Lariam

[NousDefionsDoc]

WASHINGTON (Army News Service, March 3, 2004) - The surgeon general of the Army told Congress that there is no correlation between the anti-malaria drug Lariam and a recent spike in suicides in combat zones.

[Julia Mead]

Thank you so much for permitting me to join. I'm a graduate student at Columbia University, researching my masters thesis on the history and neurotoxic side effects of an anti-malarial drug, mefloquine hydrochloride. It was marketed under the name Lariam. Mefloquine has been prescribed to military personnel deployed overseas, as well as Peace Corps volunteers and civilian travelers, for decades. I am interested in speaking with active-duty personnel and vets of any overseas conflict who have taken mefloquine and experienced its side effects. These can range from temporary discomforts, such as dizzyiness and nausea, to more severe, including psychosis, hallucinations, depression, and suicidal ideation. It has also been linked to vestibular (balance) problems and seizures.
Through postings on other sites, I've been contacted by dozens of vets and active duty personnel and am amazed at how generous they've been with their time and stories. Those stories are enormously helpful to my research.
Please send e-mail to <jcm2043@columbia.edu> and I'd be happy to tell you more about my thesis. And do include your phone number so I can save you the long-distance call to NY.
Regards to all,
Julia Mead

[zipgunlead]

The surgeon general can say what he will but I have had some weird boogerman dreams after taking it. Anyone else here have that occur ?

[Team Sergeant]

zipgunlead,

You might want to send an email to the "graduate student at Columbia University" (see the post above yours).;)

Team Sergeant

By the way, Welcome aboard!

[Eagle5US]

The surgeon general can say what he will but I have had some weird boogerman dreams after taking it. Anyone else here have that occur ?
I have been taking it off and on since 1989, and prescribing it about the same amount of time, so my experience with it sould be considered somewhat limited.
So...in my limited experience, I have had lots of folks with side effects off of doxy, and zero folks with reported side effect after Lariam. Personally I have had no ill affects at all. In my limited experience...

I guess the real question should be is the ONLY TIME you have wierd boogerman dreams after taking Lariam, or have you had weird boogerman dreams othertimes as well? CHildhood? Teen years? Bad dream as an adult? Times of stress or worry? After a bad movie? Bad date perhaps?:D
And yes, by all means...WELCOME ABOARD!

Eagle

[The Reaper]

Thank you so much for permitting me to join. I'm a graduate student at Columbia University, researching my masters thesis on the history and neurotoxic side effects of an anti-malarial drug, mefloquine hydrochloride. It was marketed under the name Lariam. Mefloquine has been prescribed to military personnel deployed overseas, as well as Peace Corps volunteers and civilian travelers, for decades. I am interested in speaking with active-duty personnel and vets of any overseas conflict who have taken mefloquine and experienced its side effects. These can range from temporary discomforts, such as dizzyiness and nausea, to more severe, including psychosis, hallucinations, depression, and suicidal ideation. It has also been linked to vestibular (balance) problems and seizures.
Through postings on other sites, I've been contacted by dozens of vets and active duty personnel and am amazed at how generous they've been with their time and stories. Those stories are enormously helpful to my research.
Please send e-mail to <jcm2043@columbia.edu> and I'd be happy to tell you more about my thesis. And do include your phone number so I can save you the long-distance call to NY.
Regards to all,
Julia Mead

Julia:

Do you want to hear from people who took it for extended periods with no ill-effects as well?

TR

[Mav]

When I was in Bagram five years ago, I was the only person who didn't have any obvious side effects from Mefloquine. Everyone dreaded Mefloquine Monday... I really didn't see any side effects, that I can tell.. tho I only took it for about 8 months..

[CRad]

Malaria vs Treatment

Malaria -
VA Medical Center, Psychology (116-B), Iowa City, Iowa 52246, USA.

Approximately 250,000 Vietnam veterans suffered cerebral malaria, an illness that often results in damage to subcortical white matter and fronto-temporal areas of neocortex. Case reports dating back 2500 years indicate that survivors of cerebral malaria show depression, poor memory, personality change, and irritability/violence. The purpose of the present study was to compare the neuropsychiatric status of Vietnam veterans who had suffered cerebral malaria in the remote past (i.e., 1966 to 1969) with that of Vietnam veterans wounded in combat who had not suffered malaria or other neurological conditions. Findings indicate that cerebral malaria results in multiple, major, substantially underappreciated neuropsychiatric symptoms in Vietnam veterans, including poor dichotic listening, "personality change," depression, and, in some cases, partial seizure-like symptoms. Findings strongly suggest that history of malaria should be considered in any medical, psychological, or psychiatric workup of a Vietnam War veteran because a positive response could result in substantial changes in diagnosis and treatment.

