Category: First Aid/Medical

Letter Re: Yet Another Article Touting “Mobility” for Survival

Jim: Thank you for response on the mobile survival fantasy. I think it is dangerous for the average Joe to believe that he can be a mountain man. Sure, some can, in some climates and locations with lots of training. Even then it’s dangerous and unpredictable. A twisted ankle can be the end of you. Remember too, those mountain survival stories were from the days when the wildlife in this country was at much higher levels. For most of us it means being cold, wet, tired, hungry and thirsty in the woods and being targets on the streets. (“Nice pack …


The Next Pandemic: Starvation in a Land of Plenty

At the dawn of the 21st century, we are living in an amazing time of prosperity. Our health care is excellent, our grocery store shelves burgeon with a huge assortment of fresh foods, and our telecommunications systems are lightning fast. We have relatively cheap transportation, and our cities are linked by an elaborate and fairly well-maintained system of roads, rails, canals, seaports, and airports. For the first time in human history, the majority of the world’s population will soon live in cities rather than in the countryside. But the downside to all this abundance is over-complexity, over-specialization, and lengthy supply …


Letter Re: Veterinary Antibiotics and Medical Freezers

Jim: A lot of folks, myself included, have been buying fish/aquarium grade antibiotics for a while now. Recently my favorite source dried up. I called them to ask why they no longer had the products and they stated that it is becoming difficult to carry them because the FDA is scrutinizing the industry. What was told to me was that the capsules were still available, in packs of 12. I did find other sources, but some publicly searchable web pages can no longer be found via Google – hidden pages that I couldn’t navigate to through the web sites search …


Lasik Versus PRK Eye Surgery for Preparedness, by Simple Country Doctor

I’ve been reading through the survivalblog archives. I happened across a letter recommending Lasik for folks with significant refractive errors. I’m not an ophthalmologist, but I am a family and emergency medicine doctor, and I did a lot of research into refractive surgery before I had my significant nearsightedness corrected. I started out with [seeing only the] ‘big E’ [on the eye chart] (20/200) in one eye and [seeing] ‘white rectangle’ (worse than 20/200) in the other. I was always afraid I’d lose my glasses/contacts while out in the backwoods on one of my frequent solo adventures. I finally took …


Letter Re: Some Good Things Prompted By SurvivalBlog

Jim, The following are some things SurvivalBlog.com has prompted me to do since I began reading it: I’ve had no debt for 20 years, but my meager holdings are now about 1/3 precious metals. Is lead considered a precious metal? 🙂 My freezer is full of elk, whitetail deer, and caribou. I added to my long-term foods during your Safecastle special, but I’m now reviewing the viability of my existing stocks. Like the realtor’s mantra of “location, location, location”, a survivalist’s creed should be “Rotate, rotate, rotate. “ A 10 KW Generac generator is ready to be wired to my …


Letter Re: Herbal Medications and Remedies

Dear Jim: I read ‘The Gray Nineties‘ [an early draft edition of the novel “Patriots”] back when it was shareware, and did some gun accessory business with you back then. [In the early to mid-1990s.] I finally got around to perusing SurvivalBlog. One of the old posts includes a plea for ‘hard data’ on effectiveness of herbal medicines. My wife used to work for a ‘neutriceuticals’ company, doing literature reviews, and as an M.D. I have some exposure to the literature as well (though not as much as I should — I keep wasting time reading things that might have …


Letter Re: The Forgotten Survival Skill: Physical Fitness, by Ron D.

Mr. Rawles: I couldn’t agree more with Ron D’s article on the need for basic fitness. The most perfect Bug Out Bag in existence and the best hidden cache of beans, bullets and bandages won’t do you any good if you have a heart attack getting there. I would add, though, that for strength training you don’t have to invest in a lot, or even any, equipment. Bodyweight calisthenics can help build strength rapidly using only your own body as the weight you are lifting. Unlike machines, or even free weights, bodyweight exercises don’t just target individual muscles but also …


Letter Re: Emergency Shelter Air Filtration

Most of the modern home vacuum cleaners have pretty decent high efficiency particulate air (HEPA) filters in them nowadays. Assuming you still have power (a big if) you could seal a room to the best of your ability and leave your vacuum cleaners running (with the air intakes off the floor). If you have a bag type, remember to put a new bag in. Presto, filtered air, McGyver style. If all you have is an older style vacuum cleaner with no filter, then put a damp rag (and keep it damp) over the air intake, but be careful not to …


The Forgotten Survival Skill: Physical Fitness, by Ron D.

Most of the people of the world and especially Americans are urban dwellers. We commute to an office every day and sit at a desk. Just as the skills needed to do this don’t prepare us for a shortage of water or food, they don’t prepare us to evacuate on foot or run from danger. But unlike other parts of preparedness, they actually work against us in a future survival situation. When I was a freshman in college I was returning to school in Oklahoma with a friend. About three miles outside a little town in the middle of no …


Letter Re: Jungle Rot and Silver Socks

I read with interest the UK government’s interest in silver impregnated undergarments for their soldiers. I just ordered 10 pairs of the socks from REI. You can search for x-static which is a brand of silver impregnated material. Underwear is also available trade, name Medalist Silvermax Boxer Briefs. OBTW, I just found silver socks at The Sharper Image for less. They aren’t liner socks but they look useful. If we are going to be hiking for long periods without the ability to wash our clothes, this could be a real boon. Ask a Vietnam veteran about jungle rot if you …


Herbal Survival Medicine by KLS in Ohio

Here in the U.S. we have grown up in an age where hospitals and family clinics are an accepted, common place necessity. Our medical professionals with their full range of antibiotics have the best triage training in the world. If you’re in a car accident in the U.S. you are most likely to survive if you make it to a hospital. They’ll fix you right up! But they aren’t well equipped in preventing disease. As in Jim’s novel “Patriots” when the character ‘Mary’ used herbs such as Comfrey to treat their wounded, we may not have access to modern medicines …


Letter Re: Walking Blood Banks and Interceptor Body Armor

James, Here’s a link to an e-mail written by a Marine Corps Intelligence officer in Iraq. It’s humbling to read first hand the sacrifices our troops endure for us. But in all dark clouds, there is a silver lining (in this case from a preparedness perspective). In the near future, there are going to be a lot of medical personnel returning to civilian life that know exactly how to treat gun shot wounds and conduct “walking bloodbanks”. May the Lord bless you with one near your home. Other stray thoughts: keep an eye out for the new [Interceptor] body armor …


Letter Re: Some Light on the Subject–An Amazing Coincidence

I had major dental surgery yesterday. Sure, I could have ignored it, but most animals are dead when they can’t eat. I consider dental health an excellent investment. In any case, I digress. I brought a flashlight in with me and the office staff and doctor looked at me like I was nuts. “What happens if your power goes out and there I am with a mouth full of blood, power tools and incisions and you can’t see how to stitch me back up?” They told me they hadn’t lost power in over 10 years but I put my flashlight …


Letter Re: The Importance of Identifying Blood Types

Jim: In a previous career I used to do blood work with a microscope. The most common error even among lab tech’s with experience is false rouleaux, that is, clumping caused by manhandling the blood, mistaken as true rouleaux. Even squeezing the finger to get a drop of blood can cause this. Putting the slide on the blood too hard can do this. Washing with saline if not perfect in osmolarity will cause other artifacts. While I am in full agreement with the McGyver school of expediency, the previously mentioned idea IMHO, is not something that can be done by …


Letter Re: The Importance of Identifying Blood Types

Mr. Rawles: Good day to you and yours. I hope they are all in good health. In regards to your submissions in the 9-14 blog, “The Importance for Blood Typing.” A friend wrote is submission in another forum, that I have kept for a while now. This would be a better then nothing option that might actually save a life. But like everything else in life you have to make minimal preparations now for it to work later. If you ever had to use this technique, right then is not the time to have to gather the materials to perform …