77 B.C.E.
This evening I took the famous test “Which anti-malarial are
you?”
We’re talking malarone or doxycycline or lariam or
chloroquine. We’re popping pills before we arrive (1 day – 3 weeks depending),
we’re popping them while we’re there (once a day or once a week) and we’re
still taking them once we’ve left (7 – 28 days depending). Of course, we’re
only talking Asia for all this malarkey.
The problem is that we’ll be in Asia
for a total of 87 days, plus the lead-in and lead-out periods, so the range of
pills is from 18 chloroquine tablets all the way up to 117 doxycyline capsules.
But which to choose? Which to choose???
I have tentatively based my decision on price versus
potential side effects versus frequency of having to neck them, but mostly
price (you know me so well, budget traveller that I am!) Malarone has by far
the least potential side effects, but at £2+ for a pill then we’re looking at
over £200, plus the £5 NHS prescription. Nyeargh.
Lariam can cause sleep disorders, and if there’s one thing I
don’t want when I’m stuck in a smelly old hostel it’s to wake up in the night
screaming and being unable to get back to snoozey-snoozey-dream-land!
Tim took chloroquine when he went to India
So doxcycline it is! (Mainly because I’ve seen it quoted for
19 pence a tablet. Can you put a price on not catching malaria? Yes!) The only
bugbear is that I should take it after a meal and then stay upright for at
least a half an hour…but I so love my post-dinner naps when I get to go to
snoozey-snoozey-dream-land!
So after breakfast it is. Must be careful not crouch after
taking it though…which could prove difficult with your typical Asian toilet…
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