This past spring I spent several afternoons at the doctor's office getting all of my vaccinations for this upcoming trip - 6 in all, although most required a series of two or three shots. One was a "live" vaccine that I had to keep refrigerated and take over 5 days. Pretty exotic stuff. The last of the medical preparations began yesterday when I took my first dose of mefloquine, an anti-malarial. I've had a lot of time to research the pros and cons of these drugs and have decided to go ahead and take them, but if I have any negative effects, I will stop. I know people who have taken this particular drug with no ill effects, and others who had crazy vivid dreams. I've also talked to people who never took them and never got sick, and others who never took them and did get sick. It's a personal choice and you can only go with what you're comfortable with. I've only just started remembering my dreams on a regular basis and I can tell you that they're already pretty weird, so I hope this doesn't add to that. I guess I will know by week 2 or 3. To be continued...
The last warning reads: "Call your doctor immediately if you experience new or worsening feelings of anxiety, sadness, depression, restlessness or confusion." Great. Of course they have to list all of the worst case scenarios, but this makes me think of those ads for medicine on TV where if you listen closely at the end they speed-read through a list of godawful possible side effects. Where do I sign up? Ha.
No comments:
Post a Comment