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The focus on vaccines to prevent influenza sometimes overshadows antiviral drug treatment such as Tamiflu. Antivirals have actually been available for decades, but they haven’t had much press.
Part of the problem may be that widespread use of antivirals to treat flu may encourage the flu virus to develop resistance (Current Opinion in Virology, Dec., 2011). This is why rimantadine (Flumadine) is no longer prescribed for flu. Current flu treatments such as oseltamivir (Tamiflu) and zanamivir (Relenza) could also lose their effectiveness if the virus develops resistance.
Is It Necessary to Take All the Tamiflu Pills in a Packet?
Q. My doctor prescribed Tamiflu when I tested positive for H1N1 flu. I have been taking two tablets daily, one in the morning and another at night.
Now that my fever is gone and I am feeling much better, do I have to finish the whole strip of 10 tablets?
A. You are supposed to finish the entire 5-day course of treatment with oseltamivir (Tamiflu). Like antibiotics, this antiviral treatment needs to be completed for full effectiveness. If you stop in the middle of your treatment, you may increase the likelihood that the virus will develop resistance (Eurosurveillance, July 30, 2009).
Rick
Worked great for me. Called Dr. less than 30 hours after onset of symptoms including temperature above 102 and aches. Took first dose about 8 pm, and temperature was down to normal by 2 am, and aches lessened. Much better by day 4.
Art
Ohio
I don’t get it…once you are feeling better you have developed a level of immunity to the particular strain. So why not discontinue the rest of the pills and avoid the negative side effects?
Would be nice to see a technical explanation rather than just use the same description as antibiotics (Take all the pills prescribed) which is a totally different mode of operation.
Jan
ME
I am a very fit and healthy middle-aged woman who works in Education, so I am around a lot of sick kids, but I manage to take good care of myself and wash my hands a lot! However, I woke up on Thursday morning with a very sore throat and a headache that persisted through the day. By Friday am I was not right, it was getting worse. Friday night I had the chills all night, couldn’t sleep and had a 102 fever on Saturday morning and I was feeling terrible: hunched over with a back, neck and head ache, felt like I was getting a UTI and was achey all over with chills and sweats. I was coughing up dark phlegm with a metallic taste and my lungs hurt. I called my doctor and got into Urgent Care. He diagnosed me with the flu without testing me as he didn’t want to risk a “false positive” flu test. He recommended a 5 day packet of Tamiflu (take 1 pill, 2x per day) and Robitussin DM (night time cough suppressant so you can sleep – works!) as well as a combination of Advil and Tylenol taken together every six hours (he actually prescribed two of each taken every six hours, but that would be too much for my stomach). I took everything that he suggested, but used Muccinex in the daytime and Robitussin DM at night to suppress the cough (they are the same thing, so don’t take them together). I also used my ProAir inhaler once during the day on Saturday, Sunday and Monday; which helped, too. By Sunday I was so much better, I was able to move around, go outside with a face mask and Monday, even more so. By Tuesday, today, I have increased energy and was able to get dressed and go outside and shovel! I still have a cough and am contagious until Thursday (7 days from onset- I am wearing a mask or a neck up), but am much better. Tamiflu works! I am so lucky and blessed that I got it. He said that the CDC extended the guidelines on the 48 hour window, so that if someone took it later on ( I was probably at hour 62-65 or so when I got the pill) it might possibly still work – and it did. It is a good antiviral. I am now loading up on probiotic and prebiotics to ensure my good gut health and immune system and am looking forward to going back to work on Thursday. GO TO THE URGENT CARE WHEN YOU ARE SICK and get/ask for help if you need it! Lastly, in 2009 I felt like this and stayed home in a blizzard and ended up getting Influenza B and Strep Pneumonia and had to be hospitalized because I was too stubborn. Take care of yourself! Good luck!
Laura
Alabama
I first got symptoms on Sunday—thought it was bad sinus infection…by Thursday I was feeling somewhat better but not where I thought I should be…went into urgent care where I was diagnosed with flu prescribed Tamiflu even though symptoms had started 4 days before….been taking Tamiflu for 3 days now but stomach upset is awful—-only flu symptoms left are running nose and fatigue….can I stop taking the tamiflu without major consequences?
