> I find it interesting that survivalist literature goes into so much detail on so many topics never seems to cover medical stuff. What do you do for birth control after the apocalypse? How can you make an antibiotic? How can you make an anesthetic?
I mean, you don't? One dude, a family, or even a small community cannot hope replicate all the stuff that comes from modern supply chains. Surviving a civilization-ending catastrophe would basically mean navigating the glide path down to a poor subsistence lifestyle that lacks a huge amount of technology we take for granted. People got by without that stuff for pretty much all of human history.
The best survivalist could probably do is compile traditional/herbal remedies that are at least somewhat effective, but there would still be huge gaps.
So
birth control: abstinence, keeping an unplanned baby, infanticide, or some herbal abortifacient.
antibiotics: hope you can fight off that infection or we'll have to amputate
I mean, you don't? One dude, a family, or even a small community cannot hope replicate all the stuff that comes from modern supply chains. Surviving a civilization-ending catastrophe would basically mean navigating the glide path down to a poor subsistence lifestyle that lacks a huge amount of technology we take for granted. People got by without that stuff for pretty much all of human history.
The best survivalist could probably do is compile traditional/herbal remedies that are at least somewhat effective, but there would still be huge gaps.
So
birth control: abstinence, keeping an unplanned baby, infanticide, or some herbal abortifacient.
antibiotics: hope you can fight off that infection or we'll have to amputate
anesthetic: alcohol or a stick in the mouth