2 Days!

The countdown is almost done! Not surprisingly, last night I dreamed about trying to get to the airport, frantically packing things last-minute as my hastily-ordered Uber idled outside. Having dreams like that are usually a good sign that my mind and body are ready to travel. Luckily, I'm about 90% packed, with just a couple small things to get done before I leave. And my mom will be driving me to the airport, so I don't need to stress about Ubers.

As I'm preparing to leave, I realized that it might be helpful for me to share my experiences with antimalarials in case anyone reading this is planning to go to a malaria zone. At the travel clinic, the doctor I saw told me that Mefloquine, the cheaper antimalarial, has an undeserved reputation for having serious side-effects. The nice thing about Mefloquine is that you start taking it 3 weeks before you enter the malaria zone, so if you do experience side-effects, there should be enough time for you to switch your medication before you leave.
My experience with Mefloquine has mostly been alright; I've heard horror-stories of LSD-like dreams, so I was glad to avoid those side-effects. My only issue was that the first time I took my pill (it's a weekly dose), I had some trouble sleeping for a few days and I was nauseous for a day. However, the second week, I drank a lot of water throughout the day (the box specifies that the pill should be taken with a lot of water - take that seriously!) and didn't have any problems.
I know that this is only my experience with Mefloquine and everyone's body will react differently to it, but I thought that it would be worthwhile to share a Mefloquine success-story among all the rumours about its nightmarish impacts. I feel very justified in spending about 1/7 as much as I would have if I'd taken Malarone (the more common antimalarial).

TL;DR: Mefloquine is fine as an antimalarial as long as you drink enough water.

I'm feeling pretty nervous about writing these posts since there's been WAY more interest in my blog than I'd expected. There's a lot more pressure to be interesting, funny, and engaging when people other than your family and close friends will be reading it. But my intention for this blog was partly as a journal for myself to look back on, so I'm trying to get past that and just write what I think.

-Jen