Dave Bona suspected for decades it was the anti-malaria drug he was forced to take while serving in Africa that cost him his military career and left him struggling with neurological and psychological issues.
So when when he was finally diagnosed with Mefloquine neurotoxicity a few months ago, the 49-year-old was relieved.
At least now the former paratrooper, who served with the Canadian Airborne Regiment in Somalia and Rwanda, understood why treatments for post-traumatic stress disorder were not relieving many of his debilitating symptoms.
“There have been periods where I was OK and happy, but for the bulk of the time I was trapped in a depressive state,” Bona said, explaining his daily suicidal thoughts, vertigo, seizures and other issues began long before he was kicked out of the Canadian Forces in 1999.