Author Topic: is there anyway to buy antibiotics (Read 4357 times)

jlwilliams · « **Reply #30 on:** December 26, 2011, 02:59:47 AM »

Quote from: Dee on December 25, 2011, 03:43:52 PM

Mexico! I had a friend a few years ago pick some pharmaceutical grade antibiotics for pennies on the dollar, while they were visiting down there.

I was thinking about buying some amoxocillin when I was in Cozumel last year but wasn't sure if it would be a problem coming back through customs without a prescription. Being on a family vacation I wasn't about to just hope they didn't check my luggage or try anything remotely gray area. (I smoked the Cuban cigars on the ship on the way back)

Is it legal to bring antibiotics back? Maybe they don't last more than a year, but during that year if my son gets an ear infection or whatever it's good to have some medicine that's bought and paid for and cost less than it does in the local pharmacy. Traveling to Mexico is expensive. Might as well pick up a few things to cut costs later, if and only if I'm not risking having my whole family detained at the border over it.

vacek · « **Reply #31 on:** December 26, 2011, 06:39:46 AM »

I believe you have to have a prescription to first get the antibiotics. After that it should be no issue. Again, find and build a trust relationship with a doctor and discuss your needs and plans. If you can justify it then you may get a prescription. Again go for an antibiotic that is broad spectrum and strong.

In the meantime, get a PDR at your local Goodwill, Savers, ARC even if it is 10 or more years old. Take the time and read about the various products and what might be best for an anticipated situation.

reliquary · « **Reply #32 on:** December 26, 2011, 04:43:31 PM »

My wife is medically very fragile...insulin-dependent diabetic with all the associated circulatory and neurological problems. A dozen or so prescriptions. Over the years that we've been using our internal medicine doctor & PA, we've developed a good rapport and they trust us not to abuse the system.

I've explained to them that I am a prepper and they've given us enough office samples of the meds that she uses that we're actually "one prescription ahead" of her refills, just in case of SHTF. In the past, when I've had to have an antibiotic, they've given me more than needed and I've stored the excess in the fridge. Plus I have the bottles of the generic stuff for the livestock.

+1 on the Physician's Desk Reference. I get an old set from the doc every other year or so.

Dixie Dude · « **Reply #33 on:** January 14, 2012, 09:22:28 AM »

Anyone know how to actually make antibiotics? Like penecillin from bread mold? Long term SHTF situation, might need a book or know how to make it. I know how to make soap from hardwood ashes and lard, or rendered fat. Have books on medicinal plants. Just wondering. Can the powered form of antibiotics for animals be kept sealed and at room temperature for any long period of time? I know about the temporary fillings. Brushing after every meal and flossing will keep cavities away for a long time. No sugary snacks. Anyway, health and medicine could be the hardest thing survivalists have to deal with. Storing food, living off the land, shelter, fire, purifying water, having a stock of ammo, traps, snares, bow and arrow, etc, are all easy. Keeping healthy, especially in cold rainy or snowy weather could be hard without antibiotics for bronchitis or pnumonia, or even treating open wounds, cuts, scrapes, broken bones. A lot to think about and prepare for. Of course if you can keep away from the masses of people, your chances are better not to catch something.

briarpatch · « **Reply #34 on:** January 14, 2012, 05:57:07 PM »

Quote from: jlwilliams on December 26, 2011, 02:59:47 AM

Quote from: Dee on December 25, 2011, 03:43:52 PM
Mexico! I had a friend a few years ago pick some pharmaceutical grade antibiotics for pennies on the dollar, while they were visiting down there.

I was thinking about buying some amoxocillin when I was in Cozumel last year but wasn't sure if it would be a problem coming back through customs without a prescription. Being on a family vacation I wasn't about to just hope they didn't check my luggage or try anything remotely gray area. (I smoked the Cuban cigars on the ship on the way back)

Is it legal to bring antibiotics back? Maybe they don't last more than a year, but during that year if my son gets an ear infection or whatever it's good to have some medicine that's bought and paid for and cost less than it does in the local pharmacy. Traveling to Mexico is expensive. Might as well pick up a few things to cut costs later, if and only if I'm not risking having my whole family detained at the border over it.

