evecolorado

Took my final Larium yesterday. This is the third trip over the last ten years that my husband and I have used Larium, with no bad side effects.

My husband thinks it makes him a little sleepy. Maybe it does--we were the only ones in our group taking Larium (the others were on Malarone) and the only ones who fell asleep as soon as our heads hit the pillows and slept soundly throughout the night--each morning at breakfast the rest of the folks would complain about their inability to sleep.

We used Walgreen's travel clinic and were impressed with their thoroughness and efficiency. I looked into Malarone but found it cost $148 per person (insurance didn't cover it) vs $10 for the Larium (mefloquine) so, as we hadn't had any side effects when taking Larium previously, the decision was made!

mellifluous

I took Lariam this past February when traveling around India for a month. My worst side effect was a stomach ache for one day, accompanied by moderate nausea. It only was on the day I took Lariam that I had the side effects.

Kavey

Anjali, that's good to know about doxy being considered equally effective to other treatments.

anjali

Hi Kavey, I just wanted to make sure people knew it was an option, especially for longer trips. I'm surprised how many people still take lariam (mefloquine). Those side effects scare me, and I think I took it a long time ago, without side effects. Doxycycline makes me sick to my stomach, but its definitely a cost effective alternative. Malarone sometimes upsets my stomach, but the alternative, i.e. getting malaria is worse. I see college students in our travel clinic, so cost is definitely a factor for them, as well as the side effect profile. Its harder to deal with psychiatric side effects and bad dreams than gastrointestinal effects.

Kavey

Yeah I'm always surprised at the number of people taking larium too.

Up until our latest trip I'd not come across anyone who had suffered any side-effects from Malarone, though plenty who'd had problems with Doxy (sun sensitivity), Larium (psychological effects/hyper dreams) and with the older combo drug options.

But on this trip we met a number of folk who insisted they were getting funny dreams from Malarone. I was quite surprised as I'd not come across that as a listed side-effect for Malarone and wondered how much was actually down to the power of suggestion as they'd heard of the vivid dreams sometimes caused by Larium and confused the two drugs? Who knows...

Londonres

I suggest that you take Malarone for the short visit that you are making. I've never had side effects from this, but Larium affects my eyesight after a few weeks.

I was in Tanzania for an extended period last year and I took none of the usual drugs. I took Demal 200, a homeopathic spray. I was amazed at how well I felt the entire time, while my housemates (taking the usual poison) and the children we were looking after were catching malaria.

One housemate took Doxy and she was always getting upset stomachs.

thursdaysd

I've taken Malarone on three trips for several weeks at a time. The only side-effect I've noticed is that bugs seem to like me less than usual.

OTOH, I took one Larium pill and swore never again - nightmares and paranoia.

stork

Just returned from a few weeks in Africa. We spent a week in The Delta. Three of us took Malarone. I didn't suffer any side-affects.
The other two had rather violent dreams. That seemed to be the only complaint.

Melnq8

My husband took Larium for four years while working in Angola. It screwed up his sleep big time.

skibumette

As I've mentioned earlier, I took Doxy on our recent trip. I had vivid dreams virtually every night (nothing frightening; for example, dreaming there was a friendly giraffe in the tent) -- which is absolutely NOT a side effect of Doxy. I think it was just the intensity of the bush experience, filling my dreams as well as daylight hours. This might factor into other people's dreams too -- not just their meds.

Laurelie

First of all I want to thank all of you who have taken the time to reply to my post. I can now speak with my doctor and feel a little more educated on this subject. It looks like malarone is the favorite drug of choice here. I took a preventive med daily for migraine years ago and also suffered from vivid dreams so I don't think I want to go that route. If the only malaria zone we are travelling to is VF should we time our meds for that visit or do you think we should start before we leave Canada. We will be in Cape Town then a lodge in Madikwe. What do you think, better safe than sorry?

Laurelie

skibumette

(I'm a travel nurse.) Just take the meds for your time at risk (in VF); if you decide on Malarone, that means you'll start one day before arriving in VF and continue for the time in VF and 7 days after leaving there. It's a really nice choice if you only have a couple of days at risk.

If you want to be certain you won't have problems with your choice, ask your MD for a prescription for just 2-3 pills as a trial run, before making the total purchase. That's how I discovered that I'm one of the rare people who gets canker sores from Malarone -- I'm glad I discovered beforehand, rather than on day 2 of my trip.

doutravel

Avoid larium like the plague. Nightmares, headaches, and can lead to hair loss.

DoUTravel
http://www.mapdango.com

anjali

You only need to take the medicine for the malaria zone you'll be traveling in. There is no malaria risk in Capetown, or even Johannesburg.

SB_Travlr

Having had bad dreams just from taking melatonin (for jet lag) I wasn't willing to try Lariam.

We took Malarone for our trip to Nigeria -- absolutely no problems, except for the price! (But worth it, of course...) I would not hesitate to take it again.

Have great trip!

suzic

Malarone two month long trips- no side effects. Sister took tetracycline type med- nausea- and had to take it for a month after returning home.

canary111

None from Larium, taken over a six month period on 4 seperate years.

Tried malarone 2 years ago and hair started falling out massively after 3 months. Reverted to Larium and I was back to normal by the time I returned 3 months later.

Probably worth consideration that you are most likely not supposed to take either for that length of time, but the side effects are possibly better than getting malaria which I've had twice now. Will be back on Larium again for 6 months shortly now because....well because....there's nothing else I can do really is there?

jjmb

Our first trip, we took Lariam. We both had side effects. Mine started almost immediately after taking the first pill, while still home in Canada (we were instructed to start the regimen a certain # of days before entering the malaria zone). I slept very little each night, sometimes only a couple of hours. By the time we got to Africa, I was very sleep deprived. That's when the wild imagination and anxiety attacks started, and the nausea. It's not easy being sleep deprived and anxious to the point of paranoia in a tent in Zambia for the first time. My imagination was running wild with every little sound I heard. Visions of leopards climbing into the tents and frogs jumping out of the toilets were making a usually pretty laid-back person loony. In the evenings at dinner, I would get waves of nausea, and I would have to lie down in small spurts. My husband did not suffer as much; he slept like a log but had very vivid dreams. By about the fifth night of the trip, one of the camp managers suggested that I cut the pills in half, since the dosage for a person of my small size was the same as for a 6'4", 300 lb person, so I did, and the side effects went away immediately (granted I do realize I might have increased my chances of contracting malaria, but fortunately very few mosquitos around).

Later trips we took Malarone - what a pleasant difference. No side effects at all! I will never take Lariam again.

skibumette

About 40% of the people who take Lariam will have some side effects, most commonly the vivid dreams; of course, that means 60% won't. In our travel clinic we recommend that anyone who thinks they would prefer the weekly dosing of Lariam - and has never taken it before - starts taking it 2-3 weeks before departure.

If you're going to have side effects they will show up then -- you decide if you can live with them or want to switch to something else before you depart. Often we'll sell them 2 tablets for the trial, while giving them a prescription for the remainder. That way they don't invest in the entire amount until they know they can tolerate the medicine.

RagtopGirl

I took Lariam about 8 years ago and will never take it again. I developed nightmares and after I returned I had strange feelings - sadness/anger - for about 6-8 weeks. I filed an adverse drug report to the FDA. I think part of the problem is that at that time Lariam only came in one dose - whether you were 120 lbs or 220 lbs. I am a small female and that seems to be the demographic that has a lot of problems. My husband didn't report any problems.