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Survey has revealed challenges faced by pharmacists and risk of harm to patients as key drugs are unavailable

‘We’re firefighting in the background’: the pharmacists coping with record drug shortages

Drug shortages in England are now at such critical levels that patients are at risk of immediate harm and even death, pharmacists have warned.

The situation is so serious that pharmacists increasingly have to issue “owings” to patients – telling someone that only part of their prescription can be dispensed and asking them to come back for the rest of it later, once the pharmacist has sourced the remainder.

Hundreds of different drugs have become hard or impossible to obtain, according to Community Pharmacy England (CPE), which published the report. Widespread and often long-lasting shortages posed “immediate risks to patient health and wellbeing” and caused distress, it said.

“The medicine supply challenges being faced by community pharmacies and their patients are beyond critical,” said Janet Morrison, CPE’s chief executive. “Patients with a wide range of clinical and therapeutic needs are being affected on a daily basis and this is going far beyond inconvenience, leading to frustration, anxiety and affecting their health.

“For some patients not having access to the medicines they need could lead to very serious consequences, even leaving them needing to visit A&E. Medicines shortages are leading to delays in patients being able to access certain critical or potentially life-saving medicines in a timely manner.”

Recent months have seen key medicines for the treatment of type 2 diabetes, ADHD and epilepsy becoming unavailable. Last year saw shortages of HRT, adrenalines and antibiotics.

James Davies, the Royal Pharmaceutical Society’s director for England, said: “Medicines shortages are disrupting treatment for some patients and destabilising their health.”

…click on the above link to read the rest of the article…

6 Overlooked Pieces of Medical Equipment Preppers Should Have

April 5, 2019

6 Overlooked Pieces of Medical Equipment Preppers Should Have

One of the problems with medicine is that there are lots of gadgets – everywhere you look there is a machine that wrrrr’s or goes ‘ping’. There are lots of useful gadgets which you could invest in, but most are horrendously expensive or require extensive servicing or very specific batteries to make them work.

In the same way that night vision goggles act as a force multiplier from a security perspective, many of these gadgets act as a force multiplier from a medical perspective. But what do you invest in?

There are 6 medical devices that may be useful when the SHTF.

In this list are some (mostly) cheap but potentially very useful pieces of medical equipment, whose usefulness can be glossed over or under-estimated.

There are two caveats – first, none of these items should come before getting your basics sorted – these are nice to have and not must have and second while these items are useful to have, you do need to have slightly more than a basic knowledge to use most of these items – you don’t need to be an expert and it is more than possible to teach yourself to safely use these devices – but it is more than a basic level.

In no particular order, these are some medical devices you should consider.

AED (Advisory external defibrillators)

Having an AED on hand could save lives.

AEDs (Advisory external defibrillators) are what you see hanging on the walls of malls, gyms, train stations, and airports. When the heart finds itself in a chaotic rhythm a shock from the defibrillator stops the heart and hopefully when it restarts the rhythm is less chaotic and more organized. Education about when and how to use them is provided on entry-level first aid courses.

Life Without Medical Care: How the Public Health System Collapsed in Venezuela

May 19, 2018

Life Without Medical Care: How the Public Health System Collapsed in Venezuela

Editor’s Note: People who have been through a collapse, like Jose and Selco, know for a fact what it is like to live in a place where there are no hospitals, little medicine, and few professionals. In this article, Jose gives us a glimpse of what life is like without medical care as he shares how the public health system in Venezuela collapsed. ~ Daisy

The access to the public health system in Venezuela hasn’t been good since the middle 70s. In the bigger cities, things were more or less decent until the middle 80s. This system, based on mere profits as quotas or portions from the oil revenues, while the population was not very large, reached a critical mass level. The crumbs from such revenues (where most of this income was stolen or sent outside of the country) allowed us to avoid the total collapse of the health system. Despite being bigger every year, the infrastructure of the system could not hold up against the corruption.

In such a fast-growing population as ours, this was the prelude to a total disaster. At first, people thought this was not important; money and work were enough. The major concern of the people was finding a place to live (buying a plot and building a house with their own effort was something that people did not do, except for some eccentric persons that earned the respect and admiration of their neighborhood). If the government built the house and you ended up paying an insignificant quota, much better. Usually, in 4 or 5 years the inflation would eat that debt, like it happened with our mortgage. Anyway, this was more or less the general status quo in the middle 80s.

…click on the above link to read the rest of the article…

Selco: The Shocking Reality of SHTF Medicine and How to Prep for When the Medical System is GONE

March 22, 2018

Selco: The Shocking Reality of SHTF Medicine and How to Prep for When the Medical System is GONE

Editor’s Note: Something difficult to plan for – or even wrap your brain around – is a world in which medical care is not available. Even though it’s outrageously expensive here in the United States, we can still access care. We may be in debt forever, but it exists.

So, what do you do in a world in which it no longer exists? A world in which there aren’t emergency rooms or doctor’s walk-in clinics? A world in which there aren’t any well-stocked pharmacies?

Today, Selco shares the brutal reality of SHTF medicine. ~Daisy

Since there were no hospitals, how did you treat people who were ill?

Organized (system) of professional medical help ceased to exist.

Hospitals, health centers, EMS, and everything similar was gone. The most advanced medical help that you could find in the hardest period was more or less primitive medical care that some military units had, such as medics and low-level trauma care. But this was not available to common folks.

People with medical knowledge became very important because of this fact, but even the most skilled people were often completely useless because all of the other help that the system offers you is simply non-existent.

One of my old colleagues told me story that could point out some things.

His friend called him to help him with his father, who had fallen from the roof. The man climbed on the roof to repair broken tiles, and he was there in the middle of the night (which was the safest way). He fell down, and his sons found him unconscious. They brought him in the house and called my ex-colleague, a nurse, for help.

When he arrived, he checked the old man, then called his sons in other room. He explained to them that their father was going to die very soon because most probably he had internal bleeding.

The sons were mad at him and they started to threaten him, asking him that he help the old man in any possible way.

…click on the above link to read the rest of the article…

Family Preparedness Essentials: Assessing Your Emergency Medicine Supply For the Home

January 26, 2018

Family Preparedness Essentials: Assessing Your Emergency Medicine Supply For the Home

ReadyNutrition Guys and Gals, it doesn’t take a stretch of the imagination to see that we’re living in perilous times and on the brink of a slew of problems. There are several flashpoints throughout the world that can translate into war at any time, such as Ukraine, Syria, and North Korea. Knowing these things, your preparations and training need to continue. You can continue this preparation by conducting a home assessment regarding medicines and supplies you will need.

What do I mean by this? I mean for you to specifically identify all the needs of each of your family members and begin acquiring them. Family members have varying needs depending on age and physical condition. Now is the time to ensure you have all the meds you need and the vitamins you will need when the SHTF. Allow me to sound the personal “trumpet” that I have been sounding throughout the years and in many articles:

You guys and gals need to get into good physical shape: it cannot be overemphasized.

Assessing Your Emergency Medicine Supply For the Home

That being said, how do you start? It is simple enough if you just insert a measure of organization and preparedness planning into it. Let’s do it, shall we?

Start by identifying family members who have special needs and/or ongoing, long-term treatment in terms of medication. Examples of conditions can be Type I Diabetics, Blood Pressure/Circulatory patients (meds such as Calcium Channel blockers, etc.), and family members with respiratory compromise (such as COPD, or severe, chronic asthma).

…click on the above link to read the rest of the article…

New Flu Strains Threaten Public as CDC Admits to Flu Medicine Shortage

January 17, 2018

New Flu Strains Threaten Public as CDC Admits to Flu Medicine Shortage

In what may be one of the most severe flu seasons in recent history, the CDC has warned more is to come. This week, CDC officials say due to the influx of the widespread flu season, there are shortages of the drug used to treat the flu. While the CDC is working to address the “spot shortages”, it does not bode well for the public who are already dealing with a severe flu season and one that could potentially get worse with new flu strains emerging.

“Even if the hopeful assessment by the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention bears out, there will still be an additional 11 weeks to 13 weeks of flu circulating across the country. “In general, we see things peaking right about now, but that means there is still a whole lot more flu to go,” Dan Jernigan, [director of the influenza division at the National Center for Immunization and Respiratory Diseases] said. ‘In addition, there are other strains of influenza still to show up that could be a major cause of disease.’

That may already be happening. The CDC is starting to see infections caused by the H1N1 strain of the virus in states grappling with high levels of the H3N2 strain, the predominant version this season. In addition, Jernigan said, yet another type of flu caused by influenza B viruses is expected to show up later in the season.

