Can I stop taking Tamiflu?

September 3, 2009 5:41 AM

I was diagnosed with type-A influenza with a "high possibility" of it being H1N1 on Monday. I have been holed up in my apartment since then, taking the Tamiflu the doctor gave me. But it's making me feel worse - after I take it, I become dizzy, headachey, and nauseated. Can I stop taking it, or should I finish up the pills I've been given now that I've already started on it? YANAD, YANMD (and my doctor only speaks Japanese).
posted by emmling to health & fitness (8 comments total)

Yes, it'll make you feel like crap. No, you should not stop taking it, unless you want to help create a strain of super-flu which can't be treated with tamiflu.

With any kind of antibiotic or antiviral it is very important that you take the full course of medication you've been prescribed, every single pill, on schedule.
posted by Chocolate Pickle at 5:58 AM on September 3 [5 favorites has favorites]

Yeah, that's what I was afraid of. (-_-;) Guess I can make it through a few more days. do i at least get permission to complain about feeling terrible?
posted by emmling at 6:05 AM on September 3

Antivirals, like antibiotics and a lot of other heavy-duty medications, can make you feel kind of crappy. Added to that the fact that you actually are sick with influenza, you're probably going to feel like garbage for a bit. Better to complete your course of medication than risk medication-resistant bugs.
posted by xingcat at 6:06 AM on September 3

The WHO is currently recommending that only vulnerable people should really be taking Tamiflu. Their concern is that over-use is going to lead to resistant varieties.

So ideally you probably shouldn't have been prescribed Tamiflu. But now that you are, stick with it. It's only a couple of days.
posted by le morte de bea arthur at 6:09 AM on September 3

emmling - permission granted. Thank you very much for persevering, and I hope you feel better.
posted by amtho at 7:39 AM on September 3

Agree with le morte. Tamiflu has never been shown to make a difference in any important outcomes, only maybe people feeling better 16-24 hours earlier. If you're healthy without any other serious illnesses, you probably shouldn't have even been prescribed it.
posted by gramcracker at 10:19 AM on September 3

Have you been taking the Tamiflu with food or milk? I was prescribed Tamiflu once and told to do so. The one day I skipped the milk, I was nauseous for most of the day and vomited twice.
posted by Juffo-Wup at 2:40 PM on September 3

If a medicine is making you feel like crap, the best way of dealing with it is to call your doctor and ask. The last time I had antibiotics making me feel approximately like what you do, I called my doctor, and he told me that I should stop taking them (but in my case I only had a 3-day course which I had already finished). If you have one or two left I would probably persevere and stick it through, but if you have a few more days past that, you really should ask your doctor.

The only speaking Japanese part makes it a little trickier, but can't you just walk into the hospital/clinic and talk to him/her (after an appropriate wait in the waiting rooms--wear a mask)? I guess I also don't know what sort of insurance you have, but for me to do that would probably cost less than around ¥500, if anything. I understand that going to the doctor here can be a real test of courage.
posted by that girl at 5:45 PM on September 3