Tag Archives: collapse medicine

Momma Bear’s September Preps

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September has arrived and we are seriously looking forward to cooler weather! We decided to shut down the garden a little early in expectation of heavy duty leaf raking. I filled my two compost barrels with the old plant foliage and with the dirt from my container gardens (except the one I am waiting to go to seed). We will be augmenting the barrels throughout the winter with egg shells, coffee grounds, etc. The plan is to use the two barrels of compost to refill the containers in the spring.

As mentioned, my ham radio came and, as I thought, it’s complicated! But I am signed up to take my licensing classes next month. I even discovered that my town has a ham radio store!

Last week Trace mentioned the website aGirlandherGun.org. I met “Girl” at a mutual friend’s house where we had gathered to watch a football game.  Having never met her before, we were talking and something set my antenna buzzing. I finally looked at her and said, “Are you a prepper?” She is the first local prepper I have met! We had a great evening with lots of discussion about guns and self-protection. If you have not yet had a chance to check out Girl’s website, please do. She is a firearms instructor, and is also taking EMT courses with her husband. You will see that prepping is relatively new to her also, and for a very serious reason. Interestingly, Girl is the second woman fire-arms instructor I know (the other being Pistol Packing Ladies, LLC). So along that train of thought…the husband and I will be taking our gun class next week at the Nation’s Gun Show outside of Washington, D.C. This will allow us to apply for our concealed carry permits. Though neither of us have decided yet if we will carry, we want to at least prepare and get permits.

Lastly, I have moved fish antibiotics (see Trace’s post Antibiotics In Your Preps?), and books on medications, to the top of our prepper purchase list. This last week the husband “humped” out of the field with a very deep blister in the ball of his foot (If you are not familiar with this phrase, it means Marine Corps camping in which you train and hike 20 or so miles with a 70-80 pound pack, carrying everything you need to eat, sleep, and shoot). He had done everything right: changed his socks regularly, removed his boots to sleep, powdered his feet, etc. But he still managed to get one really deep blister. As a long time Marine and marathoner, my husband teaches others on the importance of foot care. Initially it looked okay, and there were no visible breaks in the skin. Medical opted not to drain the blister because it was so deep, saying he was “good to go” (military slang for fine). But within 36 hours his foot was swollen, red and angry-looking, and he was running a fever. It looked like he had a Fred Flintstone foot that was about ready to split open. We both knew he had a raging case of cellulitis and needed antibiotic treatment. Cellulitis is a bacterial infection which, if left untreated, can lead to a more serious–even life-threatening–type of infections known as sepsis. It can also be resistant to antibiotics, and it is not uncommon to have to take IV antibiotic treatment. In any event, my husband was fine once he started his antibiotics. I personally am allergic to a number of antibiotics, including the one he was treated with, so it is imperative for us to carefully stock the right antibiotics. This was a good reminder of how something as common as a blister can quickly lead to a serious health risk; imagine how you would treat this in a post-collapse situation…

What’s next on your prepper training schedule?

Momma Bear: Women’s Maladies

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Sometimes being a woman is really the pits. I imagine it will be even worse in a post-SHTF society where our modern, quick-fix, take a pill for it remedies are no longer available. I’m talking about those dreaded conditions that are almost exclusively “women’s ailments”: yeast infections, vaginosis, vulvitis, UTIs, hemorrhoids, leaky bladders, migraines and menopause. Bleck! So what is the best way to prep for these lovely maladies? Like other areas of preparedness, we need to tackle this with a multi-step approach.

Knowledge: Know your body. You need to be able to recognize the warning signs of an impending ailment so that you can attempt to prevent a full-blown illness. Know your genetic predispositions and history. Ask your mother, grandmothers, and aunts about what female health conditions run in your family. Heredity is a funny thing and frequently cannot be avoided. While you may maintain a painstakingly rigorous “healthy lifestyle,” sometimes nature still throws that heredity-curveball at you. You might be young enough that many of these have not yet happened to you, but at least study up and be prepared to recognize and treat them if they occur (to you or others). In my family we get three main conditions: hemorrhoids, leaky bladders, and menstrual migraines. The first two can normally be treated by surgery and the last can be controlled by using birth control pills and prescription meds. But what will we do without access to routine medical care and medications?

