Quack Medicine

In the wake of a TEOTWAWKI (The End Of The World As We Know It) or WTSHTF (When The $#!t Hits The Fan) event you may find yourself "playing doctor" with a dearth of modern medical equipment and supplies. The following are some "make dos" and "work arounds" that may help until help arrives or you can get the patient to professional help.

As your read this keep in mind that I'm no doctor. In fact I don't even play one on the Internet.

Honey
Click here for more about Honey. See also Sugardine & Sugardyne in this document.

Yogurt
Live active culture Yogurt fights both diarrhea and constipation.

Mole Skin
Mole Skin (to prevent/treat blisters) Out of Moleskin? Don't forget blisters are best treated when you first notice the irritation (sometimes called a "hot spot") not after they've bloomed into full blown blisters.

Duct tape
Duct Tape can be used as a field expedient in place of Mole Skin just place a small piece of paper over the blister or hot spot and then duct tape in place. Duct tape can also be used to hold a temporary splint in place or as a bandage. Duct tape occlusion therapy for warts.

New Skin
New Skin is so useful for small cuts and scrapes you should have a bottle in your home first aid kit. It almost removes the need to stock band-aids. New Skin covers the wound, holds skin together and forms a clear antibiotic protective shield over cuts and abrasions thus protecting the wound from further infection. You can find New Skin in the First Aid section at you local drug or grocery store.

Bandanna
Most commonly found in red or blue paisley patterns bandannas have 1001 uses, everything from triangle bandages to tourniquets to dust masks to a Kerchiefs (head cover) or neckerchiefs (scarf) to compression bandages. They can be worn under the back of a baseball cap (effectively turning it into a Legionnaire's hat) to keep the sun off of the sides of the face, ears and neck. Be sure to buy one large enough to wrap around your head.

Brightly colored bandannas can be used for signaling (movement & contrast) but I prefer subdued colors like dark greens, dark tans, browns, black or camouflage so as to blend in with my environment. You can make an impromptu bandanna from any piece of cloth.

Expired Over the Counter Medicine
A retired SF medic once told me that the expiration dates on most over the counter medicine is there more to protect the companies from lawsuits than to protect the customers. Most over the counter medicine simply looses potency over time so you may end up having to take four pills instead of the recommended two, but work up to that slowly and only if you can't get fresh meds.

Animal Medicine
I keep hearing from various sources that the animal meds sold to farmers, ranchers and at some pet stores are "human grade" medicines. Some people even claim to take or have taken these meds with no ill effect. In a TEOTWAWKI situation with no human medicine available that might be worth a shot. (Literally ;-)

Sugardine & Sugardyne
Packing wounds with sugar and/or 10% iodine Povidone iodine (brand name "Betadine") solution now used mostly for horses has purportedly worked on humans with similar infections for over 3000 years.

QuickClot
QuickClot is New Skin's big brother. It is intended to stop bleeding from major wounds. It's standard issue for our military and some police departments as well as being used by EMT's to stop bleeding until they can get the patient to a hospital.

Graphic Video: Test of QuikClot on a live pig

You can sometimes find QuickClot in military surplus stores, hiking, hunting, camping and extreme sports stores. If the you know what hits the you know what QuickClot would be a good item to have in your survival first aid kit.
(Two civilian versions)
QuickClot Sport

QuickClot Combat Gauze

Extreme Measures
[Addendum, I found this on another site. It's apropos for most if not all "self treatment" of injuries and ailments pre-TEOTWAWKI and the laws of nature/medicine will still apply after TSHTF too.]

"Just a note to all you guys who like to take fish antibiotics... I am not against that notion especially if that is all you have, but certain antibiotics treat certain bacteria based on the pharmacology of the drugs and their actions on varying structures on the surface of or inside bacteria.

Some antibiotics are bacteriocidal (kill bugs) others are bacteriostatic (just prevent bugs from multiplying) Do you all trust your knowledge to know which are which, or will you just take a guess.

If you take amoxicillin for a skin infection that is being caused by a bacteria that is resistant to that drug, you are going to get sicker, and you may actually have some side effects from the drugs.

Drugs are not benign, I don't care if they have been around for 50 years, people still die every year just because they took Penicillin.

And there can be long term (or short term if particularly aggressive) effects from many antibiotics including anaphylaxis, liver damage, kidney damage, gastrointestinal effects, interactions with other medications...and the list goes on and on... sigh..

So in short learn the subject, don't just take chances... sorry I got on my soap box. It just bothers me that with this subject, a little bit of knowledge can be a very dangerous thing..."

Fish-Mox
(In an extreme emergency fish antibiotics may help. Many of these are made to USP pharmaceutical specifications.)

Fish-Mox exerts a bactericidal action on gram positive and some gram negative bacteria. Useful for control of some common bacterial diseases.

Be sure you know what you're doing when using these.

Go to Lambert Vet Supply when the page comes up, look on the left side and click on
Pet Medications
You will see a page entitled, "pet medicines", click on
Antibiotics
You will see a page entitled, "antibiotics", click on
OTC Pet Medications
Scroll down until you see ... "Fish Cillin" ... and you are there.

