Anti-Malarials?

[aprimo]

I hope to be travelling this summer, and maybe to places where Malaria is present. I understand I would need to start the treatment two weeks or so before I actually arrive at the affected region.

Where and how can I get anti-malarial medication in Taipei? Is it even possible?

[Rascal]

Where and how can I get anti-malarial medication in Taipei? Is it even possible?

I dunno where you can get it but it should be possible. Generally expensive though.

Are you actually going into the jungle? Else it might not be necessary though of course it's something you have to decide yourself in the end.

Have a nice trip.

[Chewycorns]

From my understanding the drug doxycycline is used for skin problems as well as an anti-malarial. Be careful, I have just finished taking a batch and the pills almost burned a hole in my esophagus.

Chewy

[MaPoSquid]

Chewy, were you letting the capsules dissolve -- or even worse, opening them up -- before swallowing them?? It's one med that you DON'T want to do that with, fer shure. A guy I knew in high school did that so he could smear it directly on his acne (hey, it made sense to him...), and it caused chemical burns on his skin.

Doxycycline is something that many people take long-term, as in years. Maybe you have an allergy to it?

BTW, it's a pretty general-purpose antibiotic. Very old-line drug, and there's quite a bit of resistance to it nowadays, especially since Bayer Pharmaceutical sells a shitload of it to farmers to dump into chicken feed.

[john h]

The trick with malaria prevention is to, obviously, not let mozzies bite you. Which also means not getting blind-drunk and collapsing anywhere. Mozzies are tricky everywhere, some don't come out until 3AM. I don't take any malaria drugs but I also sleep in a small camping tent (indoors a lot of times) because the zip-up net gives protection. One bad mosquito bite can ruin your life for years or forever.I met a guy in a wheel chair who could not speak, but his mind was clear and sharp. A single mosquito was said to be the cause. Anti-monquito sprays (Aeroguard) are poison too. Local people in high mozzie regions of tropical Australia, they use a mixture of Detol and baby oil, for protection. Longterm Aeroguard use not advised on the label (Try 1/3 Detol, 2/3 baby oil). Detol is an anti-septic. A famous married couple in Australia picked up a form of malaria in either New Guinea or the Solomons. The Australian hospital thought the woman had a 'flu and treated her wrongly, she died. The husband suicided 12 months later. A Mosquitoes were the bottom line cause. There's other stories too.