The following remedies are for use only in a survival situation, not for routine use:

* Diarrhea. Drink tea made from the roots of blackberries and their relatives to stop diarrhea. White oak bark and other barks containing tannin are also effective. However, use them with caution when nothing else is available because of possible negative effects on the kidneys. You can also stop diarrhea by eating white clay or campfire ashes. Tea made from cowberry or cranberry or hazel leaves works too.

* Antihemorrhagics. Make medications to stop bleeding from a poultice of the puffball mushroom, from plantain leaves, or most effectively from the leaves of the common yarrow or woundwort (Achillea millefolium).

* Antiseptics. Use to cleanse wounds, sores, or rashes. You can make them from the expressed juice from wild onion or garlic, or expressed juice from chickweed leaves or the crushed leaves of dock. You can also make antiseptics from a decoction of burdock root, mallow leaves or roots, or white oak bark. All these medications are for external use only.

* Fevers. Treat a fever with a tea made from willow bark, an infusion of elder flowers or fruit, linden flower tea, or elm bark decoction.

* Colds and sore throats. Treat these illnesses with a decoction made from either plantain leaves or willow bark. You can also use a tea made from burdock roots, mallow or mullein flowers or roots, or mint leaves.

* Aches, pains, and sprains. Treat with externally applied poultices of dock, plantain, chickweed, willow bark, garlic, or sorrel. You can also use salves made by mixing the expressed juices of these plants in animal fat or vegetable oils.

* Itching. Relieve the itch from insect bites, sunburn, or plant poisoning rashes by applying a poultice of jewelweed (Impatiens biflora) or witch hazel leaves (Hamamelis virginiana). The jewelweed juice will help when applied to poison ivy rashes or insect stings. It works on sunburn as well as aloe vera.

* Sedatives. Get help in falling asleep by brewing a tea made from mint leaves or passionflower leaves.

* Hemorrhoids. Treat them with external washes from elm bark or oak bark tea, from the expressed juice of plantain leaves, or from a Solomon's seal root decoction.

* Constipation. Relieve constipation by drinking decoctions from dandelion leaves, rose hips, or walnut bark. Eating raw daylily flowers will also help.

* Worms or intestinal parasites. Using moderation, treat with tea made from tansy (Tanacetum vulgare) or from wild carrot leaves.

* Gas and cramps. Use a tea made from carrot seeds as an antiflatulent; use tea made from mint leaves to settle the stomach.

* Antifungal washes. Make a decoction of walnut leaves or oak bark or acorns to treat ringworm and athlete's foot. Apply frequently to the site, alternating with exposure to direct sunlight.

site

6 posts guys? C'mon. Keep it going or it will get buried.

J

OK here's one, it's more on the preparation side than the treatment side:

For everyone in your group, get the following information written down on cards or sheets. Keep a personal copy on the person, and a group file maintained in a safe location with the tripgoers. It may also be a good idea to keep a third group file maintained at home with a family member or friend.

Include the following information-

NAME, FIRST MIDDLE LAST

DATE OF BIRTH

SOCIAL SECURITY NUMBER

NAME AND POLICY # OF HEALTH INSURANCE

NAME, ADDRESS, AND CONTACT INFO FOR PRIMARY CARE PHYSICIAN (also, location of medical records if not stored there)

LIST OF MEDICAL CONDITIONS (heart disease, diabetes, asthma, previous major surgeries or injuries, etc)

LIST OF MEDICATIONS (DRUG NAME, DOSAGE, HOW OFTEN TAKEN, AND FOR WHAT)

LIST OF ALLERGIES (ALL ALLERGIES, BUT MOST SPECIFICALLY ALLERGIES TO MEDICATIONS)

BLOOD TYPE

NEXT OF KIN INFORMATION (NAME, ADDRESS, HOME/WORK/CELL/PAGER/FAX/EMAIL)

SECOND TIER NEXT OF KIN/CONTACT INFORMATION (IN CASE FIRST ISN'T REACHABLE)

ABRIDGED FAMILY/SOCIAL HISTORY (history of heart disease in family, smoker, worked in a coal mine for 30 years, etc)




Take this information, put it on a form, and fold it over. Then laminate the form to seal it shut. This way, the sensitive information is not readily accessible except in case of an emergency, and it also makes the information water resistant. Now, you have detailed information for the members of your group in case someone gets sick or injured and is unable to provide the information. When the time comes, just cut open the laminate and voila!

Think of who you go camping/outdoors with, and see if you can name ALL of the above information (they'll want all of it at the hospital). See if they can do the same for you. If not, print up the form!

When I get home, I'll write up a form in MSWord and attach it here.

The problem with posting tips online is that people will NOT get offline and actually get training. People want a quick tip that's going to save lives. The only quick tip that works is, "GET TRAINING." It's like people learning a couple of neat moves from a black belt and assuming that they can now fight. It doesn't work. You need skills AND understanding. That can only come from in-depth learning. You need to know not only how to do things, but WHY you're doing them, and, sometimes more importantly, why NOT to do them. Anyone can learn to start an IV. Anyone who knows how to start an IV can kill someone with that IV. Do know how seldom in the prehospital emergency environment I actually ADMINISTER anything? VERY seldom. I might start an IV for convenience, or so the RN's and ER techs don't have to, but RARELY do I push anything more than a flush. Even people who need fluids don't necessarily need an IV. There are something like seven different ways to give fluids, only one of which is intravenously.

