Has anyone on this board taken malaria pills? We're going to be in Kruger National Park and our travel agent mentioned that malaria wasn't a problem there but I just found an info site on our camp that says it is in a malaria area. Any thoughts? I've heard that the pills make you feel sick and I don't want to feel sick during our vacation if it's not necessary. TIA!
Post by alleinesein on Aug 17, 2015 12:26:25 GMT -5
Find out which one you need for the area. I took doxycycline as my antimalarial for India. Each medication will affect people differently. I took mine at night and avoided all of the side effects that the rest of my coworkers dealt with (stomach issues). Check out the CDC chart to see which drug would be best for your travel destination.
I was worried about this the first time I took anti-malarials, but I was fine in the end.
We took Malarone when we went to Kruger, because we'd been in Mozambique right before (we didn't actually travel into the parts of Kruger that had malaria at the time, but we were still taking the pills because of the earlier part of the trip. No problems then, and no problems when we took it again for a long trip in SE Asia.
We took them for Belize and didn't really have any trouble with them. We both had a little tummy trouble after we got back from our trip but don't know whether that was from the pills or not. We had Malarone.
Post by sunshinedaydreams on Aug 17, 2015 18:03:11 GMT -5
We took Malarone a few years ago. I was completely fine taking it for over a month. My H got terribly, terribly ill from it after just under 2 weeks. To the point that he'd convinced himself he had cholera. He had to go to a bush doctor in the Serengeti and get an IV. The doctor there said my H was the third person he'd treated for issues with Malarone in the past month. They put him on doxycycline and he was much better on that one, but really sensitive to the sun.
We chose Malarone because I sleepwalk and the travel clinic doc didn't recommend that I take Larium with a history of sleepwalking. That's the one that gives you really crazy dreams.
I have taken malarone and also had stomach issues. Thankfully, it only seems to be the first dose that causes me a problem. After that, I do ok. So, I know to make sure to take the first dose when I will be safely close to a bathroom.
cheezer, that sounds awful. I'm stressed just thinking about it!
Post by klingklang77 on Aug 19, 2015 8:01:26 GMT -5
I took Malarone and did not have a lot of issues. My stomach was OK, but I just took Immodium before safaris, so I wouldn't have a problem.
You do need to check the area you are going to, so you can see what medication works with what area.
I did get a few headaches, but they weren't bad and I wasn't sure if it had been from wine the night before. The first night I had a really weird sleep. It was like I was awake, but I was sleeping. But that was it.
I have taken both Malerone and Doxycycline with no issues. I have also lived on the edge and not taken anything while I was in India because I was pregnant. When not pregnant, I would definitely use the anti malarials, because it just makes sense to be protected.