Vaccinations

Oh my gosh, it's almost here!  I have butterflies in my stomach!  I also had other problems with my stomach a few days ago.  I was not well at all, and I went and talked to my pharmacist and found out that I've been doing so many things wrong since I got my vaccinations.  I went to a "travel clinic" a few weeks ago to get my vaccines, and I got a pill form of the typhoid vaccine as well as pills for malaria.  Well, I was told to take the last typhoid pill on the day that I leave for Peru (there are 4 pills to take every other day).  Apparently, as I found out later, it's supposed to be finished a week before you leave.  Also, you're supposed to take the pills with lukewarm water because cold water can affect it somehow.  I was never told this (until talking to the pharmacist), so I've been taking them with ice cold water.  I was told to start taking my malaria pills one week before leaving, meaning I took my first malaria pill on the same day as my first typhoid pill.  Well, the pharmacist told me that you're not supposed to take a malaria pill within 10 days of taking the typhoid because it could make the typhoid vaccine inactive.  Awesome.  She told me to make sure not to take Pepto Bismol or anything like that for my stomach ache because that could also reduce the effectiveness of the vaccine.  Guess what had I done the night before?  Took Pepto...and Maalox.  When I told her that I had taken both, she about passed out.  Oh, and if I get diarrhea while on these pills, it makes birth control less effective.  I thought that was kind of weird, but that's not something I'll have the worry about....the getting pregnant part I mean...the diarrhea is a different story (she pretty much told me that I will get traveler's diarrhea...yay).

I really should have gotten the vaccines through the pharmacy.  Apparently the typhoid vaccine is easier to deal with than the pills, plus everything would have been cheaper.  As for the travel clinic....I will never go back there again.  All they did was print out information about Peru, saying which vaccines are recommended.  They didn't even check to see if there would be any reactions between the drugs that they gave me.

The pharmacist wasn't just making all of this up.  She was showing me all of this info from a big book about vaccines.  When I went home to look more online, all of the websites supported what she said.  I won't be able to take my malaria pill until next week, so let's hope I don't contract the disease between now and then.  

I do feel much better as of right now, and I'm looking forward to this trip, but I have to admit that I'm terrified to eat anything there.  I really don't want to be sick during our tour...especially on the bus rides.  That was torture last year!