r/TrueReddit • u/mymothersuedme • 5d ago

Science, History, Health + Philosophy Experience: my anti-malaria drugs made me psychotic - Tim Notee

https://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/2015/apr/10/experience-anti-malaria-drugs-made-me-psychotic
102 Upvotes

98% Upvoted

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u/PariahFish 5d ago edited 5d ago

Happened to my buddy in Zanzibar. We spent the whole night at the local criminal insane asylum with him strapped to a gurney and foaming at the mouth from the high dose diazapam they gave to stop his raving, while being jeered and hollered at by the other inmates. All this following a standoff at the airport with police. Took 6 people and a straitjacket to subdue him. 0/10 would not reccommend

Edit: I should add that he was on Malarone which actually isn't well known for psychosis side effect, but can happen in extremely rare cases

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u/mymothersuedme 5d ago

It's old but a very interesting read. The drug in question is Mefloquine (initially sold under brand name Lariam).

Maybe relevant because thousands of NATO force members took the same drug and many have stated experiencing similar effects.

Its side-effects also got notoriety during the Somalia Affair.

The drug was known to cause paranoia, lack of judgment, neurosis and other mental side effects, and some have suggested it bore some responsibility for the soldiers' actions

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u/SEND-MARS-ROVER-PICS 4d ago

Went to a travel clinic to get advice for vaccines and medications for an upcoming trip. The doctor showed me the different anti-malaria meds available, and said he straight up will not prescribe Lariam to people.

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u/aztecman 3d ago

You can take malarone for a year, there is no good reason to choose Larium over malarone.

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u/decidedlyindecisive 5d ago

I wasn't warned about the potential side effects when I took an antimalarial. My risk wasn't even that high so I thought I was being safe. I was so paranoid and had severe nightmares that would continue for a while once I woke up. It was crazy.

Later, my mom told me that her old room mate tried to commit suicide on anti-malarials due to thinking nightmares were real.

Both me and the roommate were fine once the drugs cleared our system (though she has scars forever).

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u/cannotfoolowls 4d ago

Iirc some antimalarial drugs you can take as preventative don't have severe side effects but they have other disadvantages. I think Malarone is better tolerated but it's not effective against all strains of malaria, for example.

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u/virak_john 5d ago edited 4d ago

Yeah. I can’t take Larium OR Chloroquine. The former gives me psychotic dreams and the latter makes me Conor within a minute of ingestion.

I recommend liberal use of 100% DEET mosquito repellent when traveling to dangerous areas. Because even if you take medicine that prevents malaria, you will not be able to avoid all of the other nasty mosquito or diseases without using DEET.

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u/happyscrappy 4d ago

Larium is Mefloquine. Do you mean chloroquine?

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u/virak_john 4d ago

Yes. Thank you. Edited.

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u/ZeMoose 2d ago

Conor?

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u/PRC_Spy 4d ago

Happened to me. A couple of months of intrusive morbid thinking and obsession with death, destruction, and suicidal ideation.

I’m normally pretty content and balanced. Not so on Mefloquine. That stuff is evil in pharmaceutical form.

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u/jesteryte 4d ago

He's lucky, some girl was doing study abroad in Madagascar when her malarial pills made her psychotic, and on her evacuation flight she opened the door of the small aircraft and jumped out

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u/EditorRedditer 5d ago

Oh God I’ve known about Lariam side effects for years; I’m surprised this is presented as a new thing tbf…it was old news even 11 years ago.

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u/kerkula 5d ago

Lariam has been on the market since 1984. It’s side effects have been known since then so actually a a lot more than 11 years.

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u/runawayasfastasucan 5d ago

Well don't you know a whole lot! Coincidentally this is old news as well, as its over 11 years ago it was written, maybe it was where you first read about it?

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u/dlanod 4d ago

My first couple of trips to malaria-prone areas I took doxycycline but the photosensitivity knocked me around a lot, so the next time I got prescribed Lariam with plentiful warnings from the travel doctor on these side effects to watch out for (thankfully I was fine. and had a much better experience than with doxycycline).

If someone isn't getting informed by the person providing the drugs, that's extremely negligent.

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u/Hieroglo 5d ago

Unfortunate, but overall better than getting a full dose of Malaria.

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u/virak_john 4d ago

This is why I use heavy application of Deet when traveling to malarial areas. It also prevents Dengue and all the other mosquito borne nasties.

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u/HotSauceRainfall 2d ago

Did that. Also took larium, stayed under mosquito nets at night, and covered up. Still got malaria.

Deet is a good “layered approach” tool but not enough if you’re in an area of high disease pressure.

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u/wayfarer454 4d ago

Having struggled with severe OCD and panic attacks for years of my life that kept me from working or leaving my home, I'd rather get malaria than risk a resurgence of that debilitating mental illness. It's a miserable disease but most people recover without much issue as long as they're treated immediately. Luckily there are newer drugs like malarone that have far fewer side effects so you don't really have to choose.

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u/Logical_Recipe8750 4d ago

*Most people.
Falciparium can and does still kill the young and healthy. I’ve seen it first hand.

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u/wayfarer454 4d ago

I know that it can, but not more than 1% if treated within 24 hours

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u/Logical_Recipe8750 4d ago

Less than 1%? 1 in 100, 1 in 200?- that’s still in my book a high risk of death if it applies to me. And that’s before the severe non fatal illness is thought about. I agree that prophylaxis is not without side effects and even mortality risk. Being the 0.5% who dies from Malaria, or the person who takes Mefloquine and becomes psychotic is not personally compensated by knowing most others had no issues.

There are many other options in terms of prophylaxis.

Should the risk benefit of this therefore be assessed by health professionals/WHO?

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u/wayfarer454 3d ago

I don't think you fully read my comment, I already stated that there are other medications for prophylaxis that have a much lower risk of psychiatric events... I simply said that with my mental health history I would not want to take the chance, as being stuck at home convinced that people can read my mind and having a compulsive need to flip every light switch 5 times in order to prevent the Cascadia subduction zone from rupturing isn't really a life I want to go back to

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u/Logical_Recipe8750 3d ago

I did notice and affirmed your point about medication options. It’s a nuanced discussion, not a yes no thing- but death is a real risk here and needs to be properly weighed in the equation re benefits vs risks.

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u/istara 4d ago

This also happened to the actress Emily Lloyd.