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-Reader Submitted Article
Medical & Dental Tips
I have lived and worked for many years in very remote jungles operating
a small primary care medical clinic wherein I provided medical and
dental care to hundreds of people under very primitive conditions.
Hiking alone to remote villages with only the assortment of medicines,
medical and dental instruments and supplies I could carry in my
back pack (along with personal "survival items") and without
re-supply for many weeks at times, I quickly learned many basic
ideas on how to self-treat or treat another without a fancy "first
aid kit" and I hope you can get a few ideas from this article.
Priority #1: Learn and study all you can about emergency
medicine before you need it. There is not one item in any first-aid
kit that will replace basic emergency care knowledge, training and
old fashion common sense in a survival situation. Remember this
tip; the more medical knowledge and skills you possess the fewer
medical items you require in a survival situation. With basic skills
and knowledge, you can treat anyone for any injury without any first-aid
supplies at all.
You do not need to attend medical college, but a few basic courses
in first-aid, such as offered by the Red Cross in every country
is a good place to start. If you were seriously injured in a remote
setting and not able to properly care for yourself immediately,
would you really want to see your buddy sitting there trying to
read a simple first-aid manual while you are bleeding and in severe
pain? I would suggest it best if your buddy already knew what to
do and could begin emergency care immediately wherein not only would
you feel better, but it will probably forestall worsening the injuries
and speed later recovery. So do yourself (and your buddy) a favor
by learning emergency first aid before you need it.
Medical tips:
OK, here are a few tidbits that may help you train, plan for, stock-up
and keep yourself or buddy in the best shape possible in an emergency
situation.
Always keep in mind, in a survival situation you are not trying
to play doctor. Your intent should be treating the injured to maintain
their body in the best shape possible pending treatment by "a
real doctor" either via extraction or having one brought to
your location. The delay in time for professional care may range
from a few hours to days, weeks or longer depending on your anticipated
location and circumstances. So plan and educate yourself accordingly.
The body is a marvelous self-repairing machine. Fractures will
heal on their own (misaligned perhaps, but they will start to mend
in only a few days). Large wounds will heal, even gapping wounds.
They may leave scars but the body will fix itself. The majority
of infections will be cured by the body without antibiotics.
Antibiotics are dispensed unnecessarily today as we have become
accustomed to getting a prescription for every little infection
we pick up. World wide abuse has lead to many pathogens now being
immune to basic antibiotics and science is in a non-stop race striving
to find new ones. Common infections do not require antibiotics.
Most antibiotics do not "kill the bugs" causing the infection;
rather, they prevent their ability to multiply in our body and allowing
the body's own immune system to "cure itself" by killing
the infecting organism. Common infections in a survival situation
is often best left untreated by antibiotics if you do not know which
one(s) to dish out unless a high fever or a wound is pus filled,
red & swollen and obviously well infected. Generally a low grade
fever does not warrant antibiotics and many professionals have concluded
a fever is the body's attempt to kill off the invading bacteria
or virus. Warm compresses can help or even draw out topical infections.
I do suggest putting in your kit a good "broad spectrum"
antibiotic. (Most bacteria have a specifically developed 'rifle
like antibiotic' designed to treat it and 'broad spectrum antibiotics'
means they cover a variety of ailments 'like shot gunning' the critters).
Talk with your doctor as to which one(s) he suggests and ask him
for a prescription. Most doctors are willing to do so if you can
demonstrate when and how to administer them.
Speaking of medications, you can optimize a kit with a few other
meds. Pain meds such as over the counter Ibuprophen or codeine 30
mg with acetaminophen maybe something to consider for they have
additional medical uses other than pain and, as with every medicine
you carry, you should acquaint yourself with the other indications.
Depending on your location, specific meds such as anti-malarials
or high altitude meds may be in order. An anti diarrhea med such
as Lamotrigine (Imodium AD) is a standard as is Diphenhydramine
(Benadryl).
Bandages and Dressings: Most survival kits provide bandages
and dressings and range from different sizes and quantities. While
I am not striving to dissuade your decision as to which kit or size
or quantities is best for your anticipated needs, lets shed some
light on these items.
- A dressing is something placed directly onto a wound. Its function
is to protect the wound from further damage and often to help
control bleeding. Most injuries do not require a sterile dressing.
If you do not have a medical dressing, simply use the cleanest
material you have at hand to control bleeding in an emergency.
A piece of torn clothing can later be boiled, cooled and applied
and it is often more effective than simple gauze dressings included
in basic first-aid kits. Sterile dressings obviously have their
place in a survival kit, but keep in mind if and when you run
out of the 2" x 2", 3" x 3" or 4" x 4",
5" x 9" or larger sizes, your common sense and training
will find replacements in the field.
- A bandage is something that holds a dressing in place. It can
also be used to immobilize a part of the body such as a triangular
bandage used for a sling or a fracture; however the gauze roller
bandages we think of are mainly used to keep the dressing where
you want it to be. There are many different styles and sizes on
the market. From simple gauze, sterile and non-sterile, self conforming
bandages (i.e. Kling) that mold itself to the injured part and
self-adhering bandages (i.e. Coban) that require no tape (and
is stretchy and makes a very effective pressure bandage). Other
bandages are combined with a built-in dressing such as Band-Aids
or military style compress dressing. Even a bandana makes a great
field expedient bandage/dressing combination. First aid tape alone,
Duct tape and even twine can be an effective bandage to hold a
dressing in place.
