Category: First Aid/Medical

Wildcrafting Healing, by Peggy S.

When TEOTWAWKI comes, there isn’t going to be a CVS or Walgreen’s pharmacy open and stocked for very long afterward. So, what to do when you get a nasty cut, burn or some other infection? First, as common sense tells us, wash it off with soap and water or use some stashed vodka to kill any possible germs or even the old time remedy of kerosene. The kerosene was also an old time remedy to keep fleas off your dogs, just pour a thin line of it down their backs like you do with modern flea drops. Just remember to …


Letter Re: Holly as a Substitute Caffeine Source

James, Many people in North America wonder how they would survive in a world without caffeine [since coffee and cocoa are both imported].  An alternative to coffee could be Yaupon holly tea.  The Yaupon holly is used as a tea by various Indian tribes, and it has been studied as a commercial herbal tea drink. According to my local colonial history book, colonists also raised Yaupon tea leaves for trade. It is related to yerba mate, a holly used to make a caffeinated tea in South America.   The Wikipedia article is rather confused on this point, but it is believed …


A New Organization Replacing Medical Corps (PRNMed)

I received the following note from Chuck Fenwick, the director of Medical Corps   “As I posted on my site, Medical Corps will no longer be organizing classes.  Our Lead Instructor, David Turner has agreed to take care of all the logistics of teaching the Medical Response in Hostile Environments class [under the new company name, PRNMed.] David, having completed nursing school during a two-year furlough, will be back teaching the class too.  I will also be teaching, but only have to show up and instruct.   Medical Corps did not bring forward our extensive student list because sharing e-mail lists is against …


Letter Re: Learning More Than Just Weak Hand and Shooting

James Wesley: Regarding the recent letter, “Learning More Than Just Weak Hand and Shooting”: As one who has been on crutches several times due to surgery, had my left arm in a cast three times, a broken ankle, had a concussion, and many sprains throughout my athletic years, I tell people that you don’t realize how much you do without thinking about it, and to think about it every day. Brushing your teeth, getting up and down from a toilet, taking a shower, going up and down stairs, working with tools, caring for your family (children, dogs, spouse) and friends, …


Letter Re: Learning More Than Just Weak Hand and Shooting

Mr. Rawles,  In many of your posts, and the posts on other sites, I see a recurring theme to practice with weapons using your “off-hand”, but I don’t see this same advice put out for any other activity. All right, so a bit of background: I’m a pretty hard-wired preparedness guy, I prep, I practice, and I thought I was pretty well covered for just about anything until just recently.   I was at work and while transiting from one area to another I slipped and slammed my hand in a large steel latching mechanism on one of the blast …


Childbirth at Home, by Kelli S.

The Department of Health is creating local groups to design an emergency disaster preparedness plan for pandemic flu and other emergencies that would impact pregnant women and newborns, since they are a vulnerable group and need to be treated differently.  In our county, it has been decided that healthy pregnant women will deliver outside the hospital in some emergency situations, pandemic flu being one of them. Are we prepared to assist these women and their newborns? Childbirth is a natural, physiological event. It is not, by definition, a medical emergency that needs to be “managed”, nor is it an illness …


Gold, Frankincense and Myrrh, by Rick H.

“Now when Jesus was born in Bethlehem of Judea in the days of Herod the king, behold, there came wise men from the east to Jerusalem, Saying, Where is he that is born King of the Jews? for we have seen his star in the east, and are come to worship him. “When they had heard the king, they departed; and, lo, the star, which they saw in the east, went before them, till it came and stood over where the young child was. When they saw the star, they rejoiced with exceeding great joy. And when they were come …


Two Letters Re: How I Survived an Attempted Murder

James Wesley: Regarding the recent article “How I Survived an Attempted Murder, by A. in Ecuador”, I’m praying that A. has seen a ophthalmologist (not optometrist) about that flash in his eye.  Retinas can deteriorate quickly – if they can be fixed it is quite an intensive surgery and recovery – speaking from experience.  Consider the prospect of being blind in one eye for the rest of your life, not just while climbing a cliff to safety. It is wise to pay for the doctor visit! – F.W.   JWR: In A’s article he says he suffers from a flashing in his …