Teach
Hershey PA
If you feel chills and can’t get out of bed ALL OF A SUDDEN (w/in a day or 2 of any symptoms) get yourself to the doc ( or maybe the urgent care) and get tested to see if you have the flu. The test to see if you have the flu isn’t very reliable, but your doc will know if you have the flu. If you are prescribed Tamiflu, I hope you feel better as quickly as I did (2 doses-every 12 hrs but doc may tweak hrs for second dose to get 2 doses in before you go to bed) and as did others on this site. Some do not get fever w/the flu; I did not. I was able to sit in a chair to eat my toast this morning w/o shaking!!! (I usually take all meds w/some food although I have no appetite yet.) I can’t believe I’ve had enough energy to type this. I feel like I’m on my way back from the dead! So I guess I’ll make time next year to get the flu shot.
AML
Florida
This tamiflu is making me feel worse! I think I’m stopping this. Similar experiences out there?
Cheryl
Austin
This drug is magic! But indeed the magic lies in the timeframe you start it. I began getting a throat tickle and a cough on Monday evening after I returned from a hard workout at the gym. The next morning I was coughing quite a bit, and felt lethargic. I quickly and progressively got worse through the day, just a general bad feeling allover bad cough and started getting chills. My skin was even hurting I was so sore and achy. I knew this was not the usual cold or allergy symptoms. So I went to the Minute Clinic in town to get a flu test. I actually tested negative, but the doc said she was certain my symptoms where flu, (and the rapid flu test is not accurate, especially at first signs of symptoms)..so she went ahead and prescribed the generic Tamiflu. I took the first pill at 8 pm, along with some cough syrup. I still coughed quite a bit during the night, but was not congested. Took second dose at 8 a.m and went back to sleep until noon. WOW, I felt better already! By Thursday night I felt 85% better, after staying on the dose schedule, drinking a LOT of water and grapefruit juice and sleeping. I honestly believe that had I waited until Wed. to see the doctor and start on the Tamiflu, then I would not have recovered this quickly. I have had colds that last 2 weeks. This flu lasted 2.5 days thanks to this medication. Definitely, if you start feeling sick and it comes on quickly and strongly, it really could be the flu. Don’t wait, get a flu test asap and if you get prescribed the tamiflu, don’t go home without it. Take your first dose on the way home even!
Teresa
I was diagnosed with the flu on Wednesday and prescribed Tamiflu! I had cough body aches and high temp. Was told to go home go to bed and hydrate, hydrate, hydrate. Went home and took my first Tamil, and 2 hrs later was nauseated and then threw up. Had severe chills, took Tylenol and knew I would sleep all night! Not the case! After 3 nights of insomnia, bad headache, nose bleed, and nightmares when I would doze off for just a minute I wondered if these symptoms could be from the Tamil, and sure enough, they were. So, since this is a antiviral drug which is only supposed to help me, and it’s making my life no better, the nurse said to stop it! Maybe I can get some rest today!
Daniel
Washington, DC
February 2018 Tamiflu experience: I will now swear by it! The hardest part is once you actually have the flu, the sheer stamina needed to get yourself to the doctor’s and wait in a waiting room to get tested for flu and get Tamiflu is positive felt unbearable–but I’m so glad I did. I started getting symptoms last Wednesday that I initially thought were just a cold, but by Thursday I was suffering badly from a killer fever and feeling absolutely terrible. It was so bad I didn’t have the energy to get myself up to drive to the urgent care–I suffered for several hours but remember how there’s a very brief window of when Tamiflu is effective, I finally went to the urgent care that afternoon to test for flu, and I came back positive. I took Tamiflu then (at about 3 p.m.), then my second dose at midnight, and from then on once in the morning and once in the evening. The side effect was worse when I took the first dose–in about 2 hours I became vary nauseous (and then oddly better once I gave in an vomited, sorry for the TMI.) After that the side effects were not that bad–I could still note a tinge of nausea to be sure but nothing too bad. Beyond that, by Friday Noon I was 100% better. Still tired and fatigued, but not nearly as wretched. I am typing this on Saturday night and at what feels like almost recovered. Can’t believe how quickly I am apparently recovering from a flu that is downing people for weeks. Now, like most medications, I am sure experience will vary wildly–for some, it may just not work. But you will be kicking yourself if you are in your 3rd day of flu symptoms if you didn’t go out and get it. This is the hardest part: I almost didn’t get it. So I’m writing this if there’s any other poor souls out there, who are looking online, and they are still within the 48 hours of getting the flu, and dreading “ughhhh feel so bad–can’t imagining driving, waiting in doctor’s office, driving to pharmacy, waiting at pharmacy”—trust me, if it works, it will be so worth the pain!