- If you apply a sterile dressing on a wound, anything you apply
as a bandage and is not sterile will effectively "de-sterilize
the dressing. Sterile + sterile = sterile. Sterile + non-sterile
= non-sterile.
- In an emergency and someone has suffered traumatic injuries,
remember this simple tip; examine for and treat with "ABC"
in mind. "A" is for airway, "B"
is for breathing and "C" is for circulation (that
encompasses first the heart beating and then severe bleeding).
If a person's Airway is obstructed or damaged, their attempts
at breathing will not be effective and they will die. Simply extending
a persons head backwards a bit (if no neck injury is present or
suspected) will open the unobstructed airway and takes but a fraction
of a second to do. If a person's airway is clear but the Breathing
is not working, they will enter unconsciousness in seconds and
die within a matter of minutes. This is where mouth-to-mouth and
other techniques come into play. If the airway and breathing is
in good shape, then determining Circulation begins with
checking the heart to find out if it's beating. If you can not
locate a pulse or hear the heart, one could begin CPR.
If the heart is beating blood through the body, quickly look for
sever bleeding that you need to control quickly. If Airway is
obstructed, then breathing is not getting air and body will die.
If the Airway is closed, no air gets into the lungs. If
Breathing is stopped there is no oxygenated blood going
to the heart so the heart temporarily pumping does the body no
good. If the heart stops Circulating oxygenated blood or
it is loosing too much blood to keep cells alive, all else is
mute.
- So called minor surgical kits or suture kits are not needed
in the field. Wounds will take care of themselves without sutures.
Without formal training leave the surgery to professionals.
- Even with gapping wounds for example, all one needs to do is
wash the wound with soap and potable water (any water you can
drink), flush it gently with as much potable water as possible,
dry it or allow to air dry and simply cover with sterile gauze
dressing if available. Even surgeons in hospitals rely on this
manner of keeping wounds sterile.
- Creams and salves do have a place in a medium or large size
kit but use in the field is rather specific and their use can
be often left untreated by them. If you are going to carry some,
I suggest an anti-fungal cream (take along some female vaginal
cream for women and also any fungal infections anywhere on the
body except the eyes and mouth) as it is more potent than other
over-the-counter anti-fungal creams; a topical anesthesia cream
containing Benzocaine or Lidocaine for treating localized itch,
mucus tissue like the anus for hemorrhoids from sitting on those
rocks and logs and in an emergency for oral uses. Over-the-counter
hydrocortisone is simply too weak to be of much use. If space
allows, a good gel-burn bandage is a nice thing to have along.
With proper wound care, first aid creams are not of much use.
Dental tips
If you anticipate being anywhere for any length of time or subject
to facial injuries (plane crash) or whatever, a couple of very basic
materials will keep you intact and out of pain until you can get
to a dentist. The items are so small I suggest carrying some if
at all possible.
Tip: Ask you local dentist to give you a very small amount of eugenol
and zinc oxide powder. These are not prescription items (many
drug stores either carry or can order them for you but the amounts
ordered and received is ridiculous). I bet if you take in a tiny
dark bottle that has a very tight fitting lid for the eugenol (it
is a liquid) and a small container (film container?) for the zinc
oxide power to the dentist they will gladly give it to you because
its is very cheap stuff. Remember you will only need small amounts
of both. Eugenol can be substituted with oil of cloves for they
are the same stuff and oil of cloves is found in many grocery stores
in the spice department; however, it is not as potent as pure eugenol.
Eugenol has been used for more than a hundred years by dentists
and still widely used to stop the pain from a tooth ache or even
broken teeth in many practices. Simply placing a small drop of the
eugenol onto a tiny cotton pellet (miniature ball) or even a piece
of cloth will work, and inserting it into the cavity, lost filling
or broken tooth. It will stop the pain instantly. Reapply as needed.
If there is a cavity or lost filling, mixing the zinc oxide with
the eugenol into a paste makes a very effective "temporary
filling material" that is used daily in many dentist's offices.
Mix a small amount of the paste and stick it into the cavity and
mush it down some with a twig or whatever is handy. Remove any pieces
floating around inside the mouth for salvia can and will numb the
gums, tongue and lips! Hold the mouth open for a minute to dry.
If the cavity is large or the material seems not to hold, try again
and mix a few strands of cotton with the paste for a stronger bond.
These "temporary fillings" can last for weeks, months
or even longer depending on the location of the filling.
The tips I have provided here is in no way meant to be replacement
for neither definitive professional care nor advice as such. They
are only meant to give insight into a few tips I have learned over
the course of years working and living in remote areas performing
"survival medicine" each day. Education is still the foundation
of any survival medical planning and it is the first "first
aid item" you should invest in.
-Jerry B. Blaine
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