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"Crazy Pills," by David Stuart MacLean (Op-Ed, Aug. 8), struck a highly resonant chord.
It was not until returning from my third Southeast Asian trip in early 2004 that I began to wonder if the extended malaise I'd experienced after each might have resulted from ingesting Lariam rather than from any other cause. Checking online, I was horrified to learn that Lariam could provoke far worse than the dizziness and queasiness I felt: chronic fatigue-like symptoms and even major psychotic episodes.
After consulting my physician about the consequences of not taking my remaining pills, I decided to discard them, vowing never again to take the drug. And I subsequently found others who had similar experiences.
I am lucky not to have suffered the same chronic side effects from Lariam as Mr. MacLean and others. Our experiences underscore that everyone — professional and layman alike — become knowledgeable about medication options so that we can make informed, independent decisions that will support our well-being rather than destroy it.
MARCIE S. GITLIN
New York, Aug. 8, 2013
To the Editor:
When I was a Peace Corps volunteer in Guinea-Bissau, West Africa, from 1990 to 1992, mefloquine gave me such vivid dreams and sleepwalking episodes that I took myself off it. I opted instead for the fallible combination of cholorquine and paludrine, a drug cocktail that the world's mosquitoes had long grown resistant to.
During the lower-risk dry season, I sometimes took no drugs at all. A result: I got malaria a couple of times but fortunately in forms mild enough that I could make the half-day journey to the capital for treatment.
Clearly the preventive-drug approach is flawed. Why don't we focus instead on eradicating the virus worldwide, as we have done in certain pockets? This would protect Westerners traveling to "malarial zones" as well as the 3.3 billion people who live in them.
Malaria is the leading cause of death in many poor, tropical and subtropical parts of the world, killing more than 600,000 men, women and children each year.
CHERYL de JONG-LAMBERT
New York, Aug. 8, 2013
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