Bezoars

Disclaimer.  I am not a licensed health practitioner.  This is just another post on an item you might wish to have available if needed so that a physician can treat you and your family as best as possible.  No medication, including those available over the counter, should be taken without consulting a physician.  Information shared here is for educational and entertainment purposes only.  It is not medical advice nor a substitute for licensed medical care.  A qualified, licensed physician or other medical provider should be consulted before beginning any herbal or conventional treatment.


The article on dietary fiber earlier this year touched briefly on bezoars, and now it's time to cover the subject in a bit more detail.  Bezoars (BE-zor) are hard, compacted clumps of fiber, much like hairballs in cats.  And while cats can cough up hairballs, people cannot cough up a bezoar.  This undigested or partially digested material can build up and cause blockages anywhere along the gastrointestinal tract, but they are most commonly found in the stomach.  Fortunately, many bezoars are completely asymptomatic and cause no problems at all.  Unfortunately, however, surgical intervention is sometimes required, and that may not always be an option.

Diagnosing a bezoar in a patient isn't going to be all that easy, either.  It will be necessary to obtain a very thorough patient history and detailed information on the diet.  But without lab equipment, it may be next to impossible to do anything more than make an educated guess.  However, recognizing the risk factors and educating ourselves and our family members may go a long ways towards prevention.

The symptoms of bezoars include:

• feeling full after eating very little food
• lack of appetite
• nausea
• vomiting
• abdominal pain
• weight loss
• anemia

There are six types of bezoars.  Older adults are generally at greater risk for developing bezoars, but trichobezoars and lactobezoars are more common in children. 

• Phytobezoars are the most common type, making up about 40% of all bezoars.  They form quickly and present with nausea, vomiting, and gastric outlet obstruction.  These have been treated with good success using Coke, regular or diet, a 12-ounce can twice per day for 6-8 weeks.
• Diospyrobezoars are a type of phytobezoar due to eating too many persimmons.  These bezoars cannot be dissolved by Coke and must be surgically removed.
• Trichobezoars are most commonly found in adolescent girls who suck on, chew, and swallow hair and often indicate some underlying psychiatric issue, as might happen in a time of stress in a collapsed society.  The condition is also called Rapunzel's syndrome.  These bezoars take a considerable amount of time to develop, sometimes years.  The patient usually presents with nausea and early satiety, and perhaps anorexia and weight loss.  These usually require removal through endoscopy or surgery.  Coke does not work.
• Pharmacobezoars arise due to medication that doesn't get digested.  These patients are usually older and are more likely to have gastric outlet obstruction.
• Lactobezoars occur most frequently in infants and arise due to dehydration, prematurity and low birth weight (underdeveloped gastrointestinal tract), high calorie formula (not mixed according to directions), or the addition of thickening agents like pectin to formula.  They present with problems in feeding intolerance, abdominal distension, irritability, and/or vomiting.  A palpable mass may be detected in these patients.
• Foreign body bezoar, most often tissue paper and styrofoam cups.

Bezoars most often develop in people with the following risk factors.  If you don't have at least one risk factor, you're probably in the clear for this condition.

• gastric surgery or gastric band for weight loss
• reduced stomach acid production or decreased stomach size
• cystic fibrosis
• delayed gastric emptying due to
• diabetes complications
• autoimmune disorders
• mixed connective tissue disease
• gastroparesis
• ulcers
• hypothyroidism
• can't or don't chew food properly, due to poorly fitting dentures or missing teeth (more common among the elderly)
• excessive intake of fiber, and especially in a rapid change from a modern American diet to a high fiber diet, like what may happen post-collapse.

Those at risk for developing bezoars should chew their food thoroughly before swallowing and should avoid following foods:

• pumpkins
• celery
• persimmons
• sunflower seed shells
• prunes and raisins
• leeks
• beets

Links to related posts:
Dietary Imbalances and Consequences--Fiber

For more information:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bezoar
https://www.healthline.com/health/bezoar#outlook-and-prevention
https://www.mayoclinic.org/diseases-conditions/gastroparesis/expert-answers/bezoars/faq-20058050
https://www.merckmanuals.com/professional/gastrointestinal-disorders/bezoars-and-foreign-bodies/bezoars
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3966178/

© 2019, PrepSchoolDaily.blogspot.com 

august 11 2021 

When To Use Imodium (Loperamide)--And When Not To

Disclaimer.  This is not medical advice.  I am not a licensed health practitioner.  This is just another post on an item you might wish to have available if needed so that a physician can treat you and your family as best as possible.  No medication, including those available over the counter, should be taken without consulting a physician.

Loperamide, generally known better by its trade name of Imodium, is one of those handy little tools to have in the medicinal toolbox.  But it's not so critical as to merit discussion right up there with antibiotics and OTC pain relievers.  I don't know that I've ever taken loperamide in my life, but my husband does occasionally and very much likes to have it on hand. 

So why discuss it now?  Why not wait until much later and cover more essential medications now?  Because loperamide could soon go the way of Sudafed.  If you recall, Sudafed used to be available over-the-counter right next to all the other cold remedies.  However, due to its use by meth-heads in manufacturing methamphetamine, you now have to go to the pharmacy counter, show your driver's license, and sign for it.  And you are limited in how much you can purchase each month.

Loperamide may follow suit at any time. That's because it's also known as "poor man's methadone."  Loperamide is actually an opioid, and abusers have turned to taking it in extremely large doses, like 200+ pills at once, to treat withdrawal symptoms.  So now the FDA is considering limiting our access to larger quantities.  They've asked manufacturers to package the tablets in blister packs of eight tablets.  And you really shouldn't need more than that to treat a simple case of diarrhea.  But, we're preppers, and we like to stock up.  As recently as April 2018 one could buy 400 tablets at Sam's Club for about $4.00.  I can't find any now at Sam's online.  Walmart's largest package contains 24 pills, for about twice what I paid for 400 tablets a year ago.  The cheapest I see on Amazon today (14 September 2019) is $6.20 for 96 tablets.  Still, when you need it, you need it. 

Loperamide, used medicinally since 1976, is on WHO's List of Essential Medicines for its use in treating diarrhea due to gastroenteritis, irritable bowel syndrome, and mild traveler's diarrhea.  It is NOT used for treating cholera, salmonella, typhoid, or Clostridium difficile; you want to get the bacteria causing these conditions OUT of the body ASAP.  Loperamide's job is to slow down intestinal motility and keep fluids IN the body.

Loperamide should not be used by pregnant or nursing women or in children under the age of five years.

For further reading:
https://solvingtheibspuzzle.com/imodium-fda-regulation/
http://faith-seeking-understanding.org/2018/06/19/loperamide-regulations-tightened-by-fda/
https://www.upi.com/Health_News/2018/01/31/New-restrictions-on-Imodium-aimed-at-limiting-dangerous-misuse/8691517402527/

Copyright 2018, PrepSchoolDaily.blogspot.com.

1 january 2019

Beyond Milk

I'm pretty happy with substituting dry milk for fresh in most things.  Being able to replace butter with coconut oil helps a lot, too, in many recipes.  But there are some recipes that don't take well to substitutions, and some situations that require something closer to the real thing.  Or maybe you've just got money to blow and/or a more refined palate.  


Shelf-Stable/Irradiated Milk.  I have to admit, I'm not a huge fan of irradiating my food.  I'm still a bit suspicious of whether consuming irradiated food is actually a good idea.  So I don't store this form of milk.  These products don't have a great shelf-life, usually six months to a year at best.  But they're an option for those who can't have real milk.  For my oldest son who has a severely restricted diet, it's nice to be able to purchase shelf-stable almond milk.  

Evaporated Milk.  The cost is a bit high for my tastes, and I rarely use it.  Because I rarely use it, it's hard to find in the cabinets even if I do have it.  It's just easier to make a substitute using dry milk.  On the flip side, however, evaporated milk is available in low-fat and whole options, so if you really need the fat content you have this option.  However, pay attention to the use-by dates.  It's been my experience that while the milk may still be safe, taste deteriorates substantially. 

Sweetened Condensed Milk.  Everything said about evaporated milk applies to sweetened condensed milk, except perhaps for the taste deterioration past the use-by date.  Sweetened condensed milk will caramelize and turn brown, which may or may not be an issue for you. 

Media Crema.  This is found in small cans in the Mexican food section of the grocery store.  It is a sort of whipping cream substitute, though it does not whip up.  It's pretty thick stuff, almost the consistency of yogurt or sour cream.  We've used it to make ice cream and other desserts.

Shelf-Stable Whipping Cream.  So how opposed am I to irradiated foods?  Apparently, I'm not as purist as others.  Sometimes you just have to have real whipping cream.  It still has a shelf-life of only six months to a year at best.  I get mine at Trader Joe's, and I find it surprisingly reasonably priced, usually pretty comparable to the cost for fresh cream.

Sour Cream.  The dehydrated sour cream that I tried definitely does not reconstitute well for fresh use.  The off-taste is just too overpowering, and this is pretty much what online reviews state as well.  A good friend with a freeze dryer and reports that freeze-dried sour cream is perfect. 

