Category: First Aid/Medical

Letter Re: Some Online Resources on Determining Prescription Drug Shelf Lives

Sir: For the survivalist planner determining actual prescription drug shelf lives is a critical subject. Yet little discussion or research has been submitted survival web sites. The following are some concise and factual sources with information on this critical survival planning subject. Congressional investigation: Extending The Shelf Life of Prescription Drugs Military Stockpiles ‘Expired’ Drugs From the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette: Drugs may outlast label date Many Medicines Are Potent Years Past Expiration Dates (a Wall Street Journal article, re-posted by The End Times Report) From Associated Content: Drug Expiration Dates: How They Benefit the Pharmaceutical Companies Additional sources are welcomed. Regards, …


Field Gear on a Shoestring Budget: Ten Project Examples, by George S.

The following are some hopefully useful field expedients, substitutes and spares, all of which can be had for a buck to about ten bucks each: #1: Drywall Saw: if you don’t have one of those all-purpose $49.95 survival knives or field shovels from Gerber or Glock with the accessory root saw, or you’ve found that the finger-length saw blade on a Swiss Army folder leaves a lot to be desired when cutting a 2×6 [board] down to size? A bow saw or flexible survival kit saw are a couple of possible candidates that may be up to the task, but …


Letter Re: Inexpensive Spare Eyeglasses

Hello JWR, Thanks for the site. Information is the best currency. I will send 10 Cent Challenge money in February. Just wanted to give you a link to LBWEyewear.com, a site I discovered which sells [made-to-order] prescription eyeglasses. Most normal pairs are less than $25. Some less than $15. I don’t have any connection to that site, just a satisfied customer. I’m sure there are others like it. I have found that paying 200+ dollars for a pair of glasses is not economical because I lose them often and break them. It’s always good to have a spare pair in …


Four Letters Re: Survival Dentistry, by The Army Dentist

Sir: At the conclusion of his article, the Army Dentist says, “I think this can at least organize a discussion or be a good stimulus for questions.” So (if it’s somehow possible to do this in SurvivalBlog format) I’d like to ask him, In case of an irreversible pulpitis or abscess, if professional dental care is not available, then what are the best tools and techniques to perform a “home extraction”? And how about anesthetics? – Charley S.   Hi Jim, The Survival Dentistry article by The Army Dentist is a very informative and important piece. Home dental care i.e., …


Survival Dentistry, by The Army Dentist

Dentistry may be one of the least exciting topics under preparedness. You will never see a television show on the daily life and death struggles in a dental office and you won’t find too many stories “from the front” on the dental team. But a dental emergency can quickly complicate or even bring to a standstill, daily living and tasks. In a SHTF scenario, this is not something you want to deal with. The confederate army was the first army to recognize this and fielded a dentist for their troops. In Vietnam, dental disease accounted for 11% of Disease and …


Letter Re: Dress for Survival Success

Jim; That was a great article by George Haystack in Tuesday’s blog! I thought I was the only one [that carried so much survival gear around on a daily basis.] Mr. Haystack takes it further than I do. First, I could not carry [a concealed firearm] at my workplace being within the secure area of an airport. I generally carried a sturdy day pack, with the following: (1) Lockback knife (2) LED flashlights (9 LED’s / 3 AA batteries) (16) spare AAA batteries (1) regular AA flashlight (4) spare AA batteries The following are all OTC medications, of course (1) …


Letter Re: Essential Oils for Survival

Knowing that a survival situation will be most likely without medical help – one of my first thoughts is – make sure I have some essential oils. What are essential oils? Think herbs, with the important oils all “juiced” out of them. I first became interested in oils after learning that oils are mentioned in the Bible quite frequently – both in the Old and New Testament. God had/has a keen interest in them. Maybe I should too, I mused. Lately, I’ve tried to stock up on my favorites, as they may become difficult to buy in the future, as …


