Survival Medicine

#363 SURVIVAL MEDICINE HOUR PODCAST Outbreaks of hepatitis A are springing up in various parts of the country, leading us to want you to know all about this inflammation of the liver, plus the other types of hepatitis that can cause damage. Learn how to identify and prevent this disease which has been found in homeless populations in variouus cities. Also, Joe and Amy interview post-apocalyptic fi...

If you want to know how to keep informed on all the latest preparedness topics, you don't have to go further than Todd Sepulveda's prepperwebsite.com. Todd is a pastor and information guru that has compiled for you a daily smorgasbord of prepper articles from some of the best sources on the internet (including ours!). He also has his own weekly podcast at https://www.theprepperwebsitepodcast.com....

#361 Survival Medicine Hour Podcast In this episode of the Survival Medicine Hour, Joe and Amy Alton, aka Dr. Bones and Nurse Amy, welcome author Craig Caudill of Nature Reliance School to the show. Craig gives us the benefit of his experience in off-grid settings and his thoughts on survival in times of trouble. Craig's books are a wealth of information: Extreme Wilderness Survival: Essential Kno...

#360 SURVIVAL MEDICINE HOUR PODCAST In summer camping or zombie apocalypses, there are campfires. Where there are campfires, there are mesmerized children staring at them and wanting to help maintain them. That causes them and others to be at high risk for burns. Dr. Joe Alton and Nurse Amy Alton discuss all types of burns in detail, with characteristics for identification and standard as well as...

#359 SURVIVAL MEDICINE HOUR PODCAST The mosquito-borne disease Dengue Fever is a virus that is causing community-wide outbreaks in various regions throughout the world, including Singapore, Nicaragua, and Bangladesh. Joe Alton MD and Amy Alton ARNP discuss an infection that could 1)cause no symptoms, 2)make you sick for 1-2 weeks, or 3)kill you (luckily, just a tiny minority). Find out how to iden...

#358 SURVIVAL MEDICINE HOUR This week, not only did we undergo a record heat wave in parts of the country, but so did Europe (where air-conditioning is not that common)! If that wasn't enough, a near-miss by an asteroid known as 2019 OK came within 45,000 miles of earth (the moon is 220-240,000 miles away) and a plague of grasshoppers (apparently mild-mannered ones) made its way through Las Vegas!...

In normal times, we have the luxury of a modern and well-equipped medical system. When the ambulance is just around the corner, it’s hard to imagine a scenario where the average person may become the highest asset left to his/her family. Yet, that’s exactly what can happen in remote settings or after a natural or man-made disaster. Amy Alton ARNP tells the medic how to be best equipped to fulfill...

#356 SURVIVAL MEDICINE HOUR PODCAST Warm weather wakes humans up from their hibernation, but it also wakes inhabitants of the Great Outdoors as well, such as snakes. Inevitably some hiker, camper, or hunter experiences a face-to-face (or face-to-ankle) encounter with a slithering serpent. Of the 3000 species of snakes on planet Earth, only about 400 are venomous. In North America, those that injec...

#355 THE SURVIVAL MEDICINE HOUR PODCAST Southern California has been hit with a 7.1 magnitude earthquake which followed a 6.4 the previous day. Hundreds of smaller quakes have hit the general area as well, and residents are getting nervous. Although earthquakes are unpredictable, there are a number of things you can do to decrease the amount of damage and prevent injuries in most circumstances. Jo...

#354  Survival Medicine Hour podcast Ask anyone on the street which of the five senses they would least be willing to sacrifice. They probably will tell you that their vision is the sense they would most want to preserve. Imagine a world where a disaster has taken society to the brink, what would you do with less than perfect vision? Would you know how to treat common eye infections and other cond...

Public support for the legalization of both medical and recreational marijuana is at an all-time “high”. Many believe that the effects of products made from the Cannabis sativa plant are all “psychoactive”; that is, mind-altering. Studies, however, suggest that some substances in Cannabis plants have little or no psychoactive action at all, but might have other medicinal benefits. What's the real...

The school year has ended, and families are planning this summer’s campouts. Camping trips are a great way to create bonds and memories that will last a lifetime, also a great way to get kids off their smartphones and annoy the heck out of them, but once they’re in the great outdoors, they’ll come around, most of them, at least. A poorly planned camp out, however, can also become memorable, but in...

