Preventing Malaria - In search of alternative medicine

Does anyone have any insights into preventing while in India?

The side-effects of the allopathic medicine we get in the West are in my opinion worse than getting malaria. We've had people have hair falling out their heads due to using it. The list of side-effects is really very long in the package. On top of that, it is only effective on a certain kind of malaria, while blocking the symptoms of the other varieties as well, effectively making it possible for the variant to breed inside you without having you alerted over the fact that something is quite wrong.

I am also not fond of smearing those yucky mosquito repellents they sell in India all over myself. And yes, I know that avoiding mosquito bites is the best way to avoid malaria. I am particularly interested in alternative medicines for preventing malaria, more than in practical tips on how to avoid mosquito bites.

When I was still in Iskcon and a sannyasi, so I guess it was 1979, I went to Vrindavan and suddenly got a malarial fever attack while paying dandavats in front of Rupa Goswami's samadhi at Radha Damodar. I lay there on the ground shivering and I think I passed out for a half an hour or so. Then some Iskcon devotees I knew from Montreal (!) came by and took me to a clinic for medicine. All in all it was a pretty ecstatic experience and I remember it with great fondness.

Another time I had malaria when I was doing bhajan in Puchari. I had probably the most blissful devotional vision I have ever had. I had been ill for a couple of days and though my godbrother Radhakanta Dasji was coming in to look in on me once in a while and bring water, I was all alone. I thought I was going to die, so melodramatic was I.

One day though, while I was in the intense fever stage, I had a vision of Lalita Prasad Thakur and Bhaktivinoda Thakur. Both my guruvargas gave me encouraging words and told me to pluck up. I realized however that my gurudeva had left his body and found out later that he had indeed departed this world at around this same time.

So, basically, the conclusion is: if you can't do bhajan in Braj, at least get malaria!

A year or two later, in Birnagar (my guru's Sripat), I went to a local doctor and he gave me some medicine, and I never even got recurring fevers after that. I don't even remember what the medicine was...

I don't know how many times I've posted this on other forums, Garlic. Garlic kills all viral infections, as well as malaria. Look Here Although the articles are about other uses, it works for malaria in the same exact way. You can google for more info. Only raw unheated fresh garlic works. The compound created when fresh garlic is cut or crushed, by the juices intermingling, oxidizes and loses all potency within 3-4 hours.

I know, there are sastric restrictions against garlic. That is there strictly against use as a food, regularly. Since it causes the body to smell unpleasent, therefore it is restricted. But it is easily the best and strongest anti viral, anti biotic, anti parasite medicine there is. It is fast and deadly to any infectious disease.

I also had malaria once. It was four years ago, we were on Vraja mandal parikrama. At that time many devotees in our group got it, so when I had the symptoms we went to the doctor immeadately. The doctor gave me quinine, which made me almost faint. Madhava had to carry me back to our room, I lost my eyesight for a while, I couldn't see anything properly, and for many hours I felt like fainting. Quinine seems to be very strong medicine. If I remember right, the symptoms didn't come back, so I think the medicine worked, but it was very heavy for my liver. For one year I felt my liver wasn't working properly and needed some purification.

Once I met a devotee who knew a lot about homeopathy, and she said there is a homeopathic medicine for preventing malaria. She said one has to take it for half a year and then for the rest of the life one is resistant to malaria. When I asked here from the homeopathic consultants about it, they had never heard about it. Of course I forgot the ask this devotee the name of the medicine.

About the mosquitos, are they around the whole year in Vrindavana? Winter months also?

Oh malaria stories! What can I say Jagat, fond memories?! I had malaria in Vraja in '98. I got it the day before my wife and I were to leave. She had to carry all of the load, our luggage, the trunks of shopping for the temple and my deathly ill body. My visions were not of the transcendental variety... the toilet of the MVT apartment, the floor of a cab on the way to the Delhi airport and the toilet on Singapore airlines.

The late Kirtida mataji (a nurse, thank Krsna for her) came to my rescue and took me to a clinic somewhere in Vraja I have no idea where. I took some once a day pills - seemed like something herbal actually. When I got back to the west I had recurring attacks every few months or so for a few years. Hellish hellish attacks.

I agree with Keshava that prevention is the best cure. I am a mosquito magnet, in the west too. They love me. Nothing works for me, but I have discovered something that seems to really help, better than neem leaves. Take a B vitamin supplement everyday. Something in that makes you smell bad, similar to neem. In my opinion this is the best thing for prevention - good vitamins for vegetarians and it stinks to mosquitos. experiment with it while still in the west. It's amazing!

A news release not long ago said that the WHO had bought up large supplies of a Chinese medicine that worked as a cure for Malaria. Someone who has time at hand may want to google for that.

I have met a practitioner in Chennai who told me that there is a remedy, prepared by some adivasi tribe, which is taken just once to cure Malaria. I did not have the money to follow up his claims, but they sounded reliable. I intend to look at this some other time.

I wish to state for the sake of newcomers who have never been to India: The risk that you do get Malaria is not as high as it might sound after reading these posts here. Do not take the prevention if it is chemical, but take a lot of Vitamin C and B as someone here suggested already. Take lots of C, several grams a day.

For example I've had five trips to India, both Bengal and Vraja, roughly a total of ten months there, without having a single case. Malati has had it once.

There is an interesting observation on the behaviour of Anopheles moscitos which transmit malaria. The females that suck blood are flying only when there is no wind and only in the afternoon. So morning bhajans are less dangerous than evening sittings (who knows if they keep schedules so well as some mandirs do)

Staphisagria 3 D, twice a day 1-2 globules, is used as moscito bite prevention, in form of globules or ointment.

A good substitute for Odomos is a mix of essential oils of lemon grass, citronella and other strong smelling ingredients. (to be researched) I have used such a mix, don't remember exact composition now.

Another folk practice known and used in the Amazonas is to drink daily sugar-cane-juice which after some days makes the blood react in such a way that with the sting of a moskito the malaria-causing toxins are not transmitted. (Watch out for sugar-cane juice sold in India in dirty glasses and mixed with common water). I suppose daily eating of a good clean Jaggery (Gur) is a viable alternative.

I always feel great after eating jaggery, the opposite of when I eat white sugar in India.

I wish to repeat for the sake of newcomers who do get a horrific picture of India and the holy dhams: Malaria is not that common for western visitors. I have been in India 15 times in the past 21 years, I never got anything, also not when I drank Ganga water right off the Ganga, after allowing the ingredients to settle in a bottle. I drank a few cups every day for a few months. I do not recommend that now, but I just say this to make you aware, of how someone else's fate does not have to be yours. Most of the stories here date back many years (my Ganga-drink as well). But, please do not be discouraged by all you hear here.

In regards to Malaria:

There is a tree that grows (don't know its name) that when the new leaves are eaten in the spring - one will not get malaria.

Malaria will hide in the liver for months and come out again - either when the body is weakened in some way or gets cold - it seems.

One has to take one kind of medicine to get the fever (malaria) out of the blood (asprin will do), another medicine to clear it out of the stomach (a type of -quin or other) and a last medicine (safe only to take after being tested for a certain enzyme in your body - otherwise you cannot take this last medicine) to clear it out of the liver. - This last part can be accomplished by Energy Healing as well though! and then you are free of malaria - until it is introduced into your body again. If it stays in the liver it does cause an unknown amount of harm to it.

Peace.

I guess you mean the Ricinus plant. I know a family in Pune who gives as a single medicine the juice of Ricinus manjaris with a little milk to cure any liver disease. They got this "duty" from a wandering sadhu... How it works for preventing malaria, no idea, since prevention can never be proved

The following letters on the RISA list were interesting in this regard.


To: RISA Academic Discussion List
Sent: Wednesday, January 05, 2005 7:44 AM
Subject: [RISA-L] Anti-Malaria Experiences

Colleagues,

I am seeking brief reports of any recent experience with Malarone (= atovaquore + proguanil), including side-effects of this anti-malarial preparation.

