Opinions on flu exposure and tamiflu

I get my flu-shot each year and I am on Remicade, per my Gasteroenteroligist's recommendation.

Regarding Tamiflu and humira (an Anti-TNF therapy):

www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov said...
The use of antiviral medications appears safe in patients with inflammatory conditions, with no reports of specific adverse effects relevant to those conditions for which anti-TNF therapy (remicade/humira) is indicated. Similarly, antiviral drugs appear to be safe to use alongside immunomodulator (azathioprinte/imuran/6MP) drugs. Whilst a potential interaction between oseltamivir (Tamiflu, Roche) and methotrexate has been noted, resulting in increased methotrexate levels, this is unlikely to be of clinical significance at the doses employed in treatment of inflammatory diseases [National Electronic Library for Medicines, 2009].

Source: /www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3002575/

Here's a study that says Tamiflu did nothing:

academic.oup.com said...
Conclusions.
There is no evidence that oseltamivir (Tamiflu) reduces the likelihood of hospitalization, pneumonia or the combined outcome of pneumonia, otitis media and sinusitis in the ITT population.

/academic.oup.com/fampra/article/30/2/125/498632

Thanks for the info, iPoop!

Countess,

I called my GP and talked to the nurse. She called back and just said that he sent the prescription to the pharmacy for me. I’ll probably pick it up today, but I’m still unsure on whether or not I’ll take it. I guess it’ll be good to have at the house so that I can take it at the first sign of any possible symptoms.

I would say that I’m in remission now. I have 1-2 solid BMs a day. No urgency, no bleeding, no pain. I feel really great. I barely even think about having UC anymore, which is such a relief.

I’ve been on Humira now for 15 weeks. I had some relief almost immediately, but I can’t attribute that all to the Humira. I assume at least some of it had to do with the cdiff infection clearing from all of the antibiotics I was on, and I also started prednisone a few days before the Humira. Humira wasn’t a miracle drug in the sense that it didn’t work immediately like it does for some people. It was a slow and steady road to feeling better. I would say that I noticed that I was feeling almost normal again around 12 weeks. I had some lingering rectal inflammation that was causing some constipation, but adding mesalamine enemas took care of that.

I hope Humira is working for you

iPoop said...

Crispix said...
I would say that I’m in remission now. I have 1-2 solid BMs a day. No urgency, no bleeding, no pain. I feel really great. I barely even think about having UC anymore, which is such a relief.

Happy for you! Sounds like a remission to me!

Thank you =) Everyone here has been so helpful!