Cream Cheese.  My personal experience with dehydrated cream cheese powder matches with online reviews.  Like dehydrated sour cream, it's not so good for fresh use, except that it makes great cream cheese frosting.  And it does work well in cooking and baking.

Yogurt.  Dehydrated yogurt is ... not very good.  I did it a few years ago.  I'm not doing it again.  Freeze-dried yogurt is another matter.  My same friend with the freeze-dryer has done a lot of it with flavored yogurts.  It is very good.  Amazon carries freeze-dried yogurt starter.  It's a little pricey, but you've got to have a starter to make yogurt.  It works well and has a stated shelf-life of about five years, but I've been making great yogurt with starter I purchased ten years ago. 

Links to related posts:
Pantry Substitutes Using Dry Milk

Basic Food Storage--English Muffins

I'm always on the lookout for recipes that utilize only food storage items and that can be prepared without electricity.  If they're easy, that's even better.
So when I ran across this recipe for English muffins, I was really intrigued.  Was it possible to make something that actually tasted like an English muffin, that used only food storage, that didn't require electricity, and that was also simple?

I'm happy to report that the answer to all of the above questions is a resounding YES!

English Muffins

3 3/4 cups whole wheat flour
2 1/4 teaspoons instant yeast
1 1/2 teaspoons salt
1 3/4 cups lukewarm water

In a glass or plastic bowl, combine all the ingredients and stir just until moistened.  Do not mix or knead.  Cover with lid or plastic wrap and leave it on the counter to rise 2-18 hours.

Sprinkle work area generously with flour and with floured hands pat dough out to 3/4" thickness.  Using a glass or a cookie cutter, cut out muffins and dip each side in cornmeal.  Let rise 20 minutes.

Set the temperature of an electric pancake griddle to 300°F.  Place the muffins on the ungreased griddle and cook/bake for 15 minutes on each side.  Check muffins frequently to prevent burning. 

One of the great advantages of this recipe is that it can be prepared over a camp stove or a fire.  (However, first try these indoors on an electric griddle.  Then when you are cooking outdoors, you will have an idea of how to adjust your cooking temperatures.) Place muffins on a pancake griddle to rise for 20 minutes.  Then place the griddle on a camp stove set on medium-low or over a low fire and cook/bake for 15 minutes on each side. 

© 2019, PrepSchoolDaily.blogspot.com  

08.06.21

Pinto Bean Fudge

I'm not a fudge person.  Faced with the choice of having fudge or having no treat at all, I'll still pass on the fudge.  I prefer my sugar and chocolate in other forms, thank you very much.  So naturally, I had never made any fudge in my 50+ years of life.

Understandably, hearing that some natural food-prepper types were advocating making fudge using pinto beans was unsettling on a number of levels for me.  There are some places that a respectable person just doesn't go.  Red light districts, casinos, McDonald's, ... you get the picture.  Pinto bean fudge was one of those places for me.

And yet, in the interest of becoming fully informed about all things food storage, I had to delve into the disturbingly dark world of pinto bean fudge.  I had a dear sister-in-law who had gone there and reported that indeed, it was a very upsetting place.

Think about it:  It looks like fudge.  It has sugar.  And it tastes like pinto beans.  How much worse can life get?

But for my children and readers and people in my classes, I had to see for myself.  This is the recipe I used:

Pinto Bean Fudge

1/2 cup cooked pinto beans, mashed and drained

2-4 tablespoons milk

4 ounces unsweetened chocolate

3 tablespoons butter

1 teaspoon vanilla

4 cups powdered sugar

Nuts, optional

Mash beans and then puree in blender with milk.  Melt chocolate and stir in butter and vanilla.  Stir these all together.  Work powdered sugar into mixture 1 cup at a time, turning mixture onto counter and kneading in final cup of sugar.  Add nuts if desired.  Pat into pan and refrigerate.

Comments:
Remember, I am not a fudge person.  

I made this fudge before one of my food storage classes on beans.  I knew pinto beans were in there, but I couldn't detect even a hint of pinto bean flavor or texture in the fudge, and I was definitely looking for it.  Of course, there is only half a cup of beans to four cups of sugar.  You could probably hide small amounts of lots of scary things in four cups of sugar.

The class members all loved it.  One of the ladies even made it two months later and brought it to another class for the ladies to try.  They all liked it as well.  

I brought the leftovers home and left them on the counter.  The girls all ate it.  