Some time ago there were hair-raising accounts on RISA of experiences with Lariam (= mefloquine), but Malarone is said to be less problematic.

Your experiences and thoughts please?

Gene Thursby
Univ. of Florida.

===============

On Wed, 5 Jan 2005, jkirk wrote:

I can't speak for Malarone, but whenever the topic of malaria treatment appears I always try also to call attention to the artemisinin preparations, that have no side effects and have been found to be very effective. Web searching on this herbally derived product, originally from China and Chinese medicine, will produce all necessary information.

Joanna Kirkpatrick

==========

Hi Joanna,

I have taken the artemisinin to cure Malaria but I didn't know it could be taken as a prophylaxis. It works wonders to cure Malaria though.

Linda Iltis

=====

Subject: Re: [RISA-L] Anti-Malaria Experiences

Yes, sorry, I probably erred in implying it as a preventive--my reading together with your experience has shown it to be curative......i'm happy that you wrote about your experience with it, as I have never met anyone yet who used it! of courseit is not being promoed by the State Dept! or media.....Maybe you could post to the list how you found out about it and if a medical doc supervised your use of it, prescribed a dose, etc ? Best, JK

==========

I have taken Artemisinin as a Malaria cure (not a prophylaxis) after contracting Malaria several times in West Africa.

My partner and I contracted Malaria 4 times while taking Doxycylcine as a prophylaxis for 6 months while staying in Ghana, West Africa. The Artemisinin is not available in the US as a treatment because it hasn't been approved by the USDA. It is readily available in West Africa at pharmacies without prescription.

The doctor who prescribed the treatment also prescribed a 3 tablet dose of Fansidar to be taken on the first day of the treatment with the Artemisisin. He and other Ghanaian doctors were horrified and amused that Doxycycline was prescribed to me as a Malaria prophylaxis. The Artemisinin which is made from Wormwood extract has no side effects, and made me feel better within 24 hours. It is the drug of choice and consists of varying dosages depending on which brand. I think it is manufactured in PRC and Guyana.

It is usually only one tablet a day for 5 days with a heavier dose the first and or second day at a cost of $3 for a full course. The only problem is that this drug can kill the malaria parasite in the bloodstream, but it is not as effective if the parasite has migrated to your liver. If malaria isn't treated soon enough it can reside there and keep reinfecting you and entering the bloodstream.

After leaving a malaria region it was recommended to me that I take a 21 day prescription of Primaquine 26.3 mg. which will get the parasite out of the liver. The best thing is to avoid getting bit by mosquitos.

I took Malarone before without any side effects and it is reputedly the most effective at preventing malaria (see CDC website). I would have taken it for my 6 month stay if I had a bigger salary to afford it. Malarone is ridiculously expensive if you need to take it for more than a month, and most insurance companies consider it travel medicine and not covered. Lariam is affordable but it has possible psychosis side effects.

South Asia is probably not as risky as West Africa for malaria infection. Many local people have severe problems controlling malaria in West Africa. It is a serious problem and the cerebral variety is very volatile and dangerous.

Finally, this past fall, I saw a dismal report in the US newspapers about a projected global shortage of Artemisinin in the coming year. Just when we have the tsunami disaster, I hope that the artemisinin shortage won't be too bad! And I hope that it will remain an affordable treatment for the people who most need it, whether or not the USDA approves it here in the U.S.

Linda Iltis

please allow me to offer my respects to the attending souls of this forum.

I certainly don't claim have any recipe for malaria cure, but I would like to make a few comments on this topic.

Firstly, I don't believe in the "magic bullet" solution to any disease. I do not believe than any one pill or one medication is the magic solution to any illness or disease. I believe that all illness and disease should be treated from a complete perspective of total health factors. Total health perspective involves nutrition (diet), medications (including herbal and natural medications), exercise, and also mental conditioning. All these factors must be considered in a complete approach to health and treatment of illness and disease.

