How much medication are you hoarding?

Ok I'll start. Hrmmmm...let me take inventory:

28 Canasa suppositories
190 Asacol HD
1 Hydrocoritsone suppository (poor thing)
16 Mesalamine enemas (I can hardly wait)
1 Coritifoam (dispenser cap missing - did my dog eat it?)

And the usual immodium and GasX.

Hmm... More imodium than I can count, 12 leftover enemas, about 30 leftover suppositories, some t3s an emerg doc wrote me for pain ( and codein to slow down bowels-never used one pill), some buscopan tablets that are less than effective my lovely new Elavil tabs, and of course my trusty asacol hd.

Ooo, I forgot my bentyl, haha.

I have about 4 boxes of canasa in stash. Lot's of old pred, colazal, too many various nasal inhalers to count. I have a whole bag of stuff. I actually threw out a bunch a while back but I kept the necessities.

pmedic - I noticed that you had avascular necrosis in both your knees? That's a fear I have with being on pred for a year so I'm sorry you had to deal with it :( .

How long did it take before it showed up for you? How did it affect both knees, did they tell you?

I don't hoard medication. Three reasons:

1) If society collapses to a point we can't get our medications anymore, then things are likely to get very nasty. I have no interest in prolonging my life once the zombies come knocking on my door.

2) They never worked, so what's the point? The only med I would even consider hoarding are painkillers.

3) I need ostomy supplies more than I need meds.

I still have some of everything in my signature except for Cimzia and Remicade :-\ Plus all of the various painkillers I was sent home with from the hospital, never took any of it. I would never tell anyone I know in real life though because I'm a little paranoid that someone will swipe them from my medicine cabinet! No one wants my Pentasa for recreation but I'm sure they'd like to have the oxycodone.

I have prednisone and hydrocortisone enemas that I am keeping just in case I crash. Everything else I get rid of pretty quickly. It is scary to combine older teens with prescriptions. My son is trustworthy, but we only have one bathroom and he does have friends over. My Vicodin is not in the medicine cabinet.

Active-UCer- I first noticed something wrong with my left knee with pain and swelling while on vacation hiking in Yosemite NP. I had been on 2-3 rounds of prednisone over the course of a year or two with 40 mg being my highest out of hospital dose. In hospital was much higher. I wasn't on prednisone consistently, just several courses apart from one another. It still rotted out my femurs at the knees. Lucky for me, I have the best orthopedic surgeon in the world in my hometown. He has a special procedure he used to save my joints. Any other Dr.would have put me on pain meds and waited till the joints fail then replace them bc my bones were almost at collapse stage. Anyway, after core decompressions and bone grafts in both knees in two separate surgeries, and a year and a half on crutches, I have full mobility no pain, no crutches so far. Did a lot of hiking last summer and legs held out fine. I am praying they continue to hold forever. I hope that answers your questions! If you are still taking prednisone, please try to find an alternative, if possible. AVN is horribly painful and debilitating.

Hmm I must be odd because I don't hoard medicines. I just have one bottle of each: Apriso, Omperzole and Zyrtec. I used to collect Colocorts but I haven't used them in over 2 years so threw them out because they expired.

I try to get all my prescription meds about a month ahead and maintain that cushion, just in case. Insurance companies have gotten so squirrelly now you may not be able to get your refill two days early even if you're going on vacation, so I plan ahead.

For my PRN's, I do keep about 30 hydrocortisone suppositories on hand (they work for IBS, too) and a half dozen or so hc enemas, even though I haven't had to use one for years. My Tramadol (for musculoskeletal pain), I fill every month on the first day I can, and I've got about a three month supply. That's going to pay off later this month when I have to stop taking my Mobic for a week before surgery.

Pmedic - I was on Pred for basically a solid year (at varying doses) the first year I was dx'ed. I was trying to find a standard med that worked. When Remi + 40megs of pred didn't bring on remission, I decided to have my colon removed. I knew pred could destroy you. I already had high cholesterol and high bp because of it. Not to mention the cosmetic effects.

Another person on the ostomy forum had used pred twice. She has avn of the shoulder two years after stopping.

It sounds like you had an incredible surgeon. I am so happy for you that you have been able to do the things you love.

I probably would win or be a close second for non-prescription drugs/herbs. 4 x large boxes + a whole large drawer full. Add another full large drawer for prescription meds. The result of endless trial and error and making sure i am adequately stocked.