Prepare: If there are medications you can get that you might need someday, GET THEM and stock up. You might never have had a yeast infection in your life, but if you live someplace hot and humid and suddenly your life has no A/C, infrequent baths and changes of clothing (because you are washing everything by hand!), you might have a serious run in with a yeast infection. Stock up on any OTC meds that you can. The other way to prepare is to not put off those elective surgeries (this seems to have been mentioned in plenty of other articles). These days both leaky bladders and hemorrhoids can be treated with surgery, but they are not ones that most of us would rush right out to get. I think you will find that surgery is preferred over living with the problem in a post-SHTF world. Last, maybe cleanliness IS next to godliness. Keeping clean and dry will prevent some of these conditions from starting in the first place. The military has been doing this for years…with feet. Every time they stop, they change their socks because it prevents a plethora of foot ailments. I say every time you sweat too much, change those undies. If you can’t stay cool, at least stay dry.

Take your knowledge a step further: None of these ailments are new. How did they treat these ailments in the past? Or how do they treat them now in third world countries? Look for “old school” remedies. Read up, research, ask someone very old who grew up in a rural environment what they did. For instance, yogurt is a common treatment for yeast infections (and I am not talking about eating it). And here I mean all natural, home-made, BASIC yogurt, not the flavored variety they carry in the grocery stores today. Culturing your own yogurt at home is actually pretty easy to do, but few Americans do it. Drinking cranberry juice works well for treating UTIs. There are “alternative” treatments for a number of ailments, but most of us have grown up in a society where these remedies have become obsolete due to our easy access to medications.

It will take time to research and practice these remedies before the SHTF. But it’s better to practice it now when you don’t need the remedy desperately.  Like other types of medical care, it is best to study up long before the SHTF!

(Friday: What We Did This Week To Prep)

Triage For The Non-Medical Responder

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‘Who Goes First and Why’
—
I wanted to write today’s post with the goal of familiarizing a non-medical professional with the process of triaging. This would apply if you’re the first person to arrive–accidentally, or on purpose–at a multi-casualty trauma scene whether that happens in our current world, or after a collapse. Triaging is the same, you determine which patients need priority in transport and treatment. What changes after a collapse is the lack of resources available to care for the patients.

I felt I was very qualified to write this post. As a former military medic and civilian paramedic I have been involved in several actual Mass Casualty Incidents (MCIs) and many simulated MCI drills.

As I was doing research for this post I remembered that Dr. Bones, of Doom and Bloom, had recently written on this topic. At the time I had skimmed the information, feeling relatively confident in my ability to handle an MCI if needed. As I went back to review them for this post I realized anything I say would be redundant. Dr. Bones wrote three excellent and very detailed posts on triaging. They are complete with examples and are directed toward the non-medical responder. As I always say, Dr. Bones and Nurse Amy are my definite collapse medicine specialists (I reviewed their book The Doom and Bloom Survival Medicine Handbook a few months ago).

So instead of trying to reinvent the wheel I am reposting Dr. Bones first triage post:

The Mass Casualty Incident: Triage, Part 1

The responsibilities of a medic in times of trouble will usually be one-to-one; that is, the healthcare provider will be dealing with one ill or injured individual at a time.  If you have dedicated yourself to medical preparedness, you will have accumulated significant stores of supplies and some knowledge. Therefore, your encounter with any one person should be, with any luck, within your expertise and resources.  There may be a day, however, when you find yourself confronted with a scenario in which multiple people are injured.  This is referred to as a Mass Casualty Incident (MCI).

