Category: First Aid/Medical

A Beginner’s Guide to Essential Oils, by C.D.H.

I have recently been introduced to Essential Oils and I am by no means an expert, but I believe they definitely have a place in the prepper’s medical bag. They are a pure, all-natural alternative to many types of medications and ointments without the side effects of chemicals. Essential oils are extracted from certain varieties of trees, shrubs, herbs, and flowers. The oil is concentrated in different parts of the plant. The most common way of extracting oil is through steam distillation. It takes thousands of rose petals to make one small bottle of rose oil! Most essential oils are …


How Can Teens Contribute?, by Hannah from Tennessee

Describing how teenagers can contribute to and have the right attitude for family prepping. (Written by a teenager for teenagers.)   As a teenage prepper my top priority is making sure my family and I will survive a natural or man-made disaster, and prepping is how I do that. Prepping is a family affair around my house, each of us have our items or category (medical, food, garden, hunting, etc) that we are responsible for prepping and stocking up and we carry-out that responsibility to the fullest. If one of us doesn’t do our job, in an TEOTWAWKI situation, it …


So, You Bought Fish Antibiotics. Now What?, by TX ER DOC

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First, the disclaimers:  Nothing in this article constitutes medical advice.  It is for information purposes only.  It is not meant to diagnose or treat any disease.  Fish antibiotics are not for human consumption.  Never take any medication that was not prescribed specifically for you by your physician.  Hopefully, this information can help you be a more informed and involved patient.  Short of a true post-SHTF scenario, I strongly advise you not to self-diagnose and treat.  (Health care professionals are especially notorious for doing this.)  I have seen significant harm come to many patients because of this.  Recently, someone killed off …


Letter Re: Remembering Dear Aunt Flow

Dear Editor, I really do appreciate Kali for bring up our Dear Aunt Flow because is something I don’t think a lot of women have thought about. I did want to bring up a concern I have about using tampons and menstrual cups that I don’t think has been brought up yet which is the risk of toxic shock syndrome. From what I remember learning in nursing school it’s basically when bacteria gets introduced into a dark moist place in the body is allowed to grow and gets into the bloodstream  through thin skin and becomes life threatening. I’ve heard …


Remembering Dear Aunt Flow, by Kali

It is a reasonable assumption that most SurvivalBlog readers are already going to be in the preparedness mindset. Whether you’re preparing for a natural disaster, economic collapse, zombie apocalypse, or something in between you must always have each and every family member’s needs in mind. Most of us start with the ‘generic’ items that everyone needs such as water, food and standard medical supplies. While that is the absolute best starting place for all families, after the basics are accounted for you should then consider any unique or special needs that you may have to provide for. Many of us …


Year One at the New Retreat, by Mrs. R.L.B.

Have you been thinking about leaving the crowded city and moving to a retreat? Perhaps you are weighing many factors, finances, age, leaving friends and family, and work.  But the most important factor you should weigh, is the answer to the question, “If the SHTF, can we survive here?”  If the answer is no, then take the leap and move!  We did!  We sold our San Diego house and finally landed in Washington state, on the west side of the Cascades.  We aimed for the Redoubt, but due to work constraints we could not make that work for us.  So, …


Immunization: Your First and Last Defense at TEOTWAWKI, by Philip J. Goscienski, M.D.

If the nation’s infrastructure should crumble at TEOTWAWKI more than two centuries of medical advances in immunology will go down with it. The loss of the power grid in a massive solar flare or EMP will eliminate our capacity to make vaccines that protect us against serious, often fatal illnesses. The physicians who survive will face infectious diseases that they have never seen because they have been eliminated by vaccines. Survivalblog readers are aware of the need to stock up on beans, Band-Aids and bullets but it is vital to acquire a supply of immune substances within the body. We …


The Bugs No One Talks About, by J.T.

