Comments on: Travel Health: vaccinations, malaria pills

By: Travel Health: Mefloquine, Neem and Choices : BurningBillboard.org

Travel Health: Mefloquine, Neem and Choices : BurningBillboard.org — Sun, 22 Feb 2009 21:30:44 +0000

[...] been hesitant to take mefloquine from the beginning because of the potential side effects (see previous post), which—according to the prescription—include but are not limited to “a sudden onset of [...]

By: Ceej

Ceej — Wed, 14 Jan 2009 18:46:00 +0000

Nice blog, Dave! Uh, yeah, count me among the freakazoids who won’t be taking mefloquine anytime soon. Ghana/Togo/Cote D’Ivoire experience was a really scary experience — so much so that when I went to Ethiopia/Somalia/Djibouti, I didn’t take anything. As Rory said, bug spray and nets.

By: Linda Ibberson

Linda Ibberson — Thu, 08 Jan 2009 18:20:34 +0000

PLEASE be very careful when choosing or deciding to take an anti-malarial!
The McGill Center for Tropical Diseases prescribed Lariam (Mefloquine) before my 6-month trip to India, and never bothered to tell me about the possible side-effects.

I started taking the pills a month before my departure, and things went downhill from there. I became more and more anxious, and then I started hearing voices…. very threatening voices. Luckily, I was staying with friends in France at the time, and they realized that things were not “right” with me. They took me to their doctor who glibly asked “Are you taking Lariam?” and proceeded to tell me about the side-effects. He prescribed doxycycline which gave me severe hives. I then made the decision to simply be careful, cover up at dusk, and not take any meds.

CBS Story

I consider myself a fairly “normal” person, and wasn’t prone to depression or psychosis. To me, it just proves that taking those meds implies a serious risk. I spent 6 months in India (including a rainy season) without meds and managed to come away with a clean bill of health.

Best of luck in your travels!

By: widge

widge — Tue, 06 Jan 2009 21:52:30 +0000

Thanks! It is my first official comment. I do plan on having some kind of malaria prevention but I haven’t yet decided what approach to take. I have a scheduled appointment with the McGill Centre for Tropical Diseases to get their point of view. I am also planning an interview with a Naturopath who specializes in tropical disease prevention and has considerable experience in Uganda. Expect a post about this interview.

By: Rory

Rory — Tue, 06 Jan 2009 21:27:06 +0000

Cool blog dude!!

On the subject of mefloquine, I have taken it many times, to no ill effects…except some vague flu-like symptoms at the start. I have also had malaria, but was on malaria meds at the time, so it wasn’t as bad as it could have been – still sucked though. It would have been much worse if I had not been taking the meds. It was one of those fluke situations where I was waiting for a ride at the wrong time of day (sunset), and had to wait outside (Togo). You never know when these types of situations are going to crop up, so for me it was worth it to be on the meds. I’m presuming that you’re going to be more exposed to such situations than I was. For me, it boiled down to bednets and a lot of bug spray vs. the malaria meds – I hate using lots of bug spray….and there’s always tonic water, but I hate tonic water too, and question its efficacy against malaria.

I’ve known a few people that have experienced bad dreams on mefloquine, but decided that these side effects outweighed the risk of malaria.

I’d be happy to discuss by phone if you like, but I’d recommend that you take the meds.

In any case, glad to see that you’re on your way!! It’s going to be awesome, and I look forward to following your progress on your blog!