Japan asks local gov'ts to take steps to curb flu-linked accidents

Better to just stay in the futon then....

I understand that if you are very old and frail, or your immune system is compromised, that the flu can be fatal, but for most people don't they just need time and rest to recover from the the flu? Why this rush to pump meds into them, especially when the medicine is more dangerous than the sickness. We often hear about cold and flu season in North America, and that they recommend elderly get the flu shot, but I have never heard the same 5 day quarantine at home system that they have here. And the flu stills spreads like wildfire anyway.

My son, lost a classmate after jumping to his death from the 12th Floor of his "mansion" while he had a high influenza induced fever and associated with a reaction to Tamiflu.

It was a very sad case, as the father went out with his younger sister to buy lunch from the conbini across the street, and his son was sleeping at the time, the doors were locked, but somehow the boy got out, either went up the stairs or took the elevator from the 4th Floor where there mansion was, to the 12th Floor, and he somehow managed to climb up over the barrier and fell to his death.

There is no way to prevent 100% of these accidents from occurring, but making people aware of the possible after affects associated with these drugs, and the care needed to watch over those who need it, is prudent.

Japanese cold and flu medications are witch's brew of chemicals that either do nothing, make you sleepy or send you bonkers. This is because the two most common and effective compounds used in cold and flu medicines around the world are banned in Japan, codeine and pseudoephedrine. Japan really needs to get over its phobia of these compounds and start using them in cold and flu medications so people will stop dying from using the so-called 'medicines' being prescribed.

If its not a stupid question, how many people die of the flu? How many children? Is it worth the risk for the partial relief these drugs offer? Would it be enough to treat the fever, not the virus?

There are plenty of other commercial drugs out there with a limited effect which, depending on the individual, can be outweighed by side effects. Statins are the obvious example. Drugs can make pharmaceutical companies vast profits, and it would be naive to assume these companies are not above the kind of misinformation we have seen from tobacco companies with the danger of smoking and the fossil fuel industry now with climate change.

Japan really needs to get over its phobia of these compounds and start using them in cold and flu medications so people will stop dying from using the so-called 'medicines' being prescribed.

It's not a phobia, it's the pharmaceutical companies that control the market here. They spend a fraction of their profits on research and development and keep the market pretty much closed to foreign drugs.

Doctors and hospitals have been brainwashing patients for generations by telling people that the reason they give low doses of medication is their “fear” that the body will develop an immunity a stronger medication and the next time that person, or “if” the person develops the same illness again the drugs won’t work because of the immunity.

So they proscribe a weaker, lower dose, medication, and if the symptoms of an illness persist, after let’s say a week or so, to come back for something stronger. 

Patients here, ingrained to believe that doctors are “gods” don’t typically question a doctor, nor do they go and seek a second opinion, out of whatever misplaced fear they have of pissing off the first doctor or not wanting to think that their doctor could be wrong.

Japanese typically do not question authority figures, and Doctors are pretty high on that authority list.

However, if you as a patient, do a little research, and know what medicines work for you, and ask for it by name, the doctor is obliged to proscribe it to you if it fits the guidelines for the illness or symptoms that you have been diagnosed with having.

Pharmaceutical companies loathed the idea of the TPP being accepted into Japan, BECAUSE they would have been forced to deal with an influx of foreign medicines that would take away their profits, and they lobbied very hard against it. They breathed a collective sigh of relief when the US pulled out.

Why this rush to pump meds into them

$1200 billion medical revenue for world pharmaceutical companies in 2016 may have something to do with it.

So the problem is the medicine and not the flu.

exactly. so ban it. locking children in rooms in isolation in an earthquake and tsunami prone country is a stupid idea.

here were would be far fewer flu epidemics if people were given enough time off work/school and not pressured to "gaman" and come in and infect everyone else. Start giving workers SICK LEAVE Japan, do not ask them to use their paid vacations days, because most won't.

Something is wrong with these medications, they should be banned and replaced with something safer. When I was a kid and had flu, I just stayed at home in bed, drinking hot linden flower tea with honey and waiting for the immune system to do its job. I also took some medicines to control the temperature, but they never caused such terrible side effects.

Tamiflu has been found to have little effect. Why is it still prescribed?

Obliged in what sense? Legally? Or "Oh, go on then"? Sounds a bit thin to me.

Yes legally, do a little research yourself.

We all too easily like to pump ourselves full of the latest anti-flu medicine without thinking about the long term effect... keep fit, eat healthily, if you're sick wear a facemask, and practice basic hygiene.

 or you could simply put up the source of your information

Kind of hard to put up a link to personal experience from working in a Japanese hospital group for a decade!

The information I shared is from personal experience.

The "claim" stands, you dont want to believe it...that's on you.