Survival Medicine

We often talk about trauma and infection, but less so about chronic diseases. We have to face the fact that in some settings, namely those without some of modern medicine’s miracle technology, some people will long-term issues may end up having life spans similar to those of their ancestors a hundred or more years ago. One category of patient that has less options off the grid are those with COPD, also known as Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease.

Emphysema and chronic bronchitis cause real damage to lung tissue from cigarettes and other reasons.Folks with these conditions may have trouble with stamina and work efficiency in tough times, especially in austere settings.

In this episode, Joe Alton MD and Amy Alton ARNP talk about what you need to know about COPD and what strategies, if any, are helpful for those with severe cough, mucus production, and lack of oxygen intake. 

Wishing you the best of health in good times or bad,

Joe and Amy Alton

Don't forget to check out our HSA/FSA-eligible medical first aid kits, plus our books and individual supplies at store.doomandbloom.net!

Survival Medicine Podcast #379

Today, we talk about a mosquito-borne illness. What? It’s freezing out there, there’s no mosquitoes! Well, Down here in South Florida, we get outbreaks of tropical infections even in wintertime. A while ago, I wrote about a mosquito-borne virus that strikes warm weather regions: Dengue Fever.

At that time, I reported that places as far apart from each other as Singapore, Nicaragua, and Bangladesh had reported Dengue outbreaks. Not since the beginning of the year, but on the same day! This distribution meets the WHO definition of pandemic, characterized by community level outbreaks in different regions.)

This week, the Florida Department of Health in Miami issued an alert after two local residents came down with Dengue symptoms, bringing the total to 14 for 2019. These cases were not thought to be contracted in other countries, but locally in the South Florida area. The implication is that local mosquitoes in the area are a reservoir for the disease. Dr. Alton and Nurse Amy discuss what you need to know about Dengue in terms of recognition, treatment, and prevention.

Also, methods to apply Permethrin 0.5% solution to clothing (not skin). This insecticide gives long-lasting effective protection against mosquito bites and might be useful in epidemic settings caused by insect bites.

Wishing you the best of health in good times or bad,

Joe and Amy Alton

Don't forget to check out our entire line of medical kits and supplies at store.doomandbloom.net!

In the last couple of days, we’ve read about multiple stabbing incidents, one killed a freshman at a NY college, another killed two young men, and others just seem to pop up in the news pretty much all the time. Any incident like this or any kind of natural or man-made disaster puts your people at risk for injury. When it occurs, trauma may be minor or major; penetrating trauma such as stab wounds can be life-threatening, depending on the organs and blood vessels damaged. 

In this episode, Joe Alton MD discusses important factors relating to stab wounds and trauma from sharp objects, and how to manage them in the safest way possible in both normal times and survival scenarios...

Wishing the best of health in good times or bad,

Joe and Amy Alton

Check out Nurse Amy's entire line of medical kits at store.doomandbloom.net!

This episode is broadcast (poorly) from a hotel room in New Yawk City, where we are visiting one of our daughters who's, well, a city girl. Ignore the police sirens and other "technical difficulties"!

Hey, from time to time, old dr. bones or the lovely nurse amy are asked to come on other podcasts, radio shows, and even TV to talk about disaster medical preparedness, and just a few days ago, our good friend Jeff Anderson from Modern Combat and Survival .com asked us to come on his show, which we’ve put on our website if you want to hear the whole show. In addition, he does a little lightning round as well that he calls the 5 in 5, where he asks five questions and the guest has to answer each in a minute or less. You know that it usually takes me a minute just to get a sentence out so it was a real challenge, but I accepted it. Here goes…

Plus, a question for Dr. Alton as a member of the Expert Council at Jack Spirko's Survival Podcast about soft tissue infections like cellulitis and more!

Wishing you the best of health in good time or bad,

Joe and Amy Alton

For the best HSA/FSA eligible first aid kit on the internet, check out Nurse Amy's entire line at store.doomandbloom.net!

THE SURVIVAL MEDICINE PODCAST #376

Hey, I’ll bet you’ve wondered from time to time if you’re medically prepared enough. Do you have the supplies to deal with the medical issues you’ll face? To know that, you need to know what medical issues you’ll face. In my research, I’ve taken the experience of those in remote locations with limited supplies as guidance. People like medical missionaries  spend months at a time off the grid in communities where infections and injuries occur, and usually assume medical responsibility with very limited equipment.

Joe Alton MD and Amy Alton ARNP talk about some of those duties, and what you can expect to face in times of trouble. Plus, a basic discussion of infectious diseases caused by bacteria and viruses and how they differ.

Wishing you the best of health in good times or bad,

Joe and Amy Alton

Learn about bacterial infectious diseases and the antibiotics available to the average citizen in Joe Alton MD's book "Alton's Antibiotics and Infectious Disease". And don't forget Nurse Amy's entire line of high-quality medical kits and individual supplies at her store at store.doomandbloom.net!

