4 ms·

When I traveled with a Canadian colleague to Hyderabad, someone described how few catholics there were in India. He was startled, replying that this was the pop

When I traveled with a Canadian colleague to Hyderabad, someone described how few catholics there were in India. He was startled, replying that this was the population of Canada. I was on Lariam as an anti-malarial. He and others could clearly tell which day of the week I took my dose. It was since taken off the market for provoking psychosis. Asked if Lariam made me crazy, he famously replied "Not sure, but it certainly made him more Dave!"

Reason077 5y ago
I have a friend who used to travel to a remote region of Ghana pretty regularly. After the first couple of trips she concluded that it was better to just risk/get malaria, and treat it afterwards, than to take the prophylaxis drugs. At least for her, the side effects of the drugs were worse than those of actually getting the disease!
yesbabyyes 5y ago
A few years ago, I was in Liberia working on a contract, and was prescribed Lariam as a prophylactic. I'd traveled in West Africa before, but when taking a prophylactic, which wasn't always, I had only had Malarone, which gave me weird dreams and nightmares, but wasn't too bad. Not so with Lariam. Working in a different culture, and coming to Liberia for the first time, can be stressful in itself, but I honestly don't think I would have made it without ditching Lariam after a few weeks. I was there for three months initially, extended to six, and was prescribed this crazy drug for the extent of it. Use another prophylactic. Not everybody are affected like this, but it's not worth it finding out, IME.
- Syzygies 5y ago
  Yes. My induced psychosis took the form of hyper-rationality, which I diagnosed as a reaction to the intensity of India rather than to the drug. I didn't sleep, and India never completely quiets down; I listened like a dog to every sound. It would be completely misleading to say I was able to cope with Larium, as the effort I put into "coping" was part of the problem. For example, I arrived with extensive options for hanging my mosquito net under any conceivable conditions, and I turned my room into a spider web.
eplanit 5y ago
I had to cancel a planned trip to the Amazon rain forest in 1998 because of lariam. I was on day 3 of the week long regimen in preparation, but by then the unwanted, horrifying thoughts and images invading my head were terrifying. No experience like that before or since. I learned then that one of the side effects is potential suicide. I opted to prolong my visits to other destinations with lower malaria risk. Glad to know it has since been banned.
tristor 5y ago
I did extensive research before I spent 8 months traveling around South America in the midst of the Zika outbreak and of course also concerned with Malaria. My conclusion after all my research was that anti-malarial drugs were less effective per dollar/effort cost than insect bite prevention. I ended up writing an article on the topic on my blog at the time: https://tristor.ro/blog/2016/05/01/trip-preparation-update-insect-precautions/ https://tristor.ro/blog/2016/05/01/trip-preparation-update-i... I ended up treating most of my clothing and equipment with permethrin, using Picardin spray on my skin, hanging permethrin treated mosquito nets over windows and doorways, and as a final line of defense and for comfort I bought a cheap fan in each country I visited and left it behind in the apartment for the next occupant when I left, having it blowing on me directly at night. Anti-malarial drugs all seem to have severe neurological or psychological side effects, and some can cause permanent damage, so just on the off-chance that anyone sees this that's considering traveling to a malaria-risk region, be aware there are other options.

Reason077 5y ago

I have a friend who used to travel to a remote region of Ghana pretty regularly. After the first couple of trips she concluded that it was better to just risk/get malaria, and treat it afterwards, than to take the prophylaxis drugs. At least for her, the side effects of the drugs were worse than those of actually getting the disease!

yesbabyyes 5y ago

A few years ago, I was in Liberia working on a contract, and was prescribed Lariam as a prophylactic. I'd traveled in West Africa before, but when taking a prophylactic, which wasn't always, I had only had Malarone, which gave me weird dreams and nightmares, but wasn't too bad. Not so with Lariam. Working in a different culture, and coming to Liberia for the first time, can be stressful in itself, but I honestly don't think I would have made it without ditching Lariam after a few weeks. I was there for three months initially, extended to six, and was prescribed this crazy drug for the extent of it. Use another prophylactic. Not everybody are affected like this, but it's not worth it finding out, IME.

Syzygies 5y ago
Yes. My induced psychosis took the form of hyper-rationality, which I diagnosed as a reaction to the intensity of India rather than to the drug. I didn't sleep, and India never completely quiets down; I listened like a dog to every sound. It would be completely misleading to say I was able to cope with Larium, as the effort I put into "coping" was part of the problem. For example, I arrived with extensive options for hanging my mosquito net under any conceivable conditions, and I turned my room into a spider web.

eplanit 5y ago

I had to cancel a planned trip to the Amazon rain forest in 1998 because of lariam. I was on day 3 of the week long regimen in preparation, but by then the unwanted, horrifying thoughts and images invading my head were terrifying. No experience like that before or since. I learned then that one of the side effects is potential suicide. I opted to prolong my visits to other destinations with lower malaria risk. Glad to know it has since been banned.

tristor 5y ago

I did extensive research before I spent 8 months traveling around South America in the midst of the Zika outbreak and of course also concerned with Malaria. My conclusion after all my research was that anti-malarial drugs were less effective per dollar/effort cost than insect bite prevention. I ended up writing an article on the topic on my blog at the time: https://tristor.ro/blog/2016/05/01/trip-preparation-update-insect-precautions/ https://tristor.ro/blog/2016/05/01/trip-preparation-update-i... I ended up treating most of my clothing and equipment with permethrin, using Picardin spray on my skin, hanging permethrin treated mosquito nets over windows and doorways, and as a final line of defense and for comfort I bought a cheap fan in each country I visited and left it behind in the apartment for the next occupant when I left, having it blowing on me directly at night. Anti-malarial drugs all seem to have severe neurological or psychological side effects, and some can cause permanent damage, so just on the off-chance that anyone sees this that's considering traveling to a malaria-risk region, be aware there are other options.