Doom and Bloom (TM)

Hey Prepper Nation, We get quite a few excellent emails discussing various preparedness issues and scenarios, but occasionally one is so compelling that it could stand on its own as an article.  Here are a few thoughts and questions by Patty Prepper, and my responses on the topics she touches upon.   To Dr. Bones [...]

Hey Preppers, Most people have, at some time of their life, run afoul of an ornery dog or cat.  Most animal bites will be puncture wounds; these will be relatively small but have the potential to cause dangerous infections.  Although many Preppers are wary of vaccines, it may be appropriate to make sure that everyone [...]

Hey Prepper Nation, Last time, we described a mass casualty incident scene with 20 victims and told you about initial considerations before beginning START (Simple Triage and Rapid Treatment).  In our scenario, you ended up with 10 victims on the ground, 8 walking wounded, and 2 relatively uninjured but unskilled victims that volunteered to help.  [...]

Hey Prepper Nation, Last article, we discussed some basics regarding Mass Casualty Incidents (MCIs).  To review: 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: [...]

                                                                               What You Won’t Have… Hey Prepper Nation, 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 [...]

Hey Preppers, I haven’t spent a great deal of time discussing chest pain due to coronary artery disease, even though it is one of the leading causes of death in today’s society.  Why? It will, as you can imagine, be difficult in a collapse situation to do very much about heart attacks, due to the [...]

Hey Prepper Nation, One of the most common Doomsday scenarios involve atomic weapons and the decimation of the population from thermal blasts and radiation.  Although the world has experienced nuclear blasts only twice, (Hiroshima and Nagasaki in 1945), nuclear events have occurred from time to time since then.   You have probably heard about the [...]

                                                                                                                           nail avulsion image by Arteestique Hey Preppers, As much as we talk about major injuries on this website, mild injuries can be just as damaging to the effectiveness and efficiency of a member of your survival group.  Although perhaps not as life-threatening as a gunshot wound or a fractured thighbone, nailbed injuries are common; [...]

Hey Preppers, Emergency room physicians in busy medical centers see and treat a lot of finger injuries each week.  From lacerations (cuts) to fractures, it is often difficult to fully evaluate and treat (suturing a cut or straightening a broken or displaced finger bone) without numbing the area.  Even cleaning blood or debris from an [...]

Hey Prepper Nation, We have spent some time discussing traumatic wounds, thermal burns, and even radiation sickness, all of which are injuries sustained in disaster and doomsday scenarios.  Civil unrest, wildfires, and nuclear bombs and meltdowns are all catastrophes that the preparedness community is concerned about, but let’s talk about about something few consider as [...]

Source: UFC.com Hey Preppers, We have discussed the issue of trauma evaluation and treatment in various articles over the past year, but we have rarely brought up the issue of dental trauma.  During the Vietnam war, medical personnel reported that there were as many dental issues presented at Sick Call as medical issues.  In a [...]

Hey Preppers, We have discussed the issue of trauma evaluation and treatment in various articles over the past year, but we have rarely brought up the issue of dental trauma.  During the Vietnam war, medical personnel reported that there were as many dental issues presented at Sick Call as medical issues.  In a collapse situation, [...]

Hey Prepper Nation, “Beans and Bullets” are relatively basic and universal aspects of prepping, and some level of medical preparedness is universal as well.  A prepper who fails to keep bandages and Ibuprofen, for example, is  probably not where he/she needs to be with regards to their medical storage.  Medical supplies are quite varied, however, [...]

  Hey Prepper Nation, In our ongoing series on staying healthy in times of trouble, we have spent time talking about proper disposal of human waste, water sterilization, and food preparation.  At this point, we will discuss one very important strategy to keeping infectious disease from running rampant among your people: proper hand hygiene.  In [...]

Hey Prepper Nation, It’s just makes common sense that there will be sanitation issues in a major disaster or collapse situation.  Any water source that has not been sterilized or any food that hasn’t been properly cleaned and cooked will be an opportunity for pathogens to start their damage.  As a community medic and chief [...]