Is it gourmet fudge?  Hardly, you know, based on my extremely limited experience with fudge.  But I definitely wouldn't be embarrassed to take it to a dinner or party to share.   

Links to related posts:  
Tootsie Rolls   
Chocolate in the Prepper's Pantry 
Peanut Butter Play Dough 

For further reading:
https://www.geniuskitchen.com/recipe/pinto-bean-fudge-279612
https://www.justapinch.com/recipes/dessert/candy/pinto-bean-fudge.html
http://www.simplyscrumptiousbysarah.com/2013/04/14/dark-chocolate-pinto-bean-fudge/

DIY Tick Tubes

Here in the desert, we don't give much thought to ticks.  My husband and son think about them a little bit more when they go camping, because they are apparently tick magnets.  (Rhymes with chick magnet, but apparently not nearly so exciting.  My husband might not appreciate it, but I'd rather have him be a tick magnet than a chick magnet.)
Anyway, if we happened to find ourselves living back East again, or anywhere where ticks abound, we'd be making loads of these little tick tubes.  Sure, you can buy them on Amazon, but eventually Amazon may quit delivering.  And they're so easy to DIY with materials you probably already have on hand.

What you'll need:

• cardboard toilet paper or paper towel tubes (cut paper towel tubes into two or three pieces)
• cotton balls (or dryer lint)
• permethrin

Dilute your permethrin with water so that it is a 7-7.5% solution.  (Commercially manufactured tick tubes use a 7.4% solution of permethrin.)  How much water you will need depends on the concentration of permethrin you are using.  If you are using 36.8% permethrin, you want about one part permethrin to five parts water.

Spray the cotton balls well with your permethrin solution and then let them dry.  Now stuff the cardboard tubes with your permethrin cotton balls.  Place the tubes in discreet areas around the perimeter of your yard.  Mice will take the cotton balls to build their nests.  The ticks, which reproduce in mice nests, are killed on contact with permethrin.  The mice remain unharmed.

Unfortunately, permethrin also kills beneficial insects like bees and butterflies, so it's really not something to be used indiscriminately around the yard.

Links to related posts:
Permethrin--Don't Bug Out Without It  
TEOTWAWKI Tick Bite Prevention
Tick-Borne Illnesses  

For more information:
DIY Tick Tubes
More DIY Tick Tubes
Yet More DIY Tick Tubes

© 2019, PrepSchoolDaily.blogspot.com 

1 july 2021

Tick-Borne Viral Illnesses

Disclaimer.  I am not a licensed health practitioner.  This is just another post on an item you might wish to have available if needed so that a physician can treat you and your family as best as possible.  No medication, including those available over the counter, should be taken without consulting a physician.  Information shared here is for educational and entertainment purposes only.  It is not medical advice nor a substitute for licensed medical care.  A qualified, licensed physician or other medical provider should be consulted before beginning any herbal or conventional treatment.

In addition to the bacterial diseases caused by tick bites, it's probably a good idea to consider the viruses that tick bites can spread as well.  Though generally not so serious as the bacterial tick-borne diseases, the viral diseases ticks transmit to us may also cause substantial harm, and even death.  However, in a collapsed society without advanced medical care and lab facilities available, these viral tick-borne diseases are going to be particularly difficult to identify and treat.  In most cases, treatment is going to be supportive only and often a patient will never know what it was that made him sick. 

Colorado Tick Fever
This rare viral disease transmitted by the bites of infected Rocky Mountain wood ticks (Dermacentor andersoni) cannot be transmitted from person to person (except in the case of a blood transfusion).  These ticks are only found in the Rocky Mountains of North America at elevations of 4,000 to 10,000 and are most active March through August.  Onset of symptoms from time of tick bite ranges from one to fourteen days.  The most common symptoms are fever, headache, chills, fatigue, body aches, and exhaustion.  Some patients may experience sore throat, stomachache, vomiting, a rash, or a stiff neck.  And like some other tick-borne illnesses, the patient may experience several days of illness, followed by a recovery period, and then followed again by more fever and disease. 

Heartland Virus Infection
This viral disease afflicts people mainly in Missouri and Tennessee between the months of May and September.  It is believed to be caused by the bites of lone star ticks.  The symptoms are very similar to another tick-borne disease, ehrlichiosis, and include fever, headache, body aches, fatigue, and various stomach problems.  There are no specific medications for treating this disease.  Most patients recover completely within a few days.  Supportive care for reducing pain and fever and increasing fluid intake may be desired. 

