Medication Desperation

No, there is nothing new, and if it has happened before, IT Will happen again.
 
I think Mercop makes an excellent point. I sometimes get the feeling that there are some people out there who just can't wait for some kind of major disaster or even an apocalyptic event. Maybe if you're young, healthy and very lucky you could get by, even though I doubt if you would for very long.
There was a thread here just the other day about Cormac McCarthy's 'The Road'. The book and the movie pull no punches about the horrors of a world in which civilization has come to an end.
If you're on medication for anything serious, or care about somebody who is, [as I do] you know, all too well, how vital continued access to that medication is.
 
I clean out the medicine cupboard about once a year, lots of old cold medicine. Then replace it later. God's blessed my family with health.

Though every once in a while, my muscles all contract and cramp, I've got a prescription for Ativan.

My only other prescription for acid reflux isn't needed anymore.
 
If possible, have your doctor write a prescription for two times the dosage you actually need. Simply break the tablet in half for the correct dose, and keep the rest for emergencies. (For example, if you're prescribed 50mg, have the doctor write a prescription for 100mg.) The co-pay is usually the same regardless of dosage.
 
I've been on statins ( cholesterol) and BP pills for about the last four years. Due to losing weight ( 60 lbs.) and other lifestyle changes, I may be able to get off my BP pills, and maybe the others if I keep it up.
That said , if SHTF , I doubt I'd be able to get a refill because I need to see the Doc first. Pretty hard if/when society is in chaos. I suppose I could go without, but it would put my long term health in possible jeopardy. I may just have to go into an ultra-healthy life style and forgo the meds, and hope for the best. These drugs I'm on are more of a control/preventative thing , but nonetheless still important. How would someone get meds that they have run out of if their life depended on it and all normal access was gone?
A scary scenario, to be sure , but still possible. I don't advocate illegal means to obtain needed medication , but if you or a loved one really needed it, what would you do ? Something to think about.
 
If it comes down to it, one will do whatever it takes, we are just made that way.
 
Something else dire to consider is that pharmacies receive deliveries very frequently. Thanks to the advent of the modern practice of just in time shipping, pharmacies do not stock much medication. It might look like alot from the other side of the counter, but the number of days supplies of medication, particularly controlled meds is very small. A disease outbreak, or even a relatively minor catastrophe can upset this highly efficient but very precarious supply line. This is even more true for meds that are low volume, very high cost, and of course the controlled meds. It can be an event as small as an industrial accident or a poor drug demand prediction model that can screw the supply up. If you have a legal way of maintaining an extra few months supply of a medication taking into account perishability and proper storage etc, then by all means take advantage of the extra security that provides if you can afford it.
 
This is a topic that's been on my mind for ten years, since I got married. My wife has to take thyroxine for a very underactive thyroid. So does my mother, she lost her thyroid to cancer while still young.

In the UK, prescriptions are free to those with a lifelong need like my wife. But, doctor's will not prescribe more than a month's supply at a time (even though she needs them for the rest of her life) and it is illegal to obtain them otherwise. Besides, buying on the black market is unlikely to get what you what you ask for; you'll be lucky to just get chalk tablets. Even our NHS has fallen foul of counterfeit drugs.

For anyone in the UK, a tip to build up supplies of things like this is to reorder your prescription a few days early each month. Much more than a few days and it will be refused, but we've found we can get 3-4 days extra each month without 'questions'. The next reorder date will be a month from that, when you order early again, so you can slowly build up an excess. It might take a year to get two month's worth, but that's better than nothing.

Then you just have to watch the expiry date. Some things really do expire (the chemicals oxidise, decompose, get degraded by moisture, etc) while some can last much longer, but there's no way to really know that unless you know the chemistry. We always use the oldest, like a 'first in, first out' system so as to keep the overall stock as young as possible.

A final thought is refrigeration. Not one that effects us but some drugs need to be kept cool. A small camping 'fridge and small generator make sense if that's needed.
 
