ICU doctor here.<p>I frequently see complications of overuse of antibiotics. C diff colitis (1) is certainly the most obvious, but resistant pneumonias and urinary tract infections are becoming more common as well.<p>Many resistant organisms set up shop in chronically ill patients who see multiple rounds of antibiotics through their lives; however, in just my short 10 year history as a physician, the increasing amount of resistant staphylococcus (specifically MRSA) and VRE (2) found out in the community has changed how we treat many suspected infections.<p>Although some of this is due to overprescription by the healthcare profession, there are likely other selection components in our environment. Just as you can buy these antibiotics for animal use, so can people raising livestock. The FDA realizes this is a problem. (3)<p>Personally, the sad part to me is that our medical system is so expensive that treating routine, mild infections can cost hundreds of dollars. Thus, people search out these alternative riskier, but cheaper methods.<p>(1)<a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Clostridium_difficile" rel="nofollow">http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Clostridium_difficile</a><p>(2)<a href="http://switchboard.nrdc.org/blogs/slyutse/resistance%20graph.jpg" rel="nofollow">http://switchboard.nrdc.org/blogs/slyutse/resistance%20graph...</a><p>(3)<a href="http://www.fda.gov/ForConsumers/ConsumerUpdates/ucm378100.htm" rel="nofollow">http://www.fda.gov/ForConsumers/ConsumerUpdates/ucm378100.ht...</a>
Notice our friend was already in a world of hurt by the time he went for help. Not only had he likely made his infection worse by helping it build tolerance while misdosing random antibiotics, even if he hadn't, he made it worse by waiting to get professional care.<p>Antibiotics are a balancing game of just the right dose. I suppose vet medicine is better than nothing at all in dire straights but if its at all possible, see a people doctor. They're good at that sort of thing.
I have successfully diagnosed and treated MRSA and upper respiratory infections in myself. I NEVER suggest anybody else to self medicate. Most people do not take it seriously enough or do enough research to self medicate.<p>All that being said, I think it is a shame that we live in a system where it is so expensive and inconvenient to see a real doctor that people resort to this kind of thing.
"Since these medications are not regulated for use in humans, there are no guarantees as to their quality or potency."<p>Also no regulation as to how they are used. Super-bugs are being bred by over-use, and a careless or ignorant individual can make his/her own infection hard to kill by using antibiotics in other than the approved way (e.g. not finishing the course).
This actually might be good for my grandparents. They live pretty far out from the nearest town and during storms in the winter the roads can be blocked for a week or more. It seems like this would be something good to have in their first aid kit.<p>Are there antibiotics that keep well and are good for general infections? (Purely as a last resort if there's no way for them to get medical attention)
Before I had health insurance/well-paying job, buying fishmox was the standby plan if I needed antibiotics. It occurs to me now that, even though I haven't taken many antibiotics in my life, it wouldn't matter - the bugs I would catch would be from other people and would have built up resistances to whatever I took.<p>Unfortunately, I told my mom about fishmox a long time ago (during same salad days) and now I sort of wish I hadn't. It's her standby plan and I'm not likely to be able to convince her otherwise.
Bugs and Drugs gives good local info.<p><a href="http://www.epocrates.com/e/BugsAndDrugs" rel="nofollow">http://www.epocrates.com/e/BugsAndDrugs</a>
I predict that the corporate media will run with this story and that as a consequence this source of medicine will soon disappear.<p>We cannot have the profits of our Most Holy Corporations drop. Cheap antibiotics will cause a drop in the Most Holy Profits of Our Sacred Corporations, and That Is Not Permissible.