If you declare less than I think 800.oo worth of stuff when you come back through customs they dont say anything. I bought a lot of antibiotics while down there but I dont buy in Mexico I get mine in Belize. They are much cheaper than Cozumel. There is a woman that has a Pharmacy there and she is a Pharmacist from Louisiana. She is a big help on what to get and what to use. I get Cipro, Z max and amoxicillin. We have used it after being stored in the kitchen cabinate 2 years and it worked fine.

Lloyd Smale · « **Reply #35 on:** January 15, 2012, 01:03:04 AM »

I guess my thoughts go this way. Ive got probably a dozen bottles of various antibiotics and enough food for my wife myself and my son to live well for a year or better. Ive even got some seed stashed for growing some veggys. Bottom line is if something so major occures that its not cleared up in a year im probably not going to want to survive to begin with. At my age roaming the woods and farming to keep alive just isnt realistic anymore. My survial thoughts go more toward the short term or toward the goverment stopping social security payments then they do to trying to survive a nuke or something that drastic.

Quote from: Dixie Dude on January 14, 2012, 09:22:28 AM

Anyone know how to actually make antibiotics? Like penecillin from bread mold? Long term SHTF situation, might need a book or know how to make it. I know how to make soap from hardwood ashes and lard, or rendered fat. Have books on medicinal plants. Just wondering. Can the powered form of antibiotics for animals be kept sealed and at room temperature for any long period of time? I know about the temporary fillings. Brushing after every meal and flossing will keep cavities away for a long time. No sugary snacks. Anyway, health and medicine could be the hardest thing survivalists have to deal with. Storing food, living off the land, shelter, fire, purifying water, having a stock of ammo, traps, snares, bow and arrow, etc, are all easy. Keeping healthy, especially in cold rainy or snowy weather could be hard without antibiotics for bronchitis or pnumonia, or even treating open wounds, cuts, scrapes, broken bones. A lot to think about and prepare for. Of course if you can keep away from the masses of people, your chances are better not to catch something.

reliquary · « **Reply #36 on:** January 15, 2012, 02:59:26 AM »

+1 on the thoughts by Lloyd. That describes our situation and thoughts. Thanks for helping clarify the thoughts.

My wife is medically fragile and all the things I have prepared for...supplies, the extra meds, the precious metals (primarily to be used to obtain meds), the armory (can't bug out, have to defend the homestead), etc...all are designed around self-sufficiency for a certain period of time.

If what's left of society can't get it together in 6 months or a year or so, we're doomed to a life that I might not be able to or want to participate in, any more, anyway. But then, again, growing up as a poor Redneck and having a service career with a lot of field time...who knows what instincts might kick in?

Rock Home Isle · « **Reply #37 on:** January 15, 2012, 04:27:36 AM »

God's Eye Event next November??

teddy12b · « **Reply #38 on:** January 15, 2012, 04:52:09 AM »

Ebay has the fish meds as well.

Rock Home Isle · « **Reply #39 on:** January 15, 2012, 10:09:29 AM »

Antibiotics replaced Sulfa-Drugs. That classification of drugs were almost bullet proof and will store for long periods of time. They were very broad spectrum.

reliquary · « **Reply #40 on:** January 15, 2012, 12:11:00 PM »

Penicillin is grown from a blue-green mold that routinely consumes citrus skins, and some close kin are found on bread mold.

When I taught Biology, we grew common bacteria and fungi on nutrient gel in the lab by touching it after rubbing the hands and fingertips on classroom surfaces. It was interesting to see which ones would outgrow or kill the other.

We also grew the various kinds of blue-green mold and dropped specimens on bacterial colonies to see the effects. Some would inhibit or kill various bacteria. I don't know whether I'd use that, medically, except in a no-other-choice
situation.

But then, I remember having a cut flushed out with kerosene and packed with cobweb. Oh, well...

I still have some sulfa packets from the old military bandage packs. Maybe from the 60s?

mechanic · « **Reply #41 on:** January 15, 2012, 02:53:54 PM »

Back in wagon train days, people began to notice that those with a little money, (typically silver coin), and who hid it in their water barrel seldom or never got cholera, which was rampant among others. Silver was the first antibiotic to be discovered.

