More than half of children taking Tamiflu suffer side effects such as nausea, insomnia and nightmares, according to new research.
Some 150,000 Tamiflu packs were given out last weekend
Two studies from experts at the Health Protection Agency (HPA) showed a “high proportion” of British schoolchildren reporting problems after taking the anti-viral drug.
Data was gathered from children at three schools in London and one in the South West.
They had all been given Tamiflu earlier this year after classmates became infected with swine flu.
The researchers behind one study said that, although children may have attributed symptoms that were due to other illnesses to the use of Tamiflu, “this is unlikely to account for all the symptoms experienced”.
One mother in particular is convinced that Tamiflu was behind strange effects on her child.
Fiona Ross’ daughter, Anna, 16, was given Tamiflu when a number of pupils at her school were diagnosed with swine flu.
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“She had 10 days’ supply on the Thursday and was taking it during her GCSEs,” Mrs Ross explains.
“She seemed fine up until the Wednesday, after her last exam when she started to feel very tired.
“She slept for 14 hours and then woke up, stayed up for half-an-hour and then went back to bed and slept for several more hours.”
Anna complained of feeling “totally spaced out”, hardly able to keep awake and – even when she was awake – could barely communicate which, her mother says, was not like her at all.
“I took her to the doctor who suggested it might be the after effects of the exams and told me to keep an eye on her,” she explained.
But instead of the quick recovery expected, Anna became even worse.
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“She went to a party a day before her course of treatment ended,” her mother said, “and that’s when things really became really scary.
“Her behaviour was totally out of character. It was as though all her inhibitions had gone.
“She was confused, became obsessive and did things she’d never done before.
“When we went to the doctor she started speaking French because she was obsessing about Pret a Manger sandwiches,” her mother recalls. “She’d never done that before.
“She also started texting friends, saying she couldn’t see them and five minutes later she’d be texting them again saying how she was looking forward to meeting up with them.
“You can’t imagine the strange phone calls we had to deal with.”
And then there was a change in appetite.
“She was hungry all the time,” Mrs Ross said. “She’d eat until she couldn’t eat any more and then half an hour again she’d be hungry again.”
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At first the family thought it might be that having a drink at the party had had an adverse effect with the Tamiflu but the symptoms persisted.
Then they wondered if she had had her drink spiked because no-one could work out what was wrong.
Her mother took her back to the doctor who said any trace of the drug would have been flushed out within two days and ruled that out.
So they were none the wiser, with Anna’s out-of-character behaviour continuing to be irrational.
“We had to keep an eye on her all the time as she couldn’t concentrate all.
“She started swearing – which she’d not done before – as though it were quite natural. And she totally switched off if I asked her to do something she didn’t feel like doing.
“One of her funnier suggestions was suggesting to her grandmother that they play tennis together – her grandmother is 84!”
Three weeks later and Anna is back to her normal charming self and just wants to put the whole thing behind her.
Her mother says they can laugh now but it was a very alarming experience.
“We’ve since learned that one of the teachers at the school also had some very strange experiences while taking the drug,” she said.
“Some of the other pupils were sick too and couldn’t complete the course.
“Nobody has actually said it was the treatment, but I’m convinced it was. It was dreadful and, at the time, very frightening.”
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