2-75. Survival medicine is practiced by isolated personnel to aid in their survival during isolation.
Survival Medicine Property
2-76. Prevent or reduce the effects of dysentery/diarrhea (Anti-diarrheal).
- Medicinal uses. Diarrhea, dysentery, burns, skin problems, and parasites. Tannin/tannic acid solution prevents infection and aids healing.
- Sources. All thread plants contain tannic acid and found in the outer bark of all hardwood trees, acorns, banana plants, common plantain, strawberry leaves, blackberry stems, roots of blackberries. White oak bark and other barks containing tannin are also effective when made into a strong tea (including cowberry, cranberry, or hazel leaves).
Preparation
2-77. Tannic acid is also found in the moist inner bark of hardwood trees. Boil the inner bark of a hardwood tree for two hours or more to release the tannic acid. Although this solution has a vile, taste and smell, it will stop most cases of diarrhea.
- Place crushed outer bark, acorns, or leaves in water.
- Leach out the tannin by soaking or boiling.
- Increase tannin content by longer soaking time.
- Replace depleted material with fresh bark/plants.
- Clay, ashes, charcoal, powdered chalk, powdered bones, and pectin can be consumed or mixed in a tannic acid tea in a crude form of Kaopectate with good results.
Treatment
2-78. Burns.
- Moisten bandage with cooled tannin tea.
- Apply compress to burned area.
- Pour cooled tea on burned areas to ease pain.
- Diarrhea, dysentery, and worms. Drink strong tea solution (may promote voiding of worms).
- Skin problems (dry rashes and fungal infections). Apply cool compresses or soak affected part to relieve itching and promote healing.
- Lice and insect bites. Wash affected areas with tea to ease itching.
Survival Medicine Property
2-79. Prevent or reduce the effects of Fever (Anti-pyretic).
- Medicinal uses. Aches, colds, fever, inflammation, pain, sprains, and sore throat are relieved through its aspirin-like qualities (Salicin/salicylic acid).
- Sources. The Weeping Willow tree is a native of China and extra-tropical Asia. It belongs to the family of Crack Willows. This tree’s bark is utilized in medicinal and tanning processes. Treat a fever with a tea made from willow bark, an infusion of elder flowers or fruit, linden flower, and aspen or slippery elm bark. Yarrow and peppermint tea’s are also very helpful.
Preparation
- Gather twigs, buds, or cambium layer (soft, moist layer between the outer bark and the wood) of willow or aspen.
- Prepare tea
2-80. Make poultice.
- Crush the plant or stems.
- Make a pulpy mass.
Treatment
- Chew on twigs, buds, or cambium for symptom relief.
- Drink tea for colds and sore throat.
- Use warm, moist poultice for aches and sprains.
- Apply pulpy mass over injury.
- Hold in place with a dressing.
Survival Medicine Property
2-81. Prevent or reduce the effects of Hemorrhage and Bleeding (including Anti-hemorrhagic, Anti-microbial, tissue regeneration, pain relief).
- Medicinal uses. A poultice of the leaves from common plantain, woundwort or common yarrow can be applied to wounds, stings, and sores in order to facilitate healing and prevent infection. The active chemical constituents in common plantain include aucubin (an anti-microbial agent), allantoin (which stimulates cellular growth and tissue regeneration), and mucilage (which reduces pain and discomfort). Plantain has astringent properties, and a tea made from the leaves can be ingested to treat diarrhea and soothe raw internal membranes as well as itching, wounds, abrasions, stings, diarrhea, and dysentery
- Source. Common plantain is a species of flowering plant in the plantain family Plantaginaceae. The plant is native to most of Europe and northern and central Asia including Afghanistan, Pakistan and Iran and is widely naturalized throughout the world. There are over 200 plantain species with similar medicinal properties and it is one of the most abundant and widely distributed medicinal crops in the world. .Additional sources include broadleaf plantain which is also a highly nutritious wild edible that is high in calcium and vitamins A, C, and K. The young, tender leaves can be eaten raw, and the older, stringier leaves can be boiled in stews and eaten. Prickly pear (the raw, peeled part) or witch hazel can be applied to wounds based upon their astringent properties (they shrink blood vessels). For bleeding gums or mouth sores, sweet gum can be chewed or used as a toothpick.
