How do you store your.......

[natertot]

I was wondering how everyone stored pills in their first aid kits. For my home kit, I just keep 'em in the original container since I have a good sized box for the kit. But for my vehicle kits, I want small bags or packs that I can add to the outside of my vehicle BOB. I find that the bottles take a lot of room. I was thinking of using a plano organizer, kinda like what is used for tackle. My other idea was to put them into little baggies and place all the little baggies in a larger zip-loc bag.

I am open to any tips or hints. Pictures would be great as well. Thanks in advance.

[crashdive123]

For OTC meds I use small containers and pill fobs. For prescription meds I keep them in the original container.

[pete lynch]

I use the Ezy Dose pill pouches for some otc stuff and also those dollar rolls of tylenol and advil that stay sealed. For prescriptions I have a fob.

[intothenew]

First, the norm.

http://intothenew.smugmug.com/photos/i-6HKkRr6/0/L/i-6HKkRr6-L.jpg

A portioned seven day supply of OTC and scrip stays in the kitchen. Then there is an identical set in each of our home bags, sealed in a ziplock, along with a generic first aid kit. Pills in the first aid kits are foil single serve in ziplock. The portioned containers are dated and rotated every so often. As a side note, that is something I am working on some sort of reminder for. Certainly I need to restock when a script changes, and must put some sort of shelf life value on them.

We don't keep a copy in the vehicles, those are generic first aid kits. That decision is simply based on the liability. When we do travel overnight, or more, the original scripts go with us along with the kitchen containers.

In a SHTF moment, it would be grab the bags and worry about the liability later.

[natertot]

Hmm. Some good thoughts and ideas here. I'm still not too sure. My biggest concern with the car kits is extreme temps and moisture/condensation along with compactability.

[hunter63]

Be aware that in most places prescriptions are not to be in anything other than the original container....could be a lot of BS for no reason.

That being said, those 'day' boxes are nice.....and I do carry aspirins, Tums and HBP pills, in a water proof match case in my pocket

[SARKY]

I have some good info or you,
1: If the meds are stored at 70 degrees or less and are kept dry they are good for 9 years after their expiration date (this applies only to dry or powdered meds) They will lose some of their potency.
2: you can vacuseal and freeze them to extend their potency (this applies to vitamins as well)

I keep a portion of my meds (script and OTC) vacuseal in the freezer. These are clearly marked as to what they are and the dosage. They are ready to grab and go, if I have to!

[crashdive123]

I have some good info or you,
1: If the meds are stored at 70 degrees or less and are kept dry they are good for 9 years after their expiration date (this applies only to dry or powdered meds) They will lose some of their potency.
2: you can vacuseal and freeze them to extend their potency (this applies to vitamins as well)

I keep a portion of my meds (script and OTC) vacuseal in the freezer. These are clearly marked as to what they are and the dosage. They are ready to grab and go, if I have to!

Do you have a source for that? I seem to remember a story (don't recall where) that stated while some prescription meds will lose their potency after the expiration, some actually gain potency.

[TJ Lucky]

The best thing I have found for OTC meds is the single serve packets. They are small enough to place in a small zip lock snack bag and keep in the glove box or seat packet of you vehicle. For controlled meds, the original container is the best way to go. For non-controlled meds I would vac-seal in single dose packages and label with med name, dosage strength and dosing times (1 per day, 2 per day, etc.).

[Rick]

Most prescriptions will still be good years later. Here's an article from Harvard Med School.

http://www.health.harvard.edu/fhg/updates/update1103a.shtml

I don't store drugs in my vehicles. I have a small, plastic pill container something like inthewild posted that I carry in the woods along with my doctor's phone number and my pharmacy phone number. If the officer has a question he can call the pharmacy or my doctor to confirm my prescription.

In my conversation with my doctor he told me there was no reason to be carrying 90 (pick a number) pills in your car. The heat would damage them and he would be not be very sympathetic if I called and told him someone had stolen my script. He told me to take what I needed to carry with me in the woods and leave the rest at home. So that's what I do.

[natertot]

All good stuff guys. I don't have any script meds, so I'm not worried about that. I'm just referring to things like aspirin, tylenol, mucinex, etc. I also wouldn't have more than 100 pills of each. I'm thinking of dropping down to 25 of each, putting them in smaller sealed bags that are clearly labled as to what they are and the dosage, then putting all the smaller bags into a larger 1Gallon bag. I really don't want a traveling pharmacy in my cars, but if I have an afternoon headache at work or a stuffy nose after a night of cool river fishing, it would be nice to have somethings around.

I should mention my car kits are pretty multi-purpose. I use them as "get home bags", "stranded in my car bags", "a last minute walk in the woods bag", and "to simply have around because things you can't even think of tend to pop up out of nowhere and leave you saying "WTF!" bags".

[Rick]

I fibbed to you. I do have Tylenol in the original bottles in the vehicles. I forgot about those. Sorry.

[LowKey]

I keep a small supply of Advil along with my gear. It gets changed from pocket to pocket whatever the season is. As you get older anti-inflamatories seem to become standard equipment.

The first aid kit I have for the truck is made from what looks like insulated material. It's double thickness and padded somehow. Not sure that it is, but I keep it under the rear seat and winter or summer I've never noticed that the stuff inside is too hot or too cold. Still, I change out the burn salves and antibiotics fairly regularly. Not a lot of waste though. Seems I'm always the only one with a kit so it gets used fairly often.

[SARKY]

Sorry about that, It was an Airforce study done when a large stockpile of their meds was about to MFG expire. They did the study and found that any of the non liquid meds if kept at 70 degrees or less were good for about 9 years (they actually gave it in months).

