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My daughter's LLMD just prescribed Malarone for parasites. Has anyone taken this? I'm afraid to give to her. Please let me know if you have any any side effects you experienced and how much and how long you took it. thank you
Posts: 163 | From Central New Jersey | Registered: Jan 2010
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I have taken it for many months: no side-effects. Seems to be a benign drug (at least for me.) It has reduced my sweats and anxiety slowly but effectively
Posts: 360 | From New York | Registered: Oct 2009
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I am looking forward to bumping down to Malarone from Mepron for babesia. My LLMD uses Malarone for maintenance after a patient shows no more symptoms of babesia for a few months. I have not had any side effects from Mepron and do not expect them from the milder Malarone.
Posts: 212 | From San Francisco Bay Area, California | Registered: Aug 2010
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I took Malarone for 6 months, no herx, no effects. It also reduced my sweating.
Posts: 433 | From new york | Registered: Dec 2004
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malarone has two meds in it mepron and proguanil the proguanil keeps the babesia from regrowing as your blood supply renews itself (every 4 months )
I took it for 6 months and had very few side affects ! the herx's were mild compared to clindmycin and quinine and you run less chance of getting c diff !
clindamycin is one of the worst offenders for c diff imho !
Posts: 294 | From sw chicago suburbs | Registered: Apr 2007
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The proguanil in Malarone "boosts" the efficacy of the seemingly lower dose of the atovaquone compared to straight Mepron.
Malarone is not less effective due to this lower concentration.
" Enhanced efficacy of the combination compared to either atovaquone or proguanil hydrochloride alone was demonstrated in clinical studies in both immune and non-immune patients."
quote:Originally posted by lauriemay1: My daughter's LLMD just prescribed Malarone for parasites. Has anyone taken this? I'm afraid to give to her. Please let me know if you have any any side effects you experienced and how much and how long you took it. thank you
I believe both are the same antiparasitic drug - atovaquone. Malarone is the oral. Mepron suspension is a liquid. Hope this helps.
Posts: 20 | From Washington, DC | Registered: Jun 2003
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I have taken Malarone 3-4 tabs daily for well over a year. Prior to that I completed one year of Mepron. I would say that it is quite easy to tolerate. Minimal side effects and has been effective in beating the babesia back!
I like it much better than Mepron.
Good Luck with it all. She will feel much better once she treats. Babesia is horrible if untreated.
Posts: 219 | From Michigan | Registered: Apr 2008
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Katrina, why do you prefer Malarone? I haven't seen it - are the pills small? You took mepron for a year and now are a more than a year into Malarone; do you know when/if there is a time when it ends? Also, once you're on Malarone, can more meds be added that were incompatible with Mapron, or not? I ask because sometime in the not too distant future I will be switching from Mepron to Malarone, so I'd like to know whatever I can find out. Thank you.
Posts: 212 | From San Francisco Bay Area, California | Registered: Aug 2010
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Okay, so we picked up the Malorone at the pharmacy, and this is what they said. There will be no refills for this med after she is done with the 60 pills. Insurance will not cover and Rite Aid will not fill? What gives?
Posts: 163 | From Central New Jersey | Registered: Jan 2010
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I don't understand why insurance would contest meds for babesia. Babesia is not a controversial diagnosis, is it?
Posts: 212 | From San Francisco Bay Area, California | Registered: Aug 2010
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Sorry for the delay in getting back to you. I prefer Malarone to Mepron because for me it has been easier to tolerate. I was on 4-5 tsp of Mepron daily and at first it made me very anxious. I also feel that it was a bit hard on my stomach. One of my doctors had said that they felt that Malarone was not as potent and not absorbed real well. It is a combo drug and for me it has held most of my symptoms at bay.
Also, it has allowed me to add more medications to treat the other coinfections. Not so much because of a contraindication but because it was easier to tolerate additional medications with the Mepron causing problems as well.
Lastly, my doctor would like me to start weaning off some of my antibiotics shortly however I was told I would remain on Malarone for quite a bit longer.
It is my guess that babesia duncani is difficult to get rid of and that while weaning off the drugs for lyme he wants the babesia off the table.
The drugs that are incompatible with Mepron will also be so with Malarone because both drugs share atovoqualone (?spelling). Malarone as one extra chemical that helps to decrease resistence and I believe works of certain strains.
I hope this helps you. Best of luck.
This is one crazy disease to have. I never wanted to know this much about tick born diseases.
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