I’ve been scrambling so much to get stuff done before my departure for Uganda that I kicked off the week with a false start on my dosage of malaria pills. I had been warned by my buddy Ray Dumas about the side effects of Larium, which he had to give up on a shoot in Africa some years ago, so I got a prescription for Malarone instead.
As soon as I popped my first little pink pill I started feeling groggy, and by mid-afternoon I was so out of it that I had to take a nap. I didn’t have any psychotic nightmares that Ray had but I did honestly experience about a hundred lucid dreams over the 20-minutes or so that I was under.
I’m going to have to start my dosage for real this Sunday morning, as soon as I land in London for a nine-hour stopover there. At least I know what I’m in for…
Andrew Currie 
3 responses to “Malarone Madness?”
BBC has a story today about a new malaria treatment:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/health/4423709.stm
Notable quote: “The malaria parasite has developed growing resistance to current drugs.”
Uh-oh…
Hi I am going off to Cambodia in 3 weeks time and need to get some Malaria tablets. i was just reading your posting from April when you took your first Malarone tablet before your trip. I am really curious to know how you got on with it? I have suffered with depression before and was strongly told not to go with the Lariam. And pointed in the direction of the more exspensive and more stable Malarone…… Your posting had me a little worried and curious. any advise would be greatly appreciated! Many thanks
Stuart
Hi Stuart,
Except for that first pill I had no problems whatsoever with Malarone. I went to Uganda with two friends—one who also took Malarone and experienced nothing unusual, and the other who took Larium and had lucid nightmares one night in Kampala. Mind you, he also drank 2 litres of Coke that same evening…
Remember too, that I took my first Malarone table a week too early. I think that if you start your prescription on a travel day then any grogginess will nicely complement the tedium of a long flight.
Hope this helps… Have a great trip!
😀