A: Never well since a trip to africa.

[Guest guest]

I spent almost two years between (west) Africa and SE Asia,

and as anti-malarial prophylaxis I took Fansidar

(sulfadoxine with pyrimethamine), Aralen (chloroquine), and

then Primaquine (primaquine phospate) on return. (Still

got malaria, and the " cure " was to just take more of the

same drug.) Your pt may have had these or other

anti-malarial meds eg mefloquine, dapsone.

Here is a link to common malaria prophylactic drugs:

http://www.medicinenet.com/script/main/srchcont.asp?src=malaria & cat=pharm

In my personal experience, these meds really give the liver

a beating. (The malaria parasite holes up in the liver for

part of its life cycle, btw.) And the OBCP does a job on

the liver, too. So it seems like you are on the right

track, and mb the pt's emunctories need to open up a little

more.

Some of the sx you mention can be traced to the Liver

(whoops, I am going Chinese on you): PMS, excessive anger,

involvement of the axillae. Possibly the HA and nausea as

well. The sugar craving, hair loss, " brain fog, " and

fatigue might be characterized as Liver overacting on

Spleen - ie Liver Wood dominating too much over Spleen (and

Stomach) Earth. Usually I take the Spleen / Stomach to

mean the western digestive system, but there are other ways

to interpret the metaphor.

It sounds like she wasn't on the malaria prophylaxis for

very long, but then she may have other liver / Liver issues

that contribute to the whole picture.

This is what worked for me: big-time BTGs, and diet is a

HUGE part of the picture. My Spleen/digestive system was

really impacted by Liver overaction. Liver work (on the

physiological and energetic levels - drainage is GREAT for

this) helped too. Then more details to the pt's individual

picture will start to appear, rather than just the fallout

from/reaction to the meds.

G'luck!

Joanne Wu, ND, LAc

Takoma Park, land