Malaria Medication Side Effects

[BettyfromToronto]

Yesterday at dinner time we started round one of six for our malaria prevention routine with 2 huge horse pills (Chloroquine). Woke up this morning and almost fell down from dizzy spells. Worried it was my ear or something but then hubby said he had them all night too. Glad we only have to take once a week but then the next round is the day we arrive at FI. Since we have to take them with food; maybe we will be better off taking them at lunch time since we are not diving on arrival day and have more time to adjust. I would hate to wake up my first dive day and be dizzy.

 

[RTBDiver]

We, wife and i , have taken them for years and never experienced things as you suggest, are you sure it was not the dinner? All family and friends who have visited with us have experienced similar results as ours so it just seems quite odd that a drug with so very few side effects ever reported would affect you both in such a way. If We had these types of things we likely would not take them but with basically no side effects they are a cheap way to help prevent a serious problem for us anyways,
Should you choose not to take them, please make sure you keep up with an approved repellent, which should be done anyway with other bug related illnesses , There are all kinds of snake oils out there but I would stick with those tested and proven

 

[LynnB]

I have taken them when going to Roatan...we have never had any side effects...
That is very strange. Did you google possible side effects of it?
Hope it doesn't do that next time....
Have a great trip..

 

[merxlin]

On our trip to Roatan my wife had some moderate side effects from Malarone (luckily she doesn't dive). The rest of us were fine. Although the incidence of side effects is low, some people do have side effect symptoms.

 

[vladimir]

Mefloquine (Lariam) is the one with the bad reputation for side effects, including anxiety, insomnia, depression, etc. I have used Chloroquine and Mefloquine with no noticeable side effects, but that is why we test them before we dive, to see how we tolerate them. In addition to Malarone, prophylactic Doxycycline is another option, I believe, if you can't tolerate the Chloroquine, but photosensitivity is one of its side-effects--which might be troublesome on a tropical vacation. A search in the medical forum of the posts by DocVikingo, TSandM, et al, would yield more insight, and the CDC's website is pretty informative.

 

[BettyfromToronto]

We will continue and see how it goes next Monday.

RTBDiver: Cheap is right. After insurance they cost us 94 cents each. Cannot beat that price.

We will have our deet anyway as my husband will get bit if there is a mosquito within 10 miles.

 

[nagel]

My wife had the same affect you described while on Chloriquin. She was the only person in our group to get a prescription and said she felt dizzy the day she took it. (I mean, normally, she is not dizzy....you know what I mean).

Snagel

 

[DivingNole]

I know it's more a PITA than anything, but any way to get in touch with the doc and see if he/she has some suggestions on a different medication? I know a couple of suggestions were thrown out here such as doxycycline, but I'm no medical professional. Luckily, I haven't had any side effects with the chloroquine, but others have reported strange dreams, etc. Maybe it was a bad/expired batch?

 

[vladimir]

Maybe it was a bad/expired batch?

While it is of course prudent to discard expired drugs, most of the time they are fine:

At the behest of the Pentagon, the Food and Drug Administration launched the Shelf Life Extension Program in 1985 to determine whether the military's massive stockpile of expired drugs had become ineffective. The study, first made public by the Wall Street Journal in 2000, showed that 90 percent of drugs maintained stability—that is, their chemical constituents did not degrade or change substantially—well past their expiration dates. Some drugs were good for a decade after expiring.

Expired drugs: Are they still effective? - By Brian Palmer - Slate Magazine