Anti Malaria medication/diving

[Ian B]

Try to avoid using doxycycline. Its a good anti-malarial but if you are in strong sunlight you can get a serious skin reaction, and its hard to avoid strong sunlight in malarial regions.

I've heard of lots of people diving on Paludrine/Avloclor without any problems. Remember to keep taking them for four weeks after leaving the area - most important.

[hazey]

Going to Manado in a few weeks and was advised to talk the combined pills. Check with the nurse who confirmed it was fine to dive with these.

[Darren27]

I worked in Uganda earlier this year and had a similar problem. Check out E-med, they have a good report on diving and anti malarials.

http://www.e-med.co.uk

Look under diving medicals.

What I was told was that diving while on Larium is a total no no.

Others, as long as you dont have any side effects should be ok. Obviously if you choice of tablet makes you drowsey then diving will not be a safe option.

Malarone was the drug of choice for us. Its very expensive, about £40/week ( but if the boss is paying!), no one on my crew had any problems with it. Also you only need to take it for 2 days before and seven days after you travel, so you could be clear before you need to go diving again.

Do check that it is effectice against the strain of malaria prevelant in the region you are visiting.

Just to let everyone know, I am not a doctor or medically trained, just a diver that has to travel to unpleasent parts of the world and doesnt want to miss out on a dive.

Cheers

Darren

[Drmike]

Side effect of Larium can be paranoia - just what you want when diving!


Buddy of mine went totally loopy on Larium and thought everyone was after him. In the end he actually thought he was going mad and admitted himself to the local hospital mental dept!


Very funny - he never lived it down.

[Darren27]

I took Larium when I first went overseas, didnt do any harm to me, although one guy had major problems. He would have paranoia and panic attacks. These continued long after he stopped taking the medication (18 months). Our company now wont allow us to take Larium unless there is no alternative.

[ClaireDJ]

I agree - Larium is not on.
Malarone probably your best bet - but expensive.
DO find out about the effectiveness of Paludrine/Avoclor as I know they no longer are considered as effective as before.
They might be fine for the malarial strains in India though? They are definitely not much good for the ones in Africa!
I took doxycycline for a trip through Mozambique and could not understand why I felt so terrible every morning (Spike Jackson had his concerns ...luckily unfounded!).I was nauseous on the boat (which often happens anyway as the Kinky Divers trip to Dover found out), however this persisted throughout the dive. I eventually discovered it was because I was taking doxycycline on an empty stomach! I also developed DREADFUL photosensitivity and still have some scars on my hands.
To sum up - doxycycline is good but too many side-effects - and the places that have malaria also usually have sun!

[HelenM]

Originally Posted by ClaireDJ

I eventually discovered it was because I was taking doxycycline on an empty stomach!

I made a similar mistake on Larium - once and once only - I'm quite used to ignoring the whole 'take this medication with food' thing, but when I did this on Larium I ended up doubled up in agony for a couple of hours. Guess the lesson is that the anti-malarials can be fiercely strong stuff, and I would NEVER take any of them on an empty stomach. Trust me, it really hurt!

H

P.S. I wouldn't dive if taking it, and I'd take something else provided it gave enough cover - the list of side effects in the Larium bumf is fairly sobering!

[jimbo]

I'm not sure of the exact numbers or where I got them from but something like 1 in 10000 will experience a psychotic episode on Larium and in 1 in 100000 these episodes will never stop.

Kinda put me off. Went to Malawai and took Malarone, no ill effects to speak of. I do remember being a bit knackered but that might have been the 16 hour days I was working...
Jimbo

[HelenM]

P.S. Just for the sake of clarity and comparisons Larium is also known as Mefloquine

Found this - you might find it of use as it deals with Larium and diving specifically: http://www.divernet.com/medical/ddoc796.htm

[Angus]

Having taken Larium on a number of occasions, one of which lasted around 9 months I can honestly say that other than some disrupted nights sleep it didn't really affect me. That said I know of a number of guys whom it did effect quite badly.

On the other hand I also know of quite a few individuals who decided that they knew better and contracted malaria - so it's the lesser of two evils.

I dived numerous times 'under the influence' of Larium with no incidents. The advice I was given was not to dive for the first 21 days after beginning taking it so that you could be sure that you were not experiencing any adverse effects.

Oddly enough I was also advised not to fly a helicopter a helicopter for the first 21 days either. As I wouldn't have the slightest clue even how to start one I heede this advice (and have done ever since)!