Book Review--Armageddon Medicine by Dr Cynthia Koelker

Armageddon Medicine is just what the title suggests:  medicine for the end of the world, or as the author writes, "How to be your own doctor when there's no other choice."

If you can't attend a class like OnPoint Tactical's Off-Grid Medicine by Dr. Steve Pehrson (reviewed here), this book is an excellent guide to have.  Dr. Cynthia Koelker does not go into the depth that Dr. Steve does, but she does cover some topics that he has not in the classes I've attended.

Dr. Koelker, a board-certified family physician with thirty years of experience treating patients and their families, recognizes what is coming and the need to prepare accordingly.  Her website, ArmageddonMedicine.net, features dozens if not hundreds of educational and thought-provoking articles not included in her book.  Unfortunately, her website is not currently updated due to health issues, but I've communicated with her through email and she has always responded and been quite helpful and encouraging.

Her years of communicating with patients and their parents in her family medicine practice shine through in her writing.  Dr. Koelker writes in a conversational, very easy to understand style, like she is talking to concerned parents who need to be able to care for children or other loved ones when there is no one else.  She assumes the reader has no medical background whatsoever.

Armageddon Medicine is 588 pages, 8.5 x 11 inches, in what looks like a 12-point font, double-spaced, so it's very easy on the eyes.  The table of contents includes the following (there is more, but I'm highlighting what I think readers will be most interested in):

Section 1:  The Basics
Section 2:  Mental Illness
Section 3:  Acute Infection and Symptoms (quarantine, isolation; animal bites, rabies; respiratory infection; sore throat, mouth, lips; ear infection; gastrointestinal infection and symptoms; urinary and reproductive infections)
Section 4:  Skin conditions
Section 5:  Pain
Section 6:  Acute Injuries (burns, back strain, cuts and lacerations, knee and ankle injuries, insect bites and stings, concussion, fractures)
Section 7:  Selected Conditions (anemia, arthritis, asthma and COPD, blood clots and pulmonary embolism, botulism, constipation and diarrhea, diabetes, gout, headache and migraine, hearing loss, heart disease, heartburn, GERD, ulcers, hernia, high blood pressure, kidney stones, low back pain, sleep apnea, swelling, thyroid disease, vision) and women's health
Section 8:  Medication Concerns (simplifying your medications, expired medications, fish antibiotics, getting your doctor to help you stockpile medications, essential OTC drugs to stockpile, herbal medicine)
Section 9:  Special Topics (nuclear fallout, bioterrorism)
Section 10:  Becoming a Healer (taking a medical history, performing a physical exam)
Appendices (Resources, free downloads, medical textbook recommendations, medical kit, useful OTC medications)

Merely stating that there are appendices for the medical kit and useful OTC medications is inadequate. The medical kit appendix is 12 pages long and includes not just the items that Dr. Koelker recommends for your kit, but also the quantities for a family (basic), small group (intermediate), or professional (advanced).  Her suggestions will help you budget your medical dollars wisely.  For instance, how many bottles of rubbing alcohol have you stored?  Believe it or not, she advises just one bottle for a family, five bottles for a small group, and twenty for a professional level.  She includes prescription medications and quantities of each.   The OTC meds appendix is seven pages long, and lists the common name, other names, primary use, and other possible uses.  So the first item in that list is Benadryl, aka diphenhydramine, which is primarily used for colds and allergies.  But it can also be used for anxiety and insomnia.  Zantac, aka ranitidine, is marketed as a heartburn remedy.  But did you know it can also treat hives? 

Armageddon Medicine is only available through Dr. Koelker's site, ArmageddonMedicine.net.  At $89, it is a little pricey, but the information is invaluable, and there is so much that I have not seen elsewhere.  This book is definitely the place to begin for your medical preparation and will provide a solid foundation should you desire further education.  If you're skeptical, go to her site and read the articles there.  They are not duplicated in the book, but you will get an idea of the kind of information she provides.  This book may not save your life, but then again, it might.  It's written with the hope that none of us will ever need it and that hospitals and doctors will always be there for us.  But as the saying goes, we plan for the worst and hope for the best.

Disclaimer:  I receive no compensation of any kind whatsoever for the review of this book.

Links to related posts:
The Survival Medicine Handbook  
Survival and Austere Medicine, 3rd Edition   


 © 2019, PrepSchoolDaily.blogspot.com