Shots, Pills, and Other Unpleasantries of the Travel Process

So, with my desire to travel to countries with questionable foreign diseases, comes my obligation to not die of said ailments. I say obligation because, despite the possibility of me already dieing if I were to become ill, my mother would certainly kill me (or threaten to kill me) if I actually got sick with something dire.While I know that would be counter productive (and she knows it too), we're all better off just accepting that I am pretty much not allowed to get sick ...or seriously injured for that matter.

That being said, my good health relies on some pretty unappealing vaccinations and drugs. For instance, I must take malaria-preventive medication; there are two main forms of this medicine: The one that prevents SUPER MALERIA (like that found in Africa) and the one that doesn't have side effects. Now obviously, you must be asking yourself, "Why can't there be medicine that prevents super malaria with out side effects." Or an even better question would be, "Well, what type of malaria does the non-side effect inducing drug prevent?" Funny you should mention that...

See drug A, the super malaria med, is really powerful stuff. It's pretty much the ultimate defense missile system to evil malaria virus bombs. Very few pieces off the virus could ever make their way past this drug. BUT, there's a catch.

Side effects include:
hallucinations(grandma, is that you? ...riding a unicorn?),
light sensitivity (a plus near the equator or in the tropics),
sleep walking (better hope there are no stairs in the hostels!),
nightmares (three cheers for waking up the house at 2am with screams of terror),
anxiety and paranoia (somebody wants to steal my trowel! I just know it! My precious...),
depression (nobody wants to map with me... *whimper*),
head aches (ouch.),
etc.

I have heard horror story after horror story about this stuff. Drug B on the other hand is a much lighter medication. Side effects may include head ache or nausea, though I know I'm not prone to either since I took the med in Ecuador last year (while staying in the mountains where mosquitoes don't live... yes, my mother insisted on over-kill protections). BUT, again with the catch, it's a bit more common for people who take Drug B to come down with Malaria. Whoops! Our bad...

So yeah, vaccination decisions aren't exactly puppy dogs and rainbows. You're forced to make tough choices about your future health, while weighing you're current comfort. Add to all this the fact that I HATE, LOATH, and DESPISE needles, and we've got a recipe for the exact opposite of a family picnic.

I'm bringing all this up because the time for me to go visit a travel clinic is fast approaching. I must make sure I've been immunized against everything from yellow fever to the flu, from typhoid to tetanus, from the measles to hepatitis. The plus is, since I also went last year, I'm pretty much up to date on my shots (that kind of makes me sound like somebody's dog, huh?). The negative is I still have to get a flu shot, decide on my malaria meds, and I might be due for a booster. Yup, that's the one that hurts like a mother and gives you dead arm for 3 days. JOY!

...And so it goes. So tomorrow I need to go call some doctors, figure out what cocktails I need to be juiced up with, and then make an appointment either here in Boston or back at home. Can I just say this is possibly the worst part of having the Archie itch and the travel bug. Maybe vaccinations are the future cure for both? ...But somehow I still doubt it.