It is still used in some topical applications, ie Silvadene Creme. Sulfur is also still used in some antibiotic mixtures.

All else being said, penicillin was the wonder drug of the 20th century, and diseases that once routinely killed, as in serious infection or pneumonia, became routine to treat.

Now we have folks dumping the stuff in animal feed, where it is passed along to us in minute amounts. End result, drug resistant bugs. We may see the day when common antibiotics become useless, but at least for the time being, they are one of the most valuable drugs available.

Ben

reliquary · « **Reply #42 on:** January 16, 2012, 02:49:45 AM »

Ben:

Absolutely correct. That's why I get every book I can find on home remedies and folk medicine. I can't remember if you've been on the "What books do you have?" discussion, but it contains some good material.

I've picked up several bags of the sulfur dust that's used on and around plants, and some pharmaceutical/lab quality stuff as well. There are several uses for it.

The sulfa packets list "sulfadiazine" as the ingredient. Anyone have ideas about how hard that would be to make?

Lloyd Smale · « **Reply #43 on:** January 16, 2012, 04:40:33 AM »

black powder was actually used as an antiseptic in days of old because of its high sulfur content.

reliquary · « **Reply #44 on:** January 27, 2012, 02:58:16 AM »

Yesterday, while puttering around in Tractor Supply Co, I noticed that they had packets of Tetracycline powder for livestock, the water-soluble kind for oral administration, for a very modest price and picked up a handful.

Those packets went into a vacuum-pack bag and are now in the Doomsday Box.

BTW, if you haven't picked up a vac-pack set of some kind, they are very useful. Ours is a Foodsaver brand name that comes with a roll of make-whatever-size-bags-you-need material.

mechanic · « **Reply #45 on:** January 27, 2012, 03:38:02 PM »

I just picked up a new Tractor Supply catalog. They have several pages of antibiotics listed. A PDR would be necessary to figure what one is best for what, but they also have plain old penicillin, (vial, injectable) as well.

The powder form of antibiotic, if I understand correctly, will last for years if dry and in a moderate temperature, as in the vac. pack mentioned by reliquary.

Ben

Lloyd Smale · « **Reply #46 on:** January 28, 2012, 12:08:45 AM »

i keep mine vacuum packed and in the veggy bin in the fridge. the wife shakes her head at it but hasnt thrown them out yet.

reliquary · « **Reply #47 on:** January 28, 2012, 04:25:49 AM »

A couple of years ago, we got the unexpected gift of a medium-sized fridge; it's kept in the garage for overflow and extras.

I appropriated the vegetable crisper, the meat-storage drawer, and the bottom shelf of its freezer section for my seed storage, extra meds, and Doomsday Box items.

spitpatch · « **Reply #48 on:** February 10, 2012, 03:21:28 PM »

The antiboitics used for my cattle are the same as used for humans, just not refined as much. Just about anything you might want at your local farm store, along with hypodermic needles in every size & shape. As commented earlier, the directions have mixing and usage instructions per pound weights.

I have personally used antiboitics for animals, prescribed for my dog. and I once took a pill to treat cattle, and they worked. I came down with something (can't remember what) and for whatever reason could not get to a doctor. Later on when I got to the doctor, I told him what I did, and he didn't bat an eye.

I would never use these as a first resort.......but I did as a last.

streak · « **Reply #49 on:** February 10, 2012, 04:34:22 PM »

Quote from: vacek on December 10, 2011, 04:32:54 PM

What you really need to do is develop a trusting relationship with your primary doctor and explain what you would like to stock. He/she may give you a prescription and thn when it expires if you show the unused portion they might renew. It keeps 1 full dose set available. I suggest Cipro and/or Vibromyocin. his is what I take along when I travel internationally.

10-4! Exactly what I do!!

