Mefloquine=Trippy Dreams

As many of you probably know when traveling abroad in certain parts of the world you have to take medicine for malaria. When I was in Brazil I didn't take it even though I was supposed to, because I didn't think I would get sick with it, and never heard of anyone who did where I was staying. But Mozambique is a different story, I guess. From what I was told during our meeting last Monday LOTS of people get sick with Malaria while in Mozambique, and also Dengue Fever. Personally, I don't enjoy the idea of getting either of these diseases so I will be taking my Malaria pills starting next week, because they need to be started 6-10 days prior to leaving.

So my choices are Doxycycline which you take once a day, or Mefloquine which you take once every week. The once a week one sounded perfect for me, since I forget to take medicine pretty easily. Then I heard about the side effects and did some serious reconsidering. The first medicine makes you queasy and you sunburn easily, and the second has some crazy side effects. The CDC website said that disturbing and vivid dreams as well as hallucinations are common side effects of Mefloquine. So I did some research and read through some peoples experinces while on this medicine, and the dreams were CRAZY!

Some people talked about getting followed by rabid lizards (can lizards get rabies?) others said they watched people on Mefloquine get up at night and chase non-existant tarantulas around their tents with shoes while screaming. Still others said they remember hearing angry dogs growling at them during the night only to wake up from a nap during the middle of the day. There were countless more of people accidentally killing loved ones, dreams in crazy colors, people being chased by zombies, and so forth. Then I found out that the medicine can stay in your system for a few weeks after you stop taking it, so that would mean I would be up at night having psycho dreams while in school during summer term. I would hate to have that happen, I think I would go crazy.

After reading that I decided to go with Doxycycline, I have taken it before when I went to Brazil (that was when I first got there, before I decided I didn't need to take it) and I would much rather prefer a little sunburn and feeling queasy now and again over crazy dreams where I am dying, or even worse hallucinating during the day. Just imagine me doing something like that in front of my class, chasing a non existant spider or something hahaha....funny, but at the same time not funny. Who's to say that I wouldn't have these side effects, but I don't want to take the risk of getting Mefloquine, arriving in Africa, having crazy dreams, and have no way of getting a different medicine. No thanks, I'll just bring my sunblock with me.

The count is now down to 19 days. I still have to do finals, Pack up my stuff and move it into storage, basically move out I guess, find housing for fall semester, get my malaria meds, finish grading a mountain of papers and tests for work (I'm a teaching assistant for a history professor), graduate, and then fly out two days later. I'm at that point where I have so much to do I don't know where to start, but there is also that part of me whispering "you'll get everything done, you always do" and it's true. This time last year I was finishing up 26 credit hours. Yes, twenty six credit hours. I had 14 credits of regular classes at BYU plus 12 credits of independent study. My old roomie Becca can attest to that, those were late nights, I wrote a total of 40-50 pages of work on her laptop for the independent study classes while studying for finals in the normal classes and I did get everything done. So this semester should be a breeze, I just need to keep it in perspective! Anyway I guess what I'm saying is the clock seems to be ticking faster, and I am working slower, hopefully I'll pick up the pace soon:) Wish me luck!