A Mass Casualty Incident is any event in which your medical resources are inadequate for the number and severity of injuries incurred.  Mass Casualty Incidents (we’ll call them “MCIs”) can be quite variable in their presentation.

They might be:

  • Doomsday scenario events, such as nuclear weapon detonations
  • Terrorist acts, such as occurred on 9/11 or in Oklahoma City
  • Consequences of a storm, such as a tornado or hurricane
  • Consequences of civil unrest or battlefield injuries
  • Mass transit mishap (train derailment, plane crash, etc.)
  • A car accident with, say, three people significantly injured (and only one ambulance)
  • Many others

The effective medical management of any of the above events required rapid and accurate triage.  Triage comes from the French word “to sort” (“Trier”) and is the process by which medical personnel (like you, survival medic!) can rapidly assess and prioritize a number of injured individuals and do the most good for the most people. Note that I didn’t say: “Do the best possible care for each individual victim”.

Let’s assume that you are in a marketplace in the Middle East somewhere, or perhaps in your survival village near the border with another (hostile) group.  You hear an explosion.  You are the first one to arrive at the scene, and you are alone.  There are twenty people on the ground, some moaning in pain.  There were probably more, but only twenty are, for the most part, in one piece.  The scene is horrific.  As the first to respond to the scene, medic, you are Incident Commander until someone with more medical expertise arrives on the scene.  What do you do?

Your initial actions may determine the outcome of the emergency response in this situation.  This will involve what we refer to as the 5 S’s of evaluating a MCI scene:

  • Safety
  • Sizing up
  • Sending for help
  • Set-up of areas
  • START – Simple Triage And Rapid Treatment

1. Safety Assessment:  Our friend Joshua Wander (the Jewish Prepper of blogspot fame)  relates to us an insidious strategy on the part of terrorists in Israel:  primary and secondary bombs.  The main bomb causes the most casualties, and the second bomb is timed to go off or is triggered just as the medical/security personnel arrive.  This may not sound right to you, but your primary goal as medic is your own self-preservation, because keeping the medical personnel alive is likely to save more lives down the road.  Therefore, you do your family and community a disservice by becoming the next casualty.

As you arrive, be as certain as you can that there is no ongoing threat.  Do not rush in there until you’re sure that the damage has been done and you and your helpers are safe entering the area.  In the immediate aftermath of the Oklahoma City bombing, various medical personnel rushed in to aid the many victims.  One of them was a heroic 37 year old Licensed Practical Nurse who, as she entered the area, was struck by a falling piece of concrete.  She sustained a head injury and died five 5 days later.

2. Sizing up the Scene:  Ask yourself the following questions:

  • What’s the situation?   Is this a mass transit crash?  Did a building on fire collapse?  Was there a car bomb?
  • How many injuries and how severe?  Are there a few victims or dozens? Are most victims dead or are there any uninjured that could assist you?
  • Are they all together or spread out over a wide area?
  • What are possible nearby areas for treatment/transport purposes?
  • Are there areas open enough for vehicles to come through to help transport victims?

3.  Sending for Help:  If modern medical care is available, call 911 and say (for example):  “I am calling to report a mass casualty incident involving a multi-vehicle auto accident at the intersection of Hollywood and Vine (location).  At least 7 people are injured and will require medical attention.  There may be people trapped in their cars and one vehicle is on fire.”

In three sentences, you have informed the authorities that a mass casualty event has occurred, what type of event it was, where it occurred, an approximate numbers of patients that may need care, and the types of care (burns) or equipment (jaws of life) that may be needed.  I’m sure you could do even better than I did above, but you want to inform the emergency medical services without much delay.

If the you-know-what has hit the fan and you are the medical resource, get your walkie-talkie or handie-talkie and notify base camp of whatever the situation is and what you’ll need in terms of personnel and supplies.  If you are not the medical resource, contact the person who is; the most experienced medical person who arrives then becomes Incident Commander.

