Hi! We live in a rural area and have a creek in back of our home. When we first moved there I drank from the creek a few times and got a several months long case of Diahrea (sorry).

So I'm thinking, if normal water supplies are cut off even for just a week in many areas, and people are forced to make due with whatever water they can find, we are going to have a lot of sick people inundating the hospitals because of using poor drinking water! Our civilized bodies cannot handle untreated water it seems for even a short time.

What could make matters worse possibly is if the stores run out of their meager amount of medical supplies to counter mild to severe cases of diahrea.

So what is normally a rather trivial problem, diahrea caused by using nontreated water could turn into a major widespread medical problem. What are your thoughts on this?

Sincerely, Apple

-- Apple (villarta@itsnet.com), March 10, 1999

Answers

There is a superb water filter, the British Berkefeld, that is gravity -fed, requiring no power, and will remove everything toxic or harmful from any kind of water you put in it. It filters 30 gallons a day. This is an excellent product for those without a secure source of clean water. You can learn more or even buy one from a link on the water page of my website, Y2K Survive. It will solve your problem completely and there is also not a long wait for delivery from the company linked to the website, Safe Water.

http://www.y2ksurvive.com/water.html.

-- cody varian (cody@y2ksurvive.com), March 10, 1999.

The truly concerned can do web-searches for vast quantities of info on this subject which we have beat to death.

I too endorse the Big Berkey, but please note that it does not filter out 1) chemicals or 2) viruses. For viruses, boil water, or use chemicals. For chemicals, there is little you can do other than distillation above & beyond what a typical "still" is capable of. A carbon-filter would be better than nothing, though.

-- Anonymous99 (Anonymous99@anonymous.com), March 10, 1999.

My apologies but I must not have been clear about my concern in this note. To be crude about it, I think our medical establishments may be overwhelmed with stomach and intestinal sickness due to untreated water. We may have thousands of people collapsing in the streets due to dehydration caused by uncured diahrea. These desperate people could be dying in the thousands from something that is normally a really simple to solve problem, because our bodies cannot handle untreated water.

Sincerely, Apple

-- Apple (villarta@itsnet.com), March 10, 1999.

Apple,

1) Even 'uncivilized' bodies can't handle "bad" water. That's why most primitive peoples die at a relatively early age. 2) There is almost NO free flowing "good" water left any more. If you too want to die young, keep drinking out of streams without taking proper precautions.

Poor sanitation is a potential MAJOR killer. One of the biggest overlooked benefits of civilization is relatively good sanitation. If that breaks down (and it can easily happen) the results will be deadly. And the problems are likely to be things like typhoid and giardiasis, which have diarrhea as a symptom. See your Merck Manual... .

-- nobody (nobody@home.org), March 10, 1999.

I'm sure we understood your concern. What WE can do is to be sure that we are NOT in the group that is at risk, by storing and/or filtering our own supplies. We can also have, on hand, for our own use, the usual treatments for diarea (-2sp and I oughta know better but I haven't written it out in so long. It's usually "N,V&D" for me) like Imodium, Kao, etc. plus the rehydration fluids (Pedialyte, Gatorade, Poweraid, water with salt and sugar, etc.).

In terms of helping the folks who are in trouble, there isn't a lot we can do. Remember that while you (probably) ran across the giardia bug, the more prevalent will be dysentery and typhus, neither of which should the untrained handle. (of course the TRAINRED don't want to have to handle them either, but...) Both require antibiotics and supportive therapies. A private person can't stock enough of the usual OTC drugs to make a LARGE difference in the hundreds of folks who may end up being at risk. All we can do is try to cut down on the facility load by making sure WE don't become patients.

Chuck both of whose brothers have ended up in the ICU from a "little diarea"

-- Chuck, a night driver (reinzoo@en.com), March 10, 1999.

Pedialyte comes in a powdered form now, and I think the shelf life is longer than the liquid version.

-- Kim (paranoid@aol.com), March 10, 1999.

Hulda Regehr Clark's book "The Cure for all Diseases" is one that covers just about every bug that ever bugged man, and how to get rid of them w/o drugs.This is a controversial book,not for sheeple. Her premise is; germs parasites, flukes, viruses,worms,etc. cause just about all of our health problems. While this may or may not be 100% correct, I believe it is at least a piece of the puzzle.If you decide to do the liver cleanse (I highly recommend it), it will make a believer of you also.

-- KoFE (Worm@me.atleasttwiceayear), March 10, 1999.

