Mombasa,diving,larium..

[David mcNamara]

I am going to mombasa, so any information would be welcome, we are diving near Diani beach, also i need advice on anti malaria drugs as larium which i have been prescribed looks like it will interfere with my diving....thanks in advance

Dave



i have now done some homework and i am settling for Doxycycline...thanks people

[Mike Halligan]

I am going to mombasa, so any information would be welcome, we are diving near Diani beach, also i need advice on anti malaria drugs as larium which i have been prescribed looks like it will interfere with my diving....thanks in advance

Dave,

I am not medically trained.

However, if I were you, I would ask was there a reason for prescribing Lariam (Mefloquine) which has been known to create psychological & neurological problems and has been known to show side effects similar to DCS.

I believe that few problems are noted with chloroquine, Malarone (Proguanil+Atavaquone), Doxycycline.

If your doctor has good reason to prescribe Lariam, you might have equally good reason to reconsider or at least moderate your diving whilst 'under the influence'.

Others here are, I am sure, much better versed than I to draw the finer distinctions between anti-malarials.

Hope this helps,

Mike

[Tim Bartley]

:=I am going to mombasa, so any information would be welcome, we are diving near Diani beach, also i need advice on anti malaria drugs as larium which i have been prescribed looks like it will interfere with my diving....thanks in advance
:=
Hi Dave

Just a few thoughts of my own (I am no docter either).

A few years back I was working in and out of Africa and was on Larium for about a year. During ths time I was diving regularly in the UK - no problems. (Well no more crazy than normal!).
The side effects of Larium are known to effect only a very small % of people who take the drug but have been greatly talked up.

The real problem is that some forms of malaria in Africa are fatal, and taking the wrong pills (eg chloroquine in an area of chloroquine resistance)exposes you to risk. You need to check this with a doctor to get the right ones.

I asked about Larium on one of the diving forums (Divernet I think) several years ago, and the reply from the diving Doc was similar to Mikes reply - limiting depths, taking precations against getting bitten, but still take the medicine.

The scary thing is if you look at the net or talk to people, there are plenty of folk who think it is better to take nothing than to take Larium. "The locals manage without these drugs" - yes, and they die without them too; it just doesn't make headlines.

In the end after consulting everyone, the choice is yours, but having spent a week in an African hospital (some other fever, not malaria)I would always take the most effective known anti-malarial regime.

Cheers
Tim