If you have no interest in training, then find something else in which to be interested besides survival.

Once you get training, get MORE training. You can discuss training online, and supplement your training through discussion. But if you have none in the first place, you cannot base your lifesaving capabilities on what you learned on the internet.

That's my tip/trick/advice.

The natural antidote to stinging nettle is Sword Fern. both plants almost allways grow near each other. strip the leafs off the leaf stalk and crush them in your hands till the moisture comes out and rub the crushed leafs on the affected area relief is instant.
it works works for me .

Everyone needs at least an introductory course in first aid/cpr. They are often free or very inexpensive and held at various locations around your community including schools, churches, etc. A few hours of your time may save a life or even your own.

Rather than "do this" to keep someone from dying I think that this should be aimed more towards the many uses of things you already carry. You know, MacGuyverish type shit.

While probably not the best thing for you I've used superglue to reattach a partially ripped off callous at a weightlifting competition years ago.

/\ This. Don't worry about getting IV fluids and learning how to start IVs. Why? heavy stuff (fluids) that will eventually expire that won't get used, plus they have to be stored at certain temps IIRC. If you're in a situation where you would use IVF are probably better getting the patient the hell outta dodge ASAP. A single bag of IVF for dehydration or hemorrhage is simply delaying the inevitable. Why putz with an IV when the rate of hemorrhage is 5x the rate of IV infusion; you're better off with direct pressure and a good radio. CPR and a wilderness medicine or basic EMT course will show you how do deal with those issues. Know where the nearest thing approximating a hospital is and how to get there and how long it will take to get there. Plan accidents and how you would deal with them, and different ways to signal help.

MOST of us won't be camping, hiking, spelunking, etc in areas without some type of advanced medical facility within a few hundred miles so that proper first aid and calling for help are your best tactics.

Personally I have some advanced things in my hunting/hiking FAK. CPR equipment/airways/suturing kit/stapler/etc. Will only use these if absolutely necessary. Still waiting to get the trauma bandage/patch for GSWs.

I mentioned this on another thread but also know common injuries and first aid needs for companions such as kids, dogs, etc.

***FYI my most used items are 4x4 gauze pads, wound cleanser, and COBAN wrap. Coban is magic––keeps everything in place and allows for fair wound compression. Can be used in place of rope/duct tape in fashioning things like splints in a pinch.***

There are several options 1.) you can take a 40 hour FR class instead of an 80 hour WFR, cheaper, covers a lot of the same. WFR has a lot of hands on exercises, like backcountry evacuation that eats the hours. FR should cost about $ 200.00 or so, WFR about twice that.

Also, red cross anything is only good for a year. If you need a card for work, get AHA or ASHI card, good for two years, same curriculum though, it all comes from AHA

recommend the CPR Professional Rescuer class, about 8 hours. much better than the quick and dirty class. see also "medic first aid" supposed to be a really good 8 hour class.

ALSO some one asked about IV fluids. Not recommended for the average bear. For truama, IVs are stopgap at best, they are best suited for a meds line in a medical emergecny like a heart attack. They are good for rehydration as well but can lead to fatal complications if administered wrong and w/o other advanced care. in short, IVs wont fix the problem and will delay efforts to get the pt to definitive care. Can also be disastrous in the wrong hands. infection, fluid overload, thrombus, can kill. Most places will let you do anything an EMT would do w/o catching anyone's attn. Once you get past the EMT skills and start doing Advanced Life Support stuff you'll draw the attn of doctors and LE for practicing medicine w/o a license.

There is a shit load of training to go along w/ starting IVs and for a good reason. There is also additional things that learning only IV therapy wouldn't accomplish. I would rather have a well skilled FR or EMT work on me than a crappy "medic" w/ only a few skills or less than adequate training. There's a saying in EMS : Paramedics save lives, EMTs save paramedics". This means that SOMEONE must do the real care, the BLS, while the medic is busy putting the icing on the cake.

As a former Paramedic, 90% of my job was BLS, the ALS was frosting on the cake and pertained mainly to Medical issues, not trauma. As the wheel has gone round in the last 25 years, studies have shown that rapid stabilization and transport to a surgeon was the cure for trauma. Medics playing on scene w/ Ivs only wasted precious time and ultimately did the pt no good. This isnt opinion, its tried and true doctrine that was hard won knowledge over decades of EMS studies and experience.

get 16 to 24 hours of training, get a few good books on WFR to expand your knowledge, get a good FAK, I like Galls stuff. get their bag and build your own. The mistake of many neophytes is to over prepare, most FAKs bought are for boo-boos. If you need a kit that will let you provide care for a serious emergency involving life threatening injuries or CPR, you need the training to go along with that too.

Classes like PHTLS, BTLS, ATLS and Paramedic curriculums teach to stabilize and transport, start IVs en route.

If you could, in the eyes of the law it would be the same as buying any other Rx medication without a Rx.