As a Senior Citizen, I have found that I now have various additional needs that I did not have when I was younger.
One of those needs is the addition of life sustaining prescription medications that I now require just to survive. These prescriptions MUST be included in your bug out preparations. What good is it if you amass a years worth of food and supplies from a survival food list, but only have a month or two of your prescription medications that you need to keep you alive?
Just one of my heart prescription medications cost $525.00 for a thirty (30) day supply. Yes, my medical insurance covers the cost of it each month, minus my deductible, $25.00. But if I want extra medication to stockpile, I have to pay full price for those medications. This is just one of several life sustaining prescription medications that I take on a daily basis.
I came to the realization that in any of the TEOTWAWKI situations that I prepare for, I will only live as long as I have my life sustaining prescription medications to take. So, if I just have my current monthly supply of prescription medications, upon finishing that bottle of medication, I will probably not be around too much longer. If I am, I will be a great burden on my family because I will probably be bed ridden or have a stroke. I will not be there to help and support my wife, my daughter and my grandsons with their day to day survival needs.
I now have purchased a three (3) month supply of ALL of my prescription medication that I take on a regular basis. This means that I will probably be useful and or alive for three (3) to three and a half (3 ½) months in a TEOTWAWKI situation unless somehow I can find additional prescription medications. The problem with finding additional prescription medications in a TEOTWAWKI situation is:
The factories that make your prescription medications will probably NOT be producing them for a long time, if ever again. Everyone in your area will be trying to get additional supplies of the same medication for themselves or to barter with. I keep my extra prescriptions medications on a shelf above the kitchen sink in a small shoe box.
Every month when I get my new supply of prescription medications, I place the new ones in the back of the shoe box and rotate the older ones to the front and use them first. This way, none of the medications are more than three (3) months old. Prescription medications have the expiration date on the prescription label that is affixed to the bottle.
Always use the older meds first.
I do not keep my prescription medication in my Bug Out Bag because I rotate them every month. This way I am assured all of them are in date and do not come close to their expiration dates. Never, take ANY prescription medication that is past its expiration date. Some prescription medications become toxic once they pass their expiration dates.
I placed a reminder note on the outside of Bug Out Bag about grabbing the shoe box before evacuating.
Remember that in a pinch you may be able to use fish antibiotics like Fish Mox as a substitute for prescription antibiotics. There may also be herbal remedies or other alternatives that you can use instead of prescription medications but I do not know anything about those.