Prescription meds prep?

[cjcinin]

What do you do about prescription medicines that you must take daily?
Stock piling them would just end up with them going out of date.
What do you do?

 

[Car Ramrod]

What do you do about prescription medicines that you must take daily?
Stock piling them would just end up with them going out of date.
What do you do?

It depends on the medicine. I have been told by a pharmacist that liquids expire, but normal pills do not.

 

[eldirector]

I've built up about 3 months of stock, and use the oldest first. Still well within the date (9 years according to the manufacturer). I just refill a bit early, as soon as insurance allows.

 

[longbow]

ask your doctor what he/she can do to help.....................

 

[Pamcake]

ask your doctor what he/she can do to help.....................

Check this out, you pay them and they send you your meds.
I cannot verify anything about them, do not know them, and cannot make any recommendations, but it may be a way for someone who does not have a doctor that is sympathetic to the shtf cause, to get backup med supplies.

Products | SURVIVING HEALTHY

 

[ArmedRPh]

the prices on that from that SHTF friendly website are robbery. The antibiotics listed on that site are available from most pharmacies that have a $5.00 list...the basic pack is listed at 120. You could source it from Target, Meijer, Wally-world, etc for $25-$50 with an RX from your physician.

Yes, medications go bad. Most just lose potency over time. A select few actually start to decompose and become "bad". Ever smell an old bottle of aspirin? Smells like vinegar. That's the aspirin breaking down. Won't kill you, but if it's old enough, it won't fix your headache either. Tetracycline will get toxic as it ages.

Pills and liquids both go bad. Think of them as blackpowder. Nothing makes them worthless faster than moisture. That's why any pharmacist worth his salt will recommend you don't keep them in the bathroom (high moisture content). Other med killers include temperature and light, that's why we use tinted plastic vials to dispense them in.

It comes down to this...if the SHTF and you need the med, you'll have to make the call as to how bad you wanna risk it. Most meds have a 1 yr exp date after dispensing. If you find a stock bottle from the manufacturer, there is a different date on that, usually no more than 2 years from manufacture.

Meds are a tough call in SHTF. I would argue that many diseases that are treated by medication would be better to be prevented or treated through diet and exercise (diabetes, cholesterol problems, high blood pressure, etc.) I'm not soapboxing here, just providing my own viewpoint on how you can help yourself without the meds.

Good luck.

BTW, yes I am a pharmacist.

 

[Sylvain]

I would argue that many diseases that are treated by medication would be better to be prevented or treated through diet and exercise (diabetes, cholesterol problems, high blood pressure, etc.) I'm not soapboxing here, just providing my own viewpoint on how you can help yourself without the meds.

Good luck.

BTW, yes I am a pharmacist.

I agree with that, even though im not a pharmacist.I know some people who dont have to take meds anymore because they lost weight and started working out.
It's not the day that you cant get your pills anymore that you should start losing weight.

 

[jackhandy]

My wife is a diabetic..I talked to her doctor and she upped her insulin and testing supplies so over the past year we have been able to put back quite a few months worth of supplies. Her insulin gets rotated out of our bags and medical supplies about every 3 months so we are always storing the newest stuff.
My pills and meds I have done the same thing...talked to my Dr and he was willing since nothing I take is anything I can misuse or has any street value persay.

 

[gunbunnies]

Gotta watch the insulins... they need to be refrigerated but not frozen to be usable. I've noticed that the Humulog and Novolog type insulins do have a better shelf life per sey... Less problems with them becoming bad just sitting around in the frig than some of the other ones of yesterday, like NPH, Regular, Lente, etc. Still need a form of refrigeration that is controlled though. Easier to do if you stay put rather than bugging out though...

By the way, taking better care of yourself or changing your eating habits do work for some, but normally the people that it helps are Type II diabetics with gross over weight issues. In the type II category there are also a lot of people that have just become more resistant to their own pepcin/insulin and require larger amounts of it or another source to maintain blood sugar levels at a safe level. Then there are the Type I Diabetics that just have a useless pancreas that doesn't produce pepcin/insulin anymore because of a infection during their youth that destroyed the islets cells that produce pepcin. Anyways for this last Type of Diabetic there is no other way but to supply insulin to the body for survival... Anyways there are a lot of different med preps that should be stocked in a preppers survival medicine chest that are controlled fairly well and hard to maintain. It really is a interesting subject and one of the hardest items to maintain, between legal restrictions and potency of stored drugs...

For those with insulin dependency, there are some purposely made 12 volt medicoolers available through some of the diabetes suppliers online. These coolers will maintain the temperature of your insulin without freezing it as long as you have a 12 volt or AC source. An ice box would sound great at first thought but you can't control the temperature in a ice box and therefore you take the chance of it getting to warm and possibly freezing the insulin when you are first adding ice. Just a thought on the insulin delima...

 

[jackhandy]

Yeah I totally agree...we store all her insulin in the veggie box in the fridge with the exception of the 3 vials that get rotated out in our bags.

 

[wolfts01]

Warning: personal opinions below, read at your own risk.

Just ditch the SAD diet that makes everyone sick in the first place and go Paleolithic/primal. Many diseases are preventable and curable through diet alone. I cringe when I see how many unhealthy people are on that Nat-geo show Doomsday Preppers. They may have 2 years of food and gobs of guns and ammo, but physically they are completely unprepared.

Type 2 diabetics (and everyone else) can easily live in ketosis and not have to worry over insulin or blood sugar. Our pre-agriculture ancestors most likely went in and out of ketosis frequently due to intermittent lack of food and a scarcity of high-carb foods in general.

One problem with paleo living is that of food storage, though. But I've always been more fond of a self-sustaining ecosystem in a greenhouse as a long-term option. Coconut oil is a good high energy-density food source that naturally has no shelf life. It is also one of the more easily utilized fats for energy.

 

[BKExpress]

As stated in other posts, you can eliminate most medications through appropriate diet and exercise. For those on this site that are truly prepping, this should be a serious consideration. Get in shape and get healthy so you don't have to worry about the meds. Not everyone can do this, but many can. Type I diabetics however have no choice but to take insulin. Even many type II's have progressed enough that they will not be able to effectively get off meds and/or insulin. Lastly, if you have a house full of supplies but can't run a mile that should be an indication of further prepping that needs to be done. Good luck to all.

 

[fatduk1963]

just started getting my meds 3 months at a time not a fix all but it helps.