Lariam Side Effects

Many people take Lariam without serious problems. However, there is no way to know which user will suffer its potentially dangerous side effects which can last for as long as several years after the medication is discontinued.

Lariam's more common side effects include: nausea, vomiting, diarrhea, abdominal pain, loss of balance dizziness, vertigo, sleep disorders, ringing in the ears, headache, muscle cramps, abnormal dreams, emotional instability, insomnia, panic attacks, hallucinations, anxiety, depression, paranoid reactions, convulsions, visual impairment, numbness, rashes, and itching. The use of Lariam with quinine or quinidine may result in cardiac arrest. There have been approximately a dozen reported suicides and hundreds of cases of depression among Lariam users. Furthermore, it is believed there may be links between an outbreak of domestic killings at Fort Bragg North Carolina linked to Lariam.

In 1999, Roche USA advised against prescribing Lariam for patients with "active depression or with a history of psychosis or convulsions". Roche "officially" warned that possible adverse reactions included: vomiting, dizziness, syncope, extrasystoles, myalgia, nausea, fever, headache, chills, diarrhea, skin rash, abdominal pain, fatigue, loss of appetite, tinnitus, bradycardia, hair loss, emotional problems, pruritus, asthenia, transient emotional disturbances, telogen effluvium (loss of resting hair), seizures, cardiopulmonary arrest, encephalopathy, circulatory disturbances (hypotension, hypertension, flushing, syncope), tachycardia or palpitation, bradycardia, irregular pulse, extrasystoles, exanthema, erythema, urticaria, pruritus, muscle weakness, muscle cramps, myalgia, arthralgia, and malaise.

According to Roche U.S.A., Lariam is not recommended for anyone with epilepsy, who is pregnant, for scuba divers, or for anyone who has a history of psychological problems or depression.

The World Health Organization (WHO) has estimated the number serious psychiatric effects related to lariam at 5 in 100,000. However, many experts believe these figures are low, and that as nearly twenty-five percent of all lariam users experience some side effects. The same WHO study concluded that between 1 in 6,000 to 1 in 10,000 individuals will have a serious adverse reaction.

The FDA is investigating 600 reports of adverse reactions. Half the reports mentioned a psychiatric side effect, among reported side effects, thirteen suicidal thoughts, four attempted suicides, and one suicide death.

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