Viruses most commonly thrive on undigested proteins in the blood stream. This fact is what makes diet and nutrition such a principle consideration in the treatment of virul infections. This fact is also what makes metabolism a principle factor in the approach to treating virus infections. This fact is what makes diet and nutritional factors strategic in the treatment of virus infection. Finding the source and cause of these "protea" or partial proteins (unmetabolized proteins) in the blood stream is also strategic in the treatment of virus infections.

After having taken the nutritional and dietary factors into consideration, the treatment of viruses with medications can be much more effective and useful.
Ignoring the dietary and nutritional factors of good health and treating disease with the "magic bullet" of a pill containing some drug or medication is a very crippled and blunted approach to the cure.

That is why the nutritional factors of good diet and nutrition are so strategic in the treatment of all disease.

Two principle laws of diet and nutrition that must be observed to treat any disease are.

#1. Sugar is poison. Stay away from processed sugar and even natural sugars in excess.

#2. Avoid intake of excess protein which contributes undigested proteins in the blood. This comes mainly in the form of milk and meat, even nuts and beans etc.


With a good healthy diet and nutritional regimen, all these herbal and natural element remedies can have much more effect and result.

There are many powerful herbs and plants in natures.

Pay some attention to the tropical Noni fruit! It contains a rare alkaloid that has been known to remedy even cancers and other terminal diseases. It is commonly availabe in the form of "NONI JUICE".

There are so many powerful and strategic natural foods and herbs that are showing dramatic results in treating and curing disease. There are a lot of really amazing healing discoveries in the "NEW AGE" type healing movement. It combines both scientific as well as practical evidence of many modern healing discoveries.

During my second trip to India some time ago, I was told by someone who spent many years in India to take Chloroquinine as a preventative, since I was going for a long stay during the rainy season. In Bombay, I bought the pills, and asked the dukanwalla, "how much do I take for prevention?". "Three pills daily" he said. So I did, until I got insomnia , paranoia, and my hair started to come out. I figured something was wrong then, I figured that was the theraputic dose not the preventative so I quit taking it...

Later I stayed for 6 years and never got Malaria, and would have been loathe to pop one of those radioactive pills again if I did.
I was told by Brajabasis if you eat the new, soft, red neem leaves for the whole month of Magh, and don't eat sweets, the mosquitoes will stay away from you. I did eat alot of neem although I couldn't avoid the sweets

I know that most devotees will take exception to the assault against milk as a source of disease. As devotees they are very prone to be favorable to milk, as it is a favorite of Lord Govinda. Milk and milk products are very much a part of Vedic culture. However, it is useful to note that in some Ayurvedic literature I have read, there is the recommendation that milk should not be taken in excess. two cups of milk a day are said to be the healthy limit of milk consumption. Ayurvedic literature does warn that excess milk intake can contribute to disease.
In the old days of ISKCON we used to have one cup of hot milk in the evening before taking rest. Other than the occasional curd subji or rasagulla, the one cup of hot milk a day was the prescription of Srila Prabhupada who was fairly well conversant with some basic Ayurvedic principles.
Personally, I have found sugar to be very unhealthy. Maybe I am just more sensitive to it than other people. I very much protest the use of so much processed sugar in the temple foods and offerings. In some ways the standard ISKCON diet was very unhealthy with so much sugar, ghee, butter and salt in the food. Perhaps, this is just one of several problems I have with the ISKCON culture.

