During flu season, it’s important to be extra careful, especially with young children. Wash your hands frequently and avoid close contact with others who are ill.
Common flu symptoms are a dry cough, headache, high fever, sore throat, chills and upset stomach. If the fever doesn’t go down after three to five days, consult a doctor.
That was exactly what parents Andrea and Josh Wallens of Texas did when their 2-year-old son Steven was struck with the flu. But when doctors gave the little boy a common flu medicine, the situation quickly became serious.
2 year old son was sick with the flu
Andrea and Josh Wallen’s 2 year old son Steven was struck with the flu. The parents took him to the hospital, where doctors prescribed him flu medicine Tamiflu. According to WedMD, Tamiflu is used to make the symptoms of the flu virus less severe and shorten the recovery time by 1-2 days.
The medicine doesn’t kill the virus, but stops it from growing in the body.
The common medicine gave terrible side effects
The medicine had an immediate effect – but sadly, not the desired one. Immediately after taking the medicine the little boy began to twitch, hallucinate and slam his head in pain. He also slapped his mom in the face. It was clear to everyone in the waiting room that something was wrong.
And Steven isn’t the only child who has reacted badly to Tamiflu. Last week a 6 year old girl in Texas jumped out of a window after taking the medicine. Just like Steven, he experienced hallucinations.
Despite this, doctors are insisting that the benefits of the medication far outweigh the potential risks. Pediatrician Norina Ocampo says that “most children don’t have side effects from Tamiflu”.
Dr. John Shufeldt agrees with her.
“Tamiflu is really important. It lessens duration of the flu by about a day and lessens severity 10 percent to 30 percent.”
Now parents want to warn others
Steven’s parents now want to warn others of the side effects of the medicine. Tamiflu is a prescription medicine. But it’s also a much talked about medicine, with the WHO even questioning the effectiveness of the medicine. However, it’s still being regularly prescribed to patients, largely because of a lack of a suitable alternative.
These two incidents have caused many parents across the US to refuse to give their children Tamiflu.
General advice for avoiding the flu is to wash your hands frequently and carefully, preferably with a hand spray. You should also avoid touching your eyes, nose and mouth and avoid close contact with people who are ill. Seek care if the fever does not go down after four days. Children may have other symptoms such as diarrhea, nausea, vomiting and stomach upset.
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