4.  Set-Up:  Determine likely areas for various triage levels (see below) to be further evaluated and treated.  Also, determine the appropriate entry and exit points for victims that need immediate transport to medical facilities, if they exist.  If you are blessed with lots of help at the scene, determine triage, treatment, and transport team leaders.

5. S.T.A.R.T.:  Triage uses the acronym S.T.A.R.T., which stands for Simple Triage and Rapid Treatment.

The first round of triage, known as “primary triage”, should be fast (30 seconds per patient if possible) and does not involve extensive treatment of injuries.  It should be focused on identifying the triage level of each patient.  Evaluation in primary triage consists mostly of quick evaluation of respirations (or the lack thereof), perfusion (adequacy of circulation), and mental status.  Other than controlling massive bleeding and clearing airways, very little treatment is performed in  primary triage.

Although there is no international standard for this, triage levels are usually determined by color:

Immediate (Red tag): The victim needs immediate medical care and will not survive if not treated quickly.  (for example, a major hemorrhagic wound/internal bleeding) Top priority for treatment.

Delayed (Yellow tag): The victim needs medical care within 2-4 hours. Injuries may become life-threatening if ignored, but can wait until Red tags are treated. (for example, open fracture of femur without major hemorrhage)

Minimal (Green tag): Generally stable and ambulatory (“walking wounded”) but may need some medical care. (for  example, 2 broken fingers, sprained wrist)

Expectant (Black tag): The victim is either deceased or is not expected to live.  (for example, open fracture of cranium with brain damage, multiple penetrating chest wounds)

Knowledge of this system allows a patient marking system that easily allows a caregiver to understand the urgency of a patient’s situation.  It should go without saying that, in a power-down situation without modern medical care, a lot of red tags and even some yellow tags will become black tags.  It will be difficult to save someone with a major internal bleeding episode without surgical intervention.

In the next part of this series, we will go through a typical mass casualty incident with 20 victims, and show how to proceed so as to provide the most benefit for the most people.

Dr. Bones

Links to Doom and Bloom follow-up posts:
Mass Casualty Incident: Triage, Part 2
Mass Casualty Incident: Triage, Part 3

(Friday: What We Did This Week To Prep)

Momma Bear: Birth Control

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We have grown up in a world where birth control is readily available. Now that I am in my 40’s, my tubes are tied so you might think I wouldn’t consider it a high priority. But birth control should be a knowledge priority for every prepper. While I personally no longer need to remember how to practice natural family planning, I am the mother of children who will likely marry and have their own children. It is our job as preppers to be teachers and impart as much knowledge and as many skills as possible to the next generations in a post-SHTF world, birth control knowledge included.

For those of you who currently use birth control but are done having children, I encourage you to look at a surgical procedure NOW to prevent unexpected conception. This is the same prepper approach of making sure we are all up to date on our medical and dental needs in case the SHTF (don’t put off the elective stuff!). For men, a vasectomy is a simple outpatient procedure with low risk of complications. For women, the tubal ligation is more involved and carries a higher risk of complications, but it is still considered a safe outpatient procedure. And both are considered routine elective surgeries covered by almost every health insurance plan. Should you choose not to go with the sterilization route, you can look at non-medication birth control like diaphragms/cervical caps. Although these will not last forever, they may be a more practical option than storing a case of condoms. One thing I would suggest to anyone who uses an “internal” form of birth control (such as an IUD or implant of meds), consider the potential risk of not being able to have them removed post-SHTF.

For knowledge and teaching purposes, we should all familiarize ourselves with the concept of natural family planning.  And by this I do NOT mean the old school rhythm method or anything like that. I know we have all had the classes in school about reproduction, but how many of us know the intricate details well enough to teach them? I feel that the best resources for learning to avoid pregnancies are the same ones that you study for trying to get pregnant: books about infertility. There are many more resources for infertility than there are for natural family planning. Infertility books focus, in minute detail, on the signs and symptoms of the fertility cycle. Basically, by studying how to get pregnant you can also learn how to avoid pregnancy–you are studying with a “WHAT NOT TO DO” approach; essentially learning when to avoid sexual activity. This is not 100% fail safe because women do not all have the same biology. But it is the best possibility we have of avoiding pregnancy without modern medicine.

