Lariam (mefloquine) - bad side effects

[andy ted]

Hi

I was wondering if anyone had any experience with the more negative side effects of lariam without me googling and coming up with all the scare stories? A mate of mine is in South America at the moment and decided to take Lariam instead of malarone due to the cost and not being in the high risk catagory for side effects. However he has taken 2 doses (once a week) and I spoke to him the other day he said he feels shocking, really depressed withdrawn and spaced out and as he is never like this it has really got to him and ruining his trip to some extent. He has fortunately managed to switch to malarone now by borrowing off his mate who he is travelling with (will go to docs on return to get remainder) but I was wondering if anyone else had experienced this and if so how long it took to feel it was out of your system?

Cheers all

Andy