Health and Medical

I used to wake up in the morning and just flat out ache getting out of bed. My feet hurt, back hurt, and I just hurt all over. Why? I always said it was because I was getting older. Maybe that was it. I was 41 years old and was wishing I was back in my 20’s or even 30’s. Yeah – I know – some of you are a lot older than me saying, “Suck it up Rourke!”

I am now getting ready to turn 44 and I wake up with a lot fewer aches and pain. I will tell you why: I am active and for the most part I eat right. I am not going to get into a lot of details regarding my workouts and activities, as well as my diet. I will summarize in that I do a workout called Crossfit, I mountain bike, I run (a little), and I partake in martial arts. I do NOT sit on my arse wishing I was younger anymore. I did suck it up and got moving.

85% of my diet is based on a Paleo Diet. Basically, if it once had a face, is a vegetable, a fruit, a nut, or an egg – I eat it. It is low carb and for the most part, I really enjoy it. I have lowered my body fat percentage and lost about 13 pounds. I have another 15 or so to go. I’ll tell you – the use of Mucuna pruriens has been a boost to my exercise routine as well.

Like many preppers, I love my guns and my ammunition. Just looking at an awesome black knife with a sharp blade built to take on a gang of zombies just does it for me. Like most – I used to ignore the importance of health and fitness while emphasizing on that which I could pick up and hold in my hand.

With the reign of Obamacare just starting and the uncertainty of medical care in a potential SHTF-future – staying as healthy as possible will help avoid the healthcare system altogether – and be able to take on less-than-desirable environments better.

Now I realize not everyone is going to go deadlift 375 pounds, do 100 pull ups or run 5 miles. Still – ANYTHING more than what you are doing now will be a step in the right direction. Depending on your current physical abilities here are a few suggestions to get started:

1. Walk

Walking is better than sitting and great exercise. Start off walking a distance at a pace that you are comfortable with, and either add to the distance or increase your speed over time. The benefits go beyond just the time you are actually walking. Your body’s metabolism will increase for hours after you are finished – and your body will adapt to your walking. That is a good thing. Same as goes for jogging.

2. Weightlifting

Go join the local YMCA or gym and get a trainer to set you up on a resistance (weight) training routine. Even the elderly can benefit from weight training. Those older muscles can be challenged – and they will respond by adapting to the workload.

3. Gymnastics

No – not talking about doing back flips in the air or doing a handstand. I am talking about body-weight exercises such as push ups and squats. Think you cannot squat? What do you do every time you sit in a chair and stand up? A squat!! Push ups can be done from the knees or even up against a wall. Point is – do what you can. It’s more than what you’re doing now, right?

4. Eat right

Regardless of the “diet” you may try – eat more lean meats, fruit, vegetables. Stay away from processed foods. By the way – if it comes in a box, a pouch, or a can – it is processed.

5. Eat until your are satisfied

Most all of us overeat. Rather than eat to survive – we eat for pleasure. Eat your meal and once you are satisfied – not full – just stop. Yes – in a couple hours you may be hungry again. That is fine – eat! Listen to your body.

6. Try low carb

No bread, no pasta, no sugar. Hard? It can be, but you will feel so much better. My aches and pains went away when I did away with carbs and increased my protein intake. Carbs should ONLY be used for energy – like right before or after a workout. Milk is full of sugar and what happens to a baby when they drink lots of milk? ’nuff said.

If you are already working out – great! If not – just start moving.

Disclaimer: Prior to starting any new workout program always consult a physician…..or don’t. After all – it’s your life, isn’t it?

Tachypsychia is a must talk about subject when one discusses survival events, or personal involvement in a survival/combative situation.

For someone affected by tachypsychia, time either seems to:

• lengthen, making everything seem slow, or
• contract, so things seem like they’re moving in a speeding blur.

People frequently associate tachypsychia with what is called the “fight or flight” response, and martial arts instructors often refer to it as the “tachy psyche” effect.

What is Tachypsychia?

Let’s start with the scientific definition: Tachypsychia is a neurological condition that alters the perception of time, usually introduced by physical exertion, prolonged stress, drug use, or a traumatic event.

Biologically, tachypsychia is triggered after you experience high levels of norepinephrine and dopamine, which are induced by stress. These chemicals affect the visual system, especially the processing speed of your visual uptake.

Because of this, during tachypsychia you are likely to have a feeling that time is either moving faster or slower. Epinephrine hormones cause this effect, due to increased brain activity. The condition might also have slowing brain activities, which are caused by Catecholamine washout.