Parasites effect a vast number of the world’s population, and they are seen as directly decreasing the productivity of people, and increasing the morbidity/mortality of affected persons.  I have witnessed numerous children afflicted with taeniasis (tapeworm), ascariasis (roundworm), and giardiasis while on a medical mission trip to a remote region in Peru.  The burden of parasitic infections in these children was immense and contributed to stunted growth, fatigue, and likely cognitive delays.  Though in North America we typically do not worry about parasitic diseases, this is only a recent phenomenon that has occurred in the past 60 to 80 years.  …


Surviving The E.R., by J. in Montana

This article will focus on the latter half of the oft used phrase The End of the World As We Know It.  Operative portion being “As We Know It.” As an emergency room (ER) nurse, I have the perspective of seeing on a daily basis, for patients and family members of patients, the end of their world as they know it.  While the world keeps turning for everyone else, a tragic disaster unfolds for them and life will never be the same.  I offer this article from the perspective of one who has seen a wide range of traumatic events and people’s reaction …


A Practical Plan for Survival–One Man’s View, by C.L.

When I was very young I would sometime spend rainy days at my grand-mother’s house going through sporting goods catalogs and the Sears catalog making list of items that might be needed during disasters or emergencies. I have no idea why I am wired in such a way that I give a good amount of thought to being prepared. I am no longer a young boy but now I believe making such plans are more important than ever before. The economic situation in our country can only be described as terrifying to anyone who will take the blinders off and …


Letter Re: Prepping and a Terminal Cancer Diagnosis

JWR, We’ve been preppers since the late 1970s when we were living in a New Jersey seaside apartment and our long term food was stored under furniture in a 400 square foot apartment.  After that a job relocation to a more rural area enabled us to buy a 35 acre fixer-upper farm where we lived for 16 years and learned how to garden, raise livestock, heat with wood, and become generally self-sufficient.  Then we bought our second rundown farm in upstate New York (we were suckers for fixing up dilapidated farmhouses) and started up a commercial sheep operation on 360 …


Letter Re: Microwave Oven Method for Decontaminating N95 Face Masks

Dear JWR: I had an interesting conversation with a member of the CDC about decontaminating N95 face masks. The study results can be found here. You’ll notice that the test gives positive results but more research is needed. Here was the conversation I had with Edward Fisher after reading it. Here are some snippets from our exchange: Me: 1. Did you remove the metal nosepieces from the masks before sterilization? 2. Any updates to this study? Edward: We did not modify any of the tested filtering facepiece respirators before decontamination. If the masks had metal nosepieces, they were not removed. …


Stuff Hitting the Fan: A Position Paper – Part 4, by R.L.

(This is the conclusion to the article series that began on Friday.) Appendix A The following is essentially a “wish” list; however the items that are in bold are relatively important.  The tools and medical areas would be for a complement for 1-10 people.  The sundries area covers a family of six.  The food area is for one person for one year, multiply (or divide) as you see fit.  There is extra food included for charitable impulses.  Coordinate purchases among the group if you plan to congregate.  I live in Georgia, so the clothing and supplies are tailored for that …


Stuff Hitting the Fan: A Position Paper – Part 2, by R.L.

(Continued from Part 1) Level I Scenario In these paragraphs, we will look at the areas of primary and secondary importance as they can be managed in a Level I scenario. Water A person needs around two gallons per day for cooking and rudimentary cleaning.  For short term emergencies it may be possible to store up two weeks or more water, that much should be stored up anyway.  When you store water, treat it with iodine or Clorox or boil (iodine is better, boiling is best) and rotate water stores every six months, see level II instructions for disinfecting ratios.  …


Help for the New Prepper, by Don H.

 Many of us that have been prepping since before the Internet have welcomed all the new information, knowledge, and interaction with our fellow preppers. But for someone who is just starting out, it can all be overwhelming. So overwhelming that they don’t know where to start. The sad part is that many of them don’t start. They feel that they have to  spend so much money at one time to get all the gear that the experts say they need, that they just can’t do it. This is in large part due to shows like Doomsday Preppers. While I watch …