My survival achilles heel

Whenever Im on a camping trip or out climbing or even risking a trip to the hospital one thing is always haunting me. My eyes. Theyre terrible. I couldnt play water polo in high school because all the faces were simply fuzzy blobs.

Right now I have contact lenses. I have an income and sanitary supllies that make this possible. But what if I abandon the grid? What if theres a societal collapse? I have a pair of glasses but my presciption will no doubt change over the years or they may simply break.

I cant shoot a gun if I cant see. I could raise crops but the work would be tedious and my chances for mistake would be great.

Whats your achilles heel?

In a survival situation should I be included in those who gave way to natural selection? Probably. Unless soeone doesnt mind me as a burden it would seem that sooner or later I will succumb to my poor eyesight.

I have glasses too, but I don't think it would be that bad in a survival situation. I find that constantly getting new prescriptions actually makes your eyes worse, as you become more dependant on them and your eyes don't have to work as hard and get weaker. In a survival situation though, your eyes should be fine with current glasses for 10-15 years. It's not like you're going to have to read fine print from far away. Yes, without glasses (if your eyes are anywhere near as bad as mine), then you'd pretty much be screwed since the whole world would just be a blur. If you're that worried, keep an extra pair of glasses handy just in case. Or if you really want to solve the problem, you could get laser eye surgery.

Do what I did, shell out the cash for one good pair of practically unbreakable glasses.

The guy who sold me the pair I've had for the last decade smashed them with a hammer repeatedly, right there in the office, to prove how strong they were. He even let me take a few swings. Great salesman.

They're made of metal that flexes and bends, but won't break, and the lenses are high-impact plastic. I've put them through Hell, and they've never let me down.

My survival achilles heel is nicotine. :shk:

Bad back. I will occasionaly get a spasm of the muscles in my entire back, that incompacitates me for a number of minutes. It takes to me to ground, and constricts my lungs, making it very difficult to breathe. Terrible really.

my weak spot would be family. I have small children and emergency plans have to be altered to accommodate them, so I cannot react on instinct as much as I have to stop and think, which can be dangerous.

Originally posted by shadow watcher
my weak spot would be family. I have small children and emergency plans have to be altered to accommodate them, so I cannot react on instinct as much as I have to stop and think, which can be dangerous.

Hi Shadow,

The fact that you will be protecting your family will make you a formidable survivalist. You will be meaner, more alert and more rational. A lone survivalist will tend to become complaicent and more prone to make errors as he will see the world in tunnel vision and won't see the big picture.

What my achilles heal in a survival situation would be I don't know

I believe it may be the way I interact with other humans I don't know whether I'm gonna wan't to kill everyone that approaches my settlement or wan't to try to help everyone.

My "achilles heel", so to speak, is pain. I have frequent, severe, cluster migraine headaches. At the present time, they are, more or less, controlled but this involves the use of Triptans, -- a class of drugs that can often abort a headache before it starts. But when a headache does flair up, I find myself reaching for pain-killers (and I don't mean tylenol extra strength capsules).

I suppose that narcotics will always be available, even in a survival situation. The black market will probably replace the current system of obtaining a prescription from a physician and the trip to the corner pharmacy to have it filled. Nevertheless, I would not want to depend upon anyone if we were faced with a "doomsday" scenario.

Yes, I know that there are numerous 'natural remedies' for migraines. Believe me, I've tried them all from feverfew to medicinal cannabis. While some of these natural substances can be helpful, they are often unreliable and they certainly do not prevent migraines before they start, at least not on the short-term. I suppose that one of my first missions, should the 'end of days' be upon us, will be to raid pharmacies. Of course, I don't think that I will be alone in this venture. Pharmacies will probably be a primary "target" for other 'survivalists' as well.