Hey Prepper Nation, As a physician, my main focus is keeping people healthy. Given the availability of modern medical care and sanitation techniques, my job is easier than it was for my predecessors one hundred years ago.  Like many folks in today’s society, I have been spoiled by high technology, mass production, and Big Pharma [...]

Hey Preppers, One of the most common chronic medical conditions that we will see, in good times or bad, is high blood pressure. Looking back recently at all the articles on this blog, I surprised myself when I realized that I hadn’t written about this condition, also known as hypertension, even though I have a [...]

  Hey Preppers, Dr. Bones has decided to scare you out of your wits by actually appearing in his latest YouTube video!  Dr. Bones, aka “The face made for radio”, talks about items useful for treating traumatic injuries by breaking out his own bag and going through the various components.  Even though we sell the [...]

  Hey Preppers, After writing about this for 2 years, I’ve finally put up a YouTube video on the subject, find it on YouTube here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XhKNZInFvpQ or watch it here: Read my article on the subject on this website at: http://www.doomandbloom.net/2011/10/fish-antibiotics-in-a-collapse.html Dr. Bones    

Hey Preppers, Last time, we discussed the various types of fractures and the importance of “reducing” a deformity in a limb caused by a broken bone. (here’s the link:  http://www.doomandbloom.net/2012/03/fractures-part-1.html) Your goal is to take a bone that is poorly aligned and position it so that the broken ends are together again as before the [...]

FRACTURES, Part 1 Hey Prepper Nation, If we wind up in a situation where the you-know-what has hit the fan, we will be fending for ourselves; we’ll have to do a lot of strenuous activities that we will be unaccustomed to doing, and that means more injuries.  Some of those injuries will be minor, but [...]

Hey Prepper Nation, We spend a lot of time on this blog talking about medical issues in times of trouble, from storms to a complete societal breakdown.  However, times of trouble can be very personal, such as when you find yourself or a loved one battling a debilitating medical condition. This has happened to one [...]

By   Bernadette Bay O’Shaughnessy of www.patriciaressenterprises.net (Bones note: This is a guest post that explores options other than aquarium and avian antibiotics, which I have long espoused as a viable option for disaster stockpiling) My father and grandfather were both registered pharmacists who graduated near the head of their classes. My father told me something [...]

  Hey Prepper Nation, Part of your duties as a medical caregiver is to deal with minor issues that don’t threaten your patients’ lives, but can seriously decrease their quality of life or work efficiency.  In times of trouble, you’ll need your people at 110%, and many issues such as toothaches or foot infections will [...]

Hey Prepper Nation, As a medical doctor/registered nurse practitioner team, we received conventional medical training at university hospitals while getting our degrees.  Since that time, however, we have explored various alternative methods of healing; this is not to replace our education, but as a supplement and an additional tool in the medical woodshed. One class [...]

Hey Preppers, This may sound a little crazy coming from someone who has a just put out a book for sale (The Doom and Bloom(tm) Survival Medicine Handbook), but there are a number of free resources available to you if you have a working computer and an empty wallet.  Many of these sources of medical [...]

Hey Prepper Nation, In our recent article “A Primer on Pain Meds”, we talked about your various pharmaceutical options with regards to pain relief.  In a long-term survival situation, your limited supplies of these items will eventually run out.  This leaves you with natural alternatives from products that you can grow yourself or, perhaps, find [...]

Hey Prepper Nation, As an extremely old and cranky individual (some find it charming, I keep telling myself), I frequently complain about my various aches and pains.  It stands to reason that my minor issues with discomfort at present will be multiplied by the increased workload demands of a power-down situation.  Try lugging a full [...]

Hey Prepper Nation, The Doom and Bloom™ Trauma Module is our answer for those who want to be able to deal with minor and major traumatic injuries as a result of everything from natural disasters to civil unrest.  With hundreds of items, this kit will allow you to treat everything from severe sprains to gunshot [...]

  Hey Prepper Nation,   I realize that I haven’t spend a lot of time on pediatric issues, so let’s talk about a common problem with kids: ear infections.  It’s a rare parent who hasn’t had to deal with this problem at one point or another; in some cases, it’s a chronic problem that affects [...]