China Virus Threat 2020

[Pete Grey]

Thankfully we have just topped up on our blood pressure medication, the trouble is our doctors will only give a prescription a week before the old one ends.

We’ve stretched our supply to 2-3 weeks, but what if when the time comes the tablets are out of stock ?.

Blood pressure medication has to be carefully controlled, you have to build up to the required dose, 2mg 3days, 4mg 3days, 6mg 3days, etc. It would be dangerous to come off the meds suddenly.

In a SHTF situation we have herbal remedies to help to stretch our tablets but we would have no chance, all the BS talk of securing stocks of medicines incase of a hard brexit meant nothing.

[harryhotspur]

(5 March 2020, 19:18)Pete Grey Wrote: Thankfully we have just topped up on our blood pressure medication, the trouble is our doctors will only give a prescription a week before the old one ends.

We’ve stretched our supply to 2-3 weeks, but what if when the time comes the tablets are out of stock ?.

Blood pressure medication has to be carefully controlled, you have to build up to the required dose, 2mg 3days, 4mg 3days, 6mg 3days, etc. It would be dangerous to come off the meds suddenly.

In a SHTF situation we have herbal remedies to help to stretch our tablets but we would have no chance, all the BS talk of securing stocks of medicines incase of a hard brexit meant nothing.

I think supplies will be in place as the Brexit stockpile will still be in place, i'm pretty sure the reason they won't supply more than one month is down to preventing the public from hoarding, but you could always buy online from someone like ukmeds, might cost a bit more but one way of getting an emergency supply.

[CharlesHarris]

My retired gov't employee medical provides a 90-day supply of my meds each, with one Rx renewal each time I go in for labs and follow up with my primary care physician. While the insurance premiums are not cheap, they are deducted from my pre-tax pension income so as to reduce my taxable amount. With Medicare and my open access high option total premiums are about $10,000/year, but my out of pocket co-pay for laser-assisted cataract surgery, lens implant and goniotomy for glaucoma was only $75 for the hospital and $50 for the surgeon. Post-op followup eye doctor visits were fully covered, as were two pairs of new eye glasses which the insurance paid $800 for.

Co-pays for my blood pressure and type two diabetes meds, including the weekly Trulicity shot totalled $244 for the year. Uncle Sam paid for everything else. Out media likes to complain about the cost of health care, but I have no complaints. When I needed surgery to repair a detached retina from a workplace injury it was done the same day, covered under workman's compensation and didn't cost me a dime. When my eye doctor determined the second eye was ready for cataract surgery it was scheduled the next week.

At age 70 I got a full cardiac workup, dual-isotope stress test, echo cardiogram, etc. and only out of pocket was a $75 co-pay for the nuclear medicine doc and $50 for the cardiologist. Everything else was covered. Again, prompt scheduling for the workup with no waiting.

[Mortblanc]

About the same for me CH.

I get a 90 day supply and have an extra 90 day supply stockpiled as preps. 90 day supply cost me $12, heart meds and diabetes meds all included.

My largest expense is type 2 diabetic test strips since I prefer to use a high cost brand due to accuracy issues with the cheap generic brands. Another $15 per month but that is my choice.

I have a checkup scheduled for next week that will cost me $0 with a full blood workup and prescription refills.

I am sort of shocked that more "preppers" have not worked up a stock of meds. If you know you have an "expiration date" when the meds run out that is one of the first things to deal with. It was for me anyway. The problems faced with getting a stockpile of meds seems a good example of nanny state population control.

I did see that the UK has lost a second virus victim. This one was a man in his 80s with "underlying health issues", the first was a woman in her 70s with "severe health problems". Most of the 80% of the population expected to be infected will not even realize they have and are spreading the virus, showing only a low grade fever and cough.

Elderly, obese, with heart disease, with previous respiratory issues, and diabetes are declared greatest at risk. that sounds familiar due to it being the same group at risk each year due to the "regular flu". That makes up about 75% of those over 60 and 100% of those over seventy. Sorry but "elderly" is an age definition and not a health condition, so you are there if you are there.

I have also been amazed at the statistics I am reading out of the UK, and other European nations. Yes and the U.S. too. Mostly due to the panic over this strain of flu and its domination over life and economy with the infection of a small number of people and the deaths of a very few, when the "regular flu" kills hundreds, here in the U.S. thousands, each year and more than half the population refuses to get a flu shot for whatever reason.

I was at Harbor Freight yesterday. Big importer of Chinese tools we have over here. There was not a paint respirator or dust mask left in the store, but they did have a huge pallet of work grade rubber gloves up close to the door.