The infallible Ayurvedic cure for Malaria has always been and always will be NEEM. Neem has been shown in clinical studies conducted in Germany and India to kill all Malarial Parasites whether they are chloriquin resistant or chloriquin sensitive strains. The effects of garlic are negligible since garlic is efective on gram negative and gram positive forms of bacteria but is of little use with parasites, at least not to the extent that Neem is. Neem should be taken regularly while in India early in the morning upon rising and cleansing the mouth. Take five large fresh leaves or take 2 to 3 capsules of dried leaves. Neem oil can be used on the body at night to keep mosquitoes away. By eating the neem daily and staying away from sweets this will keep the blood bitter and make the mosquitoes go to someone else who's blood is sweeter. This experiment was first reported in "Inside Africa" an adventure book by John Gunther. The group of explorers had labratory equipment with them and they tested blood sugar levels in each person sleeping in the tent. The person who had the highest blood sugar levels was the greatest object of affection of the mosquitos that night. Besides this a teaspoonful of Collodial Silver daily is also very effective. However I do both when I am in India as a total precaution. The colloidal Silver is also good against dysentary. My last trip to India was six weeks I spent less than a day with dysentary, the time before that was four months and I spent only 1 day with dysentary. So Neem and Collodial Silver are good for both although Pomegranete juice is really excellent for dysentary. A good source of the products is bytheplanet.com

I remain Your Servant
DASA

Jay Radhe!
I used, in addition to colloidal silver, grapefruit seed extract as general anti scary things tonic.
Dasa ji, do you have any insights on that?

Grapefruit seed extract is also an excellent product. It is effective against bacteria, viruses, parasites, and fungi, especially fungi, mold, and yeast infections. This is why it is often used in body care products like shampoos, etc as a preservative. I have used it before but I find colloidal silver is enough on its own but India is such a hothouse enviorment for all kinds of pathogens to proliferate that there certainly is no harm in using both grapefruit seed extract and colloidal silver in India. However Neem is still the best remedy against all parasites carried by the mosquito. It was even used once in India to stem an encephalitis out break started by parasites from mosquitos. Something akin to the West Nile virus. The neem stopped it dead in its tracks. Those who took neem survived. So for Malaria Neem is King. Jai Nimai Nitai.

Your Servant
DASA

My standard immune support regimen is neem, myrrh and black peppercorns.
I always keep a bottle of all three of these in my medicine bag. When I feel something coming on, I take two capsules neem, two capsules myrrh and 7 black peppercorns. It always does the trick and knocks out any cold or flu that is trying to get me. I have never had malaria, but I have heard and read that neem is very effective against malaria. However, it is always more effective when taken with black peppercorns and myrrh.
I learned about black peppercorns in the book by Harish Johari; Dhanvantari. You will also notice that black peppercorns is an important ingrediant in some ayurvedic rasayanas like Chayavanprash.
That book had a lot of good Ayur-vedic information.
I have been using herbs and natural remedies for about 32 years. I have learned a few things in that time.

There are dozens of herbs, roots and spices I take on a daily basis.
Here is a list of some of them:

Korean Red Panax Ginseng
Yerba Mate
Siberian Eleutherococcus Senticosus Root
Chinese Red Panax Ginseng
Gaurana extract
Brazilian Ginseng Root
Wild Indian Ginseng Root
Ginko Biloba
FoTi Root
Goldenseal Root
Gotu Kola Leaf
Echinacea
Green Tea