Lloyd Smale · « **Reply #50 on:** February 11, 2012, 01:24:26 AM »

Yes you can go that route. My doctor would no doubt write me a few percriptions but my insurance company sure wouldnt pay for them unless i did it slowly and snuck them in. the price of percriptions are jacked up so much that its impossible for someone like me to be able to afford a pile of extras and as long as theres a cheaper easier way to get them im not about to fake illnesses or lie to my insurance company to get them. It would just take to much of the little money i have to put away other things like food, first aid supplys toliet paper, dog food ect to pay precription rates out of my pocket. Most of us that bought animal antibiotics buy them because thats what we can afford and id bet if @@@ really did hit the fan there would be to many out there that needed antibiotics for an infection that would turn them down because they were packaged for fish.

Quote from: streak on February 10, 2012, 04:34:22 PM

Quote from: vacek on December 10, 2011, 04:32:54 PM
What you really need to do is develop a trusting relationship with your primary doctor and explain what you would like to stock. He/she may give you a prescription and thn when it expires if you show the unused portion they might renew. It keeps 1 full dose set available. I suggest Cipro and/or Vibromyocin. his is what I take along when I travel internationally.
10-4! Exactly what I do!!

reliquary · « **Reply #51 on:** March 29, 2012, 03:16:23 PM »

I saw a news article that said the FDA was considering banning the addition of antibiotics to animal food...apparently it's common practice among the feed producers to add them to help with animals' health.
If they ban them there, the next step might be to take them out of the Ag & Vet supply stores...better stock up now.

Rock Home Isle · « **Reply #52 on:** March 30, 2012, 03:32:40 AM »

Take a notepad and go to the local pet store. In the aquarium section you will find all the medicines used to treat tropical fish. Look at the labels of the medicines that are used to treat fish illnesses and write down the active ingredients. Then research these active compounds on the internet....you will find that many of the Antibiotics that are used for human illnesses are simply given different trade names and repackaged for use in the aquarium industry.

These are the same antibiotics used to treat people and are also way cheaper if purchased to treat tropical fish.

reliquary · « **Reply #53 on:** March 30, 2012, 05:02:53 AM »

It's pretty much the same at the Ag & Vet stores where I get mine. These places also sell syringes and needles for IM administration.

Couger · « **Reply #54 on:** March 30, 2012, 07:01:36 AM »

Anyone on the page who's a chemist? Or pharmacist?

There are supposed to be methods for "titrating" expired antibiotics, if new ones cannot be purchased during an emergency.

The thoughts about buying from feed stores sound worthwhile!

Rock Home Isle · « **Reply #55 on:** March 30, 2012, 12:39:48 PM »

I'm a Chemist...My Undergraduate Degreee was Chemistry with an emphasis in Biochemistry, my Masters Degree is an Interdisciplinary Natural Science Degree with my areas of focus being Chemistry & Physics.

I've done a lot of lab work over the years, but I'm not to familiar with specific titrations that are designed to determine the experation of antibiotics.

Sorry...

Matt · « **Reply #56 on:** April 01, 2012, 09:13:32 PM »

Why not go with a natural antibiotic such as colloidal silver water?
All you need to do is pick up a few feet of .9999 silver wire 10-16ga depending on your budget.
Once you have your silver you can simply make the water 8 - 16 oz a day should do you just fine unless you have a lot of folks who need it then make more. It takes 8 hrs to make 8 oz.
Here are the items you will need:
2 6" pieces of .9999 silver wire
2 alligator clips
3 9v batteries
3 9v battery clips
1 12oz glass
8oz tap, filtered or spring water
Now here is how to make it:
Cut silver wire so you have 2 6" pieces and set aside.
connect the black wire of first 9v battery clip to the red wire of the second clip and the black wire of the second to the red of the third. Now connect the first alligator clip the the red wire of 9v clip 1 and the other to the black wire of 9v clip 3. This will give you a series circuit of 27v DC when all the batteries are connected.
Pour the 8 oz of water into the glass and then clip the silver wire into the alligator clips and place in glass about 1/2 inch or so apart making sure they do not touch and then leave for 8 hours.

There are lots of videos on youtube on who to make the stuff and it is very simple to do. It has a pleasant taste as well but be warned not to drink to much or you might end up like the guy in this video: