A serious nightmare: psychiatric and neurologic adverse reactions to mefloquine are serious adverse reactions. National Center for Biotechnology Information , U. Journal List Pharmacol Res Perspect v.
Pharmacol Res Perspect. Published online Jun 5. Remington L. Nevin 1. Author information Article notes Copyright and License information Disclaimer. Nevin, Email: ude. Corresponding author. Received May 2; Accepted May 4. This is an open access article under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits use, distribution and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited. This article has been cited by other articles in PMC.
Abstract Mefloquine originally marketed as Lariam is a neurotoxic quinoline derivative antimalarial drug that is known to cause serious and potentially lasting neuropsychiatric adverse reactions.
Keywords: Adverse effects, mefloquine, serious adverse reactions. Open in a separate window. The patient continued to be hobbled by his symptoms, eventually leaving the military on a medical discharge and questioning his abilities to function or take care of his children.
While no test is available to prove the sailor suffered what is called "mefloquine toxicity," he scored high enough on an adverse drug reaction probability survey to tie his symptoms to the drug, also known as Lariam. The sailor told his Walter Reed doctors that he began experiencing vivid dreams and disequilibrium within two months of starting the required deployment protocol. Symptoms can last years.
Case reports of mefloquine side effects have been published before, but the authors of " Prolonged Neuropsychiatric Symptoms in a Military Service Member Exposed to Mefloquine " say their example is unusual because it shows that symptoms can last years after a person stops taking the drug. And since the symptoms are so similar to PTSD, the researchers add, they serve to "confound the diagnosis" of either condition.
Once the U. At the peak of mefloquine's use in , nearly 50, prescriptions were written by military doctors. That figure dropped to prescriptions in , according to data provided by the Defense Department. According to DoD policy, mefloquine is prescribed only to personnel who can't tolerate other preventives. But Dr. Remington Nevin, a former Army epidemiologist and researcher at the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health in Baltimore, said any distribution of the drug, which was developed by the Army in the late s, is too much.
While a case study is a snapshot of one patient's experience and not an indication that everyone who took or takes mefloquine has similar issues, one randomized study conducted in — more than a decade after the medication was adopted by the military for malaria prevention — showed that 67 percent of study participants reported more than one adverse side effect, such as nightmares and hallucinations, and 6 percent needed medical treatment after taking the drug.
Yet mefloquine remains on the market while Walter Reed Army Institute of Research conducts research on medications in the same family as mefloquine, including tafenoquine, hoping to find a malarial preventive that is less toxic but as effective.
Insect Shield Scarf use as scarf, shawl, blanket. Insect Shield Sock. Apparently this iPhone app plays a high-pitch noise that repels mosquitos.
Follow me on instagram because you actually won't regret it:. Have you had an experience on Malarone or Chloroquine? I would love to hear about it!
Information from people I have met, netdoctor , and drugs. We do not use block advertising. To offset the costs of running the site, The Gal-ivanter participates in Amazon Associates, an affiliate advertising program designed to provide means for us to earn fees by linking to Amazon. If you purchase an item through some of the links on our site, we will earn a small amount of money at no additional cost to you.
Thank you for helping us continue to bring you travel information. This is a travel blog where I, Madeline Quigley the girl with the glasses , talk about the greatest city on earth Pittsburgh and other places I visit. Follow on Instagram. Most Popular posts: 1. My Top 10 Worst Backpacking Experiences 2. The 51 Rules of Backpacking 3.
While she is a firm believer in the fact Pittsburgh is the greatest city on earth and writes about it often , her true passion lies in travel, and she is always dreaming and scheming of her next destination. She focuses on authentic no sugar coating! The gal-ivanter - Madeline Quigley. Recommendations for Pittsburgh and beyond. And it wasn't immediately obvious why. There were terrible mood swings and feelings of utter helplessness over the following weeks. I was lucky to have supportive friends and family around me.
Eventually I went back to the doctor who I urged to look at the side effects - this was, of course, before the days of being able to use the internet to do heaps of self-diagnosis and share scare stories. The GP told asked whether I'd ever suffered from depression, which I hadn't. He told me to stop taking the Lariam immediately.
Gradually the side effects seemed to subside. And after a further six weeks or so, I had got back to college and got back to life as before.
It was such a relief.
0コメント