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I took Chloroquine as a prophylactic anti-malarial before and during a trip to Central America. You can get the crazy dreams whether or not you’re infected. Min

I took Chloroquine as a prophylactic anti-malarial before and during a trip to Central America. You can get the crazy dreams whether or not you’re infected. Mine were, fortunately, quite vivid (and sometimes lucid) but not disturbing. The scenarios were pretty wild though. Other friends of mine had less pleasant experiences. For example, one had a recurring dream that his abdomen got ripped open, a load of pebbles fell out (instead of viscera), and a flock of ravens came and eat the pebbles while he watched in agony. Every night, over and over, for about two months. During your waking hours, nothing feels amiss at all. Keep in mind too that the dosing is once a week. It took a week or two for the effects to start for me, and they persisted for almost a month after I was home. Unlike reports from the various psychedelics you listed, I felt absolutely no euphoria or “spiritual awakening” from any of it; I just woke up every morning and thought “wow, that was fucked up!”

derefr 7y ago
I wonder how much of the "crazy dreams" comes down to people usually taking such a drug when travelling and having new experiences/seeing new places/expanding their mental schemas (which is known to increase BDNF / promote neuronal plasticity, and therefore likely to cause intense dreaming under the "memory reconsolidation" hypothesis of dreaming.) It'd be interesting to compare to the dreams of people who take the drug without travelling, e.g. medical staff native to malarial regions, who take it as a prophylactic when interacting with malaria-infected patients.
- tonyarkles 7y ago
  Yeah that would be curious to investigate for sure! I can only speak to my own experiences, but while I have observed the phenomenon you describe in preparation for travel/while travelling, Chloroquine dreams were waaaaay more dramatic than anything I've experienced with other travel. I forget what the exact timeline was, but I think I started taking them about a month before departing, and the dreams started about two weeks before departing, and stayed pretty much constant until a few weeks after I'd been home and stopped taking the pills.
- cguess 7y ago
  In my experience (since I was living there, not really "traveling" at the time) it's not really tied to the travel. For instance, I mostly was stuck in laser rock shows, but like flying through them at high speed. Not particularly an East-African experience.
- steve19 7y ago
  I have been prescribed it a number of times. You are supposed to take it for a while after being in a maleria area, or at least I was told to do so. The dreams persisted back home. The area I was visiting was not so different from other places I had visited or worked, just with a greater chance of maleria and lower chance of getting quick treatment.

derefr 7y ago

I wonder how much of the "crazy dreams" comes down to people usually taking such a drug when travelling and having new experiences/seeing new places/expanding their mental schemas (which is known to increase BDNF / promote neuronal plasticity, and therefore likely to cause intense dreaming under the "memory reconsolidation" hypothesis of dreaming.) It'd be interesting to compare to the dreams of people who take the drug without travelling, e.g. medical staff native to malarial regions, who take it as a prophylactic when interacting with malaria-infected patients.

tonyarkles 7y ago
Yeah that would be curious to investigate for sure! I can only speak to my own experiences, but while I have observed the phenomenon you describe in preparation for travel/while travelling, Chloroquine dreams were waaaaay more dramatic than anything I've experienced with other travel. I forget what the exact timeline was, but I think I started taking them about a month before departing, and the dreams started about two weeks before departing, and stayed pretty much constant until a few weeks after I'd been home and stopped taking the pills.
cguess 7y ago
In my experience (since I was living there, not really "traveling" at the time) it's not really tied to the travel. For instance, I mostly was stuck in laser rock shows, but like flying through them at high speed. Not particularly an East-African experience.
steve19 7y ago
I have been prescribed it a number of times. You are supposed to take it for a while after being in a maleria area, or at least I was told to do so. The dreams persisted back home. The area I was visiting was not so different from other places I had visited or worked, just with a greater chance of maleria and lower chance of getting quick treatment.