Malaria Tablets and Epilepsy

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If you have epilepsy and need to take malaria tablets, there may be some issues. Some of the malaria tablets do not interact well with anti-epilepsy medication so you need to talk to your doctor to find a suitable malaria tablet that will both protect you and won’t interfere with your epilepsy medication.

If you are taking carbamazepine, phenobarbitone or phenytoin and you have been prescribed Doxycycline, there could be adverse interactions. The above anti-epileptic drugs will break down Doxycycline more often than usual so that the drug may not be effective in protecting you against malaria. The dose of Doxycycline may need to be increased or even doubled so you may experience more unwanted side effects. Your doctor will decide what the best course of action will be. Also, if you need to take the anti-malarial Maloprim and you are using phenytoin or phenobarbitone, you will also need to take a folic acid supplement with your anti-malarials. This may or may not be necessary but your doctor will determine whether this is appropriate.

There should not be a problem if you are using anti-epilepsy drugs and are prescribed Malarone or proguanil. However, you must not use Chloroquine or Mefloquine because these two medications can cause seizures. Therefore it is dangerous to your health if you have epilepsy and take these two medications. It is best to always check with your doctor that the medication will not cause you any harm and make sure you understand the potential side effects of the drugs. If you have any worries make sure that you voice them before you travel as you may be visiting an area where little or no medical care is provided.

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