This cyclical nature of your symptoms is puzzling. It is almost
similar to some parasite types of infections.

Where did you go that you needed the mefloquine treatment?

This drug is neurotoxic and no longer recommended for pretreatment of malaria. I looked on Drugcite.com and the
closest I could find in side effects was paresthesias, and they were low incidence...about 1%http://www.drugcite.com/?q=mefloquine

You can click on any category and it will open up with details.

Wiki has information about brain damage, from this drug, which may be permanent. If you have central pain/damage (in the brain), that may be why you don't respond to acupuncture.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mefloquine

Drug damage is very sneaky.... and hard to prove.

Are your finger tips discolored when they hurt? Do they all hurt equally? There are two nerves that go down the arm.. pinky and ring finger are enervated by one...and the thumb, index and middle finger by the other.