Katie
Maryland
My 14-year-old son’s flu symptoms improved greatly after just one dose. He is now on day three of the medication and is feeling as close to normal as can be expected. I now consider Tamiflu a wonder drug, but fortunately, he has not experienced any adverse side effects from it at all. Although, the side effects are alarming, the dangers of the flu are even more so. I would not hesitate to give it to my children again. The physician’s instructions were to stop the dosage immediately if side effects occurred. I am very grateful they did not.
Lisa
Indiana
I started to get sick and before I new it I am down with the full blown flu. Too lifeless to move or even breathe, Let alone get up get dressed and drive to the doctors. I went to my medicine cabinet to find something to tech happen to find a packet of Tamiflu that must’ve been someone is in my family. Didn’t have any instructions on how to take it but I knew I didn’t have the energy to go to the doctor myself and on the back of the package it said it expired but I was willing to take the chance. I called the pharmacy and ask what is the dosage of such Medication, didn’t tell him who I was or that it wasn’t really mine. I took the first dose at ten in the morning and by 2pm my body pain we’re getting better. The only thing that still hurt was the massive headache and the feeling of nausea but that to went away just before my second dosage. The following day I took my dosage in the morning and I didn’t have nausea anymore, just a very small slight headache, I didn’t have bodyaches anymore. By the third day my symptoms are almost gone but I am continuing to take the rest of the package to make sure I don’t get the flu back. The flu is horrible this year and for me the pain was terrible for the first days, after that it was much much better thank God for Tamiflu even expired it still works really really well
Psl
This piece cites a study that has nothing to do with the authors conclusion… Try to click the link!
Penny
Fresnp
I took tamiflu like clockwork twice a day the first 3 days but today, on the fourth day I realized I never took my morning dose so I took it at 5:00. If I take the next one about 11:00 tonight and finish last 2 doses tomorrow as directed, should I be ok?
Julia
Belarus
Good evening. Could you kindly help me with advice
I took 1 pill of Tamiflu a half year ago, than read the instructions and realized that my flu symptoms are far than two days long, so my doctor made a mistake by prescribing me that treatment. So I quit, and now I wonder if I could continue the 5-day course (with 9 pills left) when I’ll be sick again. And if the virus could make mutations after that 1 pill?
Jess
Rsa
Tamiflu is not working for my child. She has a sore inflamed throat and still fevers after 2 day on tamiflu . Can one get an antibiotic if she has taken tamiflu?
Linda
Va
Tamiflu is quite effective. The flu this year is brutal.
Sandra F
TN
Tamiflu has been exposed as ineffective and can have really serious side effects. The manufacturers hid their data in order to make millions of dollars. Just google “Tamiflu ineffective,” and you will pull up some articles. It’s been on BBC News.
Terry Graedon
True, the manufacturers did not share their data as they should have. “ineffective” might be too strong, though. Barely effective, or effective only in some cases is probably more on target.
Patricia
Maryland
I agree Tamiflu was amazing. My 11 year old took it within 2 days of symptoms and was 80% better after 1-2 doses. I am convinced though after reading of potential side effects, I’d watch those on Tamiflu for any of the side effects.
Worriedmom
Gilbert
I got Tamiflu for my kids and it worked so well. Very expensive but worth it. I was nervous to try it because of all the bad press but my 10 year is tiny and I was afraid of her being as sick as I’ve seen so many people. 2 doses and fever is gone! I’m watching her closely but so far, it’s amazing!!
Cynthia
WashingtonState
Made my husband and I worse. Add all the side effects to what we were already feeling and it was awful. After starting Tamiflu so did vomiting, diarrhea, headaches feeling worse than before. It’s been 2 weeks for me and I’m just now getting energy back in spurts. Maybe it’s just us. But don’t know if we’d take it again.
JuneBug51
Houston, TX
Oh, and so did the FLU! LOL!!!
JuneBug51
Houston, TX
I fought warts on my fingers and thumbs for 2 years, and tried all the natural remedies during that time. Just when I was about to go to the dermatologist for help, I got the bad H1N1 flu. My doctor prescribed the Tamiflu and I took it all as prescribed and after the first week my warts disappeared and have never come back!
Marilyn
Of course you have to finish the treatment pack!!! My daughter-in-law used to stop giving meds when the kids felt better and before two weeks was up, they were sick again. The doctor/pharmacy tells you to finish the pack, so do so!
Chris
Did you ever think maybe that for some bouts of the flu the 5 days isn’t enough and that even doing 5 days is the same as using it for not enough time?