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I have a friend in Canada who is a licensed, practicing Pharmacist. I got up the nerve to "come out of the closet" with regard to being more prepared. I explained to her how I was working on our personal supplies with the assumption that we could be on own our for up to a month after an earthquake, and I then asked her what three to five antibiotics she might personally try to stock if she had to plan for similar. I didn't ask her to do anything illegal such as getting me any prescription antibiotics, but rather just provide her input as an experienced Pharmacist. Her unedited reply is below.
I thought you might like this information too.
Peter
Wellll, I've been thinking about this...
I would definitely keep all pain medications that you have (prescription or not). Keep in mind that most expiry dates for those types of meds are about 3 years.
Expiry dates guarantee the drug is active and effective up to 95% until that date... then most degrade or lose potency on a logarithmic scale or exponentially.
So, it is okay to use most things past their expiry date, but they may not be as "strong". Antibiotic "tetracycline" is not safe to use past expiry date, though.
Antibiotics generally have expiry of two years, give or take 6 months.
I would suggest you also stock: a type of polysporin ointment..(generic or brand) it is really good for minor cuts and scrapes and usually used on incision sites around sutures, etc.
If you can purchase Fucidin ointment (or cream) or Bactroban ointment(crm) these are also very good antibiotics. They are considered a bit stronger, but are prescription drugs here.
For oral antibiotics, Cephalexin (Keflex) 500mg four times daily for 7-10days is standard treatment for a lot of different types of infections. It is helpful for internal infections, urinary issues,
and many many skin infections. It is a cousin to penicillin so there is a 5-10% chance that a person allergic to penicillin would be allergic to cephalexin. However, in almost twenty years in
the hospital, we would give a cepahlosporin for so many people that were allergic to penicillin and I never heard or saw any one having a reaction to it.
Cloxacillin is another antibiotic that would be great for skin infections.
Although, Clindamycin has good coverage for a lot of bugs, but also gets anerobic bacteria which are responsible for stomach issues and dental abscess.
Hard on the stomach.. Needs to be taken with food, but would be a good one to stock.
Amoxicillin 500mg three times daily for 7- 10 days is another one that (is a penicillin) would be wise to have as it is first line in chest, sinus and ear infections.
Lastly, I would want to have a quinolone antibiotic, which is ciprofloxacin, levofloxacin, or moxifloxacin.
Cipro is used for bladder infections and given to people travelling to mexico to treat travellers diarrhea.
Depending on which quinolone a person uses, they are usually good for infections above or below the diaphragm.
Eg. Moxi for above the diaphragm (respiratory issues) and cipro below the diaphragm.
In summary,
You need an antibiotic ointment, and a couple of different oral choices.
Perhaps, cephalexin and cipro but you may have different thoughts depending on what you would likely be dealing with in the event of an emergency.
ANother one I suggest would be hydrocortisone ointment 0.5% (over the counter ) or 1 % prescription, here. This is great for rashes and minor skin
irritations, eczema and such.
I tend to go with ointments rather than cream as the ointment doesn't usually sting when applied and gives more protection to the area.
For washing wounds, our hospital here did use some saline (0.9% sodium chloride) but usually it was just water in most situations now.
The days of hydrogen peroxide for irrigation are long gone.
I thought you might like this information too.
Peter
Wellll, I've been thinking about this...
I would definitely keep all pain medications that you have (prescription or not). Keep in mind that most expiry dates for those types of meds are about 3 years.
Expiry dates guarantee the drug is active and effective up to 95% until that date... then most degrade or lose potency on a logarithmic scale or exponentially.
So, it is okay to use most things past their expiry date, but they may not be as "strong". Antibiotic "tetracycline" is not safe to use past expiry date, though.
Antibiotics generally have expiry of two years, give or take 6 months.
I would suggest you also stock: a type of polysporin ointment..(generic or brand) it is really good for minor cuts and scrapes and usually used on incision sites around sutures, etc.
If you can purchase Fucidin ointment (or cream) or Bactroban ointment(crm) these are also very good antibiotics. They are considered a bit stronger, but are prescription drugs here.
For oral antibiotics, Cephalexin (Keflex) 500mg four times daily for 7-10days is standard treatment for a lot of different types of infections. It is helpful for internal infections, urinary issues,
and many many skin infections. It is a cousin to penicillin so there is a 5-10% chance that a person allergic to penicillin would be allergic to cephalexin. However, in almost twenty years in
the hospital, we would give a cepahlosporin for so many people that were allergic to penicillin and I never heard or saw any one having a reaction to it.
Cloxacillin is another antibiotic that would be great for skin infections.
Although, Clindamycin has good coverage for a lot of bugs, but also gets anerobic bacteria which are responsible for stomach issues and dental abscess.
Hard on the stomach.. Needs to be taken with food, but would be a good one to stock.
Amoxicillin 500mg three times daily for 7- 10 days is another one that (is a penicillin) would be wise to have as it is first line in chest, sinus and ear infections.
Lastly, I would want to have a quinolone antibiotic, which is ciprofloxacin, levofloxacin, or moxifloxacin.
Cipro is used for bladder infections and given to people travelling to mexico to treat travellers diarrhea.
Depending on which quinolone a person uses, they are usually good for infections above or below the diaphragm.
Eg. Moxi for above the diaphragm (respiratory issues) and cipro below the diaphragm.
In summary,
You need an antibiotic ointment, and a couple of different oral choices.
Perhaps, cephalexin and cipro but you may have different thoughts depending on what you would likely be dealing with in the event of an emergency.
ANother one I suggest would be hydrocortisone ointment 0.5% (over the counter ) or 1 % prescription, here. This is great for rashes and minor skin
irritations, eczema and such.
I tend to go with ointments rather than cream as the ointment doesn't usually sting when applied and gives more protection to the area.
For washing wounds, our hospital here did use some saline (0.9% sodium chloride) but usually it was just water in most situations now.
The days of hydrogen peroxide for irrigation are long gone.
