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Letter Re: Oral Rehydration Solutions

Sir:
My recent trip to the library and skimming through a few books on diseases led me to the conclusion that some of the secondary or follow-on effects are often bigger killers that the diseases themselves. I'm talking about pneumonia and diarrhea. Respiratory bugs often develop co-infections like pneumonia. And stomach bugs often cause diarrhea, which can cause such severe dehydration, that the patient dies. Obviously, [some forms of] pneumonia can be avoided by getting a pneumovax innoculation. So how do we deal with diarrhea? It can be controlled with over the counter (OTC) medicines. According to FamiliyDoctor.org, some of the best available OTC meds include loperamide (such as Imodium) and bismuth subsalicylate (such as Kaopectate and Pepto-Bismol).

My questions to you are: what about prescription antidiarrheals? And what should I store for re-hydration? Thanks for your great blog and books. The number of lives that you will save, by encouraging people to get really and truly prepared will go beyond counting! Sincerely, - H.F.I. in St. Louis

JWR Replies: OTC antidiarrheals are usual sufficient in all but the most severe cases. Most of the prescription antidiarrheals are opium-based so they are on the controlled list. As my late wife learned in the last few weeks of her life, heavy opium-based pain medicines slow down the gastrointestinal tract dramatically. (And in fact, many pain patients have to take stool softeners like colase and laxatives like docusate and senna, to keep their bowels moving.) Because of their scheduled drug legal status, it would be almost impossible to get opium-based drugs by prescription from your friendly local doctor to keep on hand for contingencies. However, some of opium-derived meds to keep in mind for disaster situations include diphenoxylate (with atropine) and the industrial strength version loperamide (a synthetic opioid). Because of their side effects, and obviously because some of them are addicting, these meds are reserved for only the most severe cases of diarrhea

As you noted, and has been previously discussed in SurvivalBlog Oral Rehydration Solutions (ORSes) are very important to keep on hand. Every family should storing a few bottles of Pedialyte (or better yet, one of its many commercial equivalents, which are identically-formulated and often self for about 40% less). It is vitally important to know how to make your own ORSes. This is described in detail in the "Rawles Gets You Ready" family preparedness course.

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