Life-sustaining medication

sylviah · Tar Sands Joined: Oct 06, 2006 Posts: 57

(I'm reposting this, I had it posted under the wrong topic heading)

A good friend of mine (who is, as yet, not entirely convinced of the reality of peak oil) is on a regimen of pills that is basically keeping her alive. Without it, she estimates she would probably live a few months tops before her body would graudally but definitively shut down.

Short of stockpiling enough medication to last her the rest of her life, which would be impractical and way too expensive to even contemplate, what should she do? She's completely healthy now, the medication keeps her entirely functional. She's young, healthy, gainfully employed...

It's one thing to think about getting myself and my family ready for peak oil. We're all healthy and would only require food and shelter to survive, really. But what about people like her, and people with disabilities, and elderly people, and people with heart conditions who function fine as long as they can drive to work, but would honestly not be able to ride a bike/walk...

And I'm not looking for a strong-will-survive answer, or anything with the word "culled" in it, please. I'd just like to hear if other people have encountered similar problems, and what they're doing about it.

Doly · Expert Joined: Dec 03, 2004 Posts: 4035

steam_cannon · Expert Joined: Dec 28, 2006 Posts: 2467 Location: MA

Ludi · Posted: Thu May 24, 2007 7:41 am Post subject: Re: Life-sustaining medication

I face a similar problem myself, as my eventual survival and day to day ability to function depend on medications. I have not found a solution, except to try to learn about herbal and dietary treatments.
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RedStateGreen · Posted: Wed Oct 10, 2007 9:28 pm Post subject: Re: Life-sustaining medication

I'd have to agree with Ludi. Get as healthy as you can, get all the pesticides and junk food and sodas out of your system. Get to as normal a weight as you can. Look into alternative treatments that won't interfere with your current regimen. Get your doctor involved; ask about alternative treatments, and run any you're thinking of by your doctor first.

Some doctors are assholes about alternatives, others know quite a bit and can point you in the right direction. The former you might dump and find a more helpful one unless he's the only specialist in your state or something. Look into safe alternatives such as real Chinese acupuncture (someone trained in China or trained by someone trained in China is a good sign, they should be treating chi imbalances not symptoms). Find people who have successfully treated your particular problem and get references. Comb the internet and learn all you can about your medical problem.

Try Heal Your Body by Louise Hay and the Holosync meditation CD series at http://www.centerpointe.com I've used both for years as I have a chronic illness. I have no financial stake or philosophical attachment to either, btw.

At one point I was on high doses of medication and was told not much could be done. At that point I went the alternative route. I am off medication and 1000% better (of course, YMMV). Good luck! Smile

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Conservation is conservative

It is not the strongest of the species that survive, nor the most intelligent, but the ones most responsive to change. -- Charles Darwin

mulewagon · Coal Joined: Oct 12, 2007 Posts: 3

We've thought about these problems too - my husband requires pain medications to function, and we're both about fifty. So our medical situation is likely to be getting worse at a bad time. We're planning like this:

1) Reducing all possible fixed expenses on the assumption that we'll be paying most of our income for medications. This includes all the usual frugal strategies for lowering power and food expenses. (See The Complete Tightwad Gazette by Amy Dacyzyn).

2) Learning to conserve water. It's going to be like liquid gold in a few years, and will take away from what we can spend on meds.

3) Finding out what the shelf life of various meds is. A good pharmacist can help you there. Also find out if it just loses effectiveness, or becomes dangerous. And find out if you can legally stockpile it.

4) Solar power to keep the fridge going, for meds that need cold storage.

5) Learning to grow potatoes, and then learning to make vodka. The taties are a good source of carbs on a relatively small amount of land. The vodka would be an antiseptic, analgesic, and anesthetic. (Wine used to be an all-purpose medicine, if you can grow grapes).

6) Buying books on wilderness medicine, and all the Where There is No Doctor type books. Those are designed to help you figure out what you can treat at home, and when you need to make the expensive trip into town for the doctor.

7) Buying books on identifying and using herbs. May not help with advanced medical conditions, but again, would help spend less money on everyday ailments and apply it to the expensive meds.

Those are some of our ideas... I'm glad to see others thinking in the same vein!

Jellric · Posted: Sat Oct 13, 2007 12:59 am Post subject: Re: Life-sustaining medication

First off, what does "culled" mean to you in this context?

I guess I would need to understand that before I jump in.

Brokaws-area · Posted: Sat Oct 13, 2007 9:18 am Post subject: Re: Life-sustaining medication

Along these lines, I just read that native americans used certain herbs to insure 'low birth weight' of their babies. They carried the babies to term, but they were smaller at birth. Why?? Because in a situation where C sections would not be safely available, lower birth weight was safer for both mother and child. In primitive situations, childbirth was the leadiing cause of death of women.
Having opted not to have any, this is not an issue for me, but might be helpful for some.

sylviah · Tar Sands Joined: Oct 06, 2006 Posts: 57

Thanks for all the answers, yes, I think a holistic approach to health is going to be (and already is) really important.

I don't know how much this will help my friend, since her life-sustaining medication is replacement thyroid hormones. Not something you can just wean yourself off of or find an herbal remedy for.

I do think the medication will probably still be available somewhere in the future, it might just be an issue of getting creative about blackmarket options. Who knows.

Jellric, I was just trying to avoid answers that go something like: "screw your weak sick friend, it's probably her own fault that she's on life-sustaining meds, peak oil will bring about a darwinian culling of the weak, and if she's one of them, so be it." I'm not interested in thinking about die-off and how great it will be when all the annoying people (i.e. everyone else) dies, although I know some people in this forum devote a lot of time to that. I'm interested in how to survive and help others survive and lead dignified lives. That's all I meant by "culled." "Culling" is something you do to a flock of chickens when they have bird flu, not a word that should ever be applied to human beings.

Brokaws-area · Posted: Sat Oct 13, 2007 11:54 am Post subject: Re: Life-sustaining medication

"Armour thyroid" is a natural product, though I don't know the source, it could be researched.

deMolay · Intermediate Crude Joined: Sep 04, 2005 Posts: 703

Not a doctor but do know that a lot of veterinary medicine is also given to humans. For example anti-biotics. They are available in large quanities in a dry state at local feed stores. They keep forever dry. Don't take this the wrong way, just a suggestion. I saved a friend of mines arm and life with anti-biotics prescribed for a dog, when the roads washed out in the mountains years ago and he took blood poison in his arm. Doctor said it saved his arm and maybe his life.