I finally started my anti-malaria medication and I am feeling kinda nervous about the possible side effects it could cause.

After quite a lot of back and forth in between the different options, I ended up settling down with mefloquine based Lariam. The drug is easy to take – once a week during the trip, once before the trip and for four weeks after the trip, and is supposed to offer rather good protection against the p. falciparum type of malaria parasite –  which is the major cause of malaria infections in South Eastern Asia. On the other hand it sports quite an impressive list of possible (and even quite common) side effects, ranging from stomach problems to sleeping problems and all the way to problems with mental health. The list is in fact the scariest and most severe among the options…

Why did I then end up choosing this poison? Just because I have history of antibiotics causing my skin to be extremely UV sensitive, so doxycycline just is not an option. It is true that it might not cause the same problems, but I just can’t take the risk as my skin is naturally rather UV sensitive in the beginning of the exposure… I just can’t enjoy my trip to the fullest if I have to spend most of the trip coated in heavy duty anti-UV grease and carrying a big parasol around all the time. And the combination drugs, like atovaquone-proguanil based drugs, are not an option because of the high price tag on em. I can’t affort putting in 150€ extra just to gain some extra protection against malaria in addition to the usual protective measures.

So long story short: At the moment I am having anxiety over the possibility of the drugs causing anxiety 😀 How am I supposed to tell when it is a side effect of the drug and when just a placebo effect… I guess re-examining these blog posts after the trip will be the only true way of telling that, if even that…