Mefloquine dreams begin

Our project site in southern Mexico is mountainous, but we will still be potentially exposed to Plasmodium vivax, one of the six strains of malaria that commonly infects humans. To be on the safe side, my travel doctor has prescribed a course of mefloquine, one of the older malarial prophylactics that I've taken before. Many of the quinine analogues used as antimalarials have psychological side effects, and mefloquine is no exception. When I was in Namibia, our group had daily morning decompression sessions over tea to share and work through the vivid and sometimes terrifying dreams that commonly come with antimalarial drugs. I also found that lucid dreaming became much easier on mefloquine, which was a really interesting experience. So, I was not entirely unhappy to go back on the interesting-dream-drug.

I took my first dose a few days ago, two weeks before my arrival in a malaria zone. That night I dreamed that I was a sheet of carboard, being cut and folded into a banana box. My "body" was very light and rigid, and I experienced being cut up and folded into a new shape. Painless, not scary, and somewhat ticklish. I woke up before I encountered any bananas, but I was really satisfied with my new shape and thought it was super cool that I was now a box.


The whole dream like a first-person experience of a segment from "How It's Made," one of the most relaxing shows ever made.