I blogged about a month ago about my son getting H1N1 and expressed concern that 1) the vaccine was not available and 2) Tamiflu was not available.
After my son got H1N1, the vaccine became available and I got myself (immuno-compromised), other son, and daughter vaccinated. Because she's not quite 6-years-old, we were only able to get the "first shot" of the vaccine and had to get a booster a month later (around now).
We were told our vaccinated kids would be unprotected for a couple of weeks after the vaccine was administered. Sure enough, our youngest came down with H1N1 before she was due for the booster, and has been taking Tamiflu. Last night she told us she was hearing voices saying mean things to her like, "Give me all your money or I'll shoot you." She's been hearing these voices for days, but only told us last night they were scaring her.
I'm not sure what I'm maddest about: the fact that vaccinations were unavailable when we knew this pandemic was a long time coming, the fact that Tamiflu appears to be the only drug proven to treat the H1N1 virus, the fact that Tamiflu has been so difficult to obtain, the fact that it was $60 (WITH insurance), or the fact that a side-effect--which neither the pediatrician nor the pharmacist warned me of--can be bizarre psychological symptoms such as "nightmares, hallucinations (seeing things or hearing voices that do not exist), and [self-harm], in some cases causing death. These symptoms were most common in children. . ." http://www.nlm.nih.gov/...
Needless to say, we stopped the Tamiflu as soon as she told us about the voices. The pediatrician confirmed that it was the Tamiflu causing this. But she's still hearing them today, which is very frightening for us, and especially for her. She has no fever. She is on no other medication. And the Tamiflu stopped the worst of the swine flu sympotoms--high fever, vomiting, hacking cough, nose bleeds.
I had CVS reprint the "medication information sheet" again, thinking maybe I didn't read carefully enough. It does not mention "bizarre psychological effects," or "hearing voices," apparently because they are rare. But I wonder if it's because these side effects are under-reported--because patients are too young or sick to do so, because such things are attributed to fever, or because the consequence of the illness (sometimes death) is so scary that we are willing to overlook its risks. . .
With all the advances, can we not do better than this?
Pretend there is a voice yelling every word you just read after you read it.