Incidentally, I wear glasses too. Life without "specs" might be an inconvenience but it is amazing how quickly one can adapt. Once, on a camping trip, I lost my glasses in an incredibly stupid accident. I spent a week without my glasses and by the time the trip was over, I didn't even miss them! Of course, I did go and have my glasses replaced but I felt reassured about ever having to go without my glasses again.

Non-functioning thyroid.

Long-term survival, I'd go the way of natural selection. I was diagnosed with Graves Disease 12 years ago and had to have my thyroid irradiated. Have to take a pill daily in order to keep me going.

You can get natural thyroid hormone from pig thyroid. But I have yet to run across a website that tells you how to go about extracting this on your own, how much to take, etc.

Asthma will get me in the end. its tried repeatedly over the years and came close a time or two. Prolonged hospital stays. Cost me a military caree. Cost me one job. But I dont worry about it Its controlled for now with a preventive inhaler and a rescue inhaler. I keep a stock of both on hand. I know when I run out its all over and so does my family. I keep a years extra supply on hand a deal I worked out with my doctor and insurance company the more you buy the cheaper it is for the insurance. and I dont have to bug the doc as much its a win win ime alive the doc is happy and the inxurance is to. Any asthmaticks survivalist should try that

My eyes are extremely bad, glasses aren't working that much anymore. However, I've read about people who could live independantly without sight. How true that is, i'm not sure. All I know is, I do make a point of knowing how to do things with out my eyes.

My eye's aren't that great, but i can see well enough to get by without them. If you know what the Duke of Edinburgh's award is, I did the expeditions for that without my glasses, so my eyes aren't too bad. In a city it's not so good because the signs are a bit difficult to read, but oh well.

Aside from also being reliant upon glasses to correct my vision problems (bad vision in my left eye, fortunately I shoot right handed) I have had some injuries to my right hand that make it prone to becoming useless in extreme cold, so I'd be up the creek if I had to do much in the way of delicate work in very cold situations.

Originally posted by angryamerican
Asthma will get me in the end.

Maybe not, heard of the Buteyko Method? I saw a documentary about 10 years ago where Dr Buteyko himself came to the UK to be 'tested'. A bunch of docotrs in a UK hospital picked their worst hit with asthma patients and said they would 'eat their hat' if they saw any marked improvement. I remember one patient nearly always living in the hospital needing the oxygen machine. At the end of the show, that man was playing golf! Of course no doctor ate their hat, booo, but it left an impression on me, you should check it out.

If I remember rightly its about too much oxygen getting into your system, asthmatics tend to breath through their mouth, especially at night. The air ways close up to reduce the amount of oxygen, creating an 'attack'.

Oh yes, ALL the patients in that documentary had improved, needed less medication and hospital treatment.

Good luck!

Dae

My eyes are terrible as well, everything is blurry unless its two inches from my face, and its getting worse every day. I won't survive long in a bad situation...

My survival achilles heel is my nose, I sneeze all the time, even in the hot days, and every time I sneeze, I cannot breath by the nose, because the muscus covered up the airway. How can consider good survival chance when you cannot smell things when you sneeze?

I think mine would be my lack of general fitness. I'm very lazy, and I don't do sports or other serious physical activities. If I were in a survival situation and I had to, say, run like hell to get away from someone bent on killing me for a cache of food or something, I'd likely tire before they would, or just plain be slower to begin with.

Originally posted by Dae


If I remember rightly its about too much oxygen getting into your system, asthmatics tend to breath through their mouth, especially at night. The air ways close up to reduce the amount of oxygen, creating an 'attack'.

Well your sort of right. Asthma is the lungs take in air but cant exhale all that is taken in. Once the lungs are full they cant take in anymore or very little air. the oxygen is used up very quickly. Then the person usually paincks increasing the breathing making things worse. So its really a double edge sword too much oxygen at first then to little. Any body who has ever had a panick attack knows the feeling of the begginnning of a asthma attack. its very scary and requires alot of centering of emotions panick is the number one killer of people with asthma. we tend to become our worst enemys.