7/27/2019 Why I Have Not and Will Not Take Tamiflu

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Why I Have Not and Will Not Take

Tamiflu

This story does not start with I was minding my own business, surfing the internet.

I was seeing a deeply suffering patient with terminal cancer and I was sneezing. I have abunch of seasonal allergies and I treat them naturally with Quercetin and related

compounds, a bioflavonoid, unpatentable, because I would have to eat a lot of oranges to

get enough. Still, I will admit to the occasional sneeze, followed by the use of a tissue.

She stroked my arm. I hope you take good care of yourself, you are such a sweet lady.Maybe you need some Tamiflu or something. I promised her I would look into it, taking

her concern for my well being as a sign that she liked me. When people like me that

much, it gratifies me and tells me I am doing the job of doctor pretty well, or at leastbetter than the generally non-emotional most, and I am happy. Out of sheer curiosity, I

actually checked into Tamiflu.

I was shocked to learn that not only was it being advertised for the general public, butour beautiful Center for Disease Control is promoting it inpublic service

announcements. You can also read thescript. Note, this is being advertised yes,

advertised as a first line defense against flu, and for those with minimal symptoms.

All of this is delightfully reviewedby Shannon Brownlee and Jeanne Lenzer in the

Atlantic. They are certainly both on the money here.

Roche, the maker, has apparently withheld data; the stuffdoes not work. People usually

dont put stuff in the British medical journal unless they are pretty sure it is true.

The data seems to have been reviewed by the Cochrane Reviews. I love these guys andgals, and discovered them years ago through a journal called Bandolier; evidence

based medicine. What a dishy concept. Theyre Brits, of course. Why did we have that

revolution again?

The Cochrane folks haveplenty to sayabout neuraminidase inhibitors, the whole class of

meds that includes Tamiflu. You can also review the original abstract. It does not take

thirty years of medical practice to figure out it does not seem as if Tamiflu or things likeit work, and that the Roche Company seems to have withheld data. Any representatives

from Roche must have given up visiting me years ago because I cannot remember any. I

do remember my preceptor from my year of psychopharmacology fellowship, who was

retired from Roche Labs on the east coast. Whenever I asked him what it was like, he

would roll his eyes heavenward before responding. I suppose no drug company wouldhave been very much different. People in business are supposed to maximize profits for

stockholders. I am starting to get a feeling they feel no such obligation to help patients.

http://www.umm.edu/altmed/articles/quercetin-000322.htmhttp://www.cdc.gov/CDCTV/MixingTamiflu/index.htmlhttp://www.cdc.gov/CDCTV/MixingTamiflu/index.htmlhttp://www.cdc.gov/CDCTV/MixingTamiflu/Transcripts/MixingTamiflu.pdfhttp://www.theatlantic.com/health/archive/2013/02/tamiflu-myth-and-misconception/273167/http://211.144.68.84:9998/91keshi/Public/File/38/345-7883/pdf/bmj.e7689.full.pdfhttp://www.medicine.ox.ac.uk/bandolier/http://www.cochrane.org/features/neuraminidase-inhibitors-preventing-and-treating-influenza-healthy-adults-and-childrenhttp://www.cochrane.org/features/neuraminidase-inhibitors-preventing-and-treating-influenza-healthy-adults-and-childrenhttp://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/14651858.CD008965.pub3/abstracthttp://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/14651858.CD008965.pub3/abstracthttp://www.cdc.gov/CDCTV/MixingTamiflu/index.htmlhttp://www.cdc.gov/CDCTV/MixingTamiflu/index.htmlhttp://www.cdc.gov/CDCTV/MixingTamiflu/Transcripts/MixingTamiflu.pdfhttp://www.theatlantic.com/health/archive/2013/02/tamiflu-myth-and-misconception/273167/http://211.144.68.84:9998/91keshi/Public/File/38/345-7883/pdf/bmj.e7689.full.pdfhttp://www.medicine.ox.ac.uk/bandolier/http://www.cochrane.org/features/neuraminidase-inhibitors-preventing-and-treating-influenza-healthy-adults-and-childrenhttp://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/14651858.CD008965.pub3/abstracthttp://www.umm.edu/altmed/articles/quercetin-000322.htm