Luxe Bidet 120 Follow-Up

Not actually Erin.

Picture by KJ Photography.

Used with permission.

With all the rumors about toilet paper shortages in the wake of Hurricane Helene and the dockworkers' strike, it's time to revisit the product review post I made back in 2020. Go read that first, then come back for this follow-up. 

Disclaimer: In order to write a useful post about this subject, I need to talk about things which a lot of people find distasteful and/or embarrassing. Everybody poops and everybody needs to wipe, so let's just be adults about this.

The Luxe 120 that I bought back in December 2020 still works fine, although there are a few issues I have with cleaning it. First, cleaning the part of the toilet behind the bidet nozzle is inconvenient at best (I use a Clorox Toilet Wand and it can reach most areas with a bit of work) and difficult at worst, especially when it comes to removing dried-on particles. Fortunately, Luxe has addressed that issue with their latest model which flips up for easy cleaning ($44 on Amazon as of this writing). 

The Luxe Bidet 120 Plus

The second issue that I have is related to the first: despite the self-clean feature, the nozzle itself must be periodically cleaned to prevent bacterial biofilm, aka "pink mold", from growing on it and impeding the nozzle's protraction and retraction. In my case this is easily handled by opening the protective door, pulling the nozzle down and giving the entire area a good scrub with the toilet wand at the same time I'm cleaning the bowl. I expect that the new flip-up feature would make this cleaning much easier and perhaps needed less often. 

If I should ever need to purchase another bidet, I'm definitely getting the new flip-up model, but mine is still working great and shows no signs of stopping. My toilet paper usage has been drastically diminished, and overall I just feel cleaner. The only drawback to this bidet is that I miss it terribly whenever I go out of town. I make do with flushable baby wipes, but it's not the same, especially when my lower back arthritis is acting up and making it difficult to reach behind me. 

This new version also doesn't require a full removal of the toilet seat to install,
which is a welcome change and a big help.

My Recommendation: Still A+

As I mentioned in my previous product review: 

If you're a human being who poops, buy this. It's more comfortable than dry wiping, it's probably better for the long-term function of your septic system to flush less toilet paper, and the paper you do use will last longer. It's easy to install, it's great if you have health problems (including reduced flexibility that makes wiping difficult), and if you register it comes with a 2 year warranty. 

Buy one now, before the next (real or imagined) toilet paper shortage. 

Dear FTC: I bought this product with my own money. Go away. 

Trust the Experts?

I think I've written before about trust and how it is one of the basic parts of any social interaction. Trust, or the lack of it, will influence how you deal with people on every level and it can be used against you. After seeing some of the nonsense being pumped out in the "news" lately, I thought it would be good to revisit this core component of human interactions.

I put the word "news" in quotation marks because all news sources are biased. Everyone has a bias or two; it doesn't matter if it's religious, racial, social status, political, or tribal, there is always going to be a hint or more of bias in any reporting. If you get your information from only one source, you're accepting the bias of that source. This can lead to what I call "intellectual incest", with results that aren't any better than those of common incest. Inbreeding has destroyed several breeds of animals, with purebred dogs and horses as good examples of the health effects of having a family shrub instead of a family tree. Don't let your flow of information suffer similar issues, but instead look for and acknowledge the bias in your sources, and look for other sources (with their own biases). Verify and check stories before you place much trust in them.

I get most of my information online now. The local paper has withered to a few pages and the TV news is controlled by the corporations that own the stations, so neither are to be trusted. Rather than hitting the sites that may agree with my opinions, I like to search out some of the foreign news organizations and a few of the "fringe" sites for information on developing stories. I can pick out the biases and glean bits of information that the US news groups won't share with us. The fringe sites are good for a laugh most days, too.

The advertising tactic of Fear, Uncertainty, Doubt (FUD) is based on undermining your trust in a competitor's product. I covered that tactic here, but the basic idea is to instill one or more of those three feelings in a consumer to sway their buying choices. Politicians use the same tactic to gain/retain power and have consultants who specialize in FUD, and polling and focus groups are how they judge the effectiveness of the consultants' work. Think of it as their version of going to the range to sight is a rifle: fire a shot or two, check the results, make adjustments, fire a few more, and repeat until you get results that make you happy.

Authority figures are important parts of influencing people. Look at the advertising and propaganda out there: anything that involves medicine will have people in white lab coats or hospital scrubs to invoke our trust in the medical professionals that we entrust with our health and lives. Titles and college degrees tacked on after a name used to show that a person had earned a level of trust, but that has been eroded over the last few decades. Religious leaders getting caught with their pants down or hands in the collection plates, medical doctors killing more people by malpractice (22,000 according to a recent Yale study) than are killed in homicides of all kinds (14,000 in 2019), and politicians just being politicians have tarnished that image of "trustworthy", but people still use authority figures to try to influence us. 

Authorities are human and will make mistakes. Many also suffer from inflated egos and a surplus of hubris, which can lead them to make proclamations outside their field of expertise. I've argued with engineers about things outside their field of study several times; just having a degree doesn't make you a god. I recall one of my earlier posts about using a 9V battery to charge a cell phone getting trashed on Facebook because some engineer didn't understand the concept of voltage regulators. Even though I did the work myself and showed all of the steps, this "authority" claimed it wouldn't work and I was wrong. It works and I have the evidence to refute this "authority".

The whole "appeal to authority" idea is so fraught with problems that is a recognized logical fallacy. Just because an "authority" claims something is true, that claim by itself is not evidence of truth. Most of us have grown past the "my mother said so" stage of debate and rely on evidence to make decisions, but there are a lot of grown-up children in the world. 

Since we can't all be experts in every field, you will need to trust others for some things. Recognize your strengths and weaknesses, look for trustworthy sources of information, and verify their claims to the best of your ability. Evidence beats experts every time in the real world.

Estate Planning

2020 was a horrible year for many people for a variety of reasons. In addition to what most people faced, I lost both my parents last year. My father, who lived in Florida, died in April and my mother, who lived in New York City, died in September.

Just to be clear, this post is not in any way an attempt to garner pity but to help others learn from my experiences.

When my father passed, it wasn't a complete shock as he’d been fighting cancer for a number of years. As an engineer by training, his estate was fairly well organized, which greatly simplified things for his wife after he passed as all the legal and other end of life arrangements and documents had been prepared. There were of course some snags and surprises here or there, but for the most part my father had done his best to ease the path for his wife and heirs after he was gone.

My mother’s passing was more of a shock, but the post-death situation was even more so. She had not left a will, or any other end of life legal documents, that we could find when we were able to get to her NYC apartment in mid-October. The only thing she’d done was pre-pay her funeral expenses. While this helped, trying to deal with her estate from eight hundred miles away without those documents was challenging.

As my older brother no longer lives in the country, it fell to me to take care of things which I had to do remotely and, during the time of COVID-19, with all the shutdowns and restrictions New York City could apply. I was able to get a copy of her death certificate from the county which enabled me to contact her creditors and get that part moving.

With the help of a cousin who used to practice family law, I was able to apply to become Administrator of the estate. This was simplified due to the value of my mother’s possessions falling below an arbitrary line and therefore considered a “small” estate. I mailed the paperwork, properly signed and notarized, to the country court at the end of October.

This is where things took a turn for the surreal. It took over two business weeks for my paperwork to get from Knoxville Tennessee to New York City, with half of that just getting from Knoxville to Memphis! But it did finally arrive. 

I’d been advised to let some time pass due to the offices being closed and people working from home, and for three and a-half months I heard nothing. Finally, in mid-February I called the court, only to get a recording telling me the offices were still closed and try an email. My first two emails went unanswered, the third received a terse and uninformative reply. Six weeks after the first email, I finally managed to reach someone who could help. 

At this point, things started to move faster. It turned out there was a piece of information missing which they’d known about since mid-November but hadn’t informed me. With that corrected, I was told the paperwork would be mailed out by the end of the week.

Two weeks later I still hadn’t received anything, so I emailed again. Someone had forgotten to put it in the mail and I was told it would go out on the following Monday. It arrived the next Friday.

At this point, it was over seven months since she’d died and because there was no will or a named beneficiary, we hadn’t been able to clear out her apartment, close her bank account, order her tombstone, or deal with half-a-dozen other issues.

A week after the paperwork arrived, we were back up in New York City working on all those things. While both physically and emotionally exhausting, the week was very productive, thanks in large part to some wonderful people who looked for solutions when others would have shrugged their shoulders.

The author's mother's apartment mid-cleanout

The week after we got back with a carload of books, photos, and other keepsakes, I was able to get a Federal Tax ID number and open an estate bank account so I could start dealing with estate expenses and, assuming there’s anything left, disbursement to my mother’s heirs. 

Most of this aggravation could have been avoided if my mother had legally named a beneficiary or estate executor, and detailed instructions regarding what she wanted done would have helped even more. However, as with many people, she didn’t want to consider her own mortality too closely.

The most important lesson to be learned here is get your legal house in order while you have time to consider options and make your own decisions. Everyone dies eventually, so make it easier on those left behind by managing your estate as much as you can. Additionally, don’t forget to inform responsible parties and update any instructions as circumstances change.

For a tie-in to Erin’s post on shredders, cull your old documents regularly. This was not a habit either of my parents had as we found paperwork, including tax returns, that went back to the 1940s. Unless you run a business, there’s rarely a need to keep more than seven years of tax returns or one year of credit card statements, utility bills, etc. Make it a regular part of your annual routine to purge older papers. Consider it a favor to your heirs that results in less clutter for you as a bonus feature. 

Product Review: the Luxe Bidet Neo 120

Not actually Erin.

Picture by KJ Photography

& is used with permission.

Just hang on a moment, Erin! I hear you saying. Why is a prepping site talking about a bidet?

Do you remember the Great Toilet Paper Shortage of Spring 2020? That's why. I don't know how well the rest of you fared, but even though we didn't ever run out of TP, we did get down to the single-ply emergency stocks and that was unpleasant. So when I heard that there was another run on TP due to an expected surge of COVID-19 this flu season, I decided to go ahead and get a bidet, the Luxe Neo 120, to help make our supplies of TP last longer. 

Disclaimer: In order to write a useful post about this subject, I need to talk about things which a lot of people find distasteful and/or embarrassing. Everybody poops and everybody needs to wipe, so let's just be adults about this. 

https://amzn.to/3mMPjQC

I admit that I wasn't sure how I would feel about a stream of cold water right on my anus, but my friends who own bidets (and it turns out I have a surprisingly large number of them) told me that it wasn't a big deal and that I'd get used to that pretty quickly. I'm going to jump ahead in this review and say a few things about this now:

1. It really isn't a big deal. I can feel that it isn't warm water, but it isn't the shock to my system that I feared it would be. 
2. If you have anal irritation, such as from hemorrhoids, cold water can be a relief and help reduce swelling. 
3. If it's still important to you, it's possible to get warm water bidets. 

Price and Features

I paid $35 for mine, which I felt was entirely reasonable. The Neo 120 is one step up from the bare bones model; it features a self-cleaning nozzle feature which the Neo 110 ($28) lacks. Models 180 ($40) and up feature dual nozzles for feminine cleansing; I skipped that because neither my mother or I need that particular function. The Model 320 is the only one which is heated, but costs $50 and requires a hose which runs from the toilet to the under-sink hot water taps. Given that our toilet is several feet away from the sink and the taps are behind cabinets, I decided this was more trouble than it would be worth. 

Installation

I can only speak for the Luxe Bidet which I bought, although I figure other Luxe models install in more or less the same way. Installation took me about an hour, and some of that was due to the fact that my toilet seat isn't exactly standard and didn't want to cooperate with the mounting hardware, but I got it work nonetheless. I consider myself to be competent with tools but not especially skilled, yet I had no problems with the installation (other than the toilet seat); someone who is more proficient would install it sooner and have the same amount of trouble I experienced, which is none. 

The only tools I needed were those to remove my toilet seat, which in my case was a socket wrench. All other tools were included, and the instructions were clear. 

Pro Tip: Make sure that the hose from the cold water feed to the bidet is fastened tightly, and slowly turn the tap back on. If it's not tight enough you'll have a leak, and it's better to have a dribble than a spray. 

Performance

First of all, this doesn't eliminate the need for toilet paper; you still have to wipe yourself dry. That said, I have found my TP use greatly reduced to somewhere between 1/2 and 1/4 of my normal use. For preppers, that ought to be enough to convince you to buy it. 

It also makes me feel cleaner. We've all had bowel movements where it seemed like we'd never get clean, and this solves that problem every time. 

Finally, if you ever have a really bad case of intestinal upset, this will pay for itself in no time. The cold water is soothing on an inflamed anus, and if you're having to use the toilet again and again (such as if you are preparing for a colonoscopy and you need to take a laxative before the procedure), this will prevent that feeling of rawness and chafing that you get after continual wiping. 

Also

Be sure to get the package of Toilet Seat Bumpers. Trust me, the bidet raises your toilet seat up enough that it won't sit flush (hah!) on the commode bowl, and you really don't want to break the seat by bending it where it doesn't want to bend. I bought these and I'm happy I did. 

https://amzn.to/3gmPFuY

Two warnings, though:

1. The plastic over the adhesive is a massive pain to peel of. Be prepared for that; I had to use a knife to get it started and then tweezers to grab it. 
2. Don't drop the adhesive. Especially not into the toilet water. They stick great if you apply them to the seat straight off the plastic, but if there's other stuff on the adhesive then it may not stick and you might end up having to order a second set. 

http://amzn.to/1X5kJ1P

Finally, some of you may be asking I have a Squatty Potty. Does the Luxe Bidet work well with it?

The answer is Yes, very much so. In fact, if you position yourself just right with the Squatty Potty, you can basically give yourself an enema with the bidet. 

That may sound gross, but let me tell you this: if you've ever been constipated, that can really help soften and loosen your stool and just might speed up the process. I know that it helped me a great deal. 

My Recommendation: A+
If you're a human being who poops, buy this. It's more comfortable than dry wiping, it's probably better for the long-term function of your septic system to flush less toilet paper, and the paper you do use will last longer. It's easy to install, it's great if you have health problems (including reduced flexibility that makes wiping difficult), and if you register it comes with a 2 year warranty. 

If it ever breaks, I'll be sure to let you know. 

Death and Burial: An Update

I've had a rough month. With the deaths of my father-in-law, mother, and aunt all occurring within three weeks, I have had to deal with the subjects of death, dying, and burial on a personal level that I haven't experienced before.

I went back and read a few posts that I wrote two years ago when we first kicked off this blog, and decided that they needed an update.

Death and Burial: Body
TL;DR Our bodies are mortal, we will all die one day. What do we do with the mortal remains?

The original article covers methods of dealing with dead bodies, but there is another facet to dying that I need to write about: “Natural causes” deaths have common steps or stages that they progress through. This list is not a schedule; the stages are often jumbled and there is no set sequence.

• Loss of appetite and thirst. As the body starts to shut down, its energy needs dwindle. The dying person will refuse food and drink because their body isn't calling for it.
• Fatigue or excessive sleep. With less food (and therefore energy) going into the body, the person may sleep constantly, or at least very often. Sleep may also be sporadic and irregular.
• Weakness. Again, less energy going in means there is less available for use in moving the body.
• Confusion or agitation. As the end gets near, the dying person may not recognize or acknowledge people around them. Mumbling and incoherent or nonsensical speech is common, as are fear, panic attacks, and hallucinations.
• Breathing problems. Labored breathing, interrupted breathing, and phlegm building up in the airways and causing a “rattle” when breathing are all common.
• Changes in urination. With reduced water intake the kidneys have less to work with, causing the urine output to become dark -- often as dark as tea or coffee. Dropping blood pressure also causes the kidneys to shut down, which will mean less (but more concentrated) urine output.
• Changes in circulation. As the internal organs shut down, blood flow is concentrated in the brain and torso. Hands and feet may become cold, and near the end of life they will be mottled red/blue/purple or blotchy where they were once pale or gray. This normally appears on the soles of the feet first.

Death and Burial: Mind
TL;DR Our bodies react in specific ways after death.

There's not much I can add to what I originally wrote. When my father-in-law entered hospice care, a team came in and turned off the internal defibrillator built into his pacemaker as part of his DNR (Do Not Resuscitate) advanced directive. Advanced directives are right up there with your Last Will and Testament when it comes to important paperwork: assigning medical decision-making powers and defining what level of advanced life support you want used must be in writing and available if you are unable to communicate.

Death and Burial: Spirit

TL;DR Grief and mourning. We react to the death of others in our own individual ways.

I have seen all forms of grief in the last month. Some people are more accepting of the inevitability of death than others, and their grief is internalized. Denial, anger and depression are common responses, but there is still no set “stages of grief and mourning” that we all have to go through. The “counselors” that demand we all check the boxes on their precious lists deserve to have their pieces of paper shoved where the sun doesn't shine. That's not anger coming from grief; that's anger coming from watching idiots recite a litany that they learned in night school that they have no understanding of.

Supporting each other is vital at these times.

• If a family member can't go to the funeral, there is no reason to assign blame or derision.
• Some people don't want to see a loved one after death -- they prefer to remember the deceased as healthy and happy. While I see this as a minor form of denial, I don't have a problem with people trying to avoid extra pain.
• We all have to deal with death and grief in our own ways. The one exception that I can see is removing someone who is having a psychological melt-down in public. All they are going to do is upset others around them when most of the people there are already upset enough.

Death and Burial: Soul
What happens to the immortal part of us?
I never got around to writing this one because of all of the different versions of the afterlife that are available. This is the subject of a college degree, not a weekly blog post.


Both my mother and my father-in-law where good Christian people, and I am sure they are resting comfortably somewhere, waiting for the rest of us to join them. I wasn't close enough to my aunt to know for sure, but I never heard anything bad about her. I have hope that she is at peace with her God.

I'm glad that my family members are no longer in pain, and have traveled beyond this earthly realm of work, pain, suffering, and death. I am sure that I will meet them again when it is my turn to cross over to a better place, and I look forward to that day, but there is still a hole or two in my heart that will take time to heal.

Vermin

Preppers aren't the only ones impacted by disasters and emergencies. There are several types of almost-parasitic creatures that live near or with us that will also have their lives disrupted in the event of an earthquake, tornado, hurricane, or other major catastrophe. When their normal living quarters are destroyed, or their food supply is disrupted, they can and will look for other sources. Being mobile and reproducing rapidly, they spread to wherever they can find food and a place to live.

Of course I'm thinking of rodents, not the two-legged parasites that react in many of the same ways. When something as simple as construction work can cause mice and rats to vacate a building and look for new homes, imagine what a major disaster will do. We've all heard the phrase "rats leaving a sinking ship", and it is a real phenomenon; they flee burning buildings as well.

Behavior
Rats and mice are opportunistic feeders, meaning they will eat whatever they can find. If you can eat it, so can they; in developing countries where construction and sanitation standards are not as strictly enforced, rodents can destroy or contaminate up to 25% of every harvest. That's not counting the documented "swarming" of rats that can entirely destroy crops in a matter of days.

Rodents have front teeth that grow as long as they are alive, which is why they are constantly chewing on things. If they don't chew and wear down their teeth, the teeth will grow through their skulls and kill them. Rats in particular can chew through anything, given enough time. And I mean anything: concrete, lead, steel, glass, and plastics are not enough to keep them out if they are hungry or just need to chew.

Mice and rats also have very flexible skeletons. A fully-grown rat can squeeze through a hole the size of a quarter and a mouse through one the size of a dime. Openings for pipes and wires are the most common entry for rodents into a house. Keep things sealed up and make sure your wall openings are as tight as possible.

Rodents are very hard to get rid of once they have infested an area. There are a few islands that have been cleared of rats (brought in on visiting ships hundreds of years ago), but it is an expensive and time-consuming process. Some areas of the Arctic and all of Antarctica are rat-free only because the conditions are so severe that they can't live there (nor can much of anything else).

Controls
Controlling a rodent population is possible. Proper sanitation and storage procedures can keep them out of certain areas, and poisons, traps, and predators work after they've moved in.

Sanitation and Storage

• Mice are very near-sighted, which is why they tend to stay close to walls. They also leak urine as they run around, leaving a scent trail for other mice. Now you have another reason to scrub the floor.
• Food must be kept cleaned up to eliminate easy meals that will keep them coming back for more. Bulk storage in particular gets messy when you're transferring a portion to a smaller container for use. Crumbs and kernels of grain on the floor may not look like much to a 200# adult human, but to a mouse they're a full pantry.
• Storage requirements are simple: Keep everything in the best container you can afford until you need it. Those quaint bread boxes and pie safes that your grandma had in her kitchen? Those were there for a reason. Keeping everything covered kept the bugs and rodents out of it.
• Keeping your area clear of debris removes material that rodents can use to make nests. Paper and cloth need to be kept off of the floor and neatly stacked. Never store anything leaned against the side of a building, because that creates pathways and nesting areas for them.

Elimination

• Poisons: Most rodent poisons are anti-coagulants. This class of drug is very hard to develop an immunity to, but you'll still have to change the active ingredient once in a while. Warfarin used to be the most commonly used blood thinner, but the brown rat (Norway rat) has become resistant in some areas. Fumigation is an option, but is not something for the DIY crowd; the chemicals are extremely hard to obtain without the proper paperwork, and they're not very forgiving of mistakes since they'll kill anything that breathes. 
• Traps: The standard mouse trap still works after many years. Cheap, simple, and useful for other purposes, everyone should have a few set aside. The more elaborate traps work as well, but I'm a fan of the KISS principle. 
• Predators: Cats and small dogs have hunted rodents for as long as they've both been around. Most of the smaller Terrier breeds of dogs are excellent rat hunters and any cat will hunt mice if they're hungry enough. That's the trick with cats-- keep them hungry and they'll hunt for their own food. Owls and hawks also find rodents quite tasty, but they're a bit harder to train and care for. Do what you can to foster their choosing to live near you and they'll help keep the rodent population down.

Just having things isn't enough; you also need a plan on how to keep them. Rodents and other vermin are not as common in modern society as they were a hundred years ago, but if things start to break down, their rapid breeding will put them back to where they were within a few months. 

Something for you to think about, in case it had never crossed your mind.

How Preppers Are Portrayed by the Media

I recently saw a mainstream magazine with a prepper-themed cover story. I haven't bought that particular magazine for many years  -- since their content was usually stories about things so far beyond my price range that I wasn't getting any value from it -- but this one piqued my interest so I bought it.

I'm not going to give the magazine any free publicity (however much a mention in our little blog would be) by naming it. If you're really interested in knowing which rag it was, it should be on sale for a few more weeks. You can't miss the cover story.

The title of the article is “XX survival secrets that will save your life”, with plenty of all caps. Any time an advertisement mentions a number, I get suspicious. The “20 piece tool set” is going to include at least 10 “throw-away” parts. This article is no different, in that most of the “secrets” are things like “keep matches on hand” and “a 12V inverter will let you run a 110VAC appliance”. Other throw-aways include:

• Any use of the tern“ultimate survival” in reference to a product is a red flag that someone has something to sell, and as far as I'm concerned, it's generally a “throw-away”.
• Listings of the “5 safest cities” are subjective and the joking tone of the descriptions (“the moonshine will keep you warm”, “Great if you don't mind ceaseless rain, or plaid”) further devalues the author's choices. 
• The list of stuff “you may not absolutely need, but, boy, it'd be nice to have” (direct quote, somebody needs a better editor) includes a $550 parka, a $350 cooler, a $100 hammock, and a $200 pair of gloves. Waste of print space, but in line with the magazine's normal reviews of cars that cost more than $100,000 and similar extravagances. 
• There is a “ticker” type bar across the bottom of the pages labeled “Prepper Jargon Decoded”, with pithy definitions of phrases and acronyms like WROL, TEOTWAWKI, and OPSEC.
• Maybe it is because the weather is cold in most of the USA right now, but the great majority of the “secrets” dealt with cold-weather survival. This is great for people living in the northern half of the USA, but they almost ignore any other climate and how to deal with it. Very little mention is given to any of the other various sorts of nightmare fodder that some of us have to deal with, or at least be aware of.
• The general tone of the article is evident in the heading of a section called “Prepping Lite”- “What preppers do and what you, a slightly less paranoid citizen, can do”. I'm not sure if the author was trying to be cute or funny, but the examples given of how a prepper acts in regards to water storage and communication are extreme and portray anyone who identifies as a prepper as being unhinged.
• The suggestions for water. A prepper would calculate storage as 1 gallon per person per day “times ten- just to be safe”. A “casual survivalist” should keep a pitcher of water in the fridge and start filling containers/bathtub at the first sign of trouble. The first is rarely possible unless you live in a rural setting, and the second is not going to help because the first sign of trouble may well be the water supply being cut off or contaminated. 
• For communications, a prepper will have established dead-drops that he has only shared with trusted “confidants”. Everybody else should look into amateur radio, which is not a bad idea for preppers in my opinion. Dead drops are for spies, not preppers. 
• The suggestion for “Heat” of using candles inside upside-down ceramic flower pots (listed as a “less paranoid” option) is questionable. I've seen the idea on a few websites, but the math doesn't work out. Candles are made of paraffin wax which has a calorie content that is close to that of fuel oil or diesel fuel. The idea that you can heat a room by burning a few ounces of wax makes no sense from the physics involved. My kerosene space heater burns about a gallon (roughly 6 pounds) of fuel per hour and barely keeps a room warm, a half-pound of candles isn't going to duplicate or surpass that. 
• A prepper will build an underground bunker, preferably not on the same property as their house, but regular people should just have a list of shelters available. One suggestion was a friend's basement, which also has a pool table. 
• The magazine picked a few “survival experts” to provide insight and suggestions; an Air Force SERE instructor, an alpine search-and-rescue team member, and a dog-sledding tour guide. These three gentlemen have the experience and training to be good source of information, but the selections chosen for publication were extremely basic. Find water, build shelter, gather food, and build a fire are all very basic steps to wilderness survival and none of them were covered in any depth. I'm sure these gentlemen could have done a lot more good if they were given the space and seriousness they deserve.
• There are a few obligatory zombie references – the “Barricade your house from the inside” section was conceived by a construction worker while watching The Walking Dead. They actually admitted that in print.

(Editor's Note:  listen to my podcast segment, Doomsday Preppers: A show designed to make everyone look bad, for more in this particular vein.)

http://www.discovery.com/tv-shows/naked-and-afraid/

They do mention the popularity of survival-themed reality TV, and take most of them to task for being less survival and more “how to live in the woods”. The author proclaims that Naked and Afraid is the best of the bunch. For those of you who don't watch much TV, Naked and Afraid takes a man and a woman, strips them naked, and drops them into a remote location for three weeks. I've seen a few episodes, and it is an extreme test of survival skills and the participants don't always get along. The gist of every show is always"build a shelter, find food and water, make some clothes, create tools to make living easier." The author's statement that, “it's good to know......that your body could actually function for a good chunk of time on stagnant water and snake meat” is followed by the quip, “What a great way to lose weight.”

All told, I'm almost sorry I spent $5 on this piece of misinformation and bias. Nothing positive was mentioned about preppers; we're all borderline lunatics as far as this magazine knows. I must be getting old, because the “funny” and “cute” style of reporting is starting to irritate me. If you're going to write a story for an established magazine that has been in print for over a hundred years, I would think you'd select a style other than the one you'd use for The Onion or on Comedy Central. I think Colbert/Stewart have influenced an entire generation of writers and reporters, and not for the better.

The only redeeming part of the whole magazine was an article in the back about restoring old tools, and that is the only reason I may keep this issue around.

Parasites- Mind

Parasites of the mind are the things that will cloud your thinking or make you pause before you act. If your mind is clear and you know what needs to be done, check for these to find out why you're not doing it. These are the major parasites of the mind as I see them.

Addictions

Being addicted to something means that you are under its control, you can't function without it. Being stuck without your drug of choice or whatever it is that you may be addicted to makes you cranky, moody, makes it hard to sleep, and generally makes you someone that nobody else wants to be around. You'll waste time and energy looking for that "thing" when you should be thinking and working toward making life easier to sustain.

I disagree with some of the programs established to "fight" addictions like alcoholism and drug use in their definition of who is an addict. Because they survive off of the addicts, they tend to declare as many people as possible "addicted" in order to stay in business. I've known quite a few functional drunks and at least one functioning heroin user in my lifetime, and they may have fit the classical definition of an addict, but they were able to function with or without the drug of their choice.

I am personally working on my nicotine addiction. I've smoked for about 35 years and have quit before (up to a year at a time), but always fall back on the cigarettes as a stress-reliever. Unless you know how to grow, harvest, cure, and store tobacco this is a habit to get rid of. I want to be able to put my money and efforts into other things, so I'm working my way off of them. They are a drain on me that I don't need, and will only make my life harder in a crisis situation. Be aware that most of the prescription drugs to help you quit smoking are related to the SSRI anti-depressants and carry the same side effects.

Habits

"But that's the way we've always done it!" Sound familiar? If you've ever worked for a medium- to large-sized company, you'll have heard that whine before. Get married or just move in with someone and you'll be exposed to a whole new set of habits that may be unfamiliar to you. Compromise where you can, but not at the expense of life or limb (or principle and sanity in some cases).

In normal circumstances habits are can be annoying, but in times of crisis they may be a major concern. If your water supply is tight, are you going to be able to deal with someone who has always flushed the toilet twice after using it? What about someone who doesn't wash their hands before handling food? How are you going to deal with a child who won't go to bed without his/her stuffed animal?

Habits will make you do things without thinking about them and may therefore put you or others at risk in times of crisis. Habits can be hard to detect in ourselves and easy to see in others, so think of ways to point them out for each other without causing too much conflict.

Doubts

Doubts arise from the lack of information or experience. You may look at a tree and think, "Can I climb up that tree?" when you should be thinking either, "I can make it up that tree if I have to" or "That tree is too thin to hold my weight". The only way you're going to know is to try it. Find your limits and accept the ones you can't change, that will help dispel a lot of the doubts that may pop up and keep you from acting when you should.

The more you learn, the fewer doubts you'll have about that subject so get informed about whatever you think is important. Can I really trust this water filter to remove the giardia cysts from that river water? Find out before it becomes a serious threat to your health. Remove the doubts and it'll free up your mental energy for the more important things you'll need to deal with.

Fears

Fear is a double-edged sword, it can save you from doing something that you'll regret or it can prevent you from moving when you really should get out of the way of a moving car.

Most fears are rational, born from painful experience, e.g. being bitten by a dog as a child may cause you to fear dogs for a long time. Fear of the dark, large carnivores, and death are hard-wired into us at birth as left-overs from when our ancestors lived in caves and had to deal with things that we've likely never seen.

Other fears are irrational (sometimes they reach the state of becoming a phobia) in that there is no firm reason for you to fear something. Think about it, when was the last time a clown attacked you or someone you know?

Some fears can be overcome, others have to be dealt with in whatever manner you can to get through the situation at hand (improvise, adapt, overcome is one way of looking at it). Watch for irrational fears in your group and realize that you probably have a few of your own. Don't belittle others for their fears, try to help them overcome them and you'll all be better off in the end.

Guilt/Shame

Shame is a feeling you do to yourself, guilt is what you let others do to you. Either one can make you stop and think before you do something that really needs to be done. These two can run deep and be very hard to overcome, since most of us were raised by people who used guilt to instill a sense of shame in us in order to make us "fit" for society. Can't have the children acting like animals now, can we? Except, there may come a time when you'll need to act like an animal to survive. The classic lifeboat exercise (you're in a lifeboat that can hold ten people, it's full. What do you do about the others trying to get in it?) is a good example of having to discard social rules without feeling shame or guilt.

There may be a time to feel shame for things you had to do to survive after a disaster, but you need to be alive to get to that point. Don't let others guilt you into actions that will put you or yours at risk, that is just giving them control over your life that they haven't earned (and probably don't deserve if they have to resort to guilt in the first place).

"Survivor's guilt" used to be a mental condition where people feel they did something wrong by surviving when others didn't. The latest Psych manual now classifies this as a symptom of PTSD, which doesn't make it any better or worse but does make it "treatable" by the mental health industry, usually with drugs.

Worry

I don't mean the normal "What if?" type of worry, I mean the "OMG! What if this or this or this or......." type of worry that will consume all of your time, leaving you none in which to actually get things done. If you're reading this blog, you're probably a person who has a desire to plan ahead and have some legitimate concerns or worries. Don't fall into the trap of over-thinking every situation and never actually taking any action to alleviate your concerns. Plan in detail, but don't let the details set the plan. Too much worry can lead some people to just giving up and expecting to die in the event of any crisis. I don't think that's wise, but I realize that it is going to happen to some percentage of the population. Worry can be minimized the same way as doubt, through education and experience.

Harsh Realities: Hygiene

Author warning: this one could get gross. There, you've been warned.

Did you know....

That one of the main reasons women get medically evacuated from military deployments is due to kidney infections? That progressed to that stage due to un-treated Urinary Tract Infections? That were perfectly avoidable?   Articles I've seen estimate it as low as 32% to upwards of 68%, due to such problems. Just be careful when you go to research this.  You end up with a lot of articles that are on either side of this  "issue" over women deploying that are so full of dross it's pukeable.  Like this article.

Ladies and Gents, pay attention:   Your genitalia region needs to be kept clean along with your armpits.

Seriously.

Ladies, two words: Yeast infections.

Now yes, it's bloody unfair that guys do not have to worry about those wrong!  Men can get yeast infections.  They just don't notice most of the time.

Thought you were in the clear there didn't you boys?

Now we all know the joys of a hot shower after a particular grimy day outside and of scrubbing off the day. This is a luxury. You will know it as such, when SHTF. Bathing will take up precious water resources, however keeping yourselves clean is not something that you should be sacrificing. Our ancestors had open freaking sewers and they did not bathe as frequently as one might think. One of the insults from the Chinese when the Europeans started showing up was that they stunk. Hygiene was a bigger deal to them than Europe and America for a long time.

You don't need a huge bathtub to get clean. Get a pot of water and heat it until the steam is just starting to rise off it. Any hotter than that and you will scald yourself. (We are trying to avoid as much self-inflicted misery as we can, remember?) Get your wash cloth (I'll have patterns for home made ones here soon, as they last longer than store bought, work better and can be made in varying colors to show which is whose), soak yourself down, make thyself soapy and then pour the rest of the water a little at a time over your shoulders to wash off the soap. ( You have remembered to set aside a bathing area in the tribe commons right?) Save some for your scalp.

Now, you want to keep your hair clean too and combed out every day.  Ticks are a serious concern in much of the United States and keeping yourself free of them is crucial.  Bathing frequently lets you check for them, chigger bites (plus the vinegar you are using on your hair takes the itch out of those blasted things' bites), etc. Now to give you more information on what kind of diseases and viruses are carried by ticks:

• Lyme's Disease
• Relapsing fever 
• Typhus
• Rocky Mountain Spotted Fever
• Helvetica Spotted Fever
• Tularemia

Ticks are best killed by fire.  Yes, now you get to legitimately yell "KILL IT! KILL IT WITH FIRE!"

Very simple. Bathing does not need to happen every day, however washing your plumbing is something that should happen every night before sleeping.

 Two reasons for this:

1. It'll help you sleep better. ( Don't believe me? Try it out for a couple weeks right now. Sleep is sleep, regardless of what the world is doing.)
2. It reduces the chance of UTI's and yeast infections in women.

Ladies those yeast infections and UTI's are a bitch. I've seen some estimates that state 90% of women by the time we're 40 have experienced both multiple times. The yeast infection symptoms and UTI symptoms can seriously destroy your ability to be productive in any manner that is satisfying to yourself.

Now Gents (thought I had forgotten about you didn't ya?), you should clean down there too. You are going to be wanting to get frisky. As a courtesy, to whomever your partner is ... clean it! That stench is appalling when you want to be physically intimate with someone that you have a close bond too.  Now, it's entirely
possible to do a mutual bath which would be good for couples.  However I am not going to go there right now, I'll just leave you this pic on the right so that you get the general idea.  

It's a respect thing in a way. You keep yourself clean, and don't reek like a gamer on the last day of Dragon*Con, you find it's easier to interact with tribe and friend.  AND you help yourself feel a little bit more human in all the chaos.

Here soon we'll be having a couple of articles on soap making along with a much longer article next week.

(P.S. If this seems a bit less polished than normal that is because our lovely Editor is on vacation, and I do not posses the same level of skill in polishing articles that she does.  My apologies about that.)

Harsh Realities: PTSD/S

PTSD is not a new problem for humanity.

Let me make something very clear right now: Are you alive and conscious? If "yes", then you can get PTSD (or PTSS, Post Traumatic Stress Symptoms).

There's a reason that “TRAUMATIC” is a part of the name. Many things could cause it; basically anything that you experience directly or indirectly such as:

• Rape
• Combat
• Work as a first responder
• Abuse (years of it accumulated or a brief, very brutal period)
• Really bad car wrecks
• Someone committing suicide in front of you
• Major disasters (Tornadoes, hurricanes, earthquakes, volcanic eruptions, etc)

If you are a human being, then you can develop the symptoms of PTSD/S. However, this does not cue the end of your world.

Please note most of what I say is based on my own personal experiences. I DO NOT SPEAK FOR EVERYONE with PTSD/S. Yes symptoms will be the same in many causes, however causes are not. 

As hinted in prior articles, PTSD/S is something that I deal with on a personal level. I personally can't speak for everyone on this, thus I'll be referencing myself.  At this point I can only offer up my personal thoughts and how I've been dealing with it. I can point you to the information, but you need to draw up your own plan and conclusions.

Yes, at times it can be a fight with myself, but it can be dealt with, regardless of how bad it is. Part of the problem with treating PTSD/S is that many people have no concept of how much trust plays a role in being able to deal with it. Another part of the problem is how seductive it can be to use drugs as the "cure-all" that so many in the psychology community seem to think them to be.

At the end of this article will be some links for you, with more information on PTSD/S in general and links to a few organizations that are currently busting ass trying to help our veterans here in the USA deal with it - and by so doing, indirectly help people like me. Please read through those articles.

Thought number 1: SKILLS!

I don't think it's possible for me to emphasize this one enough. By being able to improve my quality of life, or the lives of other people in my tribe - even in small ways - I get an endorphin high practically every time I finish a project. It proves, to the inner critic that is my worst enemy, that I do have worth. Worth which is not decided by others, as there will always be someone who adores the ever living hell out of me; it is decided by myself.

For me, I set out to master crocheting (then knitting, and it was sewing before crocheting) and I'm getting there, but anyone with half a brain will tell you that you can always improve any skill. Every project I finish beats my PTSD back just a little bit more and makes it more manageable.

Practicing a skill is a good way to send a polite signal to others around me that I need some space. My work area acts as a refuge while I get some time to breathe. 

When I use my skills, even if I only use them for a few minutes and then go sit in the sun for a while, it strengthens the process of being able to believe in myself, of being able to convince myself that I can handle this.

Thought number 2: A companion

This one factor was a huge tipping point for me, because it shifted everything from just barely manageable to being able to go for a few days with almost no problem. A buddy (be it a pet or a damn good friend, male or female) who is watching your back makes a huge impact. It lets me relax a little bit. Such buddies are lifesavers.

I had both my cat and my fiance/partner. Both can tell at this point when I need to be handed a ball of yarn , gently loved on, or a little extra security... though my fiance's manner of giving me yarn to do something with  is much preferred over the cat's. The MindyCat, as she is called, will sit and watch me for a few seconds and then take immediate action which she knows will send me into giggle fits.

Being able to laugh, sleep, even just enjoy being outside with the others in your tribe... it's to easy to take for granted honestly. Learning NOW how to deal with it, be it yourself or a member of your tribe is your first official homework from me. It can be the difference between life and death.

Links

PTSD in general:

• Post Traumatic Stress Disorder
• What is PTSD? Link 1
• What is PTSD Link 2
• How to deal with PTSD link 1
• And another link

Organizations for PTSD/S help:

• The Battle Buddy Foundation
• The Lone Survivor

(Just don't say this to anyone with PTSD.
Numbers 1-3, 6, 8 and 10 cross over to civilians like me. Just don't.)

Triage

There are some emergency medical articles in the works, so I thought I'd preface them with some posts that clarify terms and methods. Today’s word is “Triage”.

Triage is a method of deciding which victims of an incident get care (prioritizing care) when the number or type of injuries overwhelms a responder's abilities to help all of the victims. This may sound cruel or heartless, but when you're the only medically-trained responder at a ten car pile-up, you have to have some way of deciding who to help because you won't be able to help them all and trying to would only mean that none of them would get proper care.

The factors that determine when to start to triage an incident are:

1. The number of victims - if the victims outnumber the people able to help, you should start prioritizing the victims.
2. The severity of injuries to the victims - if the injuries are severe, you should begin triage
3. The number of responders - see number 1 above. As more help arrives (you hope), things will get easier to handle.
4. The training levels of the responders - a car load of physicians can handle more injuries than a car load of Boy Scouts.

The START system

Simple Triage And Rapid Treatment is the method that I was trained to use. It is one of a few slightly different triage systems in use, and the one I know best so I'll explain how it works. START was developed to give responders a quick way to prioritize treatment in a mass-casualty incident, and it breaks victims down into four color-coded categories.

1. Green. The walking wounded, tag them “green” and move them out of the way to a safe area.
2. Yellow. Delayed treatment. Injuries that are not life-threatening or don't require immediate aid.
3. Red. Immediate treatment. Life-threatening injuries that you need to work on or transport to treatment right now.
4. Black. Dead or Expected to die. Treatment has little to no chance of preventing death or victim is already dead and treatment would be pointless.

The color-coded categories are assigned by doing some very simple checks. Since I haven't figured out how to draw a flow chart, I'll just go through the steps.

1. Are they ambulatory (walking under their own power)? Tag them Green and send them to a holding area. Make sure someone is at the holding area to keep them informed of the situation and monitor them.
2. Are they breathing? If not, reposition the airway (like you would for CPR) and check again. If they start breathing, tag them Red. If they don't start breathing, tag them Black and move on to the next victim. If they were breathing on their own, check the rate of respiration - if they're breathing less than 10 or more than 30 times per minute tag them Red. If respiration is normal (10-30 times per minute) go to step 3.
3. Check for pulse at the wrist or check capillary refill (squeeze a fingernail and see how fast the color comes back). If there is no pulse or the capillary refill (CR) takes more than 2 seconds, tag them Red. If they have a pulse or CR is less than 2 seconds, go to step 4.
4. Mental status. Ask them to squeeze your hand or some other simple act. If they understand and obey, tag them Yellow. If they can't, tag them Red.

Triage is an on-going process. Once you have assigned a color to a victim, someone has to monitor the Green and Yellow tagged victims to watch for signs that their condition is getting worse. The Red tags should be treated or transported to treatment immediately, The Yellow tags next, and the Green tags last. The Black tags are sadly not going anywhere until everyone else has been taken care of.

As a side note, triage can also be applied to other situations in life. If you're evaluating anything that is in trouble you can create a triage system for it. Keep it quick and simple and learn to make decisions quickly and decisively. Being wishy-washy and not wanting to commit to any action is not a good way to prepare for anything.

Harsh Realities: Rape

This is one of only a few posts where I will post a trigger warning.

You will encounter rape survivors.

Men and women.

Many survivors end up with PTSD, which will be addressed in a later post.

There are five factors that determine how badly it's going to affect the person:



1) Your Mindset.  If you're the type of person who, despite odds, is always fighting back (or trying to); who keeps as much of a can-do attitude as possible; and who has not just a thick skin but a hard interior as well, it won't affect you as much. That's not to say it won't be traumatic, because it will - just not as much.. If you're the kind who cries because her boss yells at her, you're going to be even more miserable.  My advice is that  you prepare yourself before something happens. Harden The Fuck Up now, and you'll be better able to deal with something like rape later if it comes to it.

2) The level of violence with which the act was committed. Some folks are so violently raped that even years afterwards it haunts them in everything.  In other cases it wasn't that violent because fear made the victim docile and.... No. Wait. Keep in mind that it isn't up to you how violent your attacker is. You could be completely compliant and get badly beaten anyway. A man who'll use violence to rape will use violence just because he wants to. At any rate, the level of violence makes a big difference to the amount of trauma.

3) How aware you were of the act. From wide awake to passed-out drunk, your level of consciousness helps define the damage. If you don't actually experience the act, just the aftereffects, obviously it will traumatize you less than someone who was completely conscious the entire time.

4) How well the person knew their attackers. If the attacker is someone you trusted, that betrayal of trust adds a whole new level of emotional trauma completely apart from that of the rape.

5) The number of attackers. If there are more than one subhuman creatures willing to commit such a despicable act, you have to look at it as not one violation made worse by their numbers, but multiple violations, the damage of each one heaped atop the damage of the others.


These five factors end up creating a high amount of variables.  Yes, each rape will have similarities, but inevitably each woman or man's case will be unique to them.

Several things will come into play: Trust will have to rebuilt, depression will occur, and self-worth may have been reduced.  But some of the things you can do for the victim are really quite simple.

Respect them.

Respect their personal space.  Don't touch them, without asking permission.  Let them initiate contact.  Don't push them if they don't want to be touched. Don't force them to hug you, to be standing close to you, etc. They will only recoil from you in fear.  Once they take the step first, don't crush them into yourself.  Just hold them and LET GO when they want you to.

As they heal and re-find their confidence, they'll let you know when you can hug or touch without constant permission.  There will still be times you need to ask, but it won't be every time.  When will that be? Every person is different.  Some people may only need a few weeks, other may need years.  YOU must not let them see you lose patience with them. YOU must never recoil from them.

Reassure them. They may be feeling like damaged goods.  Broken, worthless individuals.  You will need to verbally re-assure that they aren't.  That they mean something to you, and that they are going to be okay.

Respect their need for not wanting lectures.  They don't need your stupid lectures on what they should have done or what they can do deal with it. When they've healed, advice may be helpful. But it can wait.

Which leads back to just reassuring them.  Tell them while it's probably going to be a hard road, they WILL be okay and that they CAN do it.


I can tell you a lot about what it's like being a survivor.  Here is a link to a post on my personal blog. I can tell you, most (80%) people, regardless of "side", are full of it regarding this topic.

And men, don't listen when someone says you can't help her heal.  They're so full of crap it's ridiculous. This guy here can attest to that.

Every person's experience is going to be different.  The PTSD that will occur in many cases is rough to handle, but again we'll cover that in a later post.

I can tell you this, though: if you, either as a survivor or as the person who is helping the survivor heal, let yourself go through the emotions - the anger, the grief, all of it - and don't repress, you come out of the experience a stronger and wiser person.  It's completely possible.  It's hard work, but don't let that stop you.


(Editor's Note:  Due to the sensitive nature of this blog post, comments will be monitored . Disagreement is fine, but if it dissolves into personal attacks or BS political correctness, I will unleash the wrath of God upon you.  You Have Been Warned.)

Harsh Realities: Miscarriages

Look, they're going to happen.

Men and women alike should pay attention.  This is one of those things that you won't see a lot of folks talking about because it makes them uncomfortable.  It's not an easy subject.

Unfortunately, this topic falls under personal experiences for me. I won't go into how many I've lost; just be aware I am a woman who has experienced the loss of her babies at a month and a half, and at four months.  I've been on the receiving end of a wide range of reactions from the would-have-been fathers.


The Basics

Miscarriages are in that category called Personal SHTF.  If not handled with care, compassion, and respect, this situation can easily escalate into being a long-term emotional wound which will affect other areas of your life. They are horrible occurrences now, but will only get worse when medical options dwindle as some miscarriages may, in a worst case scenario, even claim the life of the woman.

Most women who miscarry do so when their menstruation cycle starts - the baby wasn't set fully into the lining of the uterus, perhaps, or a wide variety of other reasons.  Sometimes they don't even know they've miscarried.

And then there are times when a woman will not have the luxury of never knowing.  You miss a period, then two, and you start in with a whole range of emotions: excitement, fear, etc.   Then the questions start.  How will the father react? What are my options if he doesn't want to accept the child? Do I even tell him??

Men experience the same range of emotions though different questions, though I can only speculate as to what those are. I have been met with anger from some, and fear and denial over the others.  When I lost the babies, their reactions were, respectively, disgusted relief and painful remorse.


Mental Effects

When a woman miscarries, a lot of how it affects her is dependent on her mindset.  There is no denying the impact of a miscarriage, or the spiral into depression that follows. Honestly, women... let yourselves grieve.  DO NOT BOTTLE IT UP INSIDE.  Men, ask her what she needs.  Comfort her!  Don't be afraid to hold a weeping woman and get  your clothes soaked.  One of the most damaging things that can be done is not acknowledging the event.  Rub her back and let her cry.

Don't initiate conversation about the baby.  Let her do that, and don't be hurt when she doesn't want to talk about it.  Depending on how late in the pregnancy the miscarriage happened, what kind of mindset she kept, and her diet, she'll be almost back to normal (physically) after about 18-45 days,.  Long walks in the sunshine will help ease the depression remnants as well.


Physical Effects

Miscarriage bleeding times vary between women, but the need to replace the nutrients in the body is going to be critical.  Bleeding events, even normal ones like periods, cause feelings of brain fog and lethargy.  She's likely going to seem a bit accident-prone for a few days after as well.  Depending on how many months along it happened, you will want to cut the work she's doing.  Let her do only little things at first.  She's going to need to feel useful, to be needed.

Things that will help her body recover will be foods high in iron (like spinach and meats) and protein (whole proteins from chicken, duck, fish or combined proteins from rice and mushrooms; rice and beans).  Stay away from carbohydrates and starches, as they mess with her blood sugar horribly and will contribute to a worsening in her depression.

Medical complications (physical trauma) resulting from miscarriage are beyond the scope of this article as I am not a trained medic. If you have experience in this area then please comment.


In Conclusion

Life is a harsh reality in a post-SHTF world. There likely won't be hospitals or doctors available, and if you're very lucky, someone in your group went and learned midwifery.

Miscarriage will be something you deal with in a group of mixed sexes.  Women are going to be getting pregnant, and the stress of SHTF will be a factor in the survival of mother and child.  It's not something you can prepare for in the physical sense; you can only study for it, and be mentally and emotionally prepared of what might happen.