I got infected with Giardia once and went on Flagyll, which pretty much wiped out my GI microbials. A couple quarts of warm buttermilk, a tablespoon of raw sourdough starter, and some home made yogurt and I was back in business.

Giardia is no fun, but neither was what happened to me after I took the Flagyll, until I got the buttermilk in me that is.

I always thought that most antibiotics were very time sensitive and lost their effectiveness relatively quickly, such that storing them wasn't a practical idea. In any case, I think it is a bit unethical to use antibiotics like you would other medicines, mainly because the more they get used, the less effective they become. I've taken Keflex for a bronchial infection and it did absolutely nothing, then the doctor put me on a different course of antibiotics that cured it up in a few days.

Physicians have knowledge about the bugs in the air at any given time and what is working against them, information the gen pub doesn't know about. If I am going to remote locations, I will consult my doctor then and see if he thinks I should take anything with me.