H3N2 has compounded the damage usually wrought by the annual flu outbreak. It’s known for both its severity and ability to evade the protection provided by vaccinations that are typically more effective against the other types of flu.” (Source)

Hospitals Scrambling to Limit Exposure

…click on the above link to read the rest of the article…

The Many SHTF Uses for Alcohol

December 21, 2017

The Many SHTF Uses for Alcohol

ReadyNutrition Readers, this article is not to expound on alcohol’s qualities as a beverage, but on the different type of alcohol and the uses it has. This valuable commodity has several uses from a survival perspective that are worth examining. In this piece, we will be examining the three most common types available to you. Let’s jump right into it and give you something you can use!

Ethanol (C₂H₅OH) is the common form of alcohol that you consume as a beverage/within a beverage. There are different percentages of alcohol per different beverages. Here are some rough “guidelines” of the percentages:

Vodka (usually 40%), Brandy (usually 40%), Scotch (40-60%), Grain alcohol (85-95%), Gin (37-60%).

Methanol is also known as wood alcohol (CH₃OH). As the name implies, it is taken from wood, and its main use is in industry, and in high-performance engines such as racecars and “monster” trucks, as well as other specialty engines. Methanol does not give a flame off when burning and can be put out with water.

Isopropyl alcohol (also called “rubbing” alcohol) sees a use in several different household needs from cleaning to disinfecting. Isopropyl (C₃H₈O) alcohol is widely available in all your grocery and big-box stores and varies in concentration from about 50% all the way up to 99% (usually found in feed stores or hardware stores in that concentration).

Now for winter considerations, here is an important chart for you that lists the freezing points (the point of transition between the liquid becoming a solid and vice-versa) of alcohols:

Source: http://patentimages.storage.googleapis.com/WO2010029344A2/imgf000023_0001.png

We must keep in mind that this is primarily used for ethanol, the type that is consumed as a beverage. I’m not listing freezing points of the other two types for a reason: you can’t drink them or consume them. Hear me out, as I give you the main point:

…click on the above link to read the rest of the article…

Food as Medicine

November 14, 2017

Food as Medicine

Hippocrates said “Let food be they medicine, and medicine be thy food.” At the doctor’s office for my annual checkup I was asked to list any herbs I take and I thought “this should be interesting.” Sure, I take herbal supplements but what about all the fresh or dried herbs I cook with or drink as tea? What about Mediterranean herbs in spaghetti, garlic in hummus, basil in pesto, chamomile or mint tea? What about carrots, sweet potatoes and squash in navy bean soup to boost our immune system and fight off colds? I asked the doctor if I should list basil in pesto and was told “No, that’s food!” (along with a look that said I must be an idiot). Well isn’t that the point, that our food is our medicine!

I was watching T.V. and listening to the warnings of side effects from the medicine being advertised, and wondered why people consider the risk worth taking the medicine! Many food and drugs sold seem to cause health problems. There’s a phenomenon called ‘prescription cascade’ where one prescription causes side effects that require another prescription, which causes side effects that require another prescription, which causes side effects…. and well, you get the idea. Nice profit for drug companies and doctors who control the prescriptions.

Our industrial agriculture and food manufacturing practices are making food with lower nutritional value. Fresh minimally processed ‘whole’ food contains nutrients important for our health such as calcium, magnesium, potassium, iron, beta-carotene, vitamin B-complex, vitamin-C, vitamin-A, and vitamin K, antioxidants, soluble and insoluble fiber. Processed food has nutritional supplements added back in along with preservatives and artificial color and flavors, and many other food additives. We no longer think of food as medicine, or expect it to be medicine. We are more often concerned about the negative aspects, avoiding the unhealthy foods we shouldn’t eat. Plants have provided our medicine for most of human history.

…click on the above link to read the rest of the article…

A Crash Course in Preparedness – Week 2 – Medicine, Sanitation, and Surviving Disaster Diseases

September 22, 2017

A Crash Course in Preparedness – Week 2 – Medicine, Sanitation, and Surviving Disaster Diseases

Welcome back to week 2 in our Crash Course into Preparedness. Last week we discussed the basics of survival and gear needed for a short-lived event. One of the comments from last week’s class mentioned that it isn’t hard to prepare, you just have to start. I couldn’t agree more! My only addition I would make to this comment is in order to start you must prioritize your needs and know what you’re planning for. This week, we are taking the same concept from last week – prioritizing, planning and preparing to another facet of disaster planning and highlighting the more dirty side of preparedness – medical and sanitation needs.