There may be natural birth control products that you want to study and read up about. There are even a number of semi-useful ideas that evolved into modern-day birth control (bolstered by medications and chemicals). For instance, for centuries women made their own contraceptive sponges that they soaked in some liquid with sperm killing properties. This is an early predecessor to the Today brand contraceptive sponges. There are useful ideas out there, but you will need to weed out the old wives tales from the practical knowledge.

Why do I feel birth control is so important? Why do I think we all need to intimately understand natural family planning? Quite simply, pregnancy without medical care (i.e. a post-SHTF society) will mean an increased death-rate for women and newborns. My first child was over ten pounds and I had to have a complicated and risky C-Section (excessively large babies and twins run in our family.) In a post-SHTF world, that is a risk we would all want to avoid for our children. Remember that this topic is important and make sure you’re prepared with the knowledge to get it right when it is your turn to teach.

(Friday: What We Did This Week To Prep)

Book Review: The Doom and Bloom Survival Medicine Handbook

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by Joseph Alton, M.D. and Amy Alton, A.R.N.P.
(aka Dr. Bones and Nurse Amy)

Dr. Bones and Nurse Amy, of the Doom and Bloom Hour, are my definitive ‘collapse medicine’ experts. So I was thrilled when I heard they had published a  medical survival book and I immediately ordered a copy. When it arrived, I spent several days pouring through it.

I could not be happier, it is outstanding! Dr. Bones and Nurse Amy have written a first of it’s kind, an incredible medical reference in the–previously non-existent–category of collapse medicine.

They tell you what to do when, “Help is NOT on the way” ever.

Collapse: The situation after a TEOTWAWKI event; modern society, infrastructure, and systems as we know it will no longer exist.

Collapse Medicine: Medical care that will be provided when “there is no access to modern medical care, and there is NO potential for accessing such care in the foreseeable future.”

First aid books tell us, when treating a critical patient, to first stabilize then transport to a hospital emergency room. This one doesn’t. This one can’t – in a collapse there won’t be any. This book is written in plain easy to understand English, and it is written for you. You, the non-medical provider who takes it upon his or her self to assume the medical responsibilities for the group; doing your best to keep your people as healthy as you can.

The book begins by teaching you how to become a medical resource. It provides detailed lists of Likely Medical Issues You Will Face, Medical Skills You Will Want To Learn, and Medical Supplies you’ll want/need (including a thorough list of what to stock in your medical kit).

There is not only a valuable section explaining Natural Remedies (including a chapter on Essential Oils) but, whenever possible, it shows you how to effectively use them in conjunction with traditional (allopathic) pharmacology. Someday the only medicines available may be the ones you can grow and gather.

This book is as all-encompassing as I believe it can be. From respiratory infections to fractures to hypothermia to pregnancy and delivery, the chapters and the knowledge continue. There is even a detailed chapter on suturing; including when–and when not–to close a wound. If you can think of a medical problem that you may have to deal with in a collapse, there’s information about it in this book and more. Then, to further your medical education, they include a list of medical reference books you can add to your library and YouTube videos that demonstrate the procedures discussed.

The book concludes with information I don’t believe you’ll find written anywhere else; on the medically controversial topics of stockpiling medications (prescription and over-the-counter), how to use antibiotics (without a doctor’s guidance), and what drug expiration dates really mean.

Finally, I especially appreciate that they dedicated the book to me – okay, all of us. We, who will take on the medical responsibilities when there are no others; the ones who your group will affectionately call ‘Doc’. To us, Doctor Bones and Nurse Amy write, “…we both dedicate this book to those who are willing to take responsibility for the health of their loved ones in times of trouble. We salute your courage in accepting this assignment; have no doubt, it will save lives.”

