The Anti-Malarials Saga (Post #3)
As with many aspects of trip planning, there has been much debate about what the best anti-malarial prophylaxis would be. A few weeks ago Michele got a prescription of 300 capsules of Doxycycline filled to cover her from the time we land in Kenya until a month after we return to the U.S. Mike attempted to get his primary care physician to prescribe a similar course but he would only commit to a 60-day prescription (60 x 100mg capsules). Since we had to go to a special travel medical clinic in order to get our Yellow Fever vaccinations, we decided to just consult with the medical staff there about which anti-malarial would be best for us and our intended destinations. After consulting with the medical doctor at the travel medicine clinic, he told us that taking Doxycycline for 300 days could result in more harm than good. Based on this information, we decided to go with different types of anti-malarial drugs. We also learned some areas of the world have strains of malaria which are resistant to some of the more commonly used drugs that we decided to use. To make a long story short, we decided to bring Malarone – to use from late October when we are in Kenya through mid -March when we are in Singapore – and Lariam for the South American areas. While Míke´s health insurance would cover these drugs, Michele´s HMO would not. Michele decision to use these drugs anyway was tough because these medications ended up costing her $700. Because of the cost, the inconvenience of carrying so many pills and the sometimes unpleasant side effects of some of these drugs, many people opt to just go ahead and travel to areas with malaria and chance getting the disease then they just undergo a course of treatment if and when they become infected. We were not sure we wanted to do that so we finally decided to each purchas 145 Malarone capsules and 10 Lariam capsules. We will use the Malarone in Africa, India and South East Asia and switch to Lariam in South America after a short break from anti-malarials while in New Zealand.
Mike subsequently tried one of his Lariam to ensure he could pleasantly tolerate any of the drug’s side-effects. After a week he’s had no problems. Michele decided she could not afford to try any of these out (cine her HMO seems to have shorted her one) so we hope she doesn´t experience any of the negative effects associated with Lariam. Stay tuned on that one…
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Tags: Category #2: Pre RTW Trip
Michele Harmon
Hi, just checkin in to find out how you started your journey. Its gonna take me some time to get through your trip to where you are today!
Glad you stopped by and good luck on the rest of your travels!
Mo—from Divers World in Picton