16 Drops of 100% chlorine bleach per gallon of water will purify even the dirtiest water. Also of course their is always boiling.

-- Steve Watson (swatson1@gte.net), March 10, 1999.

"16 Drops of 100% chlorine bleach per gallon of water will purify even the dirtiest water. Also of course their is always boiling."

No. The bleach will kill bacteria and viruses. This does nothing for heavy metals and chemicals.

-- Anonymous99 (Anonymous99@Anonymous.com), March 10, 1999.

Chlorine is very toxic itself. Gotta be a better way. Turmeric is one of Nature's miracles, and would help in this diarrhea matter. You need to buy up a bunch (non-irradiated) and take 1/2 tsp. with each meal. (I put it in capsules.) It has no side effects, and kills bacteria, molds, fungus, and viruses. (Evidence indicates even AIDS.) Great healer of many, many diseases. Heals wounds when applied externally,too. I have some on a cut right now. Even treat my tropical fish for fungus w/ it. And, it is best anti-inflammatory in the world, bar none. Our family is not storing up antibiotics, we're storing herbs! (Umeboshi plum paste is also good for preventing/treating such loose stools, but needs refrigeration.)

-- Shivani Arjuna (odnsmall@aol.com), March 10, 1999.

A homemade electrolyte solution can be made from Morton's lite salt (50% NaCL 50%KCl), baking soda, and sugar. Formula in file ORIENT.TXT at http://home.earhlink.net/~kenseger and while you are there check out the file IODINE.TXT and BLEACH.TXT.

Cholera is a non-fatal disease that becomes fatal if electrolytes are not taken care of.

Actually ANYTHING needs to be toxic to kill germs including tumeric. The trick is toxic enough to kill the germs but not so toxic to kill the person, this goes for chemotherapy, water treatment, anti-biotics, etc. The primary rule in toxicology is, it is not the poison, but the dose.

-- Ken Seger (kenseger@earthlink.net), March 10, 1999.

Your good post emphasises the need for clean water, healthful nourishing foods, warmth, hygeine, medications and the hardware and fuels to provide them. I wish you well as you strive to achieve more self-reliant wellbeing.

-- Watchful (seethesea@msn.com), March 10, 1999.

Hi KoFE,

You're right!!!

The Zapper, described in Clark's book, has been the ONLY thing that's stopped a chronic, painfully debilitating sinus condition I had for more than 7 years. (Lots of meds, CAT scans, etc. -- none of the MD's were able to help.)

IMO, everyone should have one in survival conditions.

-- Dean -- from (almost) Duh Moines (dtmiller@nevia.net), March 10, 1999.

I'm an ER doc. What follows is the home formula for oral rehydration therapy fluids. Remember it won't cure the diarrhea, just replace the fluid loses. But even Cholera can be survived if the patient can be kept hydrated.

ORT formula: Rehydration Drinks

When you have diarrhea or are vomiting, your body can lose large amounts of water and essential minerals called electrolytes. If you are unable to eat for a few days, you are also losing nutrients. This happens faster and is more serious in infants, young children, and older adults.

A rehydration drink (Pedialyte, Lytren, Rehydralyte) replaces fluids and electrolytes in amounts that are best used by your body. Sports drinks (Gatorade, PowerAde, All Sport) and other sugared drinks will replace fluid, but most contain too much sugar (which can make the diarrhea worse) and not enough of the other essential ingredients. Plain water won't provide any necessary nutrients or electrolytes.

Rehydration drinks won't make the diarrhea or vomiting go away faster, but they will prevent serious dehydration from developing.

You can make an inexpensive homemade rehydration drink. However, do not give this homemade drink to children under age 12.

Measure all ingredients precisely. Small variations can make the drink less effective or even harmful.

1 quart water

< teaspoon table salt

3 to 4 tablespoons sugar

Add < teaspoon salt substitute ("Lite Salt"), if available

-- (kozak@athenet.net), March 11, 1999.

Kozac's comments are right to my knowledge as an RN, but make sure you research this homemade rehydration drink as being valid, we don't know for sure that Kozac is an ER doc and noway to verify.

The powdered Pedyalite is a good advice Kim, for those who can afford to stockpile it it's a great idea and safer as the proper ingredients are already measured, all one needs to do is make sure to add the right amount of PURIFIED water.

-- chris (catsy@pond.com), March 11, 1999.

Are Pedialyte, Lytren or Rehydralyte generally available? (Over the counter at the local drug store? prescription only? medical supply house only?) Thanks.

-- Brooks (brooksbie@hotmail.com), March 11, 1999.