switching antimalaria pills on the road

J Pseudo

hey

does anyone here have some experiences about changing from heliopar to lariam and then back to heliopar again (during travel) ??
i have been having heliopar and next month going to andamans, so lariam is the drug i should be popping there...

questions : should i change the drug for having both in same week and then continue just with other( and back again ) ?? or when starting lariam, not to take heliopar at all during same week ??

any experiences about subject ?? side-effects, when taken together ?? any other problems ??

for me, heliopar never caused any problems, never taken lariam before, but the stories ive heard are not so uplifting...

Thanx in advance,

J

edwardseco

I am not familiar with heliopar so it si hard to say. Perhaps it is a brand name of a more common item. Normally this can be done. I think I read this on the CDC site (light reading). I am not sure why you are switching to Lariam though. Kindly explain..

wonderwomanusa

From what I could find via Google, Heliopar is chloroquine -- a drug that is no longer used for India... so you might be better off taking something else, as well as making sure the mosquitos do not bite you.

edwardseco

Okay, now I know more Chloroquine which is rarely prescribed these days because of the buildup of resistance to it. I would instead use Doxycycline but do, do some reseach on the various alternatives so that you know how to take these and what may develop from their use. These medicines are not like quaffing an aspiren so do take care. That being said, and with a disclaimer that I am not that kind of doctor, I don't see a problem with what you propose. Sweet dreams..

Dropped an "r" somewhere..

Casey

I went to my pharmacist in Canada to ask about switching from Larium to Doxycycline as the Larium was giving me nasty side effects. I was told that this shouldn't be a problem. On a side note, she herself was from India so I got some good tips from her!

I did switch to Doxycyline and had no problems. Doxycyline makes some people more sensitive to sunlight, but that didn't seem to happen to me but I am pretty liberal with the sunscreen anyways.

J Pseudo

hey,

what my doctor tells me back home : differnt area, different sort of malaria = different drug...
all my trips to india and around asia, the drug prescribed has always been heliopar.
in andamans, according my doc, heliopar is no good.
friends of mine, who travelled around latin america, had lariam and it was causing hallucinations n heavy vomiting for some.

thanx 4 replys,

J

P.S. : i already have all these doomsdays pills on my backpack, just asking your experiences with em, if any...

J

iwanttogoback

i was in a largish group, all of us using doxy and nobody suffered any side effects. but then australians are trained from birth to use sunscreen liberally.