Effects - Malaria prophylactics and dreams...

[Potter]

When the Doktor traveled to Panama, they were given a set of pills to take to keep malaria at bay. The pills made the Doktor puke minutes after taking them and after the third attempt, and reassurance that while in a malaria zone, the island was clean, they were ceased. Still there was one thing that the Doktor couldn't help but wonder about, the regular reports of vivid dreams.

From Wiki

Mefloquine may have severe and permanent adverse side-effects. It is known to cause severe depression, anxiety, paranoia, aggression, nightmares, insomnia, seizures, birth defects, peripheral motor-sensory neuropathy,[2] vestibular (balance) damage and central nervous system problems. For a complete list of adverse physical and psychological effects — including suicidal ideation — see the most recent product information. Central nervous system events occur in up to 25% of people taking Lariam, such as dizziness, headache, insomnia, and vivid dreams.[citation needed] In 2002 the word "suicide" was added to the official product label, though proof of causation has not been established. Since 2003, the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) in the USA has required that patients be screened before mefloquine is prescribed. The latest Consumer Medication Guide to Lariam has more complete information.

Attempting to obtain a diagnosis of Mefloquine toxicity is frustrated by the following reasons:

1. Initial side effects such as bad dreams, urinary disorders, etc. usually occur well away from the doctor who originally prescibed the drug. Patients are taken to local hospitals usually with acute psychiatric symptoms. Since few doctors know what a Lariam toxicity reaction looks like, they attribute the symptoms to other known conditions.

2. In most cases, results from the primary tools used by neurologists - CAT scans, EMGs, and MRIs - come up negative.

3. Thousands of travellers do take Mefloquine every year, however the adverse reaction data is spurious and under-reported because side-effects occur usually in a location away from the doctor that originally prescribed the drug.

4. Because the data is spurious and under-reported, reports of Mefloquine reactions are readily discounted as "anecdotal," since Mefloquine toxicity is not as well-known and publicly acceptable as, for example, an allergic reaction to Penicillin.

and also:

Neurological activity

In 2004, researchers found that mefloquine in adult mice blocks connexins called Cx36 and Cx50.[4] Cx36 is found in the brain and Cx50 is located in the eye lens. Connexins in the brain are believed to play a role in movement, vision and memory, likely due to a role in the synchronization of neural activity.

One of the people the Doktor was studying with said she had been on them in India, and woke up from a night terror, screaming, not knowing where she was, on a train. When they came to see what was going on, they saw she had the pills and reacted calmly, but the impact of the situation was still pretty traumatic and she stopped taking them immeadiately. She didn't remember the dream but KNEW it had been awful.

So anyone else have anything on these weird drugs?