SOME MEDICINE TIPS
Medicine Storage
reprinted from y2chaos
In reading the medical book posted on y2kchaos it can benefit from knowledge that in storing antibiotics and other medicines, it helps to know that these deteriorate by chemical deterioration. This type deterioration comes from the thermal agitation of molecules which causes one now and then to statistically obtain enough energy to smack into another one with more than enough energy to separate the bonds. Therefore temperature critically affects the rate of decomposition. The rate of decomposition is halved for every 20 degrees Fahrenheit the temperature is lowered. It works this way:
Tetracycline, with shelf life of 5 years at 60 F, lasts 10 years at 40F, 20 years at 20F, 40 years at 0f, or in a home freezer.
Penicillin in 100cc bottles or less can be laid on their side and frozen without bursting the bottle, and will also last 40 years in a freezer. Mix well when thawed and all is well. Liquids can be frozen in small bottles with more than 10 % air space in them. (Ice expands 10%, and in bottles more than about an inch and half diameter the walls can't stand the pressure ice exerts before it melts from pressure, to relive its expansion through this melting, so they crack as they freeze. Still good, but a mess when they thaw. You can still freeze larger bottles but you have to nurse them as they freeze by shaking them up to put air foam into the ice, to relieve the pressure. Best to keep at least a quarter of the bottle volume as air, in those you want to try this on.
Note that this formula is for chemicals, not biologicals. Biologicals are things like live vaccines, and seeds etc which are expected to be alive when thawed. Biologicals have very varied life extensions from cooling them down, but in all cases known to me, they double life in much less than the 20F required to half the chemical thermal deterioration rate mentioned above.
I have stored tetracyclines since the 60's in 0F, and they are still good, but getting close to their expiration date. I have penicillin in 100 cc bottles frozen, but the 250 cc bottles won't take freezing. Don't buy them, or nurse them as they freeze. As for powdered medicines, no problem, store them in the freezer, in moisture proof containers, and they will last about as long as you will. Do measure the actual temperature of your freezer. All of them don't reach 0F, and it pays to keep a log with the medicines, if you plan to keep them 40 years. Usually you will buy medicines with part of the life already expired. If you have only 2 years left you can double that remaining life same as you would the original 4 or 5 years life with newly mfg. stuff. Also I have used agricultural antibiotics for 40 years, (as do most vets) for human illnesses. They are basically the same stuff as human grade with a different label on them. Some antibiotics, which are not recommended for human use because of their side effects, like streptomycin, and auromycin, and clorotetracycline are sold for animal use, and the med books only list them for human illness as drugs of last resort. They all have some side effect that makes them less desirable than other antibiotics available, but at one time they were all the talk of the town. In a survival situation, the antibiotic is not going to kill you nearly as fast as the illness, even if it is expired. As the med book said, they deteriorate gradually in potency like vitamins, and only a very few generate decomposition products that are really dangerous, as do tetracyclines (they can cause kidney damage if too old, and you take a lot of it. Less potent means more may be needed, but if you are between a rock and a hard place you have to take chances. You already took a big one by getting sick in a survival situation, and another might not be all that scary. Common sense says if you got medical insurance, or you can afford it, and ordinary medical facilities are available, why bother with the above? Save your survival stock till nothing else is available. Just do not be so afraid of the medicine that you die looking at a bottle that could have saved your life.
Iodides & Stuff
ABOUT IODINE, IODIDES AND IODATES AND CLOROX OR EQUIVALENT LIQUID BLEACHES
IODIDES:
Many survivalists are searching for a source of Iodide pills to use for protection from nuclear fallout. They are hard to find, and cost about $15 to 20 per 100 tablets of potassium iodate. Typical pills contain 85 mg iodine per pill, with directions to take 2 pills per day for 14 days and then 1 pill a day for 85 more days, beginning preferably 12 hours before first fallout lands.
IODATES: iodate is more toxic than iodide by a factor of about 12. However doses of either for this purpose are far below the known toxic levels found in literature. For example: Maxwell (5) found that rabbits tolerated sodium iodide at a dose of 1 g/kg body weight intravenously, but that 75 mg/kg of iodate provoked severe symptoms, including seizures and spastic paralysis.
5.Maxwell LE 1930 The reactions of iodates in vivo. J Pharmacol Exp Ther. 40:451.
SODIUM AND POTASSIUM IODIDES: Sodium iodide is 85% iodine by wt, so the iodine would be .85 gm/kg body wt for sodium iodide tolerated above, sodium iodate is 64% iodine by wt, but it is the iodate not the iodine that is toxic in it, and the rate which you absorb it matters a lot, for it is very fast turned into iodide by body fluids. However the amounts of either you take for fallout protection is so far below the danger levels that it is not an important factor. For example 75 mg/kg toxic level for iodates amounts to 7500 mg, or 7.5 grams for a 100 kg (about 220 lbs.) adult, where the dose for fallout is only 0.15 gram a day, or about one fiftieth the toxic level and, 1 g/kg for iodides amounts to 200 g for a 100 kg (big person!) which is about half pound of the stuff, which in rabbits produced no mentioned severe symptoms for it was tolerated. At a max dose rate for fallout protection of 140 mg iodine (pure iodine contained in the iodide) the dose of iodide is 166 mg of the iodide in 100 kg body = 1.6 mg/kg which is about one six hundredth the tolerated dose for rabbits cited above. So it can be seen that these doses are way below the known severe symptom levels.
