The Gun Counter

Now, I know most URI's, sinus infections, etc. are viral and not due to bacteria. And the overuse of antibiotics is certainly a nasty problem.

BUT, I think there is a place in your SHTF kit for these items. Your girl gets a bad UTI or yeast infection. A scrape on your arm turns red and fills with pus. Etc.

Now, to be sure, this scenario is only for if the doodoo hits the blades. I don't plan on self-diagnosing via "what I read on the Internet". Well, at least until ObamanationCare goes into full effect.

As an aside, when SHTF the availabiliity of teh intarwebz may become intermittent and/or unavailable, which would cut down on people being able to self-diagnose with Web-MD. Yet another reason to have a hard copy of important medical info.

rightisright wrote:Now, I know most URI's, sinus infections, etc. are viral and not due to bacteria.

Uh, not exactly, but close enough.

And the overuse of antibiotics is certainly a nasty problem.

The over-misuse, certainly.

BUT, I think there is a place in your SHTF kit for these items.

Definitely.

Now, to be sure, this scenario is only for if the doodoo hits the blades. I don't plan on self-diagnosing via "what I read on the Internet". Well, at least until ObamanationCare goes into full effect.

Actually, I'm stocking up on them in case the cat/fish/bird gets sick.
Pay no attention to the fact that the drugs that would be prescribed for me or you are the identical formulation, strength, and purity, frequently from the exact same machine that cranks them out for the pharmacist at Wal-Mart or your local drug store, and usually a fraction of the cost you'd pay for "people" meds.

In anything short of TSHTF, doing self-care for serious illness is not only stupid (much akin to defending yourself in court even if you yourself are a lawyer), it's generally criminal, depending on what you've gotten ahold of. Absolutely so if you treat someone else.

When things have gone completely to hell, and all there is is you and your two hands, most of the criminal statues and business and professional codes can go f___ themselves. Anybody attempting to enforce them then is liable to end up the special on the daily menu somewhere.

I've covered this more than once, many places, but if you're going to play a doctor for yourself or others, the more training you get now is a good start. If for no other reason than training and education induce appropriate humility at learning how much you don't know.
Second, you need a library. Not CDs and e-books, actual frickin' dead tree textbooks.
Medical ones are pricey; less so than dying in agony though.
If neither reading nor comprehension are strong suits, you've just flunked the entry exam for SHTF Medical School.

If you are at least moderately inclined at both, a good opening list, IMHO:
Tintinalli's Emergency Medicine currently 7th ed. The bible of ER care, $117.48 on Amazon
Special Operations Forces Medical handbook, 2nd ed. 2008 Current Green Beret medical bible, about $70, Amazon
{nota bene this is not the antique ancient obsolete green-covered repro relic ST 31-91B, in vogue around 1982, and now a dinosaur. If there were twelve more ways to put down how wrong that book is now, I'd put them here. Guess which one you can always find at gun shows and swap meets, and which one you can't find anywhere except online?}
Doom & Bloom Survival Medicine HandbookWhen there isn't any more 911 now what? $35.22 Amazon
Where There Is No Doctor village medicine for the 3rd world (which is where you are when society ain't there) $23.40 Amazon
Tarascon's Pocket Pharmacopeia 2013 ed.THE pill book: what, how much, how often book doc's go to most $19.96 Amazon

You can go vastly crazier than that, obviously, but that should be a bare minimum before thinking about self-prescribing/treating with any hope of not wasting your supplies or killing yourself or someone else.

That's not every medical book I'd get, but simply the ones for deciding whether and what antibiotics might be a good idea.

Then have a chat with a licensed practitioner who won't freak out and hold up a cross when you explain your rationale. Most "get it", and a lot will write you Rx for reasonable selections once you can demonstrate a basic understanding - think about it, they do this for sea captains on fishing boats with high school educations, but they don't hand stuff out like McDonald's receipts. It should go without saying that the odds of getting a scrip for Schedule Anything narcotic pain relievers of any kind are slightly lower than the odds you'll win all the powerball lotteries in any given year. Don't ask, and your credibility goes way up.

Then learn which antibiotics are out there for pets, on pet supply websites, that would be oh-so-spiffy to stockpile for "the future use of your pets".
Pay close attention to the fact that things like tetracycline go hepatotoxic - kill your liver forever - when they go bad. Other antibiotics maintain potency and safety for years - decades even - after their printed "expiration date". This is Reason #4022 why you need to know what you're dealing with, and which is which.

Lastly, don't go out and become the local witch doctor now, make the news in a world-class-stupid-to-the-12th-power way, and then f*** things up for the rest of us that aren't stupid enough to bring the heat and The Man down on our own heads beforehand, because you have $#!^ for brains. And unlike Gun Free Zone fame-seekers, there ain't no Second Amendment or NRA for pet antibiotics, they'll just ban internet sales forever, and you'll have screwed over millions of people with one act of Egregious Assclownery above and beyond the call. Disregard this, and I swear I'll trek to the ends of the earth to crotch-kick you with Rosa Kleb's shoe, even if I have to brave swarms of mutant zombies and blue-bereted UN troops. It's that important.

This is also a post on which Doc Russia's input would be invaluable, being a board-certified ED doc and all.

CByrneIV wrote:ketoconazole and tetracycline are shelf stable, and available without prescription, in bullk quantities for vetrinary purposes.

Yes. And there are a lot of antibiotics available for fish.

ETA: Crossed w. Aesop.

Then have a chat with a licensed practitioner who won't freak out and hold up a cross when you explain your rationale. Most "get it", and a lot will write you Rx for reasonable selections once you can demonstrate a basic understanding - think about it, they do this for sea captains on fishing boats with high school educations, but they don't hand stuff out like McDonald's receipts. It should go without saying that the odds of getting a scrip for Schedule Anything narcotic pain relievers of any kind are slightly lower than the odds you'll win all the powerball lotteries in any given year. Don't ask, and your credibility goes way up.

I have heard, through the grapevine of course, if you ask your dentist for some for that nasty toothache you have, they will store very well in the fridge.

Absolutely true, and they store just fine outside the fridge as well. Like most things, cool, dark, and dry solves a lot of problems.
If you take the unused bottle back to said practitioner upon its listed expiration, so they can see you aren't selling them for $5 a pop at the local street corner, your credibility goes even higher, and you're likely to get treated to another prophylactic dose "just in case" a tooth abscesses on a three-day weekend.

Aesop wrote:Absolutely true, and they store just fine outside the fridge as well. Like most things, cool, dark, and dry solves a lot of problems.
If you take the unused bottle back to said practitioner upon its listed expiration, so they can see you aren't selling them for $5 a pop at the local street corner, your credibility goes even higher, and you're likely to get treated to another prophylactic dose "just in case" a tooth abscesses on a three-day weekend.

It helps even more when your dentist is not only an avid hunter, but has a "storm shelter", comparable weaponry to most SWAT units, and carries a pocket Constitution in his F250 4x4........

Hypothetically speaking, US Customs, may bring back 50 dosage units of a prescription medication.

See Page 42, here.

Good advice in this thread.

Thanks Aesop for the book recommendations.

ObamanationCare goes into full effect.

I think that is the textbook definition of SHTF.

And thanks for the book list. I knew about "Where There is No Dr." and "Where There is No Dentist", but the others are new to me.

What about the PDR? I have one from 1993, which means it's probably due to be upgraded, if you all think it's worth having.