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/entrez/query.fcgi?cmd=Retrieve&db=PubMed&list_uids=9368547&dopt=Abstract


Treatment -

The most frequently reported adverse events are nausea, vomiting, loose stools or diarrhea, abdominal pain, dizziness or vertigo, loss of balance, and neuropsychiatric events such as headache, somnolence, and sleep disorders (insomnia, abnormal dreams). These are usually mild and may decrease despite continued use.

Occasionally, more severe neuropsychiatric disorders have been reported such as: sensory and motor neuropathies (including paresthesia, tremor and ataxia), convulsions, agitation or restlessness, anxiety, depression, mood changes, panic attacks, forgetfulness, confusion, hallucinations, aggression, psychotic or paranoid reactions and encephalopathy. Rare cases of suicidal ideation and suicide have been reported though no relationship to drug administration has been confirmed.


http://www.rxlist.com/cgi/generic2/mefloq_ad.htm

[Warrior-Mentor]

The surgeon general can say what he will but I have had some weird boogerman dreams after taking it. Anyone else here have that occur ?

x2. And only while I was on it.

Know a TL who did room clearing (without a gun) while sleepwalking on it...

[CRad]

x2. And only while I was on it.

Know a TL who did room clearing (without a gun) while sleepwalking on it...

There are teams guys who did the same thing before the lariam name ever came up. If you want specifics either e-mail or pm

[The Reaper]

x2. And only while I was on it.

Know a TL who did room clearing (without a gun) while sleepwalking on it...

Restoril and some other sleep aids will do that as well.

I wonder how many of these people were on other meds, or were drinking at the same time?

TR

[Irish_Army01]

We get it going to Liberia,..Bad dreams being one of the major side effects..
The Doc's will only let you take it up to a maximum of 9 months on any deployment..our deployments are usually 6 months ..and extend for another 6..

when on larium you can only extend for another 3 months.

[rwt_bkk]

I had an optimoligist working for me in Laos. He took Lariam and developed a bad case of tremors. He thought is was time to quite surgery and was going to retire. Then after returning to the states the tremors ceased. Later he went to a seminar on Lariam and found it was one of the side effects.

Personally I spent 9 years in a area that was 80% malarial without contacting marlaria (only got it once in 1969 on a 7 day trip to the same area). I have relied on doxycycline and artemesia only (never had to take the artemsia). I have also treated more than 10,000 people for malaria in an environment where Lariam is much too expensive. I rely totally on doxy and artemsia and get very low reoccurance rates and no side effects from the artemsia treatment (combined with doxy for adults and non-nursing mothers).

A lot of the people that came over were taking Lariam as perscribed by the stateside doctors, but one of my understandings were that it was very hard on the liver too limiting it's usufulness for those of us that had to live in these areas for years at a time.

Personally I would look for alternatives..

[Irish_Army01]

I know this thread is a little old but just FYI, A member of the Irish Army has started a Facebook page looking for Personal with side effects to come forward.


There has been 9 suicides over the last two years, (last one a Sgt still on his leave from Chad 3 weeks ago) all have been on larium.

http://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=1502776131#!/group.php?gid=123004011065529

[zauber1]

Was this used during Desert Storm? I had been in the big Army for over 10 years and never ever had a bad reaction to anything that was injected, inserted or otherwise administered to my body. Then during the inprocessing phase of recall to active status, SOMETHING that I took or was injected with gave me a severe anaphylactic reaction (tremors, shakes, hypothermia) and I was nonchalantly labelled, "Oh yeah, Charlie. We've got another one over here doing the same thing." I was rushed to the post hospital and given more Benadryl than I have ever seen in injectable form for four days. Then released without explanation...
Could it have been Lariam given as a prophylactic?