Some of the greatest threats in an emergency occur after the disaster. Lack of accessible clean water following major disasters can quickly escalate and create secondary problems in a post SHTF situation. Additionally, those unsanitary conditions can exacerbate the spreading of diseases, infections and health risks. In this preparedness course, we will cover the most common issues that occur following a disaster that relates to hygiene, sanitary and medical condition.

Sanitation, good hygiene, and medical preparedness all go hand-in-hand. But as you will see after reading this guide, it takes a lot of planning and a lot of preparation. Simply put, there are many wrong turns a person could take in the aftermath of a storm and their health could suffer as a result. Therefore it is paramount that you understand the magnitude of these types of disasters and how to avoid them. As Ready Nutrition writer, Jeremiah Johnson noted in a recent article, “hygiene protects you from germs and diseases, as well as preventing the body from falling apart.” In the aftermath of disasters, this needs to stay at the forefront of our priorities.

…click on the above link to read the rest of the article…

Dave Janda: Bad Medicine

May 16, 2016

Dave Janda: Bad Medicine

A doctor’s reasons for quitting the profession

In our ongoing discussion of how our Health Care system (or more aptly-named “Sick Care” system) has been hijacked by those who profit most from it, we interview Dr. Dave Janda this week, who recently and very publicly announced he was walking away from his clinical practice in protest of how poorly the quality-to-cost ratio has dropped in his profession.

Dr. Janda’s perspective is informed not just from his years as a practicing surgeon and researcher, but also through his involvement with health initiatives for the Reagan and Bush I administrations, as well as the National Institute of Health. His overall conclusion is that the health system now exists to serves its corporate and administrative owners, to the detriment of patients and practitioners:

I decided I needed to retire from medicine the clinical practice of medicine because I truly felt that I could no longer take care of people the way I was trained to take care of people in a high quality manner. Now I have been involved 27 years in the clinical practice of medicine. I have battled insurance companies every day of my professional career since I got done with my residency program 27 years ago. The formula that insurance companies use and government uses to cut healthcare costs is the most inhumane and unethical means of cutting costs; and that’s the rationing and denying of care. It’s what I have fought against my entire career. My approach is, if you are really sincere about cutting healthcare costs, quit trying to deny the availability and access to care — which is what insurance companies try to do. If you’re really sincere about cutting healthcare costs prevent healthcare needs. It’s the single greatest bang for the buck.

…click on the above link to read the rest of the article…

Prepping With Herbs – Tips For Better Health Now And After The Grid Goes Down

March 6, 2016

Prepping With Herbs – Tips For Better Health Now And After The Grid Goes Down

My wife and I have for some time been researching and attempting to approach the issue of medicine in our preparedness. There are several websites that are dedicated to grid down medicine from a preparedness mindset. The information and instruction many of these sites offer are just as important as your water, food, and safety preps. There is the option of ordering medicines in powder form that are produced for exotic fish. No prescription required and available in bulk. This is a great source of antibiotics. I know of doctors who are aware of the dangers that we face in society today that will write prescriptions (non-pain meds) with an extra refill for their patients to put back. If you are one of these people that think this is unethical and illegal, you just go ahead and sign up for Obamacare and wait for the government to come and rescue you and everything will be okay.

The above-mentioned ideas are great and should be implemented into your preps. The encouraging thing that my family faced in looking into medicines is that everyone in our household is currently healthy and not required to take any medication on a regular basis. Those that rely on medicines have to deal with a different set of circumstances. We were also curious about the regular over the counter preventative medicines that we sometimes consume. Medicines for basic ailments such as colds, flu, sore throat, headache, etc… Yes we could just purchase some of these medicines and stock them, but we wanted to get away from anything mass produced by a pharmaceutical company. We are not anti-doctor, but we do avoid any doctors who just want to subscribe multiple pills to take when we get sick.