Seeing Things in “Slow Motion”

The question many people ask is, do you see things flowing in slow motion? The aspect of seeing things moving in slow motion is quite unusual. Specifically, it is a phenomenon called “akinetopsia.”

While in this state, someone can see objects without perceiving the movement for a certain period. Because of this, seconds can feel like minutes, and minutes feel like hours.

Other Effects That Correlate With Tachypsychia Situations

The most common experience during tachypsychia is the feeling that time has either increased or slowed down, but during these situations, it’s common to experience other physical changes as well, ranging from:

• Increased heart and blood pressure rates, which may cause fainting. This is not an advantageous condition to experience when trying to survive!
• Dilation of bronchial passages and the pupils, which causes a higher absorption of oxygen into the blood stream (good) and allows more light into the pupils, leaving us with visual exclusion or tunnel vision (bad).
• Auditory exclusion or sensitivity
• An increase in pain tolerance
• Loss of color vision
• Short term memory loss
• Decreased fine motor skills
• Decreased communication skills
• Decreased coordination
• A release of glucose into our system generating extra energy

It is also common for individuals to have serious misrepresentations of their surroundings during the events, through a combination or their altered perception of time, as well as transient partial color blindness and tunnel vision.

Other than the superhuman effects we can experience during tachypsychia, there may also be some unpleasant side effects. It’s possible to lose track of your urinary tract and bowels after adrenaline is triggered. After the stressful experience that triggered tachypsychia, the body might feel burnt out or mentally taxed.

The “Fight or Flight” Response

The flight or fight response is very closely related to tachypsychia, and an experience everyone has gone through either consciously or unconsciously when faced with acute stress.

Biologically, the fight or flight situation affects the primitive instincts of human survival. Hormones are released, including: epinephrine, neurotransmitters, and catecholamine. Cortisol, estrogen, and dopamine might also affect our reaction to stressful situations.

People have testified of abnormal things that others do in a life or death situation. A sudden release of adrenaline causes people to do supernatural things, like a woman lifting a car to save her baby from a crash. During these situations, the reasoning part of your brain is not a function. It stops, and the response action overrides (not unlike the effects of cocaine and methamphetamines).

We become very vigilant, and all senses are on high alert and much more robust. The muscle memory acts without getting direction from the brain. It’s associated with jumping, running, or fighting back, with the crucial objective being survival. Breathing increases to allow the muscles to have more oxygen, and helps to scream louder.

Another interesting phenomenon called cutis anserina can also occur. This is where there’s tension in your skin due to fear or excitement, causing your hairs to quite literally “stand on end.”

Tachypsychia Situations

In a fire emergency, a victim may complain that they have been waiting over 30 minutes since they called 9-1-1. After the emergency is studied, the situation reveals that less than 10 minutes had elapsed since the victim called out.

In this scenario, the victim is under a high level of stress as they are watching the emergency scene unfold before them. Their inability to stop the stressor will add even more stress. Time can become distorted and may seem like 30 minutes instead of 10.

Tachypsychia scenarios can also happen frequently with firefighters themselves, and emergency responder officers. When a commander gives their juniors tasks, for instance, stretching the hose line into the right position to fight the blazing house fire, it can seem like their team members are moving very slow, and things are not done quickly enough.

How To Manage and Combat Tachypsychia

Tachypsychia is a hormonal condition and is chemically induced. This means there is very little you can do to manage the condition. As you experience more stressful situations, you may gradually adjust to the hormone releases and accompanying sensory effects.

In the case of emergency responders, it is essential to keep the passage of time. The dispatcher might announce the passage of time over the radio, in intervals of at least ten or five minutes. They can call out 5 minutes, 10 minutes, and 15 minutes and so on.

When I introduce this subject in firearms classes, I always come back to training. And by that, I mean good, relational, appropriate, meaningful training. This is what I mean:

Basic Skills – shooting one round at a time, deliberately, slowly, accurately, sight picture, sight alignment, center mass, good solid skills.

Advanced Skills – improve on your basic skills! Become more accurate, faster, smoother, better.

Apart from that, these tips may help cope with the effects of tachypsychia:

1. Exercise and be in a better physical condition. An improved cardio or heart health is a crucial player in working on the adverse effects of stress.

2. Try to relax. Easier said than done, but essential in being able to understand and make decisions, while dealing with your body’s response to acute survival.

3. For emergency responders and those with licensed firearms, spend quality training with the equipment. Be confident even in times of crisis. Quality training is what comes through for you in bad times.

To Sum It Up

Tachypsychia can be controlled if you learn to avoid stress and control how you react to stress. But it’s important to keep in mind that our bodies are programmed to behave in certain ways to keep us alive. When you’re in a life or death situation, a fight or flight response can be the very thing that saves you.

