Lariam case study: 'I have not had an undisturbed night's sleep since 2002'

Lt-Col (Retd) Andrew Marriott: ‘nightmare disorder’ (Mark Pinder)

Lt-Col (Retd) Andrew Marriott, 59, from Northallerton, Yorkshire, took Lariam for almost a year when posted to Sierra Leone more than a decade ago: For me, the most profound and persistent issue has been ‘nightmare disorder’.

I have not had an undisturbed night’s sleep since December 2002. The MoD has accepted this condition was caused by Lariam. I probably manage about one hour of continuous sleep. Some dreams involve profound threat to survival... there are some that are particularly unpleasant and I haven’t divulged the nature of those to anyone.

Lariam is not a drug which is understood by many of the medical practitioners within the armed forces. I served my country for 30 years and I don’t like seeing my soldiers and the next generation being subjected to this sort of risk, which is quite unnecessary.

The British army needs to act, and stop giving soldiers Lariam, before another army wife and their family suffer the catastrophic consequences we have.

A few months ago I was talking to a civilian doctor who works for the Army. He confirmed the very casual approach to Lariam’s prescription with a comment to the effect of: ‘Oh, Lariam. I issue it to soldiers all the time.’