Once upon a time there was a book or story where the inhabitants of a modern western town were transplanted to a medieval setting. Edit: It was "Dies The Fire" by SM Stirling.
"Wow, isn't that neat setting!" Friend A exclaims!
We started talking about what we'd do if we'd been among the people transplanted.
FuzzyGeff's reply was simple and galvanizing, he said, "Die."
FuzzyGeff has several severe respiratory ailments that he takes medications for. With those meds, he leads a pretty normal everyday life; without them, he's a deader and dead in a long lingering suffering way.
His response colored a lot of our post-apocalyptic role-playing sessions. For example in Twlight 2000, since the war went nuclear and societal collapse happened in 1997, by 2000 there are no people like FuzzyGeff alive anymore. Their meds ran out and they died.
You can't even stock up well either. It's generally hard to get more than your just-in-time model prescription grants you and those things have expiration dates. Eventually they'll lose potency no matter how many you've stashed away.
As an Asthmatic, I'm dealing with this issue. I do have a stock pile (+90 to 180) days of prescription medicine. I'm also looking into alternative, over the counter equivalents or homeopathic sources.
ReplyDeleteI think that thousands of years of natural remedies are a good indication that some conditions still can be treated without modern pharmacology. Modern medicines are without a doubt more efficient, potent, and taste better but there are many other ways of getting the same effects.
My understanding is there's a lot you can do, but there's no good replacement for the rescue inhaler?
DeleteOh, hell, I wrote it and -I- would die without modern medications in short order. On the other hand, we're all going to die anyway and you can never tell when.
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