 

What I Did This Week To Prep 12/2/11

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We planted our winter compost crop seed mix this week. The seeds arrived last week (from Bountiful Gardens), but because the ground was frozen we had to wait for warmer weather. There is a mixture of vetch, wheat, and rye, and then the fava beans are planted separately. We’ve never done this before and are not exactly sure what to expect. Will it look like just a bunch of weeds growing? And it seems strange to plan to grow stuff, just to cut it down and leave it in the dirt. I understand the concept and the experts say it’s a good idea, so the only way to fully understand it is to do it. We also sprinkled Dutch White Clover seeds on the backyard areas with less grass which, hopefully, will expand throughout the yard.

Shooting real firearms in suburbia isn’t very convenient, plus winter is frequently cold and wet when you go to the range, and ammunition quickly gets expensive. So I’m going to try using airsoft guns as an alternative way to practice and teach shooting skills. I got the idea from listening to Jack Spirko’s TSP, Becoming a Better Shooter and Trainer with Airsoft Guns (Episode 671). Last week Ryan and I went and bought a Crossman Air Mag C11 CO2 pistol, a box of CO2 cartridges, and a 2000 pellets (total cost less than $100). We came home and built a frame (8 1/2 by 11 inches), with a plywood back, lined the inside with a towel (to absorb the impact and prevent ricochet), and tacked up a normal piece of paper with a target drawn on it. We hung it on the wall and paced off ten feet. Sarah, Ryan, Alison, Emily and I took turns shooting in our custom indoor-range. I think it will be a good cost and time-saving, teaching and practice tool. Of course it’s not the real thing, but it’s the right weight and size and it allows you to practice: stance, grip/hand placement, sight alignment and sight picture, and trigger control. About the only thing missing is the loud “bang” and recoil. I’m excited about this new training venue. Once we get our skills up to a good level, we can–since it’s not a real gun and can be shot in the house–practice some “what if a stranger breaks into the house” scenarios. I think this will be a good winter activity that will allow any and all of us, who want to shoot, to have almost unlimited practice.

December 1st was yesterday. 2011 is almost over. Now is the time to reflect on our 2011 goals and either hurry up and finish, or revise as necessary. My post the last Friday of this month/year will be: What I Did This Year To Prep. Then, in early January, I’ll write: Goals For 2012. I’d encourage you to reflect back on this year and start thinking about your goals for next year.

Lastly, I wanted to link to some follow-up information regarding antibiotics in our long-term preps. From The Doom and Bloom Hour blog with Dr. Bones, a medical doctor, and his wife Nurse Amy, a Nurse Practitioner: Antibiotics And Their Use In Collapse Medicine, Part 1 and Antibiotics And Their Use In Collapse Medicine, Part 2. I applaud this couple for their diligence and determination to share life-saving material about collapse medicine. It is difficult to get good information on this topic and they are my top resource.

What did you do?

Something To Lean On

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Reasons to Add Crutches, Canes, and Wheelchairs To Our Preps
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No one plans to trip and fall–especially not to fall and get hurt–but we do. It happens faster than we can say “oops”. Most of the time we quickly (or slowly) get back up, check to ensure all our parts still work, and somewhat sheepishly go on. But sometimes you either can’t get up, or it really hurts when you do.

A little while back I was thinking how difficult it would be to get around in a collapse situation with a leg injury. Trying to improvise crutches or a cane, though doable, wouldn’t be ideal. So we decided to purchase (from a thrift store) a set of crutches, a cane, and a wheelchair. So far we’ve got the crutches and a cane, hanging neatly in a corner of the garage. We haven’t found a decent wheelchair for good price yet, but when we do it’ll be folded down and hung with the others.