[PedOncoDoc]

Was this used during Desert Storm? I had been in the big Army for over 10 years and never ever had a bad reaction to anything that was injected, inserted or otherwise administered to my body. Then during the inprocessing phase of recall to active status, SOMETHING that I took or was injected with gave me a severe anaphylactic reaction (tremors, shakes, hypothermia) and I was nonchalantly labelled, "Oh yeah, Charlie. We've got another one over here doing the same thing." I was rushed to the post hospital and given more Benadryl than I have ever seen in injectable form for four days. Then released without explanation...
Could it have been Lariam given as a prophylactic?

Highly unlikely - you were more likely to have a reaction to an immunization that you received. Lariam is oral pill given once weekly when in areas where malaria is endemic.

[uboat509]

I was on Mefloquine for a JCET to Tchad back in '05. Our medic took me off of it because I started having some "anger issues." At one point I can remember being in my hotel room in a rage kicking the crap out of the door to the room because I could hear the music from the live band out back. It wasn't particularly loud or obnoxious but for some reason it made me really angry. That, and a few irrational outbursts were enough to get me pulled off of the Mefloquine and swtched to Doxy, which gave me a horrible sunburn but cut back sharply on the irrational anger.

I recently deployed to another malaria zone and was put on Doxy because to get on Meflequine now you have to have a documented reaction to Doxy. It was fine at first but then I had a reaction to the Doxy that I wrote off as not having eaten with the dose but then it happened again even though I had eaten this time. This reaction, in addition to the severe nausea of the first reaction, included vomiting, dizziness and some mild paresthesia in my lips and fingers. After that I was switched to Malarone, which still causes nausea if I don't eat with it but that is it.

[ktek01]

I remember taking it in the test phase, around 1987 or 88 during Cobra Gold in Thailand. Most of my unit was still taking quinine, every day, those of us selected for the test knew because we only took a pill once a week. 3 months in Thailand, with heavy drinking and no side effects. Dont recall anyone having any problems with the meds.

[Slaby]

deleted

[mark46th]

Reading about Lariam made me long for the good old days of Cloroquine/Primaquine in Southeast Asia when all you had to worry about was it made you crap in your pants...

[Blackhorse09]

I am currently TDY in Costa Rica and we have a mixture of people taking Doxy and Mefloquine. People taking Doxy on a daily basis dont really have problems. But others who take Doxy or Mefloquine once a wekk feel really sick after taking it. Some said they started talking in their sleep.

[Sten]

I was on it for two years straight. While I did have a few bad dreams, I had some great dreams too. But more to the point I did not get malaria in a village that had an "outbreak" while I was living there.

While many of my fellow volunteers complained about "lariam dreams" in reality they complained about everything so I would take their reports with a large grain of salt.

[Eagle5US]

I am currently TDY in Costa Rica and we have a mixture of people taking Doxy and Mefloquine. People taking Doxy on a daily basis dont really have problems. But others who take Doxy or Mefloquine feel really sick after taking it. Some said they started talking in their sleep.
Can't take it on an empty stomach. Nausea is a common side effect when taken empty or dehydrated. Dreams are not any worse or better when on these meds...but generally more "real" or "vivid".

Eagle

[The Reaper]

Can't take it on an empty stomach. Nausea is a common side effect when taken empty or dehydrated. Dreams are not any worse or better when on these meds...but generally more "real" or "vivid".

Eagle

Exactly.

And be careful about sun exposure with the Doxy.

TR

[Blackhorse09]

Thanks Eagle and TR that is good to know, I will pass on the info because the prescription instruction entail to take the meds two hours before any meal. I am sure some guys will be happy to hear that.

[stickey]

Glad i searched Doxy and found this thread. I am currently taking it...going on 2.5 months of it (100mg/day), and for me, it has done nothing but give me the craps and now, i believe it is giving me a really weird case of heartburn/indigestion.

I talked to Doc, got some Nexium....but i think the problem is within the esophagus because every time i swallow it feels like the food and water gets stuck right at the opening of my stomach where the end/bottom of my esophagus is, then feels like a balloon expanding then subsides until i swallow again. Have had to sleep sitting up, now on a ramp i made out of my bed to alleviate the pain and sleeplessness at night. I can tell it has gotten better with the Nexium because during the day I'm not feeling like I'm bloated or trying burp... but I am off (took myself off) of the Doxy for a few until this gets better because Im afraid the combination of both my counter the other.

Anyone else have a similar issue with Doxy?