IODINE DAMAGE: Excess iodine can cause eye damage of the retina. A look at the literature indicates this is from the Iodate form of the iodine, rather than from the iodide it changes to in body fluids, and is only observed in rapid intravenous administration which raw iodate to reach they eye. The rates to cause this damage appear from the literature to be enormously greater than one encounters by taking oral iodate pills. But if you swallowed a bottle, you ought take the antidote which is ordinary photographic hypo, (sodium thiosulfate, its not very toxic so its not critical, its also not so easy to find now days. The iodine bottles contain directions to use a 5% solution and give 10 cc per kilo of body weight orally. That's a liter for a 100 kilo person (220 pounder) ).
IF YOU CAN'T FIND IODIDE OR IODATE PILLS...
7% TINCTURE OF IODINE is available in most farm supply stores which sell animal medicines. A form is available under the Agrilab label called "stronger iodine tincture" that contains 7% free iodine and 5% potassium iodide, or a total of 11% iodine, and it costs about $4 per pint, (1998 prices see, Jeffery's Ag supply, 1-800-533-3377 cat No. AT-TO-17). Use 65% as much of it as you would the 7% stuff), For the 7% stuff, add enough water to a pint of 7% tincture of iodine to make 5 quarts of solution. Add to this 5 level teaspoons of bicarbonate of soda, and the iodine color will soon disappear, and you will have buffered sodium iodide solution. There is an excess of soda so it ought to store without any decomposition like you get in the saturated iodide solutions commercially available. If it does turn brown over time, add enough soda to clear it up and it's good as new.
The dose for this is take 10 cc per day, mixed into drinks or drinking water, so its taste is not so bad. Don't worry about water purity for this has enough iodine in it to purify just about anything but raw sewage. After 14 days drop the dose to 5 cc per day for the next 85 days. If more fallout lands you have to keep on the reduced dose for 100 days total after it falls for it takes that much time for all the radioactive iodine to die out naturally, and you don't want any to get absorbed for it really eats up your thyroid gland even in small quantities.
For the more potent Agrilabs 11% stuff, to a pint of that add enough water to make 2 gallons solution, and to that add about 7 level teaspoons soda. That makes it same strength as the above 7% stuff. Take 10 cc each day the first 14 days, then 5cc a day for the next 85 days, same as above. These tinctures are in isopropyl alcohol, which is not toxic or it would not be used in face lotions, rubbing alcohol etc. This is not wood alcohol, which is too poisonous to use on skin or internally. A pint of this alcohol in 5 quarts of water makes the solution alcoholic at a 10% level, or 20 proof, but you only take 10 cc a day or about tablespoon, and that is going to be diluted in drinks or food, so the alcohol content is not something to get concerned about. Anyone drinking enough of the solution straight, to get a fair buzz, if he can stand the taste, will likely die of iodine poisoning before he enjoys much of the buzz. That bottle of 7 or 11% tincture of iodine has a poison label on it, and it means if you slug down a fair gulp of it you could do yourself in. The poison-ness comes from its concentration. Lots of things are like that. Try eating a pound of table salt and you will also experience some weird symptoms that will make you not do that again, even for a fair amount of money. I say this to ease the mind of person totally unfamiliar with chemistry and pharmacy, so they will not see that poison label and be afraid to touch the stuff. Remember the radioactive iodine is thousands of times more poisonous than this stuff.
USE IT FOR WATER PURIFICATION: This same tincture makes a good water purification material. Iodine is better than chlorine for sterilizing water. It tales a whale of a lot less to just purify water than the above stuff. To purify a quart canteen of water that is clear enough that you'd like dare drink it, you can add 2 drops of the tincture and wait half hour then its ok to drink. That's about double the amount that will do if the water is not cloudy with mud or other stuff. You can use about half as much of the 11% as you do the 7% and get away with that, and if you don't want to waste it because its running out, use clear settled water and add as little as a drop to half gallon and wait two hours and you will still be unlikely to get anything from the water. DON'T DO THIS HALF DOSE CUT-BACK IF YOU KNOW REALLY DANGEROUS BIOLOGICAL WARFARE GERMS ARE POLLUTING OUR WATER. USE THE FULL 2 DROPS PER QUART FOR THAT KIND OF THREAT AND IF YOU RUN OUT OF IODINE, BOIL HELL OUT OF THE WATER BEFORE YOU GET IT INSIDE YOU OR IN ANY CUT OR SCRATCH.
