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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Book Review: Alton's Antibiotics and Infectious Disease: The Layman's Guide to Available Antibacterials in Austere Settings

Dr. Joseph Alton and Nurse Amy Alton continue their stated mission "to put a medically prepared person in every family" with their latest book, Alton's Antibiotics and Infectious Disease:  The Layman's Guide to Available Antibacterials in Austere Settings.  It is clearly not directed to medical professionals or microbiologists, but is written for the average layman with no medical training whatsoever.  In fact, it's written at a level that a competent high school student could understand and utilize.  It's a "primer on the infectious diseases most likely to rear their ugly heads" when our advanced medical care is no longer an option.  Some information is hypothetical, as the Altons extrapolate lessons from history and draw on the experiences of disasters in underdeveloped areas.  They also devote significant attention to diseases that have been mostly eradicated in the US due to improved sanitation and hygiene, clean water, and antibiotics--all advances that will quickly disappear when our society collapses.
You can check out the table of contents and the first 60+ pages on Amazon to get a brief overview of the topics they address.  What I like in here that I haven't seen covered elsewhere, or covered as well, are the following topics:

• distinguishing between viral and bacterial infections--without the benefit of laboratory tests for diagnosis--so that you don't waste antibiotics on viral infections
• how to treat childhood diseases that we currently vaccinate for
• determining whether a person has a true allergy to a medication, or just an adverse side effect--this may be critical if you've got only one or two options to save a life
• exact adult dosages of various antibiotics for specific diseases
• how to make liquid suspensions of antibiotics for young children
• the use of "expired" antibiotics

The Altons do not teach you how to make intravenous antibiotics.  The potential is too great for introducing a worse infection than what you are trying to treat, right into the bloodstream.

What may escape the reader the first time looking at the title and reviews, is the word available.  Lots of times we read about what we should have in a medical kit, supplies we want to have on hand, but because we are not licensed physicians, we can't get these critical items.  What the Altons have done in this book, and really, what they have been doing for years, is determining whether fish and bird antibiotics can be safely used with people.  Of course, the ideal is to use antibiotics that are manufactured for people and that have been prescribed by your personal physician to treat a specific condition.  This book, as stated at the beginning, end, and entirely throughout, is for a time when there is no higher help available now or in the foreseeable future.  They have compared antibiotics that are for people with antibiotics that are sold, without prescription and without restriction, for use with birds and fish.  And they have found that they look the same, have the same batch numbers, and the same dosages as pharmaceuticals for people.  And they use them themselves.

So in their book, the Altons only focus on antibiotics that are manufactured for fish and birds but that are sold in the same dosages as what are prescribed for people.  And yes, physicians may in some cases have other drugs they would prefer to use, but in an austere situation, we may not have what we would like to have and have to make do with something less.  You're not learning everything smarter people in medical school take years to master.  The Altons are just hoping to help us understand the basics of treating some of the more common conditions we'll encounter when advanced medical care is unavailable.  Dr Joe and Nurse Amy cover each available antibiotic, the exact dosages for adults, and the exact conditions each is used for, and duration of treatment, as well as contraindications.

This book is definitely a must have in the medical library.

Links to related posts:
Herbal Antibiotics (book review)   
Herbal Antivirals  (book review)  


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