When I was in Florida the docs had me on all sorts of crap.Stuff for gout, stuff for acid reflux, BP med,Paxil for abdominal cramps.
I moved down here, reassesed my life and diet and my new doc gradually took me off of everything but added one pill for my tachycardia.I never got anything for my tachycardia up there but a recommendation for surgery. I was in the ER 3 to 5 times a year to "reset" my heart beat.
Down here ? No problems in 5 years now.
Prescriptions :confused::jerkit:
Not necessary.
I'm all grown up so I can buy what I want, when I want.;)
 
In today's society, we really take medication for granted...after reading "One Second After", it's pretty sobering to think what would happen if there was any sort of "breakdown" in logistics more a month.

My wife and I have been extremely fortunate. We don't watch our dieting as close as we should, but the family remains pretty active. About the only thing I've had issues with at my young age of 40 is seasonal allergies. Just for my "comfort", I hit the troop medical clinics and what they prescribe is just some OTC meds ("free" only because I pay monthly and avoid the docs/clinics like the plague!). I've been "stuck/shot", prodded/poked and have gone through several medical screenings for deployments and redeployments over the past several years; thank God I'm not dependent on medications!

Now, my daughter (step-daughter) was diagnosed with hypothyroidism and requires monthly medications...possibly for the rest of her life. She still has to receive testing to determine the correct levels, but we're praying it isn't a high level required. The good news is that we've been doing the same thing and working with the doc's to get 90 days of meds and working to get up to 6 months worth. It's a blessing that they don't need to be refrigerated.

I really think people will be shocked how primitive and animalistic people will become if a major crisis hits and medications dry up. All those on anti-depressants and other "social" medications will make the movie "28 Days" look like a Disney movie. Add to the fact that most parents will do just about anything to ensure their kids have their life-supporting medication.

The generations that have seen massive starvation, high-mortality rates and rampant death from disease and other vectors as simple as poor sanitation are almost gone. The newer generations in all the "modern" countries will go into shock if we slip into an era as harsh as 150 years ago for just a few weeks.

Mercop, I don't think a social cigar or pipe is life-threatening nor do I think that of alcohol; however, just like everything else, too much of one thing is never good for you. If you're overweight, smoking or alcohol isn't going to help. If you're healthy, active and not way overweight, the pleasure of a pipe and Scotch is a nice treat once in a while.

Good topic and one to always keep in the back of your mind because I truly think our society would crumble is the "lights went out" for just a week or two.

ROCK6
 
It's very different outside of the US. Here is it illegal to advertise a specific prescription drug. The drug companies (whose balance sheets dwarf many nations GDPs) can only say something vague like "if you are over weight, speak to your doctor". We also have laws about doctors accepting kick backs from big pharma (although they keep finding loop holes here and there).

In terms of cost - we have the Pharmaceutical Benefits Scheme, if your medication is on it you can expect the government to pay the vast majority of the cost, despite some huge lobbying from drug companies. If your medication isn't on it (and this is fairly uncommon) God help you. If you are a person with very low income you can expect your medication to be discounted further still. If you are close to running out and you don't have any re-fills from your doc, just schedule another (mostly free) appointment and get another prescription or visit a hospital if it came to that.

I live with a medication dependent partner and thank God for the PBS. I'm not exaggerating when I say that it is a life or death choice. Either there is a high quality of life, a chance to succeed and grow or misery, desperation and likely death to follow.

I live a medication free life but I know that if the SHTF I'd be able to live with a high quality of life no matter what income I had. It makes me so angry when I hear about people overseas that are dying from curable, treatable illnesses because some a-hole company won't cover them for that particular strain of that particular illness.
 
Let's face it, modern medicine has kept many of us living much longer than we would have a generation or two ago. I just read that they (whoever they are) recently developed and effective treatment for the disease that my dad died of 15 years ago. At the time he was diagnosed it was a six month death sentence. Modern medicine continues to progress. I have a huge amount of respect for "western" medicine. The up side is that we get to live, the down side is that many of us are dependent. It isn't a perfect world.
 
Good conversation guys.