For comparison, (and peace of mind) NASA published a resin water treatment system that uses softening type resins to slowly add iodine to drinking water. Its minimum iodine concentration was 1PPM before it had to be regenerated and it had 3 PPM average concentration of iodine in the water. ..1 CC of 7% tincture of iodine puts 7 ppm iodine in the water. An insulin syringe holds 1 cc and has two scales, one in 40 units per cc and one 80 units per cc. .1cc = 4 units on the 40 scale, and that's enough for half gallon of water at their 3 PPM avg. disinfecting concentration. That is also 1 cc for 5 gallons of water, and 1 pint of that stuff contains 464 cc, which is enough for 2300 gallons of water, for you LARGE water users.
The Clorox bottles when I was a kid (1930's) all had directions on them how to sterilize water using Clorox. They quit putting it on there as the number of lawyers grew to locust plague proportions, but some surfer might get them to look up that old label data and add an addendum to this article. My present usage of liquid bleach to sterilize water would be a drop of 5.25 % sodium hypochlorite to a quart of clear water, and double if cloudy, and quadruple if muddy. I vaguely remember putting about a teaspoon of Clorox in a garbage can that I believe was about 20 gallons, which we used to hold water in the kitchen way back when. It is not critical, so don't split hairs measuring stuff.
An important Clorox or iodine use is to add it to those liquid hand soap dispensers. Washing your hands with that can do wonders to stop your catching flue, colds, and getting infections from scratches on the hands. You can make your own pint of hand wash by putting a couple table spoons of ivory dish washing detergent or equal, in a pint of water and adding half teaspoon of liquid bleach, (less if it's chlorine odor offends you, a teaspoon full is pretty potent for ordinary germs, but those that are wearing Kevlar need it). For iodine about the same will do. It looses its tan rather quickly as it reacts with the detergent, but distilled water lets it hang on longer. If you can't smell it the stuff is weaker than it should be. If it gags you its too strong, and if using liquid bleach it will make your skin stink for a while because the skin absorbs some of the chlorine. Use your head, and it'll work out.
USE IT FOR ANTISEPTIC SOLUTIONS FOR FLUSHING WOUNDS, SINUSES, SORE THROATS, ETC.
To do this make normal saline solution by adding one level teaspoon of table salt to a pint of clean water. This makes a salt solution that is the same salinity as blood, and it does not sting when squirted in wounds or up your nose or in your eyes. Warm it and you can't even tell its been squirted those places. For sinus and nasal flushing add 1/8 cc of the 7% tincture of iodine and 1/10 cc of the 11 % (7% stronger iodine!) to the pint of saline above. You can substitute Clorox or any liquid household bleach that says it's got 5.25% sodium hypochlorite in it, and for that you add no more than 8 drops of bleach. DO NOT EXCEED 11 DROPS FOR NASAL USE OR YOU WILL BLEACH YOUR SMELL CELLS, AND LOOSE YOUR SENSE OF SMELL FOR ABOUT 16 HOURS, BUT IT COMES BACK. Don't know how many times you can do this without damage so don't risk it unless you have grievous wads of something growing in your sinus and its either you or them situation. The iodine is better at killing viruses.
For sore throat uses you can use up to triple the above strengths of iodine or liquid bleach to a pint of saline, and it is harmless to mouth tissues (and to nasal tissues, but it raises hell with your smell cells). This stronger solution is good for strep throat, and being saline if you get some down the wrong pipe (your windpipe) it does not gag you and make you spit up like water would.
For wounds, keep this sore throat stuff in a pint spray bottle so you can immediately flush out any cut or puncture wound. The iodine or bleach sterilizes the saline in the bottle. The iodine will loose its tan color in hours due to converting to iodides with minerals in tap water. It is still a germ killer when in the iodide form. Use distilled water and if its really distilled well and has no minerals the tan will last a long time unless the salt has some carbonates in it. I use iodized salt to help things along.
For deep puncture wounds turn the spray nozzle so it makes a fine needle like stream of saline, and squirt this with considerable pressure down into the wound. The liquid will not harm you. It does not sting. It can kill whatever bacteria are down there, but it can not sterilize wads of clothing carried into the wound, nor dirt wads, nor splinters left in, but it can sterilize a full metal jacket bullet hole pretty well as long as it wasn't a belly wound that is going to leak intestinal bacteria, or a wound where the bullet is still in there, but for in and out clean wounds it can do a pretty good job, especially if you have antibiotics to boot.
ONLY DO THIS KIND OF STUFF IF YOU ARE GOING TO DIE IF YOU DON'T DO SOMETHING. IF YOU CAN FIND BETTER TREATMENT DO GET IT. BEFORE YOU LAY THERE AND DIE THOUGH TRY THIS. AT WORST IT CAN ONLY DELAY YOUR DEMISE, IF THAT IS WHAT WAS GOING TO HAPPEN ANYWAY.
For the normal small wounds you get fooling around day to day, it can do wonders to speed their healing. Just flush them well, then hold a toilet paper wad over the cut till it stops bleeding and knits together, then after about 5 to 10 minutes of that, soak the wad with saline to unstick it, and when the skin is dry put a micro pore tape over the cut to hold the skin EXACTLY in proper alignment, and it will heal with NO scar. Scars come from sloppy alignment that forces the wound to have to fill up gaps with scar tissue.
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