Book Review: The Survival Medicine Handbook

As noted on the cover, The Survival Medicine Handbook, by Dr. Joe Alton and Nurse Amy Alton, is "a guide for when medical help is NOT on the way."  The second edition is significantly expanded and revised; don't cheat yourself by purchasing a first edition copy. 
Like other off-grid medicine authors and teachers, the Altons firmly believe that an educated lay person with good training can successfully address 80-90 % of the medical issues they will encounter when society collapses and there is no advanced medical care available.  Some of these cases may even be life-threatening.  Like administering the right antibiotic for an infection.  But they aren't necessarily complicated, and that's why the Altons have written this book.

The book has a few shortcomings.  There are approximately twenty pages at the beginning that are basically preaching to the choir.  Those who are preparing for TEOTWAWKI don't really need any more encouragement to do so.   And the same goes for the chapter devoted to natural disasters; preppers living in earthquake country or tornado alley are likely to have already prepared for these scenarios.  However, the information on treating smoke inhalation due to wildfire is valuable.  There also isn't a lot of information on lice-, tick-, flea-, and mosquito-borne diseases, which is probably the greatest weakness of this book.  And there's nothing about quarantine and isolation for preventing the spread of disease.  But that's also why having a few off-grid medicine resources is critical.  If one book doesn't address your concern, another most likely will.

Like most, if not all, survival medicine books, there are lists of suggested items to include in your various medical kits and the recommended quantities.  The Survival Medicine Handbook is written at a higher level than Armageddon Medicine (reviewed here), but it shouldn't be over the head of anyone with at least some college education, and at half the cost of Armageddon Medicine.  However, it's probably not as thorough as Survival and Austere Medicine, 3rd Edition (reviewed here), which is free. 

Now for the topics that The Survival Medicine Handbook covers well.

• Moreso than any other off-grid medicine book, this one includes alternative medicine and natural treatments, including essential oils, right in with conventional therapies; the alternative treatments aren't an afterthought relegated to the back of the book.
• There is also an entire chapter dedicated to growing a medicinal herb garden for making your own medicine, because pharmaceuticals will eventually run out.
• This book contains a glossary of medical terms; most do not. 
• Dr. Alton is an OB-GYN, so there is a very solid chapter on birth control, pregnancy, and delivery.  
• There is pretty solid information on treating dental problems.
• This is the only book I've seen that addresses altitude sickness and treatment.  
• There's a good section on radiation.
• This book includes more information on using an epi-pen than I've seen elsewhere.
• And there is a respectable section on administering local anesthesia and nerve blocks. 

The Survival Medicine Handbook is nearly 600 pages of text on 6x9" pages, in what looks like a 10- or 11-point font.  There's little room for note-taking, but there are helpful illustrations and photographs.  I'd say it's worth investing in.

Links to related posts:
Book review--Armageddon Medicine  
Book review--Survival and Austere Medicine, 3rd Edition   

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