Category: First Aid/Medical

Wild Edible and Medicinal Plants, by Slim

Our hunter-gatherer ancestors survived for generations by gathering the food that nature provided. Some of those plants contain natural remedies to many common problems, and in fact are where many modern pharmaceuticals come from.  In this article we will be discussing various edible plants mostly found in the north east United States, as well as a few others. Provisos: Before getting started you should be warned that some plants can be highly toxic. We will cover some common look-a-likes, but you should never eat a plant unless you are one hundred percent sure of what you’re eating. Wild poisonous plants often resemble non-poisonous …


An Introductory How To Guide to Wild Herbal Medicine, by P. Farms Mike

DISCLAIMER:  I am not a medical professional.  All advice given in this article should be discussed with your doctor before attempting to use them.  Please be cautious that all plants that you use have been properly identified before using them medically. After a societal collapse, no matter the cause, store bought medicine will disappear.  If you are like my wife and I you have stored up medicines along with your food, water, and all the rest.  However, if the collapse will be long term then sooner or later you are going to run out of medicine.  About a year ago, …


How to Talk Your Doctor into Prescribing You Antibiotics, by Dr. Cynthia Koelker

First of all, don’t use those words.  Doctors don’t want to be “talked into” something that they may not want to do.  You’ll need a better approach.   Secondly, if you tack your request on to the end of an office visit, it will not be granted.  At this point your doctor is ready to move on to the next patient and will not appreciate the delay.  You don’t want your doctor irritated with you when you ask him a favor.   So how does one meet with success?    Basically you need to enter the doctor’s “world” and see …


My Top Five Favorite Plants

Nature is amazing, I love plants. Not only does just looking at them produce a calming effect, they are beneficial to us in every way. From food, to medicine, glue and rope, plants give us everything we need. These are my top five favorite plants because they are amazing, easy to grow or find and have many uses which are especially valid in TEOTWAWKI. Here are my favorite plants found in the wild, and in the garden, and the reasons why. 1. Garlic  Garlic is great for two reasons, it is a food and a medicine. All parts are edible except …


Letter Re: Advice for a Partially Disabled Prepper

Mr. JWR: I am 57, been collecting prepping supplies for the last 5+ years, but was involved in an accident in 2008 where I was disabled. I’m ambulatory, but limited in lifting and such (three inoperable herniated discs in lower back) – I am planning moving to the Redoubt, but fear that my limited abilities will make me less than attractive or welcome to any community or preppers I may encounter. I do have manual skills in building both small items up to buildings, but cannot actually do the work. Is it worth it for me to move there? I …


Kitchen Cupboard Medicine, by Barefoot Yankee Gal

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Open your kitchen cupboard and what do you see?  Salt, pepper, ginger, dill, alum, meat tenderizer, honey, molasses, baking soda; and the list can go on.  Viewed as flavor enhancers and condiments these are tasty additions to any meal.  But there is a hidden world of medicinal benefit in many of those little tins and shaker-topped jars. When you reach for the alum to eliminate a canker sore, or swallow a teaspoonful of honey to soothe a sore throat, or make a moist plaster of meat tenderizer to take the sting out of a bee-bite, you are practicing “Kitchen Cupboard …


Post-Apocalyptic Healthcare, by Dr. Daniel Stickler

I first began prepping about two years ago so I am fairly new to this.  In those two years I have been fairly aggressive with my education and training on the topic with much of my real world education coming from reading blogs.  I have found an area where there is a great deal of misinformation and limited preparedness so it has prompted me to address this topic since it is the one area where I possess a skill set that I can share.  The topic is healthcare after the SHTF.  I think it is difficult for any of us, …


Survival Basics: The Tropics, by G.S.

Sometime in the not so distant future our lives will be turned upside down by yet another natural or manmade emergency. Start now by doing your research and figure out which type of emergency is most likely to affect your life. Then get ready! Once the stores close their doors and the gas stations are no longer pumping gas, it’s too late! Hope for the best, prepare for the worst. Remember that the survival basics are similar even if the emergency or climatic conditions are different. I’m going to talk about survival in the Tropics. I was born and raised …


Letter Re: Traumatic Brain Injuries

As a physician I would like to share my experience in evaluating and treating concussions (mild Traumatic Brain Injury- mTBI) in military and civilian patients over the last 3 years. In this article concussion and mTBI refer to identical injuries. This is a very pertinent discussion at this time due to the recent unfortunate shooting incident in Afghanistan by a US Military soldier diagnosed with TBI (traumatic brain injury). The Rand Corporation estimates there are over 350,000 US military men and women suffering from concussions symptoms (mTBI) and PTSD (Post Traumatic Stress Disorder) from blast incidents in Iraq and Afghanistan. …


Letter Re: Feedback on a Combat Medicine Course

Good Morning Jim, I have to fill you in on this.  I spent the last three days in Ohio at Chuck Fenwick’s (of Medical Corps / KIO3) Combat medicine class and just posted this on my Facebook page.   “I’m the president of CampingSurvival.com. I spent the last three days at Chuck Fenwick and Dave Turner’s combat medicine class in Ohio and I highly recommend it. Check out the stuff we did, here. It was a great experience and I am so glad I got to meet some of the great people I did. We will also have some new …


Rabies – Coming Your Way? by Dr. Cynthia J. Koelker

Rabies – a legitimate concern or fear-mongering?  As I watch my pet Golden Retriever “Doodles” cautiously sniff at the curb sewer, I believe the threat is real.  A family of raccoons lives in the sewer pipes, and just a few months ago a local dog died of raccoon rabies.  Could my children be next? Ohio is on the frontier of raccoon rabies, but despite yearly aerial and ground baiting programs for oral rabies vaccination, the uniformly lethal infection is moving westward.  Bat rabies, the other common threat, is distributed more evenly across the United States.  (If you’re wondering about your …


Caring for Ill and Disabled People, Post-TEOTWAWKI by Mrs. Icebear

Introductory Note: We are not medical professionals. We just have extensive experience working in nursery homes and taking care of injured, sick or disabled family members, here called “patient”, insert whatever is relevant to you. So here are our tips and recommendations, not necessarily in order of importance: If you have a disabled family member, consider getting hold of a wheel chair and a specially designed  “sitting” sleeping bag for wheelchair users. Alternatively make a carpet bag with a side zipper out of fleece blankets. Essential for bugging out or just if the heating fails. Have a bedpan and a …


Two Letters Re: Your Kidneys in TEOTWAWKI

Dear Mr. Rawles,   Dr. Bob is 100% accurate in telling people subject to kidney stones to give up coffee, tea and cokes (a.k.a. calcium oxalate).  As a man who has given birth to 14 stones in 10 years, 2 by litho., I am glad to say I am stone free for two years and show no signs of having more stones.  Part of my Southern heritage is enjoying sweet-tea.  But it had to go, along with my morning coffee and afternoon Coke.  I had a headache for 6 days before the caffeine left my body.  Still, I can look …


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 …