Timiflu side effects on teens

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coach james

coach james

Dec 5, 2012
4,143
63
Mid West
So a student of mine is going to a funeral today for her best friend. He hanged himself last weekend. This was a bubbly, outgoing, star athlete who suddenly commits suicide. There is a lot of speculation regarding the possible psychological side effects of this flu medicine that he'd been taking prior to his suicide. As for me, until this gets sorted out, I will not be giving it to my kids.
 
Orange Socks

Orange Socks

Dec 2, 2013
3,423
113
Texas
Hmmmm.....interesting. My DD had the flu a few weeks back and was prescribed Tamiflu. She has recently had some pretty dramatic mood swings. I chalked it to the pressure of crappy HS coaches beating her down, theater schedule and some poor judgement resulting in her car being taken away for 2 months. This Tamiflu hypothesis is new to me.
 
gamommax3

gamommax3

Apr 24, 2017
203
28
Georgia
Oh, that is so sad. To see a life cut so short just breaks my heart. I have heard some other side effects of Tamiflu, but not this one. I am going to have to do some research and see what is out there on it.
 
coach james

coach james

Dec 5, 2012
4,143
63
Mid West
Been doing some "googling" on the topic.... just read a story of a teenage girl who had just been given 2 doses of Tamiflu, tried to kill her mom approx. an hour later.... After they had violently fought with each other for a while, the girl suddenly snapped out of it, started hysterically crying and was quoted saying " I couldn't stop the noises in my head"....
I'm seeing a lot of posts and articles claiming links of homicidal, suicidal, and psychotic behaviors in teens while they're on Tamiflu. Scary stuff.
 
Last edited:
R

Rambler34

Apr 16, 2010
924
43
Alabama
Have a co-worker's wife hospitalized due to reactions to her flu medication. Hallucinating and basically she thought she was dead and in heaven. In the hospital several days to get her treated for the flu and get it out of her system.
 
Sweet Lou

Sweet Lou

Aug 29, 2011
2,584
83
NorCal
You should always talk to your Pharmacist about potential side effects of medication and weigh the benefits versus the risks.

The Flu is very serious and can be fatal. There are 37 reported fatalities already this flu season.

I'm very sad to hear of the suicide in the OP post. It does appear this is a known but rare side effect associated with Tamiflu, and more likely to occur in children. Any change in behavior should be discussed with your doctor immediately.

Hopefully everyone here got their flu shots and hopefully they are effective so that flu medicine is not needed.
 
M

mmeece

Jul 22, 2015
851
93
I have dispensed hundreds (or more) of prescriptions of Tamiflu over the years and have never been asked by anyone about these type of side effects. That is not to say they don't ever happen though. Those types of psychological side-effects have been documented (mostly in children) but seem to be exceptionally rare.
 
CMMom1740

CMMom1740

Aug 19, 2015
1,118
113
Atlanta, GA
I will just hop in to warn that correlation does not equal causation. One can anecdotally report any number of purported side effects to virtually any medication, but unless they are studied in controlled studies, it remains just that-anecdotes. There are many, many reasons why a person's behavior can change, with medication being one possible reason. Just beware of "Dr. Google."
 
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