Medical

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PSA

I have heard “that fish anti biotics won’t be available over the counter after the 1st of the year.  If you plan to stock them, you may want to get them now”. I’m pretty sure that this is another fear mongering rumor that spreads through the prepper community, passed on like a germ from hand to hand, gossipy sneezes.  I wish people would do thier research before going all henny-penny.

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I know that the FDA is making changes to antibiotics administered to Food Animals – cattle, pigs, sheep, chickens and so on.  This is in response to the appearance of antibiotic resistance strains of bacteria, thought to be caused by overuse of antibiotics in our food animals.  The letter from the FDA that was distributed this past summer can be read online.

Fish antibioitics are actually not FDA approved, not even for fish.  So it seems unlikely to me that these regulatory changes will affect the online supplies of fishmox and fishflex.   I am ambivalent about whether stocking them is a good idea or not. (On a side note, I’m on a second anti biotic for my lump; and it’s still an ugly swollen bump of pain.)

The Survival Doctor did a good post on the use of non human antibiotics.

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The little and not so little things

Just before bed yesterday I noticed a sore spot along my jawline, just under my left ear.  When I woke up, there was an almond sized lump and a little internet research made it clear that self diagnosing this could be a real problem.  There’s a lot of things that it could be.  The prime candidates are infected saliva glands or lymph nodes, but there’s a number of other possibilities, from minor to super scary.  Even given the most likely, I would need antibiotics so I pulled up my insurance app and made an appointment for this afternoon.

By the time I left for the appointment, my almond was a shell-on walnut size.  It’s sore as hell, and if you touch it, it’s sheer misery.  Even my doc can’t be sure what it is apparently.  I’ve got no fever, which you’d expect with an infection.  But it is hot to the touch, and sometimes with diabetes, the body responds oddly.  So I was prescribed augmentin.

It does make you think – in a disaster situation, how do you deal with something like this?   I went right to the doctor but you can search google images for infected jawline lymph node for some really scary, disgusting pictures of what can happen if you don’t have treatment.

My son had a lump on his face that turned out to be a central giant cell granuloma.  It didn’t respond to treatment and the tumor had to be removed, along with most of his upper jaw, and everything up to the bottom of his eye orbit on the left side of his face.  It went from a tiny bump to the size of a grapefruit in a few weeks.  He will eventually need extensive reconstructive surgery and implants.  At the moment he has a denture like appliance to give him a chewing surface – and it needs regular refitting as he grows.  He’s only 12.

img_0040I have genetically terrible teeth.  I have about 6 natural teeth left in my mouth.  I have some implants but need 8 more to support as many teeth as I need; I just need 30k to spare to get it done.  Just.   In the meantime I have upper dentures. Like some old lady.  Barely a week ago, one tooth broke off under the gum line and it had to be extracted. I couldn’t eat or drink; even lukewarm water touching that tooth (lower jaw too so gravity was an issue) was beyond excruciating.

It was probably the worst pain in my life, even more than the spinal I needed for an emergency c-section when my daughter was in distress.  That was painful, and scary.  She had the cord around her neck; without that surgical intervention …

In a SHTF scenario, all three of us would be dead, and no amount of prepping could protect us from that.

I have type 2 diabetes (well, not really, but it’s easier to say that than explain why my problem really is.  I have high blood sugars so it’s close enough.)  I’m fortunate to not be insulin dependent, but I could be working a lot harder to lose the extra weight and get my blood sugars under control.

My son and I both wear glasses.  My prescription changes every year by a lot.  And my blood sugar fluctuations – well, it’s a problem for my vision.  What happens when those glasses break? Or the prescription changes?

My husband had lasik years ago, but before that his vision was worse than mine.  My daughter isn’t in glasses yet, but given her genes, it’s just a matter of time.

In the face of these things, it can make you think, what’s the point?  No matter how much time, energy and money I put into preparing for the bad and the worse, no matter how much “insurance” I manage to put in place; some things just can’t be prepared for, so why prepare at all?

I can’t really think that way though.  If there’s an emergency situation, and my family fails because we didn’t have the basics I could’ve provided, that would be on me.  That’s not OK.

So back to the beginning here.  I’ve read that some folks stock fish antibiotics.  Supposedly, it’s the same stuff.  It makes me uncomfortable. I would never resort to such a thing in the normal.  But then I look at my issue today.  If a simple course of antibiotics is the solution, and the alternative is pain, abscess, rupture, wouldn’t you take the chance?

Theres a very thorough discussion on fish antibiotics over at Top Survival Preps.