I just realized that in all this craziness going on around here neither one of us have taken any malaria pills before this trip!
What should we do?
Go find some in the medicine cabinet from previous trips that we never finished and start now?
Forget it and pray against malaria infested mosquitos?
What would you do?
Personally – I wouldn’t worry about it. I’ve been to Haiti over a dozen times in the last couple of years and haven’t had a problem. I just make sure I’m always covered in bug spray (I like to use the non-toxic stuff, but use deet when I’m in Haiti) even at night. I got malaria pills for my last trip when I was going out to RHFH, but didn’t end up taking them. Just slater on the bug spray as much as you can and sleep with a fan blowing on you. I got Hep A in Haiti though, so if you haven’t gotten a Hep A shot, do it!
Have a wonderful trip!!! Can’t wait to see pictures. 🙂
i don’t like the side effects and strength of malaria meds so i don’t take them. a strong healthy person can survive malaria with no problem! is there much malaria in pap? we don’t take it in the DR.
I have never taken them. I get sick from them. The kids also never took them, we were good with the bug spray.
I have never taken the Malaria pills before hand. We were told that you take the same medicine to stop it as to treat it so we just take the chance. This time of year they are less prevelant than during the rainy season. At least that is what we were told. I would not worry to much about it at this point.
My husband only took the anti-malaria meds on his first trip to Haiti and has done well on subsequent trips without them. Just keep the bug spray on. Have a great trip and enjoy your kids!!!!! Safe travels.
I don’t take them anymore either. If you get malaria, you won’t have symptoms until you come home. Then you can see a doctor and knock it out.
But if you really want to take them, yeah, just take the old pills. I’ve done that before, too . . . . you won’t be totally immune but it would help if you got it.
i spent 2 months in rural southern africa a few years ago, prime malaria country, and stopped taking any medication after a week and gave the medicine to the hospital instead. the majority of people/missionaries living there long-term were pretty much not a fan of dealing with it and don’t want to spend the $$ for the rather expensive prescription. i’m not really a worrying type of person, so i definitely wouldn’t even think about taking medicine for a short trip like that, especially during relatively colder months. beyond that, malaria meds in general are known to be a very worrisome thing with TONS of typical and potential side effects, occassionally longer term than the malaria sickness itself. they don’t typically come highly recommended. a friend spent two weeks on malaria medicine in africa and still has problems years later. and just as the person above said, if you get anything, and we hope you wouldn’t, you’ll be back before you notice anything and it can be taken care of.
Before I went on my last trip to Haiti I talked with the natureopathic doctor about malaria meds. His opinion was to keep them on hand in case I had symptoms, but all that stuff in your body to help prevent it seemed excessive. I think they use the same meds, just higher dosage to treat malaria. I followed his advise and did fine, no problems. Remember to use bug spray! Have a great trip!
i got some crazy dreams in Nicaragua on malaria pills so I just quit taking them. hope your trip has much success.