and parents weren't pushing hard enough to keep them hydrated.
I try to explain side effects and risk v benefit, but it's hard going up against the stories reported on the news and shared endlessly on social media. Now instead of demanding antibiotics for viral infections, it's all tamiflu. I wonder what their profits are this flu season 😒
wow, that is a sad condition of people. We have a super conservative pediatrician and she says most parents are like that. They all want antibiotics, drugs, and whatever else and it matters not if it really helps them.