Malaria

mira4bai4

My vote is for Qinghao (wormwood) the hospitals in India are using it really effectively with excellent results. No more of the old malaria drugs for me.

freemanx

no worries spacetraveller, if you use a bit of deet if nececarry you will be fine.

spacetraveller

Thanks for your replies, after reading the various forums all week long, not only have I discovered a wonderful site, I feel that I am a lot more familiar with India and with everything to do with going to India, this for a first timer like myself is worth a lot and I appreciate the replies from everyone. Wishing you all the very best in your travels.

Wanderratte

So far I have never taken an malaria tabletts no matter where I travelled but only protected myself with bug dope and a standby medicine. But the Vacination Institute strongly recommended Lariam to me for my next travel because we will be in Chennai, Kolkata and Gujarat and they said if you were in this area longer than a week you should take the tabletts.

I do really know what to do yet. Friends have given me Malarone, leftovers from their trip to Africa, but the doctor said it's not recommended for longer than 4 weeks at a time. If you take Lariam and get side effect, will you develop them rather quickly? The doctor's said that it's ok to quit Lariam if side effects develop and only use it as a standby. If I try it, it would somehow be more comforting if I knew that if I was fine at home taking them I'll be fine in India as well.

shelly

Hi wanderratte usually it is recommended to start Lariam 2 weeks before departure so among other things you can see if you tolerate it and you will be in time to change it if it does not agree with you. From personal experience my partner and I were fine with it for the first few weeks. He was fine for the whole course but after 5 to 6 weeks I got anxienty attacks and nightmares so I stopped them. By that time I knew I hadnt got bitten anyway and I was already home. My mum experienced nausea after the first tablet but I dont know if she took them properly. They are meant to be taken with a full glass of water and after meals to reduce stomach problems. I also took Lariam a few years ago when I went to the Amazon and back then I had no problems (except for a few harmless weird dreams). Everybody reacts differently. My doctor told me though that if you have been using any antimalarial as a prevention, you should not use the same type as a standyby if you get sick but you should use another type.

cheryl

Hi i was give chloriuine and proguanil from my doctor in the uk and actually now that iam here i can't stand the thought of taking them, ive also raed and haerd bad things so i'm kinda put off of taking them, they are sitting in my bag doing nothing, mind you i am in the himalayas so don't need them at the mo. delhi has a few mosquitos but i don't think you have anything to worry about, they tend to hang out around stagnent pools and at lakes at sunsets, the infected ones anyway, from what i here chances are pretty slim, i met someone who's hair fell out after taking pills, and i also met someone who has had malaria and got the effects once they had got back to england, he wasnt well at all but has recovered and has been to india 12 times, so its really tough to make decisions on what to take and if to take. i had this dilemma for 3 months from when i bought my ticket to when i arrived and still occasionaly wonder if i'm doing the right thing. i'm going to put lots of spray on and take neem morning and night aswell as eating whole garlic cloves which is supposed to keep them away, probably get a net when i get further south. Hope you find a solution and HAPPY TRAVELS love and peace

Bryan

sorry guys
Im late to this topic and haven't had the chance to read the replies above so Im sure im just repeating waht has alrerady been said

So my advice on malaria tablets is don't take them
The risk is relatively minimal outside of the monsoon season

Normal precautions apply wear light coloured clothing and cover obvious bits ankes arms etc
put on mossie cream
Dont wear perfume or eat chocolate ...

Use coils or the lecetrical tablet thingie you plug in the wall ...
take a mossie net with you ...just in case

If you follow these simple rules you'll be cool and won't have to take tablets which effeectively poison you ...

bryan

__________________
Then let us pray that come it may
(As come it will for a' that),
That Sense and Worth o'er a' the earth,
Shall bear the gree an a' that.
For a' that, an a' that,
It's coming yet for a' that,
That man to man, the world, o'er
Shall brithers be for a' that.
- Burns

Ikuru

Good Post this one.
I´d say It about sums up a good point of view.
What it comes down to is more people suffering from Malariapill effects than from malaria of any sort.

__________________
http://www.ikuru.se My art.

spacetraveller

I can see that I was not the only one agonising over to take or not to take antimalaria tablets! Personally I try the very best to avoid putting chemicals into my body, but last weeks my doctor told me that she lost a young woman to malaria two years ago. I finally decided to go for them and not to take any risks, so I have started four days ago with Paludrine and Avloclor, it is important to take them with plenty of water. So far so good, at first I felt a little spaced out, but it could have been the result from being so anxious about the whole thing. I am sure that the research will be well worth it in the end, but before I go again I am going to look into the chinese herb (wormwood) as there is a lot of research going on into the benefit of that as both a treatment and a preventative for malaria. Leaving on Wednesday, yippee!

onlyjoshin

Hi

I have been advised by my doctor to take Larium for my 2 month trip to India.

On my trip I was going to attend a 10 day vipassana meditation retreat. I was wondering if anyone has had any difficulties trying to meditate whilst on Larium?

Cheers

Ikuru

Vipassana huh? Good for you. Ask someone on this site about it. http://www.dhamma.org/ The thing is you will be asked to fill a form on drugs your taking etc. And I dont know if it is OK. But you can ask someone About it. I THINK you will be OK, but you never know....
As you might now this meditation requries your full on concentration, and it might be the pills are messing with your head a bit etc....

goangoangone

You mean if you die from malaria, you can't suffer from the effects of the drugs?
http://www.cdc.gov/malaria/faq.htm
http://www.travelhealth.co.uk/articl...iaweek2004.htm

__________________
GoanGoan......here

goangoangone

I'm intrigued by this subject. I just found another comprehensive guide.
http://www.hpa.org.uk/cdph/issues/CDPHvol6/No3/6(3)p200-208.pdf
That links no good http://www.malaria-reference.co.uk/
second one down

Wanderratte

The risk might be minimal, but so is the risk of contracting polio or tetanus or the like and still everybody gets vaccinated. I decided to look at it like a vaccination although I decidedly dislike to have to pump my body full with chemicals for a longer period of time.

Has anyone experienced side effects while on Malarone by the way? I'm more inclined to take that instead of Lariam.

Cheers.

Ikuru

Not exactly...
What I am trying to say is...
That Chances are your moore likely going to get bit by a Cobra or smashed up on a Bumpy Busstrip than acctually cathcing Malaria.

Not that it doesnt exist.
Its just not THAT common.
I heard of people dying in India.
Getting murdered by robbers, falling of cliffs in trancepartys, hanging themselves in their room, Driving their Enfield straight in to a car etc. etc. But I never heard a first hand nor seccond hand expirience of someone who Died from Malaria. Might be Im wrong. Maybe it happens to Tourists all the time. Dropping off like fly´s. But I just dont think that is the case. I think the statistics are pretty weak.