I think I am officially immunized with every major disease out there. Today I had my "health consultation for international travel". I went fully expecting to get a couple of shots - one for yellow fever, one for tetanus, and Hep A & B (wasn't sure if it would be one or two). Anyways, apparently Uganda is a "hot spot" for every major disease the world has ever known - Polio, Typhoid, Measles, Mumps, Rubella, Influenza, Meningitis, Diptheria, Yellow Fever, Hep A & B just to name a few. Those are all things that I am now immunized against! 8 shots in all!! My arms are sore right now. =( AND, as soon as I see my Dr. to get my pills, I will be "safe" against Malaria and armed with a general antibiotic to do "self treatment of severe diarrhea" caused by bacteria too. My goodness! Health nurses are VERY good at convincing you that you are going to die if you go to a third world country without being immunized for EVERYTHING! On top of that, I need to "watch out" for biting insects of EVERY kind including ticks, chagas (kissing bug) & mosquitos, and also little parasites like hookworms and schistomomiasis. With a list like that, I'm not sure how anyone can live in those countries!
Boy, those nurses have a way of making you paranoid! I know it is good to be concerned about health and make sure you wash your hands, eat well cooked food and drink only safe water. But honestly, I walked out of there feeling like I'm a goner (not really, but you get the picture). Anyway, I'm hoping I can lift my arms tomorrow because they are sure sore right now!
Teach
5 comments:
The nurses always make it seem worse than it is. I doubt that many of them have never travelled anywhere but the US. Out of all of the people I worked with when I was with Mercy Ships, I can only think of one person who ever got really sick (Dengue Fever). Diarrhea is obviously very common, and in my opinion is generally unavoidable. But hey, I get that over here too!
For typhoid, did they give you a shot? My typhoid was this horrendous drink that I had to take three times. Tasted awful.
Have you ever taken anti-malaria pills? Did they warn you about the side-effects? If Uganda is not a high-risk for malaria, I wouldn't take the pills. The side-effects are less than desirable. But, if it is high-risk and you need them, stay away from 'Larium'. If the doc tries to give you that, I'd ask for a different one. Ironically, the general treatment for malaria is to take the same pills.
Malaria pills gave me (and everyone else I know whose taken them) the most horrific nightmares imaginable. I had to take my pills once a week starting three weeks before I left home and for four weeks after. The night that I took the pill was always the worst. Just be forewarned.
Ditto on the malaria pills!! Unless it's a major risk area, I'd rather take the chance of getting malaria than taking the pills. Larium can cause major hallucinations, and there have even been cases of people basically going crazy and killing other people. Chloroquin (sp?) is the better way to go, but even that may give you funky dreams and make you feel funny.
For the record, I have *never* had diarrhea when traveling, so there is hope that you can avoid it!
Anyway, a lot of those things the nurses were talking about, you could contract here. They are just good at freaking people out.
So, here's to safe travels and lots of fun in new adventures!
This is Natasha by the way.
When Ray & I were talked into the anti-malaria pills one year (and never again, by the way), his prescription was very cheap and mine was very expensive. Jesse had warned me about the 'larium' ones so I checked mine and was pleased to not see larium or anything remotely resembling that word. I had a HORRIBLE time and horrific nightmares (and I was very queasy, especially on the day of taking the weekly pills). When I got back into the country and was chatting with the doctor about my sons comments on various meds, he informed me that mine WAS the larium family!!! Thanks a lot! And 'no thanks' to a repeat experience.
Apparently you just need to say NO! to Malaria pills. I am thinking it might be better to get malaria than to take the pills. Just say No!
C
Ok, so I did a little bit of 'googling' this morning, since Monkey got me up early.
The generic name for Larium is mefloquine.
Chloroquin is not effective for the malaria in that part of the world. But, there are a couple of others besides chloroquin and larium.
It sounds like travel to Uganda is a risk for malaria. So was Guatemala when I was there, but I rarely saw a mosquito (and was never bitten by one). Obviously you need to make your own decision regarding the malaria pills, and I'd feel terrible if you contracted it. But, if it was me, I would get the pills from the doctor, and not start taking them until I got to Uganda. Once there, you could see if there are mosquitoes where you are staying. If the place is a swarming with them, start taking the pills. If you don't see any at all, then leave them in your suitcase.
Obviously you need to be smart when you travel. I hope I didn't freak you out about the malaria pills - but I definitely wish someone would have told me about the side-effects. That way you don't worry if you wake up feeling like you need to have an exorcism, when it's just the side-effects from the pills. Kind of funny to me how much I prayed when I was on them!
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