Category: First Aid/Medical

Your Kidneys in TEOTWAWKI, by Dr. Bob

Kidneys are pretty important, and often an underdog in the grouping of organ systems.  Without functioning kidneys, none of us can live for more than about a week, making the kidneys pretty important from a survival standpoint.  Seems interesting that a person can literally be brain dead and survive–but without kidneys you can’t.  Kidneys often get lumped into the “random organ” category and people often think of them like their gall bladder and appendix.  Kidneys are more like lungs if you are looking for a good comparison.  You can live with one, you can’t live without two, and you really would prefer …


Letter Re: Celiac Disease: The Gluten-Free Prepping Challenge

We are a family of survivalists and almost all of us are gluten free, some out of necessity and some by choice.  Here are some thoughts and resources for gluten free food.   Later this year, there is a Gluten Free Expo convention in Sandy, Utah starting October 12.  If you can’t attend, check out the vendors page (there are many) to identify other resources for gluten free food.   Augason Farms has #10 cans of food that are certified gluten free, including oats.   It’s a great company and easy to talk to them on the phone.  If you want …


No More Thyroid Meds…Now What?, by Dr. Bob

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At the request of a reader via e-mail, we will review the topic of thyroid disease from a survival perspective.  Levothyroxine is the most frequent medication that we are consulted about at Surviving Healthy.  Thyroid supplementation is the one of the most frequent prescription medications currently prescribed here in the US.  There is a huge debate about which supplementation is better, why some fail Synthroid, why some only respond to Armour thyroid, among other debates.  Those are beyond my scope as a Family Practitioner, and this article will not add to the confusion of these issues, but will instead address …


Four Letters Re: Celiac Disease: The Gluten-Free Prepping Challenge

Jim: I am also gluten intolerant and I found out much in the same way and the previous writer.  In addition the information provided I would like to point out potatoes.  They can be bought in 50 pounds bags and stored in a root cellar for most of the winter. We buy two 50 pound bags in the fall that last us until late spring.  We also grow 18 different varieties of potatoes and save and grow them from seed each spring.  That way we have the knowledge and ability to ramp up our own potato production in case we couldn’t buy them from the farm …


Celiac Disease: The Gluten-Free Prepping Challenge, by Geoff in Kentucky

In mid-2010 I began to suffer from some relatively severe digestive problems. After several months of discomfort, and many rounds of expensive medical tests, I finally received a confirmed diagnosis. I had Celiac Disease. Celiac Disease is a digestive disorder that is greatly misunderstood. It is not a food allergy. It is an autoimmune disease in which the body’s immune system produces antibodies to a specific protein, gluten, that is found in the ordinary grains of wheat, rye, and barley. This protein adheres to the microscopic villi (fingerlike projections) in the small intestine. As the body’s immune system attacks the …


All You Need to G.O.O.D. You Can Carry on Your Back, by Charles M.

In 2000 my wife and I decided we would do a through hike of the Appalachian Trail from Georgia to Maine.  The distance traveled would be 2,168.5 miles of foot trails through the wildernesses of the eastern United States.   We climbed more than 250 mountains.  Our elevation change was equal to climbing Mount Everest from sea level to the summit and back nineteen (19) times. The trail is very challenging and can be dangerous (two people died on the trail the year we hiked).  The trail follows the crest of the Appalachian Mountain through fourteen states.  Although this was a …


Dr. Bob on Snakebites in TEOTWAWKI

This article was requested by a reader from SurvivalBlog and therefore is published here before it even appears on my own web site next week.  In reviewing the snake-related material in the history, no review of snakebites was found.  There was some reference to people that have been bitten by rattlers, and the July 2006 run in that the fine editor of this blog had with a 3-footer, but no review of risk and advise for treatment.  We will change all that in one swoop here, and the review will be as thorough as my capabilities allow, but hopefully will also generate …


Letter Re: Planning for Shingles in TEOTWAWKI

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 …


Urban and Suburban Preparedness, by ChemEngineer

A recent conversation prompted this article. It seems that friends in urban and suburban homes feel that there may be little hope for them in case of disaster, since they have no “retreat” set up in a rural area as a destination. This article points out similarities in all disaster preparedness, as well as possible differences in strategies and tactics to make surviving in urban and suburban locations more likely. None of these are new ideas, just slanted toward those who are urban/ suburban dwellers and that do not have a rural retreat location. While not detailed in scope, below …


Planning for Shingles Symptoms in TEOTWAWKI, by M. Matriarch

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 …


Bowel Issues – Part 3, by Dr. Bob

IBS and TEOTWAWKI Irritable Bowel Syndrome (IBS), is a difficult and tricky topic to cover.  First, let’s get some of the politics out of the way and then some pretty interesting facts about IBS to start with, then we will move on to some helpful management tips.  The actual definition of Irritable Bowel Syndrome is this:  a gastrointestinal syndrome characterized by chronic abdominal pain and altered bowel habits in the absence of any organic cause.  Obviously, if there is no way to actually test for a disease, then there is a wide interpretation of who has it and why they …


Preventing, Identifying and Managing Infectious Disease, by Nancy S.

It is of extreme importance in any TEOTWAWKI situation that precautions be taken to prevent contracting or spreading infectious disease. If infectious disease is contracted, it is important to be able to recognize and manage it. This article will present some infectious diseases to be aware of, how they are contracted, what measures to take to minimize the risk of infection, and what to do if you have been exposed.  Infectious or Communicable?  Infectious diseases are caused by microorganisms such as bacteria, viruses, fungi or parasites that invade the body. Commonly confused with communicable diseases, infectious diseases, not surprisingly, cause …


Bowel Issues – Part 2, by Dr. Bob

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 …


Aloe Vera, My Survival Companion, by Carol F.

I grew up in the low desert areas of Arizona:  Douglas, Wilcox, and Mesa.   Later, living near Flagstaff, I began keeping Aloe Vera (Aloe barbadensis) in my kitchen.  In the low desert, Aloe grows in medians and desert yards; almost weed – like.  It is a succulent so it does not need much water.  Most of its moisture comes from any available humidity.  It has a cactus look without thorns, and is a welcome green in a harsh country.  A bonus is the beautiful tiny orange-yellow lily flower that fits with the easy lifestyle of a desert landscape.   Pictures and …


Bowel Issues – Part 1, by Dr. Bob

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 …