Antibiotics and and how to store them for long term use

[mountainman762319]

I'm new to this forum, have some questions about long term storage of antibiotics. I have read that you can freeze antibiotics? Does anyone out there have some good advice on this?

I know you must have a little background on what antibiotics are good for fighting what infection type. Many people are allergic to certain types of antibiotics need learn how to tell the reactions. Found this on another site;
1) not all antibiotics work for all infections antibiotic A wont work on infection B. So learn about them before you stock up. Look for "wide spectrum" antibiotics.
2)Antibiotics dont work for viruses. So learn to recognise the difference before you try to self medicate.
3)Liquid antibiotics work better and are due to ease of control of potentcy and dosage,althought they need to be refridgerated.
4)Do not use fish antibiotics they are made to a much lower standard of quality and could just make things worse.
5)Obtain some good medical literature to store with any medicines you get explaining the medicines counter indications side effects etcetera.
6)Get any medical training you are able to get now. Such as CPR or some such course. They are easy to find and not too costly.

[monkeybird]

There are some excellent articles on Survivalblog.com. Just enter antibiotics in the search box. These articles are well researched and written by people who know what they are doing.

[Fido]

I want to throw up some caution here with a personal story.
In the beginning of August, a dear friend of my Wife and I was diagnosed with a spontaneous basalar skull Fracture. (A very rare occurence) For those of you who don't know what the basalar region is it essentially is the roof of your sinuses.
Anyway, she had surgery to repair the Fracture in late August. Now our friend, who I will call G, was one of these people who would run to the Doc every time she had a cold and get antibiotics for it. Obviously she took alot of them in her lifetime. About 6 weeks after the surgery she had a siezure at home and went unresponsive. After being rushed to the hospital, it was discovered she had a massive abcess in her head as a result of a post-op infection. She was immediately placed on the heaviest antibiotics available.
To make a long and painful story short, after several more operations and a month of the big gun antibiotics, G was determined to be brain dead and was still popping up with new infections.
She went home to be with Christ Nov. 2nd.
The moral? Be very careful with antibiotics. G used them so often that her body became resistent to them and they would not work when she really needed them.
My wife and I often wonder why G was taken home so soon at the age of 41. I think perhaps one of the lessons being taught here is be careful with modern meds. Often there are far more complications than they are worth, and those complications are often unseen or take a while to pop up.

[Christian for Israel]

yes, antibiotics should be used sparingly and only for bacterial infections...they do absolutely nothing for viral infections.

as for storage, the FDA determines shelf life based on an assumed storage temperature of 65 degrees. the thing is, for every 10 degree drop below that level, shelf life is effectively doubled. 2 years is the average for new antibiotics stored at 65 degrees. storage at 55* gives a life of 4 years. 45* storage makes it 8 years, 35* takes it to 16 years. personally, i store all my drugs in the refrigerator and a few in the freezer (do your homework, freezing some drugs damages them).

[ibetiny]

Lets expand this conversation a little bit. What medicine should we store for teotwawki? If you had the pick and choose of whats out there what would you store? While reading Life After Doomsday, by Clayton, There are several suggestions from a "moon kit" to a ships medicine cabinet. But as we all know that book is somewhat dated. So what will it be? Is there a decent comprehensive list out there?

[GAGLOCK]

An excellent reference manual for antibiotic usage is the John Hopkins ABX Guide. Used copies of the 1st edition (2005) are available on amazon.com for as low as .58 cents. There is a new 2010 2nd edition that isn't very expensive and covers latest developments in things like MRSA, antibiotic resistance, c diff, even biodefense. If you are going to stock any type of antibiotic I'd highly recommend getting a copy of this. Use the amazon LOOK INSIDE feature and browse a bit and you will see how useful this guide would be.

Newest edition 2010
http://www.amazon.com/Johns-Hopkins-...0196522&sr=8-1

1st edition 2005
http://www.amazon.com/ABX-Guide-Diag...0196522&sr=8-2

[Patriotic Sheepdog]

Here is the link to the articles that Monkeybird was refering to.

Part 1 -- http://www.survivalblog.com/2010/10/...xpired_me.html

Part 2 -- http://www.survivalblog.com/2010/10/..._medicati.html

Part 3 -- http://www.survivalblog.com/cgi-bin/...ogs=2&limit=20

There are others, but these explain a lot.