When an injury first happens, especially if it looks serious, everyone available helps and cares for the injured. But in the days afterward, the injury is mostly forgotten by everyone except the injured. He (or she) now has to get around and function as best they can. Injuries such as sprains and strains* are rarely crippling, but they make even minimal walking painful and difficult. Having that set of crutches or a cane (though a cane is easier to improvise, storing one takes almost no space) allows a patient to be ambulatory and more independent. In addition a wheelchair, for someone who can’t even get around on crutches, would be invaluable. Remember we’re discussing a situation where there is no other medical assistance available; a situation where you only have what you have.

This doesn’t have to be just a collapse situation. What about an injury during an ice or snow storm where it’s difficult to get out, or to have an ambulance respond? How much easier would it be if you had what was needed to allow your patient to be ambulatory? Then, when care is available, hang it back up until it’s needed again – they’re reusable.

Ryan is currently healing from an injury of his own. His involves the collar-bone and shoulder region (bike crash), so it doesn’t limit him walking around. But I was reminded how long those type of injuries take to heal, the pain associated with them, and the inconveniences they cause doing simple day-to-day activities.

The other thing I plan to add to our medical preps is a folding military-style stretcher. I thought about this again when I read Dr. Bones’ post, Thoughts on Patient Transport. A stretcher is in a somewhat different category since it’s used to carry an injured person, and may not be as necessary because it can be improvised. But we know that people are going to get hurt and that they are going to need to be moved; so we may as well prepare for it.

I know this isn’t brain surgery, but frequently we don’t think about preparing for medical injuries beyond having a first aid kit. As I’ve stressed before, in a collapse situation people who aren’t used to physical exertion will be forced to be much more active and injuries will happen – and they will happen more frequently.

(Friday: What I Did This Week To Prep)

*A sprain is an injury to a ligament (in a joint), i.e. sprained ankle; a strain (aka as ‘pulled’) is an injury to a tendon or muscle, i.e. strained, or pulled, hamstring). For first aid treatment, remember the mnemonic: P.R.I.C.E. – protect, rest, ice, compress, elevate. Crutches, a cane, or a wheelchair will help protect the injured extremity by not putting weight on it, and allow it to rest by using it as little as possible.

Can You Store Antibiotics In Your Preps?

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“The first rule of antibiotics is try not to use them, and the second rule is try not to use too many of them.” – Paul Marino The ICU Book 2007

Cellulitis

Last week in Soap and Water I posted about the risk, in a collapse situation, of an infection–from minor cuts and scrapes–known as cellulitis. I linked to Dr. Bones Doom and Bloom blog post, Cellulitis: An Epidemic in a Collapse. Here’s another good article by Dr. Bones, A Doctor’s Thoughts on Antibiotics, Expiration Dates, and TEOTWAWKI. For additional perspective about antibiotics before and during a collapse I recommend comments by Dr. ‘Walker’ on TSP forum. Additional, non-prepper/collapse, antibiotic information can be found at eMedicineHealth.com.

I need to state, though I was previously certified and worked as a paramedic for almost ten years, I am currently not a medical professional of any type; thus I am not giving any professional medical advice. All the information in this post is from open internet sources. As Dr. Bones states “. . . [these] are hypothetical strategies for a post-apocalyptic setting. They are not meant to replace standard care and advice when modern medical technology and resources are available.” And always remember, the practice of medicine or dentistry without a license is illegal and punishable by law.

So with all the caveats stated:

Antibiotics refer to a substance that kills, slows or disrupts the growth of:

  • bacterial infections: caused by a pathogenic (a ‘germ’/microorganism that causes disease) bacteria
  • protozoan infections: caused by a parasitic disease, i.e. giardia which occurs through ingestion of infected fecal contaminated water or food

Antibiotics do not fight infections caused by viruses, such as: colds, flu, most coughs, and most sore throats (unless caused by strep).