as well as:
Ascorbic Acid, Spirulina, Calcium Carbonate, Silica, Cellulose (Plant Origin), d-Alpha Tocopheryl Acid Succinate and Mixed
Tocopherols, Magnesium Oxide, Potassium Citrate, Acacia Gum, Croscarmellose, Barley Juice Concentrate, Gelatin, Bee Pollen, Citrus
Bioflavonoids, Chinese Chlorella, Wheat Grass Juice, Vegetable Stearic Acid, Natural Vegetable Oil (Borage and Sunflower), Natural Food Base
(Cayenne Pepper, Echinacea, Ginger, Ginkgo Biloba, Golden Seal, Milk Thistle), Beta Carotene, Choline Bitartrate, Korean Ginseng (Panax ginseng),
Vegetable Magnesium Stearate, Calcium Ascorbate, Manganese Gluconate, Ribonucleic Acid, Kelp, d-Calcium Pantothenate, Pyridoxine
Hydrochloride, Cellulose Coating, Flax Oil, Thiamin Mononitrate, Riboflavin, Apple Pectin, Inositol, Lactobacillus Blend (L.acidophilus, L.
bifidus, L.bulgaricus), Para-Aminobenzoic Acid, Quercetin, Rutin, Niacinamide, Betaine Hydrochloride, Bromelain, Papain, Zinc Oxide, Sodium
Borate, Deoxyribonucleic Acid, Garlic, Hesperidin, Oat Bran, L-Glycine, Sodium Copper Chlorophyllin, Selenomethionine, Folic Acid, Niacin, d-
Biotin, Amylase, Lipase, L-Glutathione, Ergocalciferol, Ester C®, Cupric Gluconate, Mannitol, Ketoglutaric Acid, Citrus Acid, L-Aspartic Acid,
L-Histidine, Malic Acid, Succinic Acid, Cellulase, Riboflavin 5’ Phosphate, Pantathine, Protease, Chromium Picolinate, Pyridoxyl 5’ Phosphate,
Molybdenum Chelate, Sodium Molybdate, Coenzyme B-12, Cyanocobalamin, Calcium Amino Acid Chelates, Calcium Ascorbate, Calcium
Aspartate, Calcium Bisglycinate, Calcium Citrate, Calcium Gluconate, Calcium Histidinate, Calcium Ketoglutarate, Calcium Malate, Calcium
Spirulina Chelates, Calcium Succinate, Cupric Amino Acid Chelates, Cupric Ascorbate, Cupric Aspartate, Cupric Bisglycinate, Cupric Citrate,
Cupric Histidinate, Cupric Ketoglutarate, Cupric Malate, Cupric Spirulina Chelates, Cupric Succinate, Magnesium Spirulina Chelates,
Magnesium Amino Acid Chelates, Magnesium Ascorbate, Magnesium Aspartate, Magnesium Bisglycinate, Magnesium Citrate, Magnesium
Gluconate, Magnesium Histidinate, Magnesium Ketoglutarate, Magnesium Malate, Magnesium Succinate, Manganese Amino Acid Chelates,
Manganese Ascorbate, Manganese Aspartate, Manganese Bisglycinate, Manganese Histidinate, Manganese Ketoglutarate, Manganese Malate,
Manganese Spirulina Chelates, Manganese Succinate, Potassium Amino Acid Chelates, Potassium Ascorbate, Potassium Aspartate, Potassium
Bisglycinate, Potassium Gluconate, Potassium Histidinate, Potassium Ketoglutarate, Potassium Malate, Potassium Spirulina Chelates,
Potassium Succinate, Zinc Aspartate, Zinc Ketoglutarate, Zinc Spirulina Chelates, Zinc Amino Acid Chelates, Zinc Ascorbate, Zinc Bisglycinate,
Zinc Citrate, Zinc Gluconate, Zinc Histidinate, Zinc Malate, Zinc Succinate.


Needless to say, my energy level is very good.

Was this a put-on? Gelatin? Looks like a list pasted from some nonvegetarian multivitamin.

When you no longer participate in exploitation of Mother Earth and destroying the ozone, through using and consuming petroleum fuels, no longer participate in consuming electricity produced in nuclear power plants, no longer drink milk with fish oil in it, no longer consume white sugar produced using cow bones, no longer buy anything made of plastic, no longer drive a car, no longer eat food grains and vegetables produced using machines and petroleum fuels, no longer mow your grass and kill bugs and insects, no longer take garbage to the dump or have the waste company haul it off, no longer jet-set around the world on jet aircraft, no longer cook with electricity or natural gas.......................... then you can made a big deal out of a few micrograms of gelatin in my vitamins, which might even be vegetable gelatin as far as I know.

I gave up this fake Hare Krishna standard a long time ago.
I don't believe in all these superstitions and false standards that have been popularized by Hare Krishna people in the name of "spirituality" as they continue to participate in exploitation of the environment and destruction of the Earth.
Eating a little gelatin from a Horse hoof is not as bad as filling up your gas tank at the convenience store. I don't buy into all this false ahimsa that is saturated with bigotry.