…click on the above link to read the rest of the article…

Be Your Own Medicine

January 29, 2016

Be Your Own Medicine

Treatment of atomized individuals in a setting of atomized symptoms and treatments is by any measure the opposite of a system that encourages and enables everyone to be their own medicine.

I recently saw a slogan that encapsulated what’s wrong with the U.S. healthcare system: Be Your Own Medicine. To Be Your Own Medicine is the essence of prevention, and a way of taking full ownership of one’s health, body, mind, diet, fitness and daily habits.

Alas, being your own medicine strips the $3.5 trillion healthcare system of profit, power and control, so the last thing the healthcare cartels want is for us to be our own medicine, as that would reduce our reliance on highly profitable pharmaceuticals, tests, procedures and high-cost facilities.

Note the slogan isn’t “take your own medicine” or “make your own medicine”–it’s be your own medicine, which suggests that health is a way of being, not just a way of consuming, though what we consume is integral to being your own medicine.

Our materialist-consumerist culture focuses almost exclusively on data, so “health” is quickly reduced to FitBit readings, test results and an obsessive monitoring of calories and diets, to the general exclusion of the mind-body as an integral system.

The importance of what we put in our mouths is expressed by the old Chinese saying: disease comes in through the mouth, i.e. what we consume. But what we consume is not limited to food (or what is sold as “food”): it also includes what our minds consume in the way of “news”, entertainment, knowledge, etc., and what inputs we experience as stress.

…click on the above link to read the rest of the article…

Food and Medicine Will Soon Be Unobtainable

January 14, 2016

Food and Medicine Will Soon Be Unobtainable

If product is not moving, then how will you get your food, medicine and other essential supplies? Famed economists, John Williams, from Shadow Stats and Joseph Meyer, Straight Money Analysis, will tell you that the Baltic Dry Index is the best indicator of the economic health of the economy.

The BDI Is At a Record Low

Unfortunately, the BDI, has just dropped another 3.1% to a new record low of 402. To anyone who knows anything about economics, it is clear that the end of this financial era is quickly coming to an end.

The MSM Conspires to Keep the Truth From the People

The Main Stream Media is totally ignoring the precipitous and unprecedented drop in the BDI. However, the impending financial crisis is not going unnoticed by those who manage the shipping industry. They recognize this as the total disaster that it is. For example, total orders at the shipyards in China, have dropped off by a nearly 60% in the first 11 months of last year according to Bloomberg.

Why Is the Record Drop In the BDI a Problem?

In President Obama’s “last” State of the Union Address last night, did he fail to mention that he will not be leaving office anytime soon? Sorry Hillary. The coming catastrophe will soon allow Obama to stay on as President in order to manage the present crisis and to, of course, “save the American people”.

America is the land of the 3000 mile salad. Virtually everything we consume, wear and use is shipped thousands of miles. The BDI measures the volume of shipments on a global scale. If the volume of shipment was any lower, nothing would be shipped. Could you write the ending to this? Can you even imagine mass starvation and civil unrest of unprecedented proportions?

This Perfect Storm Could Cause You to Starve to Death

…click on the above link to read the rest of the article…

The MMR Vaccine Package Insert – Facts or Fibs?

February 9, 2015

The MMR Vaccine Package Insert – Facts or Fibs?

With all the media ‘fear porn’ about measles that’s been inundating everyone recently, perhaps healthcare consumers ought to know some pertinent facts about the MMR vaccines that their MDs, pediatricians, and health agencies apparently NEGLECT to tell the public as part of what should beproperly informed consent. Later on, I will discuss ‘fear porn’ tactics.

Legally, ethically, and morally, what would be informed medical consent? According to the American Medical Association,

The patient’s right of self-decision can be effectively exercised only if the patient possesses enough information to enable an informed choice. [1] [Emphasis added]

Furthermore, the AMA says,

The patient should make his or her own determination about treatment. The physician’s obligation is to present the medical facts accurately to the patient or to the individual responsible for the patient’s care and to make recommendations for management in accordance with good medical practice. [1] [Emphasis added]

However, all the medical professions apparently practice only partial informed consent since they do not reveal the many health-threatening facts about vaccines as published on each and every vaccine package insert—the MMR vaccine being no exception.

…click on the above link to read the rest of the article…

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Since there were no hospitals, how did you treat people who were ill?

Source: http://patentimages.storage.googleapis.com/WO2010029344A2/imgf000023_0001.png

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