Survive a Natural Disaster without Thyroid Glan and no medication

[johannafebo]

How a person with no Thyroid could survive in a Natural Disaster with no medication. There is any natural way to replace the Hormone? A plant, a food or something?

[Brucergoldberg]

darn,  you must be gone a long time.  LOL

it is scary though...  I always get on the plane and panic for a second.   (did i bring my meds and did i turn off the coffee make  LOL)

[Barb135]

Problem is: insurance companies will only allow refills every so often....... when we took our recent vacation, I knew I was going to run out, before I got back, but my insurance company said it wasn't time to refill.  I managed to get it, because the people at the pharmacy know me well and went to bat for me.

There's no way I can take an "equal amount" in my checked bag as I do in my carry on, unless I put 1/2 of the pills in one container, the checked bag, and carry the other 1/2 with me.  I, personally, carry ALL my meds in my carry on, because the furthest that goes from me, is to the overhead bin.

[Brucergoldberg]

by the way,  whenever i travel i ALWAYS pack my meds but i take equal amounts in my carry on book bag i take with me

[Barb135]

I've read that some people keep them in the fridge/freezer, but they have to be sealed completely, to keep out any moisture, which will deteriorate them quickly.  If it were me, I'd leave them in the container they came in, then seal them in ziplock bags (maybe even double seal) or something to make sure they stay good.

[Ericamegan]

Should you keep extra meds in fridge or freezer?

[Barb135]

Apparently, you have to travel with a pig in your suitcase, but that would  be confiscated if you got locked up abroad, so you'd probably die.

[kl42]

what if you got locked up abroad and they wouldn't give you medicine???

[Brucergoldberg]

you could keep a pig (porcine) in your garage in case of a natural disaster..   Maybe that is how armour started.    If you look at the history of armour, it was made by armour meat company.

Desiccated thyroid extract is prepared from pig and cow thyroid glands. The glands are dried (desiccated), ground to powder, combined with binder chemicals, and pressed into pills. This was a new use for parts that were previously unwanted slaughterhouse offal, and Armour and Company, the dominant American meatpacker in the 20th century, supplied the best-known brand of thyroid extract.

So if you kept a pig in your basement, you would be able to survive for a while on this but barb would have to teach us how to cure it first before we take it.   LOL

[Barb135]

I agree that this would affect those on a T3 med, or combo, more than those just on a T4 med.

As flyingfool said it would take a couple of weeks before the T4 started leaving the body and hopefully, within that time, medical supplies could be replenished.  

Cutting dose in 1/2 would be a good way to make your medication last longer.  You wouldn't feel as well, but at least you wouldn't be in a crisis either.

There's also something to be said for keeping those bottles of old pills when changing doses or brands.  They might not be exactly what you need, but something is better than nothing.  Just because they've reached the expiration date, doesn't mean they are automatically no good.

There are no plants or foods that can supply thyroid hormone.

[Barleystorm]

If there was one, I want to know as well.

[ktr19]

I do think it would affect those more dependent on a T3 med or a combo of both than those taking just a T4 med only due to the half life.

But I guess in a pinch you can always cut your doses by half or more per day to extend the doses and hold off till the disaster is over and you can get the full supplies.

[flyingfool]

You know I have thought about that as well.  In addition recently over the last few years there have been sudden "shortages" of medicines.

I know a few times my wife was only able to get like a 7 day supply of thyroid meds because of shortage.  Also our HMO will allow to buy up to a 3 month supply.  But then you have to get down to about a week or less worth before you can get a re-fill.  Also if changing dosages, you don't want a huge supply of one dosage and then switch to a higher (or lower) dosage and then you have a ton of the wrong dosage pills just sitting on the shelf (not to mention a wast of the money to buy them)

One other thought.  If only on a T4 medication.  It takes 6 weeks to stabilize, thus it takes several weeks to loose what's in the bloodstream as well (1/2 life). So unless the natural disaster is something extremely long term in order to get medical supply's. You should have a couple weeks before you really start feeling like crap again.  So it shouldn't likely be life threatening certainly for a few days or even a couple of weeks for most people.

Just think about the people who need heart medicine and it literally IS life or death for a matter of being without it for a few days or a week!  So things could be worse.

I think the best advice is to try to keep if possible 1 month ahead.

I'd be interested in what others had to say on this matter.