- Just when you thought it was safe for gun rights in Alabama, up pops some "Reasonable Gun Safety Measures™." Beth tells us about the Outcast Voters League.
- What kind of people ram their car into, and then shoot at, a State Trooper trying to pull them over? Sean takes a look at their permanent record.
- Barron is on assignment and will return soon.
- In the Main Topic, Sean and Weer'd discuss the recent 4th Circuit decision, Kolbe vs. Hogan.
- It's Week One of MOVIE (TWO) WEEKS! This week Tiffany reviews that Three Gun Shoot-em Up Extravaganza, John Wick 2.
- With Erin on assignment at MAG40, Weer'd steps in to tell us how fish medicine might be a valuable to preppers.
- Oh NOES! Ghost Guns! Weer'd takes NBC's overdramatic "exposé" on 80% lower receivers and gives it the Patented Weer'd Audio Fisk™.
- And our plug of the week is New Amsterdam Gin.
Listen to the podcast here.
Read the show notes here.
Thanks to LuckyGunner and Remington for their sponsorship, and a special thanks to Firearms Policy Coalition for their support.
Blue Collar Prepping Transcript:
Fish Antibiotics for Human Preppers
Hello Ponies, this is Erin Palette!
Oh wait, no, Erin’s out this week, so not only did she request I fill-in on hosting, but she had a topic she wanted to cover, but wasn’t an expert on the subject.
She’s read articles talking about how you can walk into pet stores, and allegedly get medicines for fish that might work if you ever found yourself in the need of life-saving medicines in a world without doctors or pharmacies.
So as many of you may know, I have a degree in Marine science, and worked as a marine Biologist for about 7 year. I also now have been working in biomedical research for the last 10 years. Further, my wife is a pharmaceutical chemist with a wide wealth of knowledge in the industry, and we looked over the information I found before I recorded this segment.
Okay, so what did I find?
I was a bit surprised, as fish biology (specifically saltwater fish, which is my expertise) is vastly different than mammalian biology. Generally the bugs that will make a cold-blooded fish living in a high-salt environment sick, won’t enjoy the warm-blooded lower-salt environment of a human, and vice versa.
Except I had forgotten what spectacular killers of bacteria drugs in the penicillin family are.
So doing a little research it turns out if your aquarium is getting nasty with bacteria, or your fish are getting ill from bacterial infections, you can indeed buy drugs like penicillin or amoxicillin to put into the water.
But is it the same stuff that a doctor might give you if you got an infection? Kinda.
So before I go further I must say that all of this advice is being given by an animal biologist, and really if it isn’t an apocalyptic scenario, go to your doctor, emergency room, or clinic and get professional medical assistance.
Okay, back to the topic: Is fish medicine the same as the people stuff? For Fish MOX and Fish Pen, these are indeed the same active ingredients as human Amoxicillin and Penicillin respectively, and unlike the stuff at your local pharmacy this stuff is sold right over the counter at your local pet store, or could be bought online.
Since it is the same active ingredient as the human stuff it’s required by law (at least in the United states, check your local laws if you live abroad) to have the same capsule coloration, and United States Pharmacopeia code.
You can cross-reference the code on the medication you bought online to verify the active ingredient, as well as the dosage strength of the medication you now have.
I don’t feel comfortable giving out dosing regimes for human medication on this podcast, given that I’m not a Physician, but I’ll just say there are a large number of medical websites, like the Mayo Clinic that will tell standard dosages for adults and children.
Also remember that most prescriptions recommend a 5-7 day dosage of drug, even tho most people will feel better after 2-3 days. The convention is that in some infections, the bacterial colony will be weakened by the drug, enough that symptoms may disappear, but they will still exist in large enough numbers that re-infection could occur, and since the surviving bacteria has been exposed to the drug, the chance of an antibiotic resistant infection is MUCH higher.
A resistant infection in a scenario with no medical assistance available is very likely a death sentence, so I can’t stress this enough, if you have access to doctors and medical facilities, USE THEM!
I must also add that manufacture of drugs for humans is done under an entirely different oversight than drugs for animals, so while the drugs are similar, there may be some difference in quality and secondary ingredients.
Would I take these drugs if I was trapped someplace away from medical assistance and was concerned I was suffering from a debilitating or potentially deadly infection? Yes, but ONLY in this scenario, otherwise I’d go to the doctor’s and get the proper human drugs.
Okay, so now that you have decided to get some fish medicine to put in your bug-out bag, or in your just-in-case stash, now what?
Well, medication, like food has an expiration date, and for best practice, you should discard all unused medication that has past expiration, and replace it with fresh medication.
This stuff isn’t exactly cheap, and constant replacement costs will add up.
Is there a way to extend the shelf-life of a drug?
Well we must first consider the factors that make medications go bad: Light, Heat, Oxygen, and moisture.
All of these drugs are sold in sealed light-blocking packaging, but we must note that these packagings only need to prevent degradation for the shelf-life of the drug, so if YOU REALLY wanted to make some medication last longer, you could do this:
- Seal the factory packaging in a vacuum seal bag, along with a silica gel desiccant, and pump out as much of the air as possible. This should take care of oxygen and moisture.
- Then wrap it in foil, preferably a Mylar vacuum seal-bag, to add an extra layer of protection, as well as light-blocking.
- Then toss it in your freezer, preferably the bottom of a non-defrosting chest freezer, as those get about as cold as anything you can get outside of industrial products.
Also note that these factors affect ALL medications, so if you take medications for a condition, or keep a stash of over-the-counter medicines, you NEVER want them in a bright location with high heat and humidity.
So if you keep your medicine in the bathroom next to the shower you use, you might want to put them someplace different, that isn’t constantly experiencing warm humid air.
I’ll close by saying that this advice should not be confused with actual medical advice, but if you are careful this stuff COULD save a life if things ever went pear-shaped.
- Guide to Fish and other Veterinary Medicine: http://www.truthistreason.net/guide-to-veterinary-drugs-for-human-consumption-post-shtf
- Antibiotics: How Long Is Long Enough?: http://www.nytimes.com/2006/06/20/health/20cons.html
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