Powassan Viral Disease and Powassan Encephalitis 
This is a serious viral disease spread by blacklegged (Ixodes scapularis) or groundhog (Ixodes cookei) ticks.  Fortunately, there is no person to person transmission of this disease.  Most cases of this disease occur in the northeastern US and Great Lakes areas from April through October.  The incubation period ranges from one week to one month.  More serious symptoms include dementia, muscle weakness, seizures, and even death.  As there is no medicine to treat this disease, most treatment is supportive and may include hospitalization and IV fluids.  

Bourbon Virus
This very rare disease causes joint and muscle pain, rashes, fever, and fatigue.  It was first identified in Bourbon County, Kansas, and since then other cases have been found in Missouri and Oklahoma. 


 Links to related posts:
Tick-Borne Bacterial Illnesses
Preventing Tick Bites
DIY Tick Tubes
Permethrin 

For further reading:
http://myhousepests.com/ticks/viral-tick-disease.html
https://insectcop.net/most-common-tick-borne-diseases-in-humans/
https://lymediseaseassociation.org/other-tick-borne-diseases/
https://www.cdc.gov/niosh/topics/tick-borne/default.html
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tick-borne_disease
https://www.cdc.gov/ticks/diseases/index.html
https://www.foxnews.com/health/lone-star-tick-wisconsin-red-meat-allergy

Does It Really Have To Be Manuka Honey?

Disclaimer.  I am not a licensed health practitioner.  This is just another post on knowledge and understanding you might wish to acquire in advance of a disaster in case no higher care is available.  As long as our society is functioning, you should leave anything more substantial than applying a Band-Aid to the professionals.  No medication, including those available over the counter, should be taken without consulting a physician.  Information shared here is for educational and entertainment purposes only.  It is not medical advice nor a substitute for licensed medical care. 

I hate to admit it, but it's true.  I have some pet peeves.

One of them involves people who just agree with what the loudest voices are saying (or writing), without even blinking or thinking about it.  Like most of our society.

Some of those voices in the prepper world shout that you have to have manuka honey for your medical needs.

So what, exactly, is manuka honey?  Manuka honey is made by honey bees foraging on the manuka tree, also called the tea tree.  Those with even a passing familiarity with essential oils know that tea tree oil is used a lot in treating skin issues.  Manuka honey is what has been promoted as the gold standard in medicinal honeys.  And it costs about as much as the yellow precious metal, at least when wound dressings are made with it or it is packaged as "medical grade."

So what do doctors who are teaching others how best to prepare for their own medical issues have to say about manuka honey?

In his book The Survival Medicine Handbook, Dr. Joseph Alton writes that any raw, unprocessed honey will do.  In Armageddon Medicine Dr. Cynthia Koelker has at least a dozen references to using honey.  She indicates that medical grade honey or standard clover honey may be used.  (And when she burned herself at home, what did she use?  A packet of honey from KFC--yeah, Kentucky Fried Chicken.)  Sam Coffman, author of The Herbal Medic, suggests only that manuka may possibly be better.  And Dr. Steve Pehrson said that any raw, unprocessed honey will work.  So then I had to ask him about some of my honey, which is over forty years old and totally crystallized.  And he said it was just fine.  Dr. Stephen Buhner, author of Herbal Antibiotics, suggests that any raw wildflower honey should be just fine, but that it would be best to avoid grocery store clover and alfalfa honeys, as these are more likely to be contaminated with pesticides.

Yes, as a matter of fact, most (but not all!) clinical studies are conducted with manuka honey.  When conducting these studies, scientists have to reduce the number of variables as much as possible.  But remember, manuka honey comes only from New Zealand, and yet people have been using honey medicinally for thousands of years.  They sure as heck weren't traveling all the way to New Zealand to get it.  They used what they had, which was what was being produced locally.  You can, too.  Maybe it is slightly less strong.  Like 99 is slightly less than 100.  That's about the difference, if it's even that great.  If you think it will make a difference, you could even add a drop or two of tea tree oil to your honey. 

In short, don't be suckered by the manuka honey hype. Save yourself a wad of dough and use those funds for other medical preps.

Oh, and one more thing, in case you're wondering if there is any honey that is harmful.  Actually, there is.  Apparently, the honey from some Rhododendron species in Nepal may cause "mad honey poisoning," so when you're in Nepal, make sure your honey is not from rhododendrons. 

Links to related posts:
Alternative Medicine--Honey

For further reading:
https://articles.mercola.com/sites/articles/archive/2012/02/20/the-natural-way-to-speed-wound-healing.aspx
https://www.buzzaboutbees.net/manuka-honey-wound.html
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/19559969


© 2019, PrepSchoolDaily.blogspot.com  

2 august 2021