Much of my information comes from Dr. Bones. I trust his advice. I applaud him; he is a medical doctor who is willing to say what he believes will save lives in a collapse situation. But as he clearly states, “[This] advice is contrary to standard medical practice, and is a strategy that is appropriate only in the event of societal collapse. If there are modern medical resources available to you, seek them out.”

As discussed in Soap and Water, describing a collapse situation, there are several things that will aggravate the chances of getting an infection: 1) We will be doing more ‘dirty’ jobs, 2) We will be doing a lot more manual labor and other activities that can easily lead to cuts and scrapes, and 3) Clean water and basic hygiene will not be as accessible or convenient. So a relatively minor wound that is ignored while you continue working gets more contaminated; then the wound isn’t thoroughly washed out because clean water is saved for drinking. In a short period of time that wound can develop a serious infection.

Dr. Bones states in Fish Antibiotics in a Collapse, “These injuries can begin to show infection, in the form of redness, heat and swelling, within a relatively short time. Treatment of such infections, called “cellulitis”, at an early stage improves the chance that they will heal quickly and completely.  However, many rugged individualists are most likely to “tough it out” until their condition worsens and spreads to their blood.  This causes a condition known as sepsis; fever ensues as well as other problems that could eventually be life-threatening. The availability of antibiotics would allow the possibility of dealing with the issue safely and effectively.”

Having antibiotics available in a collapse situation will be very important, even lifesaving. The question is how can we as preppers obtain a stockpile to be used if other ‘medical resources’ are no longer available?

Dr. Bones continues, “After years of using [antibiotics] on fish, I decided to evaluate these drugs for their potential use in collapse situations. A close inspection of the bottles revealed that the only ingredient was the drug itself, identical to those obtained by prescription at the local pharmacy. If the bottle says FISH-MOX, for example, the sole ingredient is Amoxicillin, which is an antibiotic commonly used in humans.  There are no additional chemicals . . .”

So it seems that fish antibiotics are the same drugs as used in human antibiotics. I believe that adding fish antibiotics to my preps is a sound strategy. They are available, without a prescription, through many fish supply websites. I have purchased, or plan to purchase, the following:

  • Fish-Mox Forte (amoxicillin 500mg): used to treat infections of the ears, nose, throat, urinary tract, skin, pneumonia, and gonorrhea
  • Fish-Flex Forte (cephalexin 500mg): used to treat infections of the bone, ear, skin, urinary tract, and pneumonia; it has very low side effects, (it is typically safe for those with penicillin allergies)
  • Fish-Flox Forte (ciprofloxacin 500mg): used to treat infections of bones and joints, sinuses, skin, urinary tract, gastroenteritis (stomach ‘flu’), typhoid, plague, and anthrax
  • Aqua-Doxy (doxycycline 100mg): used to treat infections of the sinus and respiratory tract, skin (staph), urinary tract, intestines, chlamydia, anthrax, Rickettsia, Lyme disease, plague, and cholera
  • *Fish-Zole (metronidazole (Flagyl) 250mg): as an antiprotozoal, used to treat giardia and dysentery

For any medication you choose to stock (antibiotics or otherwise) print out the entire drug card and keep that information stored with the drug; a good online source of drug information is the U.S. National Library of Medicine. Also it’s always best to store them in the original package and, like food storage, keep in a dry, dark, cool place.

If you choose to add antibiotics to your preps it is your responsibility to be thoroughly educated about their usages, contradictions, doses, and side effects. This is something you can’t just buy and figure you have it if you need it. Obtain additional medical publications such as the Physicians Desk Reference (PDR) or Delmar Nurse’s Drug Handbook*. Antibiotics are drugs, taking an antibiotic is a medical treatment, do not take this lightly. When I was going through my Army medic training one of my instructors said, “Every medicine you put into the body is a toxin, be sure the benefits outweigh the risks.”

(Wednesday: Expired, or Not Expired; That Is The Question)

* There are many other good references available, these are just two examples. There is no reason to buy a current edition; older editions are much cheaper and have essentially all the information a layperson would ever need.