Doom and Bloom

Survival Medicine Podcast: Alzheimer’s, Trials, Russian Vaccine The podcast is not going to talk just about COVID today, but  it’s a good idea to keep a running update and how Dr. and Ms. Alton’s views are evolving based on what seems to be hap...

The Problem With “Following The Science” State, local, and federal governments often make the claim that they are “following the science” when it comes to COVID-19. What few people realize is the extent to which the “science” may be manipulated to match...

Video: Wound Closure, Part 3: Placing Sutures In part 3 of this video series, Joe Alton MD, FACOG, FACS teaches the placement of sutures to close a skin laceration in a pig’s foot. He discusses what type of skin suture closure is best suited for the non-...

Video: Suture Closure, Part 2 In this video, Joe Alton MD and Amy Alton ARNP discuss wound closure and demonstrate how to prep and drape the skin for a suture closure off-the-grid. To watch, click below: Wishing you the best of health in good times or ba...

Video: Suture Closure, Pt. 1 In this video, Joe Alton MD and Amy Alton ARNP discuss wound closure and demonstrate the basics of setting up a sterile field off-the-grid prior to the procedure. To watch, click below: Wishing you the best of health in good...

Vitamin D Deficiency and COVID-19 Lately, we’ve been reviewing the potential for vitamin deficiencies to play a significant role in disease in people who, you’d think, would be otherwise healthy. WHAT IS VITAMIN D? Vitamin D is an essential nutrient your...

Survival Medicine Podcast COVID Q & A You know, we get dozens of questions from folks every week, and we do our darndest to answer as many as we can. You’re always welcome to send your questions to drbonespodcast@aol.com, we answer as many of th...

All About Clinical Trials Last year, we spent a few days in Oxford, England, home of the oldest English-speaking university in the world. Now, Oxford University scientists’ work on a COVID-19 vaccine has been published in the British medical journal “The...

Video: