Just curious. I was told Quinine has a longer shelf life than Hydrochloride which is superior. I was thinking of mixing a little Quinine with Gin or Vodka to make a tonic to take the edge off after a long day (kidding). But seriously, Quinine has some analgesic properties and would be a good addition to your bug-out bag.

Not pure quinine.

Just get tonic water. Hell, that is what I drink as a soft drink.

Don't count on quinine to work against malaria these days.  Trust me - I know what I'm talking about

Quoted: Not pure quinine. Just get tonic water. Hell, that is what I drink as a soft drink.

Here in CO - I don't worry about malaria, I worry about "West Nile Virus".

My uncle contracted malaria when he was a kid growing up in Iowa back in the 1930's. The doc gave him quinine and from what I understand, it actually helped. I recently read that quinine is having a sort of comeback, the result of increasing numbers of drug-resistant strains of malaria.

Pretty soon we'll be rubbing mold on our wounds, like they did before antibiotics were "discovered."

Quoted: Here in CO - I don't worry about malaria, I worry about "West Nile Virus".

I worry about NOT getting West Nile virus.  it pretty much only kills old people, babies and those with weak immune systems. I want it NOW, so that I'll have a resistance to it when I get old and weak.

It was my understanding that Quinine was effective at preventing Malaria but useless once Malaria was contracted. I was mainly curious about it's pain relieving properties.  

Quoted: Don't count on quinine to work against malaria these days.  Trust me - I know what I'm talking about

too true, and there are variants of malaria that can kill you dead pretty quickly. BTW, the drug du jour against malaria right now is mefloquine, otherwise known as larium. Mefloquine is a quinine derivative, don't know the specific chemistry. It's mostly effective, as long as you remember to take it, and it has the pleasant side effect of giving you some really vivid dreams. I was on the stuff for 27 months, which freaks out europeans, who probably have a better way of dealing with tropical diseases. I did get malaria though, and that was no picnic (I'm pretty sure I forgot to take it one week).

One time I had a severe cramp in my hamstring, someone told me quinine helps and happend to have some kind of quinine pills. Knocked the cramps right out. Anyone else ever hear of this?

Quoted: It was my understanding that Quinine was effective at preventing Malaria but useless once Malaria was contracted. I was mainly curious about it's pain relieving properties.

It still is available, it is dispensed for leg cramps of Diabetics. ( By some older, in the know Doctors)

It has no pain reliveing properties, other than reliveing cramps as I have already stated.

It still is used for and effective against malaria, although there are better more modern drugs used for the afliction.

Quoted: One time I had a severe cramp in my hamstring, someone told me quinine helps and happend to have some kind of quinine pills. Knocked the cramps right out. Anyone else ever hear of this?

So someone just happened to have Quinine pills and you just took them? Are you sure they weren't happy pills?

 How do you get past the bitterness?  Quinine is just NASTY bitter.

Quoted:  How do you get past the bitterness?  Quinine is just NASTY bitter.

Where do you think the Gin and Tonic came from?

Doxycycline(sp) is used by the military for malaria prevention. Prymiquine(sp) is supposed to kill off and Malaria that is left in your body.

Quoted: Doxycycline(sp) is used by the military for malaria prevention. Prymiquine(sp) is supposed to kill off and Malaria that is left in your body.

that's just f$%^ing retarded. Doxycycline, while it is effective against malaria, has the wonderful side effect of making your skin incredibly light sensitive, not a desirable thing when you're in the Sahara, or any other desert for that matter. Primaquine kills malaria in your liver, where it breeds, and before it was developed, there was no effective cure for malaria. All the other anti malarials such as mefloquine, chloroquine/paludrine, fansidar ( scary stuff), suppress the parasite load in your bloodstream so you don't get malaria, even though the little buggers are in your body.

oh, and another thing, the CDC is almost useless in diagnosing malaria, every slide we sent there when I was in the Peace Corps was sent back negative, even though local doctors, military doctors (American and French), and the doctor I worked for identified malaria on those slides. This was the case back in the early '90s, don't know if there's been any improvement since then. Keep in mind that the cdc has very little experience with tropical medicine. At least they did correctly diagnose my intestinal schistosomiasis. I'm also very thankful that a new drug had been released to treat it, since the old treatment method was to dose you with arsenic.

Vicap. She was an older lady and knows her pills. I don't think she is into the happy ones.