[Straight Shooter]

We have 90 days worth of meds (even though WC was short last time) to be honest it should be double that amount .....I am on it ! And have been for a while ....not that easy ...as Pete said in another post he is looking at alternatives just in case and that’s where I am headed also.

Looks like tptb have had words with the supermarket chains.....no empty spaces right now and tptb are churning out :there are no food shortages there is plenty for everyone ! There is no need to stockpile food ! .......we are still at the containment stages ! ......yeah right ! They will loose total control shortly imho if they have not already ...these spoonfuls of BS they are dishing out right now will come back and bite them on the arse ....by all accounts tptb are trying to time it that the peak will be in the summer ...which is better for us all ! And not so bad ! .....right now all I can think about is Leapylee singing ( everything is beautiful )......if only CH had sent over that Flux Capacitor like he said he was going to ....we would be just about in MARS orbit right now .....Yanks.

[Pete Grey]

As i said our doctor will only give us a prescription a week before the old one finishes, a 56 day supply, stupid as the tablets come in a 30 tablet pack. We have a sealed pack of 30 and an open pack of 26 made up by cutting up odd strips of tablets, i tried complaining about the silliness to no avail.

We have built up our stocks of blood pressure medication to give us an extra 2-3 weeks, stretching it, by reducing the dosage slightly every other day, checking our BP with a monitor, (there is a spare in the faraday cage) as we go. We also keep a stock of hawthorne berry capsules, as well as home dried berries, fresh garlic (we also grow it) and garlic pearls which also lower blood pressure.

Over the last couple of weeks we have topped up on coal stocks, petrol, cleaning materials, disinfectant ( i’ve also bought a new garden sprayer), latex gloves and OTC medicines, not that we were short of anything but to reduce the need to shop if things get tricky.

[Mortblanc]

SS we sent over the instructions on how to build the flux capacitor, we could not get the unit through customs due to their inability to determine the proper VAT, so we sent the blueprints. Did you not receive those? It must have been a problem with the E-mail. That or the NSA blocked the message.

[Straight Shooter]

I have looked into it Mort ! .....all I can do is offer my profound apologies to you and Charles I feel real bad even stupid ! .....Wild Child quarantined the document after reading (Penis Enlargement for the over sixties) sub titled (Buck like you used to....Built your own in just 45 mins)....by Charles Harris ....sixth edition the forward was accredited by some associate field technician from Kentucky who likes motorcycles and can ride them all day and all night without a single break......I now realise this was prepper code for Flux Capacitor ! What a bloody fool I am.

[Mortblanc]

Well SS, I can understand why she deleted the file now. Thinking about you trying to enhance your sex life was probably more than she could get her mind around and sent her bouncing off the walls in terror.

BTW, I was considering the prospect of a self quarantine for an extended period. I am in a living situation much like yourself. I am out in a rural section, have neighbors at a distance and don't get out much. Twice a week I have lunch with a group of friends that is reduced by death each year. We are all among that group that would be hardest hit. I usually go on a shopping expedition once each week to stock up on fresh foods and goodies. I am not a social butterfly.

I can work on the place, work in the shop, work in the garden, even ride the motorbikes without coming in contact with another soul.

I am faced with the prospect that quarantine would be defined as me skipping lunch Tuesday and Thursday and the weekly trip to the supermarket for a couple of weeks. Nothing else in my life would change.

But I can understand how it would be a terrifying thought to younger folks who work daily in the public and have careers that put them in close contact with large groups for their sustenance.

I was also thinking about those lunch meeting I have with my friends. We meet at a roadside establishment which we refer to as a "truck stop" here in the states. This one is a travel center on I-75 which is a roadway that links Detroit Michigan with direct access to about 10 large population centers from north to south. Detroit, Akron, Dayton, Cincinnati, Lexington, Knoxville, Chattanooga, Atlanta, Daytona, Orlando, Miami are all on that direct motorway route. A large percentage of the travel north to south in the eastern half of my nation passes about 5 miles from my doorstep, and I stop in to have lunch with all of that possible contamination a couple of times weekly.

If this does turn into something more than two cases in our northeast and three in California I might have to stop doing that.

[Straight Shooter]

I did mention that we were going into lock down last Friday ...but things have changed slightly , I have two appointments next week , B12 injection and a medication review I was going to cancel both until wild thang grabbed my giggly bits and threatened a 360 degree twist ...... plus we are on the school run this week ( no more after this week ) I have told my daughter to make other plans. We Will be in a self imposed lock down by next Thursday for sure ! No matter what ! Like you say MB we are major high risk ! According to the known evidence .....why take a chance ? .