It's obviously unethical and may be illegal for you to give medical advice online. However, many of us would greatly appreciate your posting on practical aspects of medical care, especially emergency and making yourselves available to answer questions, broadly phrased.

Please post and/or make yourselves known so we can page you when appropriate.

Thanx much.

-- BigDog (BigDog@duffer.com), July 08, 1999

Answers

Hey docs

If you were to be placed into a situation where you needed to put together some bare essentials for a long term (1-5 year) med bag, what kinds of goodies would you put in it, hypothetically speaking of course. What types of antibiotics would you recommend that a hypothetical person purchase in hypothetical Mexico? Any other items which are key?

PS-I recently found a great suture substitute which is basically a combination of Crazy Glue and Butterflys. The Crazy Glue is legit, as it is being marketed in a slightly diff. form, but a much, much cheaper easier alternative is good old CG! Who woulda thunk?

And as for scalples on the cheap, I recommend the exacto knife and some spare blades at the old Home Depot or your local True Value hardware store....

-- To stock up on anti biotics...... (mexican@meds.com), July 08, 1999.

I have a dissection kit bought for a biology class at a Univeristy bookstore for about $10. Just pulled it out and it has lots of good stuff in it, including scalpel, razor blade, tweezers, etc.

-- dakota (none@thistime.com), July 08, 1999.

I think you can buy scalpels over the counter at some drugstores/medical supply stores, and they are sharper than xacto blades....

-- y2kbiker (y2kbiker@worldnet.att.net), July 08, 1999.

ROund goes the wheel. Crazy glue came OUT of Surgery, and has now gone BACK IN!!!

LOL

Chuck

-- Chuck, a night driver (rienzoo@en.com), July 08, 1999.

For starters, find a copy of basic and advanced first aid books. The boy scouts have a version on each subject and there is a list of items in each book. These can give a list of items for cuts, wounds, burns, ect. The crazy glue does work very well and I have used it on some nasty cuts which would have required lacerations. There is an FDA approved version about to come out, it is not out already. DO HAVE a bottle of acetone (finger nail polish remover) for those who manage to glue their fingers together using this stuff. Check out Betadine, alcohol and other cleaners for wounds before they are sealed to prevent infection. Most of the malodies we have can well be handled with over-the counter products. With the change in diet that many will have, basic supplied for constipation, heart burn, diarrhea, ect will be mandatory. Physical activity will increase with big roll over problems and have a goodly supply of Advil, Tylenol and Aspirin. What you can't use can be traded. Lay in a supply of sunscreen to help stop sun burn. Make sure you also have good injury preventive supplies such as hats, work books, work gloves, face masks for dust, goggles, ect. Your best place for ideas is the medicine cabinet. See what you already use and make sure you have a supply on hand. This is not exhaustive, but its a start. Can't comment on the prescription meds as that is not my field.

-- Doc (smfdoc@aol.com), July 09, 1999.

I'm on Zeda

-- Zeda (rickster@n-jcenter.com), July 09, 1999.

There is also a nice discussion of medical needs and Y2K at http://2000andyou.com/2000/survival/ Sorry, my linker isn't linking these days.

-- Doc (smfdoc@aol.com), July 09, 1999.

Dr. William J. Schenker.....who has posted to this forum in the past......put together what he calls an "EMERGENCY MEDICAL KIT MANUAL"

he posted it several years ago......and i quickly printed it out

it's available at :

http://www.y2kchaos.com/s35p110.htm

seems to be pretty complete

hope this helps

-- andrea (mebsmebs@hotmail.com), July 09, 1999.

As a nurse and caretaker of horses and sheep I say call 1-888-533- 3377 which will get you Jeffers Vet Supply here in Mo. Ask for the beef/dairy cow,etc. catalog and you will find pages of quality reasonably priced medical equipment including disposable scapels,hemostats,suture material,syringes plus antiseptics such as Betadine. In their pet catalog find fish antibotics such as Amoxicillin and Tetracycline in familar doses. Our family uses these products --you use your own judgement. All the ranchers we know do their own doctering..we sure can't afford a vet except for life threatening emergencies.

-- MUTTI (windance @train.missouri.org), July 09, 1999.

Mutti: Would you be in a position to post appropriate instruments and specific antibiotics, painkillers, formulated creams, etc. that would be prudent for the semi-rural homewner to have on hand. Not necessarily limited to farm use either. Personally, I have 7 local grandkids, of all ages, and pets range from lynx.cats,dogs,birds,and iguana. My specific concern is "childrens safety first", so any info provided woud be to identify a safe dose "for the children", in event medicines reserved for the pets were unintentially given to humans. Sometimes I don't do well at expressing myself, but hopefully you'll understand my message. Potential farmers need to know!

-- A. Hambley (a.hambley@usa.net), July 09, 1999.

Don't forget dental care. I am a dentist and the email works.

Regards,

Will

-- Will Huett (willhuett@usa.net), July 09, 1999.

ANDREA:

Tnx for the post giving the reference for my posts on emergency medicine. The kit was designed in the early '80s (I was preparing for imminent nuclear war and massive economic implosion at that time --- ya'll better hope I'm wrong this time, when I updated the kit for y2k.)

If you read the kit info you will see where a lot of well-meaning advice on previous posts here, will not really get you where you want to be post-y2k. If you think a Boy Scout manual and First Aid manual will get you well on your way in med preps -- then I'd say, "Y2K? Not to worry -- it's just a SBITR [small bump in the road.] Better you should go see a good flick or have a gourmet dinner somewhere in your yuppie world."

Don't collect Tetracycline -- goes toxic on expiry. Vet meds can be a good way to go. If you're near Texas, go to Mexico -- buy good Rx drugs legally (& I hear, cheap.)

Bill

-- William J. Schenker, MD (wjs@linkfast.net), July 09, 1999.

I agree with Bill. Use human products. Try www.pharmacyinternational.com for prescription meds. They seem pretty good. As far as a medical first aid kit goes each person's will be different. It depends on your medical needs. You need pain killers, h2o2, astringents, antibiotic ointments, benadryl for allergies, cold meds, cough meds, maalox, aspirin for possible heartattacks etc etc etc.

-- Moore Dinty moore (not@thistime.com), July 09, 1999.

I highly recommend the inexpensive book on Y2K recommended antibiotics (really written for saying in third-world countries) that can be found at www.y2kdoc.com

Bob, Ph.D. Nuclear Engineeri

-- bob (janebob99@aol.com), July 10, 1999.

I highly recommend the inexpensive book on Y2K recommended antibiotics (really written for saying in third-world countries) that can be found at www.y2kdoc.com

Bob, Ph.D. Nuclear Engineeri

-- bob (janebob99@aol.com), July 10, 1999.

Dear Doctor Bill, My husband is making a trip to Mexico specifically to pick up some Rx's. We have seven children, 19F,16M,10M,7M,5M,3M,1F, all quite average in size and weight. If you were to start with a sort of "triage" list of anti-biotics for a family our size (and we are considering bio-warfare possbilities), what would you include? What about cough syrup with codeine? Silvadene? Should we be looking beyond Cephalexin and Amoxicillin? None allergic to penicillin so far, but what if an adverse reaction develops? I don't want to miss anything important on this trip. Thanks for all the good advice and information!

-- Mumsie (Shezdremn@aol.com), July 10, 1999.

Mumsie -- I suggest you start a different thread on this topic.

-- BigDog (BigDog@duffer.com), July 10, 1999.

Dr. Schenker,

"Don't collect Tetracycline -- goes toxic on expiry"...any other antibiotics to which this caveat applies? Also, how are fish antibiotics different from human-grade antibiotics?

Thank you

-- RUOK (RUOK@yesiam.com), July 10, 1999.

MUMSIE:

All your questions are well put. All, or most all, are addressed in that Emergency Med Kit Andrea linked you to. Go to it, and enjoy.

And when Hubby comes back fr Mex please report back to this thread with pertinent details. Tnx.

I'MOKUROK:

No, it's only TCN that you have to worry about.

Re fish antibiotics, I don't have a clue. Re vet antibiotics in general I've got hearsay info only: they can fill the bill if you compare concentrations, etc.

Bottomline: Go to Mexico (and report back here after.)

Bill

-- William J. Schenker, MD (wjs@linkfast.net), July 10, 1999.

We just got this in eMail and thought it would be good info, especially for all us weekend warriors swinging hard on our preps ;^)

HOW TO SURVIVE A HEART ATTACK IF YOU ARE ALONE

"Let's say it's 4:17 p.m. and you're driving home (alone of course) after an unusually hard day on the job.
Not only was the workload extraordinarily heavy, you also had a disagreement with your boss, and no matter how hard you tried he just wouldn't see your side of the situation.
You're really upset and the more you think about it the more uptight you become.

All of a sudden you start experiencing severe pain in your chest that starts to radiate out into your arm and up into your jaw. You are only about five miles from the hospital nearest your home.
Unfortunately you don't know if you'll be able to make it that far.

What can you do?
You've been trained in CPR but the guy that taught the course neglected to tell you how to perform it on yourself.

Reprint of an article that was published in the newsletter of Rochester General Hospital:
It gives you a course of action should you find yourself alone and think that you are having a heart attack."

Dr. Domangue (Plant Medical Director), comment: "You should do this."

HOW TO SURVIVE A HEART ATTACK WHEN ALONE

Without help, the person whose heart stops beating properly and who begins to feel faint, has only about 10 seconds left before losing consciousness.

However, these victims can help themselves by coughing repeatedly and very vigorously. A deep breath should be taken before each cough, and the cough must be deep and prolonged, as when producing sputum from deep inside the chest.

A breath and a cough must be repeated about every two seconds without let up until help arrives, or until the heart is felt to be beating normally again.

Deep breaths get oxygen into the lungs and coughing movements squeeze the heart and keep the blood circulating. The squeezing pressure on the heart also helps it regain normal rhythm.

In this way, heart attack victims can get to a phone and, between breaths, call for help.

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-- Ashton & Leska in Cascadia (allaha@earthlink.net), July 20, 1999.