Category: First Aid/Medical

Dear Mr. Rawles: Although the personal account of shingles yesterday served to communicate the degree of discomfort and event disability the disease can inflict, the writer was in error when he communicated that the vaccine for chicken pox (varicella) will provide immunity against shingles also. To the contrary, it appears that vaccination against chickenpox actually increases the rate of shingles in a population by about 40%. When one contracts chickenpox, the virus remains in a dormant form in spinal nerve roots; when an immunological weakness permits, it may reemerge as a shingles outbreak. (This is very similar to what happens …

The chicken pox vaccine was not licensed for use in the US until 1995, which means a lot of adults today may have had chicken pox. That also means that a lot of us are susceptible to developing shingles, a painful potential recurrence of the same virus that infected us with chicken pox. I remember when my great grandmother had shingles in the early 1960s. She experienced great pain and disability for at least a couple of months, and was left much less ‘able’ than before the disease.  Medicine has come a long way since then. This contribution is to …

Mechanical bowel problems   Mechanical bowel problems can include gallstones, bezoars, malrotation, ileus, foreign bodies, food impaction, stool impaction, tumors both cancerous and benign, and intussusception.  Then there is the mechanical problem we can actually do something about in a TEOTWAWKI environment:  constipation.  First, we will review the list and talk a little bit about prevention and conservative treatments of the list above; then we can spend some time reviewing the prevention, treatment, and management of constipation.  We will also talk a little about constipation’s frequent sidekick:  hemorrhoids.  Fun topics, to be sure, but a little knowledge in these areas may …

TEOTWAWKI IBD Inflammatory Bowel Disease (IBD), is a poorly understood grouping of two separate diseases:  Ulcerative Colitis (UC) and Crohn’s Disease (CD).  Unlike other bowel diseases, both of these conditions have characteristics both in their presentation and pathology that make diagnosis fairly routine.  Both will be reviewed here with recommendations for ongoing management and treatment options in a post-collapse environment. Ulcerative Colitis patients have recurrent episodes of inflammation of the mucosal layer of the colon.  There are different subtypes of UC based on the location of the inflammation.  Ulcerative Proctitis affects the rectum, or lowest portion of the colon.  If …

Little shoots of green grass are peeking up in my part of the unnamed western state due to the unseasonably warm weather we’ve been having. Hope the sun is shining wherever you are today as well. My desire today is to share some knowledge and tidbits I’ve picked up at my job in the medical field. I hope these notes will be of benefit to you in the days ahead and that you can use them when I’m no longer coming in to work to help good folks like you because I’m at home guarding my food storage and family …

JWR, Regarding the recent article Hypertension Prevention and Planning, by  Dr. Bob and Docswife, I recently learned about a Chinese herb called Jiaoguluan (Gynostemma pentaphyllum) .  Jiaoguluan is a vasodilator, and is reputed to have several beneficial properties.  An Internet search  turns up research that suggests that is reduces blood pressure and reduces cholesterol levels.  How much credence to give to a lot of what’s on the net is hard to determine.  The plant can be grown in the US and brewed into a tea, which is the traditional Chinese way of taking it. Perhaps some SurvivalBlog readers are knowledgeable …

Along our continuing efforts to make prevention a big part of our push to inform, we need to now address hypertension.  High blood pressure is by far and away the most common condition experienced by the general population of the United States. Anti-hypertensive drugs are a multi-billion dollar business and for good reason.  High blood pressure, especially under or untreated, can lead to heart disease, stroke, memory problems, headaches, kidney failure, liver disease, bowel troubles, blindness, and can contribute to other serious disease states.  High blood pressure is a serious problem.  If you have high blood pressure; surely you have been …