Tachypsychia FAQ

What is Tachypsychia?

Also called the fight or flight response, Tachypsychia is a neurological condition that alters the perception of time, usually introduced by physical exertion, drug use, or a traumatic event. Tachypsychia is believed to accompany numerous physical changes. Upon being stimulated by fear or anger, the adrenal medulla may automatically produce the hormone epinephrine (aka adrenalin) directly into the blood stream.

What is it called when time seems to slow down?

The medical and scientific term for this is “tachypsychia.” People affected by tachypsychia experience the perception of lengthening of time, making actions appear to slow down. It can also cause time to seemingly contract, making objects appear to be moving in a speeding blur.

Why does adrenaline slow time?

Upon being stimulated by fear or anger, the adrenal medulla may automatically produce the hormone epinephrine (aka adrenalin) directly into the blood stream, increasing the brain activity, and causing the feeling that time has either increased or slowed down.

So you are a “Prepper”. You have stockpiled water, food, firearms, ammunition, silver, gold, emergency medical supplies and whatever else that you want, for whatever time period you deemed necessary, 3 months, 6 months a year, more.

However, if you are like most “Preppers”, you never have enough of everything you think you will need. But have you forgotten something that will limit how long you will live in a teotwawki situation.

There is an saying amongst “Preppers”. You can live for 3 minutes without air, 3 days without water and three weeks without food. So what if more important than food and water? What about your daily prescription medicines?

After Hurricane Katrina, there were NO pharmacies open that I could find, in the New Orleans metro area for three (3) months. After any national disaster, how long would it take for the pharmaceutical companies to start to make the drugs that you take? Then they would have to be transported to the pharmacies so you could buy them. Could they even make all of the different medications that you take? Which medications would they make first? Would the government decide where and who gets those drugs first?

You can be the most prepared “Prepper” in the world but if you have a major medical condition such as Diabetes, a Heart Condition, Epilepsy, etc. and have not stockpiled your vital medicines that you need to take on a daily basis, you will only live as long as you have you medicines.

So, you spend a lot of money on other items so that you can survive whatever disaster you are planning for but you do not want to spend $300 or $400 for an extra bottle of medication that you need to keep you living. You had better rethink your strategy.

There is no reason to have a 6 months’ supply of water, food, weapons and ammo but only have a month or two of medication you need to take on a daily basis. Why? If you die or become none functional from not having all of the medications that you need to take on a daily basis, what is the use in having water, food, etc. for longer than the amount of medications you have.

In addition, you then become a liability on the persons in your family or group that now have to take care of you or no longer have you to help them.

First, make a list of all of the medicines that you take on a daily basis.

Second, go talk to the pharmacist that fills your prescriptions.  Determine how much each prescription will cost you if you buy them without using your medical insurance. If you cannot afford to purchase a full months’ worth of medication that you need, ask the pharmacist if you can fill a partial prescription? Can you buy a weeks’ worth of your medicine instead of a full months’ worth?

Third, if you do buy partial prescriptions, as you buy them, keep them in the bottles with the labels that they came with. Most pharmacies print the expiration date on the bottles label. This is important. I have been told that some prescriptions can be toxic after their expiration dates.

Fourth, make a large zip lock bag up and as you buy your medicines, place one (1) months’ supply of you medications in that zip lock bag. When you have a full months’ worth of medications that you take, label the bag with the month and year that you purchased them in. I use a Sharpe’. As you start to obtain multiple months of your medications, place the bags in a small box.

Fifth, keep you surplus medications in a dark and cool place. Heat decreases the amount of time your medicine is good.

Sixth, be sure that you rotate them and use those stored medications well before their expiration dates.

Finally, remember that in a pinch, you may be able to use alternatives like Fish Mox or other fish antibiotics in place of prescription antibiotics that you might normally need.

It’s that time of year, again! Time to get outdoors and enjoy the sun! But, hold on, there there are some things you need to remember, like, don’t rush out and fry yourself!

What’s the worst that can happen with overexposure? Well, the answer to that question is not simple and we cannot do it justice here, but we all know about the link between too much sun and skin cancer.

Suffice it to say that if you get it, you WILL either be covering up and staying away from prolonged periods of direct sunlight, or you will become intimately familiar with “modern medicine practices”. I know which one I want!

You’re probably wondering, “why not just buy sunscreen”? Well, lots of people will do just that. But people who understand the connection between what we put on and in our bodies know it has everything to do with why we are the cancer and Alzheimers generation, and that we do not have to “go quietly” into such a future.

