Dear Hugh,
I have appreciated Dr. Koelker’s fine contributions to this blog for some time. One thing I would like to add to the doctor’s list of items that were formerly prescription but are now OTC that are “must have’s” to stock up on is Meclizine. If I am not mistake I learned about that drug from one of Dr. Koelker’s Survival Blog offerings.
Meclizineis sold as a motion sickness aid for travel. In our area it is available at most pharmacies. A trick I learned is that while they frequently sell store brand “blister pack’s” on their shelves, they also sell bottles of 100 sold by “Rugby” that they keep behind the pharmacy counter that you have to ask for. I have found this to be true at four national pharmacy chains. The bottles of 100 are much cheaper than the blister packs. Furthermore, Amazon sells bottles of 1000 tabs at a very reasonable price. As was pointed out in the article that mentioned Meclizine, it is a powerful anti-nausea agent.
During the holiday season of 2012, I contracted a heck of a stomach flu that was also morphing afterward into an intestinal infection. Our local hospitals were swamped with this “Bug”, such that you had to wait in your car for hours for your turn to see an ER doctor. I have a very high pain tolerance, but I was in utter agony with nausea so bad I found myself heading for the ER. I remembered that I had printed the SB article, and on it was an anti-nausea OTC compound. I found the article and thought that on my way to the ER I would give it a try. The first national pharmacy I tried didn’t have any, so I was about to give up when I thought I would try one more national pharmacy “drive through” a block away.
I pulled up to the window and asked if they had Meclizine. The gal said, “Sure. Do you want 12.5 mg or 25mg?” I said, “Give me the strongest you have!” At this point, price was of no consequence to me. She could have come back and said that will be $400, and I would have bought it. A bottle of 100 was less than $4! I pulled forward and didn’t even leave the drive through before I chewed three of them. I left heading for the hospital and decided to chew one more. The drive to the hospital was about ten minutes, but by the time I arrived the nausea was completely gone! So I went home.
I later found that the year prior my wife had been having problems with Vertigo and her doctor prescribed Meclizine. Also, this drug does “knock the wind out of your sail’s”, so in a pinch if someone is “freaking out” it can be used as an anti-anxiety tool.
Our outlook is that, after TSHTF, many people will resign themselves to ingesting tainted food and water, and that consequently having tools on hand to manage diarrhea, nausea, and dehydration will be very valuable. Talk about a good way to dispense charity! Get some Meclizine! It’s cheap and it works!
BradJ