Turn Your Head And Cough

Perhaps the weakest link in my preps (probably a tie with my poor preps for communications with friends and family after an event) has to do with defeating illnesses that have already occurred.  For instance, how to identify and fight a staph infection.

I'm good on the prevention side.  I have a sufficient supplies of wet-wipes, hand cleaner, toilet paper, soap, detergent, and other cleansers.  In addition, I have a large quantities of iodine sanitizer and acid-based sanitizers.  I have these because of my brewing hobby.  They are used by any business (or hobbyist) that needs sanitized equipment to keep the "bugs" at a minimum.

Not a bad idea to have a bottle or two in your preps as well....

I'm also pretty good in the wound-dressing department.  Sufficient supplies of gloves, bandages, suture kits, tape, saline for wound irrigation, and antibiotic creams.

My weakness is in identifying illnesses that occur despite my best efforts, and more importantly, knowing how to treat them.   For them, I've basically got over the counter medications.  Cold and flu pills, aspirin, ibuprofen, Benadryl, cortisone cream, Tums, Pepto-Bismol and the like.

I've got a small stash of prescription drugs held-over from past doctor visits, plus some Fish Mox - amoxicillin - for antibiotics.  FWIW, I chose amoxicillin, as I know all of my family members are NOT allergic to it, and have not taken it in amounts in the past to render it ineffective.  Plus, it's got the longest shelf-life of any of them.  Yes, I have the treatment regimen printed and located with the pills.

So, TSHFT, no doctors are available, and someone in my group gets a rash on their torso and has a slight fever, what do I do?  How do I diagnose this?  Obviously, I don't want to treat one thing in a manner that either wastes resources, or makes the condition worse.

If a wound becomes infected, how is it fixed?  How would you practice this ahead of time?

What if you came down with one of these, "10 Diseases That Will Become Farm More Common After The Collapse"?  None sound like fun, and most are deadly.

[Note:  Their suggestion of a bucket of bleach solution outside a door to dip your hands into is a great idea, and is one that we brewers follow - with the previously mentioned iodine sanitizer.  Really keeps the bugs to a minimum.]

What resources are out there to help with the diagnosis and treatment of illness, injury or disease?  I'm thinking primarily text-based.  I know this crosses over into Medical Doctor territory, but there must be resources out there.

WebMD has a kind of cool tool called, "Symptom Checker" that walks you through a series of questions.  It will then give you a list of probabilities, which then how to treat each of the possibilities.  It's a great tool, but I want to have something I can hold in my hands, and that doesn't rely on electronics or Internet access.

The only booklets I'm able to find are for mental illnesses.  I've got alcohol and hand-cuffs for that ;-)

What do you have in your preps stores?


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