can the jungle drive you crazy ?

Could being alone in the jungle for a certain period of time drive you crazy ?

Lets just say you are not ill and have all the supply's you need and also that you have a weapon , would you eventualy go crazy ?

i was just wondering if the jungle's have a certain kind of power of there own ? what with all that nature and all.

probably a crazy idea ?

Being alone and lost anywhere could make you crazy. Thats why you would need to just calm down and make a plan to get to safety.

If you're into heat, bugs, being wet and stinky all the time, having the rot on your junk and feet, or taking a non-stop dose of chloroquine, mefloquine or primaquine for the malaria, and most especially if you just LOVE flagyl, well, then the jungle is right for you!

It also helps if you like giardia and/or amebic dysentary when the flagyl runs out.

Originally posted by Tom Bedlam
If you're into heat, bugs, being wet and stinky all the time, having the rot on your junk and feet, or taking a non-stop dose of chloroquine, mefloquine or primaquine for the malaria, and most especially if you just LOVE flagyl, well, then the jungle is right for you!

It also helps if you like giardia and/or amebic dysentary when the flagyl runs out.

what is flagyl ?

Flagyl is the gold standard anti-parasitic packed by the US Army.

It's good for giardia and most any amebic infestation. It's also good against anaerobes and some gram-negative bacteria. So you get it if you get an abdominal wound, or any sort of deep puncture. Or if you are about to get one, maybe.

Also it's good if you think you just ate something "bad" because it will head off botulinus.

You get it at the drop of a hat. They carry the stuff in jugs.

I think being isolated in an unfamilar place and your mind not being mentally ready to handle the situation you often will go crazy. I believe that it would create a somewhat cabinfever of the mind, you may believe that you will never be rescued and the mind of humans are of social beings so it is a good chance that you'd be one flew over the cuckoo nest.

Some people really hate being alone. Some people really hate being off in the sticks and it stresses them out all the time.

I saw a lot of people freak out when they got stuck off in the swampy areas of Benning. Those guys were invariably from big cities. Worst of all were the ones that "wandered off" and found themselves alone out there.

It was no big deal to me. I guess it's a mindset, I don't like NYC for example, and feel creeped out the entire time I'm there. If I'm lost in the woods (or places more tropical) I just try to orient myself and start walking towards civilization, or where I think I'm supposed to be.

If you are the sort that stresses out when you're alone, or when you're lost, or when you're out in "nature" then it will wear you down and eventually bring you to adrenal exhaustion, which is a negative for making it.

I guess if you think you might end up in the jungle, the woods or wherever, you should try it on a bit at a time until you are desensitized. It's actually pretty hard to stay lost a lot of places if you use your gourd. Learn how to landnav without a GPS, too; having that skill will reduce your stress level if you are somewhere with landmarks you can see/find.

Well, take it from a guy who has a few parrots... If you are in the south american jungles, you better have a set of ear plugs, because parrots relentless loud screaming can really drive you batty... sometimes when they get squaking at each other, you CANNOT hear yourself think... I couldn't possibly imagine how loud and hellish it would be if a flock of about 400 landed in the treetops above your campsite... and bring an umbrella...

[edit on 2-24-2007 by IronDogg]

Originally posted by IronDogg
Well, take it from a guy who has a few parrots... If you are in the south american jungles, you better have a set of ear plugs, because parrots relentless loud screaming can really drive you batty... sometimes when they get squaking at each other, you CANNOT hear yourself think...

I couldn't possibly imagine how loud and hellish it would be if a flock of about 400 landed in the treetops above your campsite... and bring an umbrella...

[edit on 2-24-2007 by IronDogg]

Instead of "Shaddap wit' da racket, boid!" you should be thinking "Dinner is served!"

Parrot would be a lot tastier than some of what the jungle offers. And they're way easier to spot than most meals.

as the former post says it's not the jungle it's the fear of being in a place you don't feel comfortable, i think the big city would do me in faster than the jungle.

I was just trying to establish as to wether there is such a thing as jungle madness. Wheras just by being confronted with the enormaty of being in a a jungle could have any psycological effects.

So this thread is about this ! yes we can all go crazy in the desert or an urban environment but that's another thread i,m talking about the jungle and wether it has any manifest power if at all ? Jungle being the key word here.

IE what is Jungle fever ?

i don't really believe there is a "mystical jungle madness" as in the jungle has some sort of power in and of it self, if anything the jungle is vastly more alien to most people than other environments and that is the jungle madness. fear of the unknown.

We used that phrase as a catchall meaning malaria, yellow fever, dengue or whatever was going around that week. Any jungle funk that causes you to be gravely ill with a fever for extra points. Sort of like "rot" was any fungal disease that went after your junk, feet or hands. Your mileage may vary.

I have actually lived deep in the Amazon jungle for a good deal of time and had no problems. In fact, the Yanomami Indians have lived there for perhaps as long as 20,000 years.

The Amazon is an amazing and beautiful place and it is not difficult to live there in good health if you know what you are doing. If you don't know what you are doing it is an easy place to get killed.

"Jungle madness" is pure bunk. You can go just as mad in your neighborhood if you are an unstable individual. Being in a jungle has nothing to do with mental instability.

It's the other way around,

A city can drive you crazy but a natural forest will make you what you really are, part of nature.

Originally posted by Terapin
I have actually lived deep in the Amazon jungle for a good deal of time and had no problems. In fact, the Yanomami Indians have lived there for perhaps as long as 20,000 years.

The Amazon is an amazing and beautiful place and it is not difficult to live there in good health if you know what you are doing. If you don't know what you are doing it is an easy place to get killed.

Have you ever been in Panama or northern Columbia? If so, what did you think of the area you were in in comparison?

Hot and wet aren't my strong suits. I'm more temperate zone.

i guess if your life is not in grave danger, and you keep the mind occupied
and are content i suppose you can survive a break down.. i dont think i'd want to try...

Really has nothing to do with the thread, but I just wanted to applaud the use of the word "jungle!"

As opposed to the PC word "Rainforest!"

Thanks again!

I spent a year stationed in Keflavic Iceland. I watched people from the cities and those who needed strong social connections going crazy day by day. It does things to you mentally if you cannot find ways to occupy yourself.
Keflavik, Iceland was not bad duty once you figured out how to handle yourself/time. They used to tell us to count our blessings ...we could be in Thule, Greenland or on a island radar picked on the Dew Line.

But you learn things about yourself in places like this. What you can and cannot handle.

Terapin is quite correct. YOu dont have to be in the jungle per se to go stir crazy. You can do it in your own neighborhood if you dont know how to handle yourself. I know people who dont know what to do with themselves if they dont have television or video/video games to play. They are lost.
Amazing!!

Thanks,
Orangetom

See the thread about the Japanese soldier who stayed in the jungle for 30 years after the war ended he came out and went back to being a productive member of society and was no worse for the wear well almost.