Category Archives: Skills

Prepper Resolution #10: Get Some Training

As preppers, we tend to focus primarily on gear and storage.  While there’s nothing wrong with either of those, and both are absolutely necessary, the third vital leg of the “Prepper Three Legged Stool” is skills.  What you have stored internally in your mind & muscle memory, or at least available on quick recall, is equally as important as the first two legs.  We’re going to go beyond just acquiring skills though – this post is going to urge actually taking some formal training, not just teaching yourself or learning through watching YouTube plus trial & error.

Continue reading

Pink Eye

Medical Basics: Is it “Pink Eye”?

Many parents have received that dreaded phone call from a school nurse, teacher, or daycare provider requesting their child be picked up immediately from school due to probable “pink eye”?  Though “pink eye” is layperson terminology, it has become synonymous in people’s minds as a highly contagious eye infection. But is this true?  This article will review a variety of causes of a pink eye, the differences in presentation of each,  appropriate treatment depending on cause, and the likelihood of transmission to another person.

Continue reading

Medical Basics: Do I Need an Antibiotic?

Please remember: the information presented on this website is intended for educational purposes and is not meant to replace a visit to a qualified healthcare provider.

Every day in my medical practice (usually multiple times), I see patients that request an antibiotic medication for the treatment of their symptoms. Most cases of infection seen by medical providers, do NOT require antibiotics for treatment.   During a disaster situation, when medical care may not be readily available, it is important to use your preps wisely; therefore, in this post, we will review several basic indicators of infection, likely causes, and possible treatments.

Penicilin molecule

Penicillin core structure, where “R” is the variable group

Antibiotics kill bacteria (and some spirochetes), but not viruses. Except for some well known bacterial infections such as “strep throat”, “ear infections”, bacterial conjunctivitis (most people call this “pink eye”), urinary tract infections (UTI), tuberculosis (Tb), an infected cut, “food poisoning”, some STDs (chlamydia/gonorrhea) and certain types of pneumonia, many other common ailments are not bacterial. Most common infections experienced by adults and children are VIRAL.

There are several viral medications on the market that are focused on certain viral infections, examples include HIV, Hepatitis C, Influenza type A & B only (“the flu”), Herpes, and Shingles. Still, the treatments for these ailments don’t always “kill” the virus. Anti-viral medications generally control the quantity of virus present in the body by preventing the virus from multiplying, while the body’s immune system attacks the virus, or enhance the body’s immune system response in order to fight the virus.

Continue reading

Prepper Gear

Prepper Resolution #4: Use Your Gear

We just had Christmas about a month ago, and if you’re like many preppers, you  likely received some preparedness related gear as a gift.  It’s tempting to think “ok, I can cross that off my list now”, keep it boxed up, and squirrel it away into your garage, shed, barn, or wherever you stash your gear.  It is then very likely to either never get tried out, or sit idle for a long period of time before being rediscovered.  This is a bad idea for several reasons.

Something Ain’t Right

The gear may be defective or not function how you expect.  Most things have a limited time return policy, so if something is defective, you risk in the best case scenario not being able to return it to the store for a credit.  In the worst case, if it’s something you’re depending on for survival such as a generator, piece of medical equipment, or solar panel kit, you don’t want to find out it doesn’t work on the day the power goes out for an extended period of time and you absolutely were counting on it.  That new pre-built bug out bag looks very stylish and holds a ton of stuff, but unless you go out for a hike carrying it, you won’t know if it will be too heavy, be durable enough to last, suitably protect your gear from rain/snow, or rub a raw spot on your shoulder because it just doesn’t fit quite right.

Continue reading