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Ferfal:
Stumbled upon your blog and love it. I agree for the need to be prepared, but, agree with your outlook that to prepare for the Zombie Apocalypse is probably none to realistic.
I congratulate you on your reply to the gentleman who appeared to state that ones race determined their criminality. As a white guy who has adopted a Filipino girl and an African American girl I can tell you race does not determine anything. Environment, culture, and education determine far more. My girls are being raised in church, a church where whites, Latinos, Blacks, Asians, and others all go to worship together. Racists are stupid.
I have attached a picture to show you how beautiful they are, not for publishing please.
Secondly, it seems some folks have asked you about antibiotic sources in the USA. One can find many antibiotics on Amazon.com, you have to search for fish antibiotics. These are made to USP pharmaceutical specifications. I have checked and they are of the same quality as that made for humans. I am a Registered Nurse who works in the Pharmaceutical industry, also a former US Navy Corpsman. I do not know about the legalities of you sharing this with folks in the US. If a blogger posted this in the US one would state that using these for human consumption and without a MD prescription should only be done in case of an emergency where help is otherwise not available.
Please do not share my name.
D-
Hi D, thanks for your email. I've always wondered about those. Seems that the manufacturers themsleves have to some degree the same thing in mind since they put the specs in the label as they do with the ones for humans.(500mg pills)
Panikillers you can live with, but not having antibiotics when you need then will get you killed. Its pretty simple. When you need them, nothing else will do.
Amazon sells these... interesting. Read the people's review.
Fish Mox Forte 500 mg x 100 ct
Given that these are hard to come by in pharmacies, I'd get one or two and rotate each year.
For the fish, that is... Seriously. Its' the one thing you'll desperately need when you, I mean your fish, have an infection.
FerFAL
11 comments:
Two point. First, this is one type of antibiotic and it will be effective against certain infections and useless against others.
Second, abuse of antibiotics is why common type (like this one) are useless against many bacteria. You MUST follow the complete course of medication (ten days in some cases) otherwise the most resilant bacteria will survive the treatment and reproduce to kill you. Antibiotics are also bad for your general health as your body uses bacteria for many positive things. As an example a decade ago, over 10% of samples sent to US labs were resistant to one or more anti-biotics. Abuse of Tamiflu (anti-viral, but same principles) resulted in 99% of flu infections in the US being resistant last year. The exception was Swine Flu, which was exceptional good luck (next time we may not be so lucky).
The point is; only use antibiotics sparingly and seriously when your health is in danger.
Epic bad idea.
If I have access to a doctor and a prescription for real antibiotics, there's no way in hell I'm taking that stuff. The stuff isn't monitored for quality like things meant for human consumption.
Additionally, "-cillin" type (and many others) antibiotics carry a risk of fatal anaphylactic shock if the patient is allergic, which is fairly common.
Besides, self medication is a truly bad idea because most people aren't doctors and infections aren't something to play around with. Can YOU tell the difference between a viral and bacterial infection just by looking? I can't.
Viruses aren't susceptible to any antibiotic yet cause the majority of respiratory illnesses. Don't pop a pill and think you're good to go.
I've seen people with dental infections end up in the hospital in spite of taking a properly prescribed antibiotic. Yes, a toothache can kill you.
At best, all self medication does is increase prevalence of antibiotic resistant species.
If you think you have an infection your first move should be to get medical care from a trained professional, period. If things are bad enough that there aren't any doctors you shouldn't waste your time toting this crap around.
So, if my, um, fish need to use that, what would the dosage be? You know, for the fish? Say my fish were about 150 lbs (I have a big fish tank), how much and for how long would I give my fish? I'm sure the labels don't cover, um, fish that big!
:)
Dan
ps: heh - the word verification is "prepers"!
And birds and goats and . . .
Thomas Labs has all the varieties of antibiotics - http://www.amazon.com/s/ref=bl_sr_kitchen?ie=UTF8&search-alias=garden&field-brandtextbin=Thomas%20Labs
Up to you to know when, and how much to take of what for what condition.
Nice find - thanks!
Bones, the only epic thing here is the missinformation in your comment.
I'll make a reply and put some more information out there.
FerFAL
1) I partially agree with Bones --in that I think that medicine is a highly skilled trade and that it is best to use a doctor where possible and available. Although Some --not all --of them are HIGHLY fallible. Especially the ones available to poor people.
Which is why you should have the knowledge to understand and monitor a doctor's diagnosis/treatment and seek a second opinion if necessary.
Correct diagnosis can be difficult even for a doctor. A layman's mistakes can kill someone -- not always but sometimes. Plus a doctor has access to a network of backup hospitals, labs and diagnostic equipment far beyond the reach of the layman.
2) Moreover, areas in the USA are still well off in access to medical care compared to many poor places in the world.
For poverty stricken areas in Africa,etc , the Hesperian Foundation produced the text
"Where There Is No Doctor" -- to help laymen in third world villages treat people where medical care is not available --or at least, requiring a lengthy journey and time to access.
3) Book is available online here:
http://hesperian.org/publications_download.php
4) But I think anything worth having is worth having in hardcopy, so I would suggest ordering it from them as well.
Available in English or Spanish.
http://hesperian.org/Publications_and_Resources.php
5) Again, this should just be taking out insurance in the event disaster struck the USA. NOT for use in the current environment.
Community colleges have EMT training available as well.
6) If you provide medical care in the USA without a license, you open yourself up to massive criminal charges and civil lawsuits. A Good Samaritan law might excuse you in extreme disasters and circumstances.
7) I also agree with Bones re the extremely damaging effects that can arise over time from overuse and misuse of antibiotics. That endangers everyone.
if you have children/infants, it would be extremely wise to have Motrin/Tylenol to control a fever.
I often think of the pretty white girl during the Katrina thing. When first interviewed she was going on about how everyone was helping each other... then the same girl a few days later was very desperate because her baby was running a high fever.
It seems that people writing the reviews took the stuff and were fine. I have a bachelor's degree in molecular medicine and know just enough to know that it is very very easy to think you are helping yourself (or die) by self-medication.
That said, if I was unable to receive medical care for an extended period of time and had a life-threatening illness or serious injury that could easily get infected, then I would take this stuff. It can't be any worse than most of the antibiotics available in undeveloped or developing nations.
Before we self-medicate anything with antibiotics we should make sure we understand quite a bit about bacteriology and how whatever anti-biotic you have functions.
I'd take the fish stuff if I was faced with a decent probability of death from infection, but it would be a last-ditch effort. This kind of thing really is playing with fire. It is like a gun: very effective if used properly but incredibly dangerous if used improperly.
To better understand how to properly utilize anitbiotics, and in the case where one is allergic to penicillians, use the common substitutes, pick up a copy or find the PDF on line to download of the book, Where There is No Doctor. If someone does not know whether or not they are allergic, use the substitute for the appropriate antibiotic and always have epenphrine available if you MUST take a chance. In fact if there is chance you must treat another in an emergency who may not know if they are allergic or not, such as a child or person unconscious, get epenphrine and have it on hand. It may be advisable in such cases where there is concern for a potential allergic reaction to starting dosing at a low level and see if there might be an allergic reaction. Have the epenphrine ready. Take such a risk only if the infection is life threatening as it may be better not to treat rather than risk killing your patient with your antibiotic. Get the book. Invaluable knowledge. A little bit of knowledge can be a dangerous thing. a
Dan: There was a big thread on this very subject (sick fish) over at Survival Blog a few weeks ago that had recommended dosages for larger aquariums...
just in case anyone had some 150lb fish or something...
BTW, Amox and Cipromycin will cover many bases. a
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