Preparation
- Brew tea from seeds.
- Brew tea from leaves.
- Make poultice of leaves.
Treatment
- Drink tea made from seeds for diarrhea or dysentery.
- Drink tea made from leaves for vitamin and minerals.
- Use poultice to treat cuts, sores, burns, and stings.
Survival Medicine Property
2-82. Prevent or reduce the effects of internal parasites and worms (Anti-helminthics).
WARNING
Most treatment for worms or parasites are toxic. Therefore, all treatments should be used in moderation. DO NOT confuse Wild Carrot or Queen Anne’s Lace with any of the Poison Hemlock family. Wild carrots and Queen Anne’s Lace have hairy stems and stalk which is a very important identification element and separates the two carrots from several very deadly plants including Poison Hemlock (has smooth hollow stalks with purple blotches and no hairs on its stems), Water Hemlock and Fools Parsley. (Poison Hemlock, Water Hemlock and Fools Parsley smell nasty – just roll some leaves between your thumb and forefinger, and smell), while Wild carrot roots smell like carrots.
- Medicinal uses. The wild carrot is an aromatic herb that acts as a diuretic, soothes the digestive tract, stimulates the uterus, supports the liver, stimulates the flow of urine and the removal of waste by the kidneys. A tea made from the roots is diuretic and has been used in the treatment of urinary stones. Very strong tannic acid can also be used with caution as it is very hard on the liver.
- Source. Tansy, Wild Carrot, Queen Anne’s Lace
Preparation
- Boil the leaves to make the infusion and remove any toxic elements. An infusion of the leaves has been used to counter cystitis and kidney stone formation, and to diminish stones that have already formed. A warm water infusion of the flowers has been used in the treatment of diabetes.
Treatment
- The grated raw root, especially of the cultivated forms, is used as a remedy for threadworms. The root is also used to encourage delayed menstruation, and can induce uterine contractions (should not be used by pregnant women).
- Carrots possess strong antiseptic qualities, can be used as a laxative, vermicide (worm expelling agent), poultice and for the treatment of liver conditions
Survival Medicine Property
2-83. Prevent or reduce the growth of disease/infection (Anti-septic).
- Medicinal uses. Use antiseptics to cleanse wounds, snake bites, sores, boils, inflammations, burns or rashes. You can make antiseptics from the expressed juice of wild onion or garlic, chickweed leaves, or the crushed leaves of dock.
- Source. Yarrow is a flowering plant in the family Asteraceae. It is native to temperate regions of the Northern Hemisphere in Asia, Europe, and North America. The above ground parts are used to make medicines to treat fever, common cold, hay fever, absence of menstruation, dysentery, diarrhea, loss of appetite, gastrointestinal (GI) tract discomfort, and to induce sweating. Some people chew the fresh leaves to relieve toothache. Other sources include Cattail, wild onion or garlic, chickweed, burdock root, mallow leaves or roots, white oak bark (tannic acid). Prickly pear, slippery elm, and sweet gum.
Preparation
- Two of the best antiseptics are sugar and honey.
- Sugar should be applied to the wound until it becomes syrupy, then washed off and reapplied. Honey should be applied three times daily.
- Honey is by far the best of the antiseptics for open wounds and burns, with sugar being second.
Treatment
- Apply poultice to affected area to stop bleeding.
- Yarrow is dried, powdered, and mixed with plantain or comfrey water to treat wounds or used fresh by itself.
- To treat burns, scrapes, insect bites and bruises split open a cattail root and “bruise” the exposed portion so it can be used as a poultice that can be secured over the injured area
- The cattail stem has an amber or honey like substance that seeps from the stem. Use this secretion to treat small wounds and even toothaches, because it also has antiseptic properties.
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