The recommended medication for swine flu or the novel Influenza A (H1N1) virus is Tamiflu. According to the British Medical Journal, “Taking oseltamivir (Tamiflu) is not a pleasant experience, with side effects that include nausea, diarrhoea, and hallucinations.”

A very recent UK research reveals that ‘more than half of children taking antiviral drug Tamiflu suffer side-effects such as nausea, insomnia and nightmares.’ Also, a ‘high proportion’ of British schoolchildren reported problems after taking the anti-viral drug, according to two studies conducted by experts from the Health Protection Agency (HPA).

248 pupils participated in the study. These pupils belong to a school where a student contracted swine flu during a holiday in Mexico. The school was closed for 10 days to stem the spread of the virus. Of the number of students that participated in the research study, 77 percent took the full course of Tamiflu. According to the research findings, 51 percent experienced symptoms such as feeling sick (31.2 percent), headaches (24.3 percent) and stomach ache (21.1 percent).

Further details of the study include the findings that ‘oseltamivir increased the proportion of children experiencing vomiting by 5 percent, which represents an extra one in twenty children experiencing vomiting. Among the untreated children with flu symptoms, 6.7 percent experienced vomiting.’

Another finding is that ‘oseltamivir or zanamivir reduced the time it took for children to recover from the symptoms of flu by an average (median) of between 0.5 and 1.5 days.’

The authors of the study have said that these drugs ‘are unlikely to help’ children who catch swine flu.

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Via CNN