Letter Re: Some Disaster Preparedness Information for Asthmatics

Hi Mr. Rawles, My son has asthma and I have had the unfortunate experience of not having power when he needed a nebulizer treatment. Please inform you readers of the absolute necessity of having power inverters and testing your needed appliances before an emergency. Not knowing how sensitive a medical nebulizer is and knowing that some equipment is sensitive to modified sine wave power from the cheaper inverters was terrifying. Having the power out and an asthma attack at the same time was bad enough.The prayer that I said when turning on our only nebulizer plugged into a gizmo (my …


Letter Re: Some Disaster Preparedness Information for Asthmatics

Dear JWR I am fairly new to prepping but as a lifelong asthma patient I quickly realized that I cannot depend solely on my current nebulizer WTSHTF. This is because it plugs into a wall and does not have any other alternative way to work when the grid goes down. When I did some research, however, I found a beautiful thing. There are now handheld nebulizers that have both AC and and DC car adapter abilities as well as a rechargeable [gel cell] battery. They cost around $200 or slightly more but I can tell you that this is a …


Two Letters Re: A Vehicular BoB

Mr. Editor: I have been a reader of this blog for a little while now and one of the earlier postings I read caught my eye: In regards to a vehicle “bug out” kit. That list was certainly a good place to start, but it was missing a few items, so I thought I would put my “two cents” worth in. To give you a little bit of background, I would describe myself as essentially being a realist. I watch the news, I read the papers. I know what is going on around me. I am aware of today’s political …


Letter Re: Comments on Two of the Three Bs: Bullets and Band-Aids

Greetings Jim, With [the] November 4th [US presidential and congressional election] behind us, many of us are wondering how to proceed with our preps. With regard to the bullets in the “Three B’s” consider this; your firearm will function with one magazine, most with even no magazine, but they all require ammunition. As a prep (as opposed to investment), I put forth that a good supply of ammunition is a higher priority than spare magazines, after purchasing the firearm, of course! In selecting a firearms battery, ammunition availability is a common selection criteria. You should own firearms that ammunition can …


Letter Re: A Suggested Checklist for Preparedness Newbies

Here’s a beginner’s list I made for my [elderly] father today: Food {Brown pearl] rice does not store well. Neither does cooking oil so that needs to be fresh. No, Crisco doesn’t count. Coconut oil would be your best bet. Wheat berries – 400 pounds – bulk order at your local health food store Beans – 400 pounds – bulk order at your local health food store Mylar bags Spices Salt Country Living grain mill propane tanks, small stove and hoses to connect freeze dried fruits, vegetables, eggs and meat if you can find them. Water 500 gallons of water …


Letter Re: 11th Hour Preparations: It is Not Too Late to Start

Jim: It is not too late to prepare for the hard times that are coming. But time is short, so I am going to be brutally blunt. Prices are going up. If you don’t already expect double digit inflation, you haven’t been paying attention. If you are just realizing that you need to prepare for the future, forget buying barter goods. Forget precious metals to swap for what others may be willing to sell. The idea of buying things so that you can swap them for other goods or services later is bad policy. That’s right. I’m advocating that you …


Letter Re: Impressions of Medical Corps Training

Dear Mr. Rawles: Thanks for a wonderful book and blog site. They are very, very helpful. I also wanted to thank you for a posting I saw last spring on your web site about the Medical Corps class led by Chuck Fenwick, called Field Medicine in a Hostile Environment. Because of that posting, I took Chuck’s course in Ohio in May and found it to be invaluable. I couldn’t believe all the techniques and information imparted in such a short period of time. Although not on the curriculum, when I asked if he’d show us how to give injections, he …


A Girl Scout Troop Leader Wants to Get Her Girls Prepared

We recently got an e-mail from a Girl Scout troop leader, describing how she wants to start a project making 72-hour “bug out” bags for the troop members. Her goal is to get her troop members better prepared, yet not tip-off their parents to her own level of preparedness. She wants to avoid making herself look like some sort of “preparedness nut” or “whacko”. The important thing to keep in mind is that terminology and phrasing are crucial to how people form opinions. Do not use terms such as “Bug Out Bag” or “Get Out of Dodge Kit” or “Survival …