Malaria tablets

mary

Not sure if this is the right thread, but where is the cheapest place to buy
Mefloquine Hudryochloride (malaria tablets). There are several of us travelling, so it amounts to no small amount of money. So far have tried Lloyds Pharmacy, Superdrug, Tesco but Asda comes out cheapest so far, unless you know different?

Nile

Hello Mary


Have you checked with your doctor that the medicine you plan to take is appropriate for the area you are travelling to? It's best to get up to date advice.

Sorry I can't suggest the cheapest place to buy. Maybe this thread would be better placed in the 'Health' board?

mary

Yes, the surgery nurse got it checked with the doctor yesterday. We know they have malaria in Uganda where we are going, as other members of the family who live there, have had it recently following the rainy period.

I'll put it under Health as you suggested.

smarmo

I wouldn't take Mefloquine again. Read up on it, it's been banned in many parts of Europe. Speak to Doctor about Malerone. It's expensive but you take it for less time.

Joannekerry

Ask your Doctor if you can take Doxycycline. Ive recommended it to several people and none of us have had side effects but the best part of this one is that not only is it malaria but also treats travellers tum! For 7 weeks tablets they cost us £20ish each.

mary

smarmo wrote:

I wouldn't take Mefloquine again. Read up on it, it's been banned in many parts of Europe. Speak to Doctor about Malerone. It's expensive but you take it for less time.

Yes I know it's expensive. 2 years ago when there were 5 of us travelling, it cost us £345 plus the "private" prescription for each of us. We had to take malerone because by the time we got round to booking there wasn't enough time to take anything else so many weeks in advance. Same happened last year, but we were lucky, in that someone else after ordering their tablets changed their minds ab out the holiday and handed in their tablets, obviously unusued and the doctor gave us a fair proportion of them "free", which was very good.

So this year we are 7 people travelling, but we have planned it in advance and as a result can get the weekly tablet instead. My husband has taken lariam before without any problems and as the doctor has already made out the prescription for it, I guess that's what we'll have. I was aware that there had been some problems with it a few years ago, but surely it would have been banned if it was completely "not on".

We'll take plenty of malaria spray as well. Thanks for all your comments

TOMCAT_3

Hi
I agree with the comments about Larium as I know a few people who took it and "went a bit funny" delusional mostly.However if you have taken it before and were ok then it should not be a problem. Went I went to Borneo this summer I took Larium as it is suposed to be the best and there are very little (if any) mosquito's resistant to it.It is expensive but i phoned just about all the drug suppliers in the yellow pages and yes ASDA was the cheapest I found, so whatever you decide to take I think you can rest assured that you ahve already found the cheapest place to buy the tablets.

Joannekerry

A little bit funny? LOL my old man was convinced that drug dealers were trying to get in the room, unscrewed the wardrobe off the wall and put it infront of the door! He gets really paranoid on the stuff. Thank god for Doxycycline..........he is quite normal..........well as normal as a bloke can be!

drewb

mary,

Doxycycline should be ok for Uganda according to recentish MIMS. It will be a lot cheaper than Larium and also avoid potential side effects.

If you decide to go for Larium, try Boots as they will normally beat any quote from a competitor as long as you can verify your quote.

Speculator

Lariam Side Effects

Many people take Lariam without serious problems. However, there is no way to know which user will suffer its potentially dangerous side effects which can last for as long as several years after the medication is discontinued.

Lariam's more common side effects include: nausea, vomiting, diarrhea, abdominal pain, loss of balance dizziness, vertigo, sleep disorders, ringing in the ears, headache, muscle cramps, abnormal dreams, emotional instability, insomnia, panic attacks, hallucinations, anxiety, depression, paranoid reactions, convulsions, visual impairment, numbness, rashes, and itching. The use of Lariam with quinine or quinidine may result in cardiac arrest. There have been approximately a dozen reported suicides and hundreds of cases of depression among Lariam users. Furthermore, it is believed there may be links between an outbreak of domestic killings at Fort Bragg North Carolina linked to Lariam.

In 1999, Roche USA advised against prescribing Lariam for patients with "active depression or with a history of psychosis or convulsions". Roche "officially" warned that possible adverse reactions included: vomiting, dizziness, syncope, extrasystoles, myalgia, nausea, fever, headache, chills, diarrhea, skin rash, abdominal pain, fatigue, loss of appetite, tinnitus, bradycardia, hair loss, emotional problems, pruritus, asthenia, transient emotional disturbances, telogen effluvium (loss of resting hair), seizures, cardiopulmonary arrest, encephalopathy, circulatory disturbances (hypotension, hypertension, flushing, syncope), tachycardia or palpitation, bradycardia, irregular pulse, extrasystoles, exanthema, erythema, urticaria, pruritus, muscle weakness, muscle cramps, myalgia, arthralgia, and malaise.

According to Roche U.S.A., Lariam is not recommended for anyone with epilepsy, who is pregnant, for scuba divers, or for anyone who has a history of psychological problems or depression.

The World Health Organization (WHO) has estimated the number serious psychiatric effects related to lariam at 5 in 100,000. However, many experts believe these figures are low, and that as nearly twenty-five percent of all lariam users experience some side effects. The same WHO study concluded that between 1 in 6,000 to 1 in 10,000 individuals will have a serious adverse reaction.

The FDA is investigating 600 reports of adverse reactions. Half the reports mentioned a psychiatric side effect, among reported side effects, thirteen suicidal thoughts, four attempted suicides, and one suicide death.

more here
http://www.lariam-larium-side-effects.com/pages/lariam_side_effects.html

tstodart

I recently purchased some Malarone through Stratford Pharmacy (try Google). Boots online was a similarly good price (around £2.10 per pill).

Stratford Pharmacy also have a good website for working out what you need. We had no problems with Malarone, but there were others in our group who were taking Larium without suffering the side effects (and only popping pills once a week).