[crashdive123]

Good to know. Thanks.

[Northern Horseman]

You might want to consider a key chain pill box, I found mine at the dollar store it holds several Tylenol and several Advil certainly enough for any problem headache or body ache that might crop up on any given day and its always on me when I'm out and about.
just always remember to keep it stocked. When out camping I don't bring any extras as I live in willow and aspen country an unlimited source of pain relief

[finallyME]

I keep my NSAIDs in a small container that you find in the checkout line. The rest I put in small ziplocks ( I mean really small) and then everything gets put in a larger ziplock.

All I carry are pain killers, anti-diarrhea, acid reflex, and anti-histamine.

[Warheit]

Everything is in their own container. I have a friend who does some sewing and has made me mini-bags to put all sorts of contents in -- so I do that! Always on a kangaroo pouch (fanny pack) around my waist at all time.

[wholsomback]

Small ziplocs for me too then they all go in a zipper pocket.Light easy and non-bulky.

[dscrick]

I take the original label off of prescription meds and put it in the vac bag with the pills then seal them (avoids the potential "Questions" if you have the label with your name on it accompanying the drugs), then they go in the freezer in a large ziploc. Grab and go like Sarky said.

Does anybody have any specific info on the shelf life of antibiotics (Amoxicillin, etc.)?

[Rick]

The military program to test the shelf life of medicines is called the Shelf Life Extension Program. It was conducted in 1986 with the FDA performing the laboratory analysis. The SLEP site is now restricted and you must be registered to access it but when it was open I recall that most of the drugs tested fell into the 15 year shelf life with a few exceptions. The exceptions included liquid antibiotics and liquid vitamins. Having said that, it's important to note that these were unopened original packaging stored in ideal conditions. Once the package is opened the date fell to 1 year. Since then I know they have done studies on Tamiflu as well as Potassium Iodide.

The state stockpiles are rated at 2 years for Cipro and Doxy. I'm not sure why the difference.

I hate making a post like this with no source to refer to but the SLEP site is now restricted. You can do a google on SLEP. There is a lot of documentation out there if you want to wade through it. If anyone has a credible source please post it.

[kyratshooter]

For prescription meds the origional container is the only way to go. If you are emergency hospitalized the facility will not try to identify the pills in your organizer or key chain fob, neither will law enforcement if you are stoped, even if you have the label pasted to your forehead. OTC meds are thrown into the trash immidiately. I had this happen to me during a med emergency. They have no real way of identifying the drug by sight and they will not run lab alnalysis.

If you are on necessary meds for life support you can get into serious trouble if they refuse to give you your meds until all their testing is done and they detirmine what THEY think you need.

Carry your prescriptions in their origional pharmacy containers when traveling. And carry each drug in its own container, not mixed together. LE assumes that any drug is an illigal drug and if the perscription meds are not in their individual containers they ARE being carried illigally. This can be a world of hastle. Drugies come in all ages and all appearances now, they take no ones word for anything, not even your daily dose pill box.

My wife was a med tech for 30+ years and part of her work was doing potency testing for the Army and the hospital where she worked. As they tested and found the drugs still potent they would roll back the expiration dates and print new labels. She said that many of the powdered drugs like penicillin, amoxicillin and things that needed liquid added for use had been declared unlimited shelf life.

She had a computer program on her workstation computer that had shelf life of every drug her hospital had in inventory. Most of the sealed bottles were marked "indefinate". Once opened they anticipated a one year life, but that was just rule of thumb for the hospital.

Some drugs were known to go stale or need refregeration. That was a different deal altogether.

In my experience the dates on OTC meds mean nothing anyway. I take an OTC sinus med that varies in potency with every new bottle. This is espically true in generic forms.

Like Rick stated, finding real information past the "rule of thumb" and what "someone's sister that is a nurse said" is almost impossible. I think part of this is due to the hypocondria present in our society. If there were a website with all this info it would stay jamed and overloaded constantly with needless searches.

[intothenew]

I tried, but failed. Wayback didn't archive that page, or did, then didn't.

http://photos.smugmug.com/photos/i-fnjg7WB/1/L/i-fnjg7WB-L.jpg

[Rick]

That's a good post, KY. You are right on the money with LE and hospitals.

If you are on a long term drug then save the first bottle when you have your RX refilled. The first bottle has all the information on it so use it to carry your drug to the field. Keep the new bottle at home so you know how many refills you have left but use the older bottle to carry to the field. That way you are legal and everyone knows what the pill is.

[HunterDan]

Those containers with monday-friday are much too bulky for me. I just remember what all my pills looks like, then put them all together in a small plastic container. Keychain pill containers are cool too, just to keep a small amount of the basics with you from day to day...

[colorado plainsman]

One thing I have found that works great is the empty container from a powdered drink called pop fizz. A buddy of mine would bring them to work and the powder comes in a plastic tube and he was just throwing then away. I asked him to save them for me and I collected a good amount. They will hold about 16 advil which is small enough to slip into my pocket no prob. I can cram a ton of OTC meds such as imodium and benadril into my FAK taking up minimal room compared to bulky packaging. They are great for storing matches or any small stuff.

[BornthatWay]

Well as you all know I have a few health problems so my prescription meds are now a total of 24 different ones. Of course some are taken more than once a day. So I think I will soon need a backpack just to carry my prescription meds. LOL! But I do use the individual foil packes for OTC in my FAK. There is website called minmus.biz that Rick told us about that you can order all kinds of OTC meds in single dose foil packets. It is a great place to get all kinds of things in small sizes for your BOB or any other kit,