In '99 I had just brought son home from is first open hear surgery. Just as I got home work called and needed me to come in because of a hurricane. So I went in. I remember standing in the pouring rain at an intersection directing traffic because all the lights were out. This one young couple must have driven buy me 2-3 times each time asking where they could get baby formula. The were task fixated and desperate. There is a thin line between that and violence even for people that otherwise would make good neighbors.- George
 
I've thought about this quite a bit. I have Diabetes and I also have an ICD and a replaced joint. I do have a 4 month supply of my meds. I have been lucky with my Diabetes in the fact that I have been reducing my meds over the year. But I do keep them all in a medics bag that I keep with me. I have grand children around the house, they get into things, so I keep the bag close by. I also carry a magnet for the ICD. Things get tough and I don't have my heart meds or run out, or if the situation is to the point that I am not going to make it. I'll use the magnet to suspend the ICD function and pass on. It's not that I will just give up but the damn thing will just defibrillate me even if I am already bled out. I don't think I would want my wife to feel that I was suffering.

I am also lucky in the fact that everyone else in my family does not depend on or use medications much or at all. The hardest thing they take is Motrin, Tylenol an asprin for fevers and aches and pains.
 
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Good conversation. I am medependant and consider it's effects on our life quite often. No more ideas than what has been stated, but trying to get healthy enough to do with as little as possible.
 
Interesting thoughts and ideas. Like many people, I'm on meds for a chronic (i.e., gonna stay with you the rest of your life) disease. On top of that, the meds need to be refrigerated. While I wouldn't die immediately, I'd be pretty screwed if the SHTF.

There was a movie a few years back where society was breaking down and the mother and father needed to get "the pink stuff" from the pharmacy for their very ill child, but the pharmacy wouldn't give it to them in all the chaos. The father finally used a gun to force the pharmacist to give him the meds. I wonder how far things would have to go before all of us would do the same? If you have a sick spouse or child, I suspect not far.

- Mark
 
I'm a pending pharmacist (1 month!), and have worked in pharmacy for the better part of a decade. I see people acting freaked about waiting a day or two for medications that they have plenty of at home, and this is just day-to-day (no stress of TEOTWAWKI).

Of many medications, other members are right in that pharmacies do not keep stock high enough to fill everyone's at once. If we did, we'd go out of business in a month. However, if you add up the pharmacies in any given city, you'd probably have plenty. Couple that to government stores and manufacturer donations, and you're fine.

Katrina was a good test of TEOTWAWKI, in micro-form. Pharmacies, companies, and pharmacists worked well together to get volunteers down there to straighten out who needs what, who needs it badly, and then getting it to those people. I'm not saying that when the SHTF there wont' be troubles, but there will quickly be organization by pharmacy professionals to make sure people get taken care of. We're not talking about every pharmacy locking up its doors and giving the proverbial finger to the public, quite the opposite.

The rational proof of the above concept is to consider what would happen after the disaster was resolved. Would you keep getting scripts filled at a pharmacy that didn't help you get your meds in an emergency? It would be enough to ruin a company in the aftermath, if they hadn't helped.

But there will be paranoid freaks, and people who use the chaos as an excuse to steal and loot. That's why I find it funny when my peers call me a Rambo for thinking a firearm has a place behind a pharmacy counter. You better believe there are drugged up morons dumb enough to come rob you, they just need a couple of stars to align and an excuse.
 
mercop said:
This is especially true with controlled substances.
Click to expand...

Yep... I know... have been on one on and off (mostly on) for the past 3 plus years... Back surgery didn't go as planned. Last time I came off of the pills it took me over 2 months and I still felt like crap all the time. I'm back on them again and can only refill every 30 days, on the last day I'm down to my last pill and it makes me very nervous untill the new bottle is in my hands.

Ski
 
I also should add a tip to those on a chronic medication:

Most all insurances and pharmacies will allow you to fill your prescription a few days ahead of schedule (for example, 27 days instead of exactly on day 30). Take advantage of this! Fill this day or two early often, and then you'll accrue a spare week or two of your meds over time. Then just keep cycling through your 'stock' to keep it in date.

Obviously this isn't for controlled substances, or for meds that are likely to be changed.
 
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