We can “fight back”, and the first line of defense is totally within our control. Read the chemicals list on the backs of these containers some time, and that should do it!

You can buy ready-made all-natural sun screens, if you don’t faint at the price, that is. But you must still do your homework and remember: things are not always what they claim to be.

Think there is an easier and safer way: make your own!

DIY Natural Sunscreen Recipe

So, let’s make our own very simple Natural skin protection:

Ingredients:

• 1/2 oz. beeswax granules/pastilles (about 1/8 cup; or 2 Tablespoons)
• 1/4 cup shea butter (2 oz.)
• 1/4 cup pure coconut oil (2 oz.)
• 2 Tablespoons zinc oxide powder (1 oz.)

You’re going to need a “makeshift” double boiler, unless you’re lucky enough to have a vintage glass double boiler (I do!).  Otherwise, use a glass bowl that will fit partially down inside one of your small cooking pans/pots. Put about an inch of water in the cooking pan/pot.

Directions:

1. In your glass bowl, combine the shea butter, coconut oil, and beeswax granules.
2. Gently melt your oils, while stirring (do not use a wooden spoon here – use stainless steel only).
3. When oils are completely melted together, remove bowl from heat source.
4. Add zinc oxide powder, stirring in gently (you do not want it to “fly”).
5. Gently stir the oxide powder in until there are no “lumps”.
6. Pour it into a glass jar or container and allow to cool. It will be a creamy white color upon cooling.

Use in delicate areas to prevent burn, such as nose, cheekbones, wherever protection is needed. It goes on “white” but disappears into the skin within a few short minutes.

This is a small batch for “trial”; you may want to double the recipe for larger batches.

Note: This is not intended to be used “all over your body and every time you go out in the sun.” We all need sun. 15 minutes a day in the sun will produce the right kind of Vitamin D, which is so healthy for us all, and you don’t want to block your skins ability to produce Vitamin D (A side note on supplements: if you’re going to rely on supplements for Vitamin D, make sure it’s D3; others will not do the job. I’ll leave you to research. But 15 minutes a day in the sun is a much better solution).

Other Ways To Be Wise About Sun Exposure

Expose yourself to the right amount of sun at the right time of day, and you should not need to “protect your skin” all over. 15-30 minutes a day in the sun will do the job for you; if you must be out longer than that, yes, you should protect your skin, especially in higher heat times of day. Of course, if you’re prone to “freckles” and you really don’t want more freckles, you are going to want to do more to protect your skin, but you still need sun to be healthy.

Time of day for exposure to sun is very important. Morning or late afternoon/early evening sun will produce Vitamin D very well; being out in the hot sun in the worst heat of the day is simply not wise.  It’s important not to “rush into” sun exposure, either, particularly if your skin has not been subjected to sun in quite some time. Work into it slowly, to prevent sunburn, which is skin damage. Skin that is damaged today will come back to haunt you tomorrow – make no mistake about it!

I’m sure none of us wants to burn the skins of our wee ones, either. Here are some helps:

• A wide-brimmed hat is an absolute “must”, for babies, children, and adults
• A good pair of sunglasses to protect the eyes – absolutely!
• Light color clothing, as dark colors attract and hold heat. Long-sleeved white cotton or natural linen shirts to cover up when you want to stay “out” but know you’ve had all the sun you need on arms, and long pants of equal fabric that you can “slip on” at will.

You’ll still be cool and comfortable; you’ll still be enjoying time outdoors, but you won’t be damaging your skin (sunburn).

Wearing sandals? Your feet can get burned, too; be prepared to change shoes or protect your skin at the top of your feet, ankles, etc. White cotton socks may not be “sexy”, but neither is sunburn or sun poisoning up your ankles.

Do not neglect your hands – the backs of your hands are more likely to have sun damage (referred to as “age spots” as time goes on)  than any other part; as you age, you WILL care about this.

DO NOT subject yourself to sunburn, and certainly make sure your children don’t get burned. It’s more than just temporary misery, it’s permanent damage to our delicate organ we call “skin”.

Don’t be afraid to carry a large umbrella, particularly on the beach or outdoors for long periods; it once was quite fashionable, and should be again, IMHO. Asian and European women still carry an umbrella (parasol, if you prefer) to protect their skin from the damaging effects of sun, while still being able to enjoy the fresh air and sunshine outdoors. Start a wave!

Eat your fruits and veggies! Those antioxidants will be powerful in producing the right things for skin and avoiding the wrong things. And don’t forget that dark chocolate is rich in antioxidants! Happy! Happy! Happy!

With all of this, I hope you’re ready to have safe and carefree fun in the sun!