Things often overlooked by preppers

Prudence Not Paranoia ^ | 6/1/12 | rknecht

[Kartographer]

More Americans are joining the ranks of “preppers” every day.

My last two columns discussed the growing trend of people taking steps to ensure they can be as self-sufficient as possible over the short term in; the event of a natural or manmade catastrophe.

Preppers aren’t necessarily members of groups with a political agenda.

They’re just concerned citizens and sometimes include groups of families, neighborhoods, churches, civic organizations and even entire states.

[editor-surveyor]

The commercial 3% is safe to use as long as you’re not ingesting it. It is a more practical, and economical choice for soaking, since it doesn’t carry the hazmat shipping restrictions.
.

[GGpaX4DumpedTea]

“It is a more practical, and economical choice for soaking, since it doesn’t carry the hazmat shipping restrictions.”

Ah, but I do not pay hazmat shipping charges...I drive to my Amish friend’s place and pay $10 a gallon for the 50%, $9 for the 35%.

There is 28% hydrogen peroxide available in many swimming pool stores, at a reasonable price (but more than what I pay). We use hydrogen peroxide instead of chlorine for our swimming pool. Makes swimming healthy! This is ok for anything except internal use.

[PastorBooks]

“The native Americans had a way of dealing with adult incontinence. They moved the belongings outside of the house. Kind of an Indian death panel.”

Oh yikes! Do you remember where you read that?

[PastorBooks]

Thanks for the advice. Yeah, it would have to be legal with customs and I bet there are all kinds of restrictions.

[steve86]

Seems customs has little if any interest in non-classified prescription drugs in small personal quantities, although it wouldn’t hurt to have a U.S. prescription script if you get asked (I sometimes have one, sometimes don’t). Most of the international pharmacies will re-send the order if it does get held up by customs. Really, I have never encountered anyone who had a problem with this.

[steve86]

I keep thinking about this for some reason. I lost my best friend back in the 90s after he showed up at work with a knife and threatened a VP (the friend was an accountant) for no real reason, and then committed suicide a few weeks later. I don’t know the details of the dosing regimen but it was widely assumed his Prozac prescription had a lot to do with this. He was a Vietnam Veteran and was very mild mannered and with no signs of PTSD (that he ever told me about) before these incidents. Some people have really bad experiences with SSRIs!

Another friend, though it is nothing like the above story, had temporal lobe seizures both after starting and ramping down sertraline (Zoloft). She had not experienced anything similar in the previous 40 years. The SSRIs are interesting in that they can potentiate seizures while the dosage is changing, yet are actually siezure-protective (mildly) while at a steady dose.

Note to all: Don’t play around with anti-depressants are your own. The tricyclics have their own interesting stories.

[steve86]

I drive to my Amish friend’s place and pay $10 a gallon for the 50%, $9 for the 35%.

How much octane is that stuff?

[GGpaX4DumpedTea]

“How much octane is that stuff?”

Octane? We are talking about hydrogen peroxide...

[GGpaX4DumpedTea]

“Don’t play around with anti-depressants are your own.”

My advice would be to not use anti-depressants...PERIOD! All they do is cover up symptoms. They do nothing to treat/cure the cause.

[steve86]

Not true. The various classes of antidepressants can correct neurochemical imbalances, which is correcting the root cause, by definition. They DO NOT cover up symptoms; that is a profound misconception on your part. Many patients wish they did. There is no euphoric effect: no activation of pleasure centers in the brain. The two to three week delay in onset of therapeutic effect is consistent with the time required to balance the neurochemistry. An agent which could be seen as "covering up symptoms", say alcohol or cocaine, takes effect immediately. Not all depressed patients will be helped by a particular class of AD because not all have the associated imbalance problem to begin with. Some have no chemical problem at all and the condition is a matter of situational factors or health issues outside of the CNS. Those patients would be particularly ill-advised to self-dose. The AD will not make them "happier". My graduate work was in the areas of neuropsychology and neurochemistry.

[steve86]

A little light on the humor today?

[ctdonath2]

To the contrary, some people have something physiologically wrong with their brain, a particular problem which antidepressants do in fact correct.

The issue here is that the gap between “normal broken” and “fixed by recurring meds” is a very scary place to be.

[Ellendra]

(not a lot of citrus available in Minnesota)?

Nibble on pine needles or brew them into tea, they provide vitamin C year-round. Just make sure it really is a pine, don't eat just any old conifer. Some, such as yew, are poisonous. You can also dry fruits and greens for winter use. The vitamin C content will be diminished, but there will still be some there.

[ctdonath2]

What’s terrifying in this transition state is there is no reasoning with the person: their axioms have changed to abnormal, and all rational thought is based on broken fundamentals. To challenge their world view during this time is to incurr utter wrath or fear. All you can do is get them back to a stable recurring medication level (even if it’s zero) and wait for the emotional thrashing to settle. I’ve seen several people go thru it. Don’t go there.

DON’T F WITH ANTIDEPRESANTS. Do exactly what the doctor says. If a doctor is not involved, do not use them.

[CottonBall]

After October 2008, I lived for well over a year on stored food, without relying on family, friends or you, the taxpayer.

Awesome! I've been wanting to take a stretch of time and see how I could do living off what I have stored.

[Shadowstrike]

Actually, I did read all those, and very carefully.

But, it was very hard to ignore the “disdain” in your post.

By your own words, ie “scaring their families...” I'm gonna go out on a limb here, and assume that you don't condone watching the news, it might scare your family.

You don't condone using seat belts, the thought of a wreck might scare someone...

See where I'm going with this?

The television preppers, are in my opinion, merely that television. Teaching your family the things necessary for survival in a volatile world, teaching them to “prepare” isn't scaring them, in fact...it might actually save their life.

Consider that, before you jump into the deep end next time.

[GGpaX4DumpedTea]

Thank you for the enlightenment. I do know some who have been damaged by antidepressants, used exactly as the doctor prescribed. Side effects too often are not good.

[JRandomFreeper]

It really sucks to be required to because of financial disaster. Yes, I did it. I would rather have been able to go to the grocery store and buy steaks. ;)

/johnny

[PastorBooks]

Good info... thanks

[CottonBall]

It really sucks to be required to because of financial disaster. Yes, I did it. I would rather have been able to go to the grocery store and buy steaks. ;)

I'm sorry you had to go through that. I am thinking of it as more of a game – to see just how little I could live on. But having to do it for real would be completely different. But that is why we are prepping – just in case. Hoping for the best; prepping for the worst. Hope things are much better for you now!