You might associate armed attacks with wars or survival scenarios, but they can occur in normal times as well. The recent mass shooting in the public facility in Virginia Beach is a reminder that, in these toxic times, no one is safe from those with bad intentions. Joe and Amy Alton, aka Dr. Bones and Nurse Amy, discuss strategies that give you a better chance of avoiding a bad outcome. Plus, ever...

Last week, the Altons discussed less invasive methods of wound closure off the grid  like steri-strips, butterfly closures, and medical or industrial glues. Those are great for minor injuries, but they aren’t solid enough to keep some wounds, say over a joint, closed. For that, you need staples or sutures. It's not hard to learn how to use these items, but how much do you know about the different...

#349 Occasionally, we have the honor of a mention in books that are of benefit and interest to the preparedness community. We have authors like James Wesley Rawles, Franklin Horton, A. J. Powers, Patrick Shier, and Charley Hogwood to thank for including us in some of their fiction and non-fiction. Joe Ordia of P.E.G. Solar, author of "Built To Survive: How we designed and built a sustainable, secu...

SURVIVAL MEDICINE HOUR PODCAST with JOE ALTON MD and AMY ALTON ARNP   In survival scenarios, you can bet that there will be lots of injuries that break the skin, your body's natural barrier. Joe and Amy Alton, aka Dr. Bones and Nurse Amy, discuss various considerations with regards to wound closure in austere settings, including infection, bleeding, delayed closure, and some different would closur...

SURVIVAL MEDICINE HOUR PODCAST The use of tourniquets to control bleeding has been in use for centuries, sometimes praised and sometimes reviled as a tool of the devil. We learned a few very painful lessons, though, in Iraq and Afghanistan, and now we believe that tourniquets save lives that would otherwise be lost to hemorrhage. In civilian life, the rapid and effective use of a tourniquet by tho...

It’s a rare individual who passes an entire lifetime without breaking a bone. Accidents happen, and trauma can occur with such force that even bones may be damaged. Injuries to bones present in the form of breaks in the skeletal structure called “fractures”.  In the U.S., it is estimated that the average person will experience two fractures during their lifetime, not including broken teeth. The Al...

Todd Sepulveda is the founder of PrepperWebsite.com , a popular round-up of all the prepper articles on the web and a great place to keep an eye on all things preparedness. Todd interviewed Dr. Alton for his podcast last month, and since Amy and Dr. Bones are on the road in North Carolina, we thought we'd air his interview, which had a lot of thoughts on medications you should have in disaster set...

For years, Dr. Bones has been writing about antibiotics and how important  they are as part of your survival medicine cabinet. In survival scenarios, there will be a lot of people that will owe their lives to you because you were wise enough to include antibiotics in your supplies. Besides killing the bad bacteria, though, they also kill good bacteria in your gut. If the good bacteria becomes coll...

In off-grid settings, you can expect there to be concerns about food preparation. Outbreaks of bacterial disease, however, can occur even in the most developed country due to contamination. A recent example is the salmonella outbreak that’s sickened close to 100 people, putting 23 of them in the hospital. The culprit appears to be pre-cut melon from CAITO foods, the kind sold in those plastic clam...

You may have read some of my articles where I talk about the latest military methods used to save more lives on the battlefield. Then you say, how does an old country surgeon and obstetrician, of all things, have any idea of what the military is doing. The guys an old geezer, for pete’s sake, is he some kind of geriatric navy seal corpsman or combat medic or big-city trauma surgeon? No, I respect...

SURVIVAL MEDICINE HOUR PODCAST Spring is tornado season, and all up and down Tornado Alley, families are making plans in case a twister crosses their paths. Joe and Amy Alton discuss all you need to know about tornadoes and how to survive them with a little planning and wise action. Also, Joe Alton MD's recent video on expiration dates included some recent new evidence that he knows what he's talk...

THE SURVIVAL MEDICINE HOUR PODCAST When a storm knocks out the power for a week, there may be medical emergencies. It’s unlikely, however, that the family medic will need to deal with a dental emergency. If a disaster disables the grid long term, though, the medically responsible person should have a plan of action when it comes to tooth issues. Dental problems are inevitable in any prolonged off-...

Sometimes, diseases that are rare today pop up unexpectedly, such as the recent outbreak of mumps on the warship U.S.S. Fort McHenry, where 25 sailors came down with the illness. This led to the quarantine of the ship at sea for two months. If you’re concerned about medical issues in long-term survival scenarios, it’s important to recognize the infectious diseases that may return to the scene. Chi...