Vet Meds

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Anyone out there know if the formulations for fish antibiotics are such that they would not be absorbed properly if consumed by people? For example, Erythromycin tablets are formulated to hold together in the stomach and then be absorbed by the intestine. The reason is that Erythromycin is destroyed by stomach acid.

Is it a waste of money, then, to buy animal antibiotics as emergency human medication?

JJ

-- Jeremiah Jetson (laterthan@uthink.y2k), November 17, 1999

Answers

A waste of money in less you have familiarity with recommended dosages for animals and can convert to appropriate doses for peeples. There's a vet or two who frequent this forum and may get to your question tomorrow. Meanwhile, I recommend you go for non- prescription anti-biotics, the best of which in my experience is olive leaf extract, which I have found more effective than both erythromyacin and sulfa drugs -- try www.eastparkresearch.com and click on their "clinicals" in their menu.

-- Roch Steinbach (rochsteinbach@excite.com), November 18, 1999.

Supposedly, the antibiotics labelled "for fish/aquarium use only" are identical to those which are sold at your friendly local pharmacy. There are several interesting and informative threads on the pros & cons of this subject at the Michael Hyatt and the y2kwomens discussion groups. If you need their site address, let me know.

In general, modern medicine's bag of antibiotic tricks is currently in trouble--with drug resistant buggers threatening to overwhelm us. I'd completely agree that olive leaf extract & other 'traditional'/folk remedies may be very helpful in getting us past this threat. Unfortunately we've lost so much of the 'older' medical knowledge that it'll take some research on your part to find out what/how/when/how much, etc. to take. Go to any decent book store (Barnes & Noble comes immediately to mind) and look for a guide to herbals. I found one originally pub. in the 1930's--very complete-- almost 1000 pages for $8.00 on sale at B&N: "A Modern Herbal" by M.Grieve. It was written when lawsuits were much less common than now--so the info/advice is probably much less 'hedged' than current writings.

There has also been much heated debate on the pros/cons of non-herbal remedies such as "colloidal silver" (or CS). While CS has many detractors (the FDA & pharmaceutical companies among others), it (or in forms almost identical to CS) is in current use as an anti- bacterial agent in certain water filters (British Berkefeld and others) and also in the modern medical field as an ointment for severe burn treatment (Silvadene(sp?) creme). So there MUST be something beneficial about CS too!

Still, it could be comforting to have a small supply of fish Rx's around (especially if you've got fish) that COULD be used for other purposes in a real emergency situation. Dosage and timing would obviously be important. Current pubs that would help are: "The Merck Manual of Medical Information--HOME EDITION" (About $8.00) and "The Pill Book" (About $7.00).

-- Al (triadguys@aol.com), November 18, 1999.


If you visit Michael Hyatt's site at www.michaelhyatt.com and click on Discussion Forums, then click on Health, you will find lengthy, informative discussions about vet antibiotics. Also, in their Health Archives there is lots more.

What the medical professionals who moderate there say is that these are IDENTICAL products, made by the same pharmaceutical houses, but labeled for fish, and sold cheaply, because people will not pay a lot for antibiotics for their pets as they would for themselves, and the drug companies will take what the market will bear.

Furthermore, you do not need a prescription to order these. They list three veterinary supply houses that have websites from which you can order. Good luck!

-- Elaine Seavey (Gods1sheep@aol.com), November 18, 1999.


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