Malaria Medications

[OceanGirl78]

I need help with malaria meds!! I am traveling to Sudan, Africa in a few weeks and need to take malaria meds. There are four options from what I have discovered.

One I cannot take because the malaria strains are resistant to it.

One I cannot take because I have a history of depression.

Doxycycline makes you extremely sensitive to the sun (I am blonde and very fair - already have problems with the sun AND I am traveling directly from there to the Seychelle ISLANDS to get married and relax on the beach for 10 days). They said I would need to wear a widebrim hat and keep completely covered while in the sun...not going to be possible!!!

The last one that they want to give me is malarone and I am currently battling with Glaxo Smith Kline about the fact that they do not know where their starch comes from...at present I am waiting for a return call from someone there. There is not a generic.

Does anyone have experience with this sort of situation, or with malarone? I spoke to my pharmacist and he told me to speak with a supervisor and mention a law suit because he said there is no way that they do not know what is in the medication....He said I just need to squeeze it out of them basically....

Laurie

[happygirl]

CarlaB should know...she is either on it now, or about to be on it. If she doesn't see this, PM her.

[CarlaB]

Currently I'm on Mepron, which is anti-protozoal (malaria). It's a horrid tasting liquid and is stronger than Malarone. Malarone contains the active ingredient of Mepron in it.

I haven't checked on the Malarone for it's gluten status because I wasn't ready to switch to something weaker yet ... the infection is still too strong.

What about quinine? Or Artemisia Annua?

Don't take the doxy ... I got sunburned with #35 sunscreen on THROUGH the car window!!!

BTW, I'm on Mepron in conjunction with Biaxin and Artemisia. The combination prevents resistance. I'm taking it for Babesia, which is malaria-like.

[OceanGirl78]

Thanks Carla for the info!!!! I REALLY appreciate it!

I hope your infection starts to decrease soon! I'll let you know if/when I hear from GSK about the malarone.

Laurie

[dlp252]

This is probably the same info you already have because it looks like what might be included with the meds, but I found this on their website:

The inactive ingredients in both tablets are low-substituted hydroxypropyl cellulose, magnesium stearate, microcrystalline cellulose, poloxamer 188, povidone K30, and sodium starch glycolate. The tablet coating contains hypromellose, polyethylene glycol 400, polyethylene glycol 8000, red iron oxide, and titanium dioxide.

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[CarlaB]

I'll look forward to hearing about the Malarone. When I previously researched sodium starch glycolate, I discovered that it's usually not from wheat ... so I took the chance. This was for a different medication than Malarone though. I usually react to small amounts, so I thought that would be the tell-tale sign. I'm on meds long term though ... I don't know that I'd do that right before a trip.

Thanks for the well-wishes. The Babesia infection has gone down significantly and I only have symptoms for a few days a month. I have to have no symptoms for two months to get off the anti-malarials. It will take longer to get rid of the Lyme Disease though.

Have a wonderful trip!

Did you know tonic water was made to help prevent malaria? There is a small amount of quinine in it, so small I don't know how effective it is on its own, but it was areas that had malaria where gin and tonics were consumed.

[Felidae]

I took malarone in the past, but I didn't realize I was gluten intolerant at the time. Everyone I was with took the other options and they had some issues, not celiac related. I loved malarone, so if you can get the starch information from the manufacturer hopefully, you'll get some insight. That's pretty bad that they don't know their starch source.

[GeoGigi]

I just faced the same decision about taking Malarone. I spoke to a representative from Glaxo Smith Kline. Some of the starch ingredients listed are questionable but they told me the sources were all from wood, cotton or potato. One of the starch ingredients was from an unspecified "fibrous starch" which they said usually means wood or cotton but they could not know for sure. That was good enough for me to decide to take it. Of course, they have the disclaimer that there may be minute traces of gluten before the ingredients reach them. I am going to take it and hope it will be fine.