Emergency Preparedness for the Frugal Beginner, by Paratrooper John

The incredibly large volume of information available regarding emergency preparedness and survival is both wonderful and terrible at the same time.  There’s enough information to keep an enthusiast occupied for years and enough information to keep beginners away for the rest of their lives. It can be a very daunting task for a new or inexperienced person to try and decide where and how to begin.  Should a beginner attend survival training, have a year’s supply of food, have their home hooked up with backup generators, move to the country, live off the grid and have stockpiles of firearms with …


Letter Re: Sucking Chest Wounds and Exsanguination

Hi Mr Rawles, I would like to make a comment on the letter by Walker In The Woods: Sucking Chest Wounds and Exsanguination. Air is sucked through the wound during exhalation and then is trapped, causing pressure. This pressure slowly builds and will eventually cause the pressure to be applied to the heart. This pressure will eventually cause hypoxia and cardiac arrest as the lungs cannot draw in enough oxygen to keep the body going or the heart will be pressed to the point that it cannot function. The physiology is that the resistance to air ingress is much less …


Sucking Chest Wounds and Exsanguinations, by Walker in the Woods

With all of the injuries that we learn to treat in the Army’s combat medic training program, there are two killers that must be addressed immediately after any contact with the enemy. The first is the sucking chest wound… and I have to say, these quite frankly, suck. Forgive the humor but they do just that. The medical field describes these wounds as this: Sucking Chest wound- a wound received by way of penetration or laceration to the thoracic cavity which causes air and or blood to be trapped in the pleural space. Air is sucked through the wound during …


Letter Re: How to Drain an Abscess

I have to agree with the recommendations for using Ichthammol for treating splinters and abscesses.  Put it on the toughest, tiniest sliver and overnight it is out.  Another extremely helpful use is to treat ingrown toenails, a condition that might necessitate minor surgery otherwise.  It is truly wonderful stuff!  Anything that smells that bad has got to be powerful medicine. – Maine Cruiser


Two Letters Re: How to Drain an Abscess

Hi Mr. Rawles,  I am happy to see the additional information to address abscess drainage in a SHTF situation. Thanks to Dr. Prepper for the  drawing salve idea. I did a pub-med search and found the icthammol does have antibiotic properties although I could not find the mechanism for white cell migration to the surface. I know ranchers use this stuff and modern medicine doesn’t always have all the answers. Thanks. Ladydoc is exactly right about using a big enough incision to get wide drainage without going into healthy tissue-very good addition. I also liked the fact she clarified that …


Letter Re: How to Drain an Abscess

Dear Mr. Rawles: A few comments, in no particular order, regarding the recent article “How to Drain an Abscess, by Lonestar Doc”.   Lonestar Doc is absolutely correct that an incision and drainage (I&D) should be handled by someone with the appropriate training and experience to perform the procedure.  However if you are in a situation where you as a non-medical person need to drain an abscess, such as described by Lonestar Doc, it is important to proceed with the I&D whether you have Lidocaine for anesthesia or not.  The pain of an I&D without anesthesia does not outweigh the …


Letter Re: Gentian Blue — An Old School Antibiotic

JWR: Another great use for Gentian Violet is non-surgical treatment of onychocryptosis, the twenty-five cent word for ingrown toenails. I discovered this old treatment one bored night on Emergency Room call at an Indian reservation hospital, flipping through some hundred year old surgical textbook. Just paint the nail folds and nail liberally. If antibiotics available, and they weren’t when the book was written, I usually use some erythromycin. The Gentian Violet desiccates the nail fold and toughens it, treating the ingrown nail. While it’s not a 100% cure, it works well enough I still use it in my practice. I …