Survival Medicine Podcast #375

In survival, the medicines eventually run out no matter how well you’ve prepared if the disaster knock you off the grid for long enough. This is especially true for drugs for which you can only stockpile a limited quantity, simply because they’re too expensive. One item that isn’t too expensive is fish oil, commonly available in supplement or in FDA-approved prescription items. The scientific data shows that they can reduce triglycerides in your blood, a factor in coronary artery disease, and perhaps help in other ways.

So what is fish oil and is it of any use off the grid? Should you accumulate it in quantity in your medical storage. That's your decision, but you'll know a lot more about it after listening to Dr. Joe Alton of doomandbloom.net!

Also, Dr. Alton answers a question from someone suffering from symptoms similar (but not exactly) to carpal tunnel syndrome. Could he have Guyon's Syndrome instead? Learn about it in this episode of the new-format Survival Medicine Podcast!

Wishing you the best of health in good times or bad,

Joe Alton MD/Amy Alton ARNP

Hey, show your support for our mission to put a medically prepared person in every family by subscribing to our website at doomandbloom.net and checking out Nurse Amy's often-imitated, never-equaled medical kits and supplies at store.doomandbloom.net!

Infectious disease is of major concern in good times or bad, and the family medic must be able to identify some of the deadliest. Having just written a book about infectious diseases and the antibiotics that treat them (Alton’s Antibiotics and Infectious Disease: The Layman’s Guide to Available Antibacterials in Austere Settings), we’ve done our research on some of the worst illnesses that can occur even in countries with advanced medical systems. There are infections out there, however, that are often fatal and aren’t in our book, because they can’t be treated with antibiotics. I’m talking about viruses.

What are the worst viruses on the planet? Joe Alton MD and Amy Alton ARNP, in their new podcast format, give their thoughts on past, present, and future viruses that antibiotics can't cure and could cause a true epidemic apocalypse....

Wishing you the best of health in good times or bad,

Joe and Amy Alton

Hey, don't forget to check out Nurse Amy's Health Savings Account-eligible first aid kits at store.doomandbloom.net!

After a brief hiatus, Joe and Amy Alton, aka Dr. Bones and Nurse Amy try out a new format that removes a lot of the up front "housekeeping" and get to the meat of the medical topic for the week immediately. They plan to put out more frequent shows lasting about 15-20 minutes each and stay on one topic to delve into it more deeply.

This week, Dr. Alton discusses the Ebola epidemic from the standpoint of the health workers that are being killed by armed rebels in the area. Even the local population seem to hate medical personnel out of fear and superstition, blaming them for the civil unrest and spread of the epidemic, which was waning at last report. Now, health workers are being told to stay home out of concern for their safety.

This situation can be extrapolated to fit survival scenarios. When the group medic is in a hostile situation, what should be their priorities? Dr. Alton and Amy give their thoughts on when good medicine may become bad, even dangerous tactics....

Wishing you the best of health in good times or bad...

Don't forget that it's closing in on the end of the year, so get your money's worth out of that HSA or FSA account with one or more of Nurse Amy's many eligibile kits at store.doomandbloom.net!

In the midst of a break from their podcast, Joe Alton MD and Amy Alton ARNP are interviewed by good friends Glen Tate and Shelby Gallagher from the Prepping 2.0 podcast. The topic is pandemic disease, what infections can become the next major epidemic to push society to the brink, what to do to keep your family safe, and the supplies you'll need to avoid infectious disease from running rampant among your people.

Keep an eye out for future podcasts with Dr. Bones and Nurse Amy, we'll be back soon!

And don't forget to check out our medical kits and supplies at store.doomandbloom.net! Sign up at our website to get special coupon codes for the Thanksgiving shopping days!

A fractured femur or a gunshot wound to the chest are major injuries that affect your chances of survival in disaster settings, but not all injuries are so extreme. “Minor” injuries can also impact the efficiency of a group member off the grid.  Of these, nailbed injuries are some you’ll commonly see. You can imagine that nailbed injuries will be more common when untrained (and perhaps careless) people perform tasks to which they’re not accustomed. Joe and Amy Alton describe various types of trauma and their treatments.

The journal PNAS (Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences) reports that 33.5% of the population lives below an elevation of 100 meters above sea level. That means that there’s a possibility that you might have to abruptly relocate from a home at sea level to a “bug-out” location in the mountains. Too abruptly, though, and you can get sick. Joe Alton MD discusses acute mountain sickness and what to do to prevent and treat it.

Also, the second greatest cause of death from protozoal parasites, after malaria, is amebiasis (amoebiasis), a condition caused by entamoeba hystolitica. This organism attacks various organs, sometimes the intestines, other times the liver, and elsewhere. Find out how to recognize and treat this terrible pathogen and various ways to disinfect water which may contain  it. 

All this and more on the latest Survival Medicine Hour!

Don't forget to get your medical kits and supplies from the many choices at store.doomandbloom.net! You'll be glad you did. Also, get a copy of our award-winning Third Edition of the Survival Medicine Handbook and our new bestseller Alton's Antibiotics and Infectious Disease: The Layman's Guide...