They have:

Fish Cillin, 250 mg Ampicillin x 100 Capsules, Non-prescription
Fish Cycline Forte, 500 mg Tetracycline x 100 Capsules, Non-prescription
Fish Cycline, 250 mg Tetracycline x 100 Capsules, Non-prescription
Fish Flex Forte, 500 mg Cephalexin x 100 Capsules, Non-prescription
Fish Flex, 250 mg Cephalexin x 100 Capsules, Non-prescription
Fish Fungus, 200 mg Ketoconazole x 100 tablets, Non-prescription
Fish Fungus, 200 mg Ketoconazole x 30 tablets, Non-prescription
Fish Mox Forte, 500 mg Amoxicillin x 100 Capsules, Non-prescription
Fish Mox, 250 mg Amoxicillin, 100 Capsules, Non-prescription
Fish Mycin, 250 mg Erythromycin x 60 Capsules, Non-prescription
Fish Pen Forte, 500 mg Penicillin x 100 Caps, Non-prescription
Fish Zole Forte, 500 mg Metronidazole x 100 Tablets, Non-prescription
Fish Zole, 250 mg Metronidazole, 100 Tablets, Non-prescription

Be sure you know what you're doing when using these.

Superfluous Survival Tip of the week:

Emergency/improvised cold weather clothing

If caught away from home/supplies in cold weather stuff crumpled newspaper, phone book pages or other paper under your clothes for insulation. This is the equivalent of using leaves in a wilderness situation.

An improvised rain coat can be made from a large trash bag after cutting holes for your head and arms. Cutting out the bottom of another bag allows you to use it as a "skirt" or kilt to give a raincoat effect.

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Double UP Double Down

If our future holds more of the same, only worse, the question becomes not how to fend off the hungry hordes attacking our bunker in the bush after TEOTWAWKI, but how to survive in our bungalow in the burbs on an average day.

In his book and on his blog FerFAL makes a convincing argument that increasing taxes and decreasing value of currency combined with crime and corruption will more likely result in a death spiral for our way of life than a dramatic revolution or civil war.

The more I study the problems that confront us, as a people and as a nation, the more convinced I become that FerFAL is right and those self proclaimed survival gurus predicting imminent internecine armed struggle are living in a fantasy world. Mutiny, it seems to me, just isn't in the cards.

So let's get real with our preparations. Buying a "ranch" in a "Survival Community"?

Eh, I'll pass!

Stocking up on food?

You bet!

A few gold coins and a lot of pre-1965 US silver dimes & quarters?

Of course!

Guns & Ammo?

You Betcha!

But what about the more mundane aspects of survival in devolving economy?

Got soap?

Nonperishable supplies can be stockpiled in large but reasonable amounts so that in times of chaos A) you don't have to endanger yourself going out to get them and B) you don't have to do without them. Also, not having to spend whatever money you have on hand at the moment on everyday essentials gives you other options for the deployment of that resource that could pay dividends as you adapt to the ever changing situation.

If you're a member of Costco, Sam's Club or one of the other big box stores that offer lower prices by selling in bulk you're already doubling up most of your purchases by virtue of the sizes available. Instead of the petite bottle of dishwashing liquid you're offered the jumbo size, often two of them taped together.

It makes sense to buy a 24 can case of the Campbell's soup you enjoy rather than a few cans at a time at the local supermarket. But if the grocery has a super sale don't hesitate to clear their shelves and load up yours.

TP or not TP that is the (30 roll) question, whether it is nobler in the mind to suffer the slings and arrows of outrageous fortune (with old magazine pages) or take arms against a sea of troubles and by opposing end them with 180 or so rolls in the closet?

It may not seem like much of a survival strategy; a pantry full of food and dishwashing liquid, a laundry room with an extra extra-large box of laundry detergent and a hall closet bulging with TP and hand soap; but the time and money you save by not having to go out searching for such things is time and money you'll have available to deploy in other areas.

Before you pooh-pooh the savings to be had consider that after an economic collapse the reemerging reality will be full of constantly moving parts that won't always provide necessities at prices you can afford or maybe not at any price.

Little Things Mean a Lot
Don't discount medicine and health aids. An infected splinter can kill you just as dead as a bullet. It just takes longer and is more painful. A decayed tooth can kill you too.

Eye drops, aspirin, Mole Skin (to prevent/treat blisters), New Skin (for cuts & splinters), toothpaste and all those over the counter pills you routinely take for this that and the other ailment may not be available (or may be prohibitively expensive) so you have to ask yourself: "If I buy an extra bottle of pills and have to throw it away in a few years do I count it as a loss or insurance?"

Oh sure (if you're lucky) eventually you'll run out of these things, but hopefully by then the emergency will have stabilized. If not, you'll be no worse off then the guy ahead of you in line as you try to buy a Big Mac with one of the new $1,000,000 dollar bills.

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