Life-Style
Tamiflu
PTINR.com Staff
Tamiflu, Warfarin & the H1N1 Flu Season 2009-2010
The U.S. flu season traditionally runs from October through May. This year however, incidence of the flu and preparation by the Center for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) has been year round. The year is off to a rapid start with 48% states reporting widespread, local or regional activity through mid-August.
To help prevent the flu, experts recommend a flu shot or series of shots in some cases - Tamiflu® is one of the first line choices used by healthcare professionals.
Source: http://www.cdc.gov/h1n1flu/update.htm
Add to the concern of the 2009-2010 flu season is the suggestion that Tamiflu® may interact with Coumadin® (warfarin). The interaction may increase your risk of bleeding. A higher than normal INR blood test report may suggest a possible Tamiflu®/Coumadin® drug interaction.
The Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency (MHRA), the United Kingdom’s government agency responsible for ensuring that medicines and medical devices work and are acceptably safe, have issued an alert of possible Tamiflu®/Coumadin® interaction.
“We have seen indications that INR rates could possibly rise due to interactions between warfarin (Coumadin ®) and Tamiflu®. However, flu-like illnesses have also been known to cause this, so at this state is it difficult to know whether it is the interaction with Tamiflu or the underlying flu.”1
If you take Coumadin®, you will want to discuss with your healthcare professional plans for your flu vaccination and increasing your testing frequency to help alert you of possible drug interactions. “More frequent testing provides the ability to detect any drift in INR stability sooner, rather than later, thus keeping INR within a set range.”2
Home INR testing is a practical means to test your INR more frequently. It requires a special prescription for the, easy to use, hand-held device and testing strips. Home INR Testing, up to and including weekly testing, is reimbursed by Medicare and most private health insurance plans. For more information on Home INR Testing contact QAS at: 800-298-4515.
1 Pennington, H. 2009, Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency.
2 Center for Medicare and Medicaid Services, 2001