Sometimes your “why” isn’t something you discover. It’s something that happens to you.
I boarded an overland truck in East Africa over 25 years ago expecting adventure.
I didn’t expect the antimalarial I’d been prescribed – Lariam (Mefloquine) – would alter my health and quietly redirect the course of my life.
Three weeks into the trip – five pills later – I developed what felt like malaria.
But it wasn’t malaria. It was the side effects of the drug.
“Within a couple of hours, I went from feeling perfectly fine to feeling like I’d swapped bodies with a completely different person“
The Medication That Changed My Health Forever
It all started one early Tuesday morning, somewhere in East Africa – I remember this day like it was yesterday – we pulled into a service station to get gas and supplies, but as I tried to step down from the truck onto the ground below, my legs almost gave way.
Then a wave of nausea washed over me, I wanted to run to the bathroom but my legs wouldn’t let me. Next thing I know, I’m feeling really dehydrated and my energy plummeted – I start to get a little worried now. Thankfully, there was no vomiting – my stomach has always been strong as iron. My bowels, however, had very different plans.
Balanced over the long drop, trying to calculate which end of me was about to betray me first, I caught sight of a mirror. First look at myself in weeks – braids matted, feral energy strong.
And in that reflection, I saw it. I was swaying.
“What the hell is going on?” I thought.
Thankfully, I managed to avoid a big disaster in the bathroom which was situated outside, away from the service station. It took a lot of effort to be able to walk back. By this point, I was desperate for some kind of liquid – preferably something with sugar.
A cold lemonade or an ice block had been my childhood remedy whenever nausea hit.
Behind the counter, sitting up high on display, was a selection of bottled sodas – I spotted a bottle of Sprite and tried speaking to the cashier but noticed my speech had also been affected. I was having problems articulating what I wanted and could only point up to the bottle instead.
Shit was getting real – “What was happening to me?”
My legs began to feel really heavy, like I was moving two lead weights. It took a really long time to walk back to the truck, but the others on the tour quickly noticed something wasn’t right and helped me up the steps.
It just so happened that there were two nurses on this trip, as we were travelling in convoy with another overland truck and the nurse who was on my truck, noticed straight away that something wasnt right.
He asked “what was I taking?” and said “you have the symptoms and effects of Lariam, you need to stop taking the tablets immediately!”
He knew it wasn’t malaria as I hadn’t been bitten once the entire trip. I grabbed the packet they were in and sure enough a lot of the ‘symptoms’ I had, were written in the description under side-effects.
I remember the doctor telling me at the time when given the antimalarial prescription, that 1 in 10,000 people may have side-effects and that it was relatively safe – I later found out it was in fact 1 in 10 and women shouldn’t go anywhere near it!!
We still had two weeks left of the safari, but the remainder of the trip was overshadowed by anxiety.
The flight back to London from Nairobi was excruciating, I’d never had a fear of flying before but was white knuckled and wide awake the whole 9 hours or so – but to make matters worse we were diverted to Manchester where we had to sit on the tarmac for a few hours due to the wild weather.
I was slowly dying inside as I didn’t want to get back up in the air again – I was freakin’ petrified!
The Aftermath: Panic Attacks, Fatigue and Neurological Symptoms
When we got back to London and then finally home, I was beyond exhausted – unfortunately I had no idea what was to come and how much this would impact my life.
In the days and weeks that followed, my personality and health changed dramatically. I began to suffer from panic attacks almost daily – a few times I thought I was dying and wound up at A&E. I had a lot of days off sick from work and my energy levels dropped significantly – I was always very tired and lethargic.
My attention span deteriorated. I couldn’t sit through a television show without flicking channels. I also became extremely sensitive to food and drink.
Alcohol was completely off the table and I also developed severe agoraphobia that lasted for years. I developed night terrors, vivid dreams, anxiety, deep depression, ringing in my ears and lost all motivation to participate in life – it was if my emotions had flat-lined
Here I was, in my twenties, battling chronic symptoms that should never have existed.
The first year I had met with multiple doctors, including the Tropical Diseases Clinic in London, but they all said they couldn’t find anything wrong with me; that old chestnut – the classic tactic when there’s something to hide.
Back then I was working as a waitress at a busy sports bar in the heart of Haymarket, London. My Mother came across an article about another woman who’d taken the same antimalarial drug and had healed herself. She was also from New Zealand, her symptoms were so severe, she ended up having epileptic fits.
There wasn’t any mobile phones or email back then, so my mum faxed the article through to me at work.
Fascinated by this woman’s story, I knew I needed to seek an alternative way to heal myself.
Turning to Naturopathy and Holistic Healing
After two years dealing with the effects of Lariam, I returned to New Zealand for a friend’s wedding. From there, a couple of friends and I travelled to Australia. I decided to stay with a friend in Brisbane for a few weeks while the others continued on.
During my stay in Brisbane, I found a naturopath and booked an appointment. After running blood tests and asking a series of in-depth questions, he told me my white blood cell count was elevated – I was clearly fighting something. I was given a two-month protocol designed to help flush out the toxins and reset my body.
Practitioner-grade vitamins and minerals were purchased, plus I was given a list of foods, drinks and condiments I needed to avoid. Because I’d been dealing with this for over 2 years now, I was so determined to get healthy, that not a slither of chocolate, sugar or alcohol passed my lips.
I stuck to this new way of eating for another two months, even while travelling with friends who wanted to party – but my determination meant I still found ways to have fun and socialise without blowing it.
Within a week, a shift was noticeable. My energy began returning. Brain fog lifted. My mood improved. What I hadn’t realised until then was how emotionally numb I had become.
Eventually when I returned to London, from South Africa – I knew my life had shifted.
I became relentless in my research, immersing myself in naturopathy, herbalism and nutrition. I wanted to understand everything – vitamins, minerals, deficiencies, biochemistry – and most of all, the intricate connection between the mind and the body.
What began as a reaction to an antimalarial drug became something far bigger.
This marked the beginning of an eye-opening journey – one that pulled back the curtain on the modern medical system and reintroduced me to the original, natural ways of healing.
It changed how I see the world – and the human experience – forever.
This experience ignited a 25-year exploration into holistic health, natural healing and the intricate connection between mind and body – a journey I continue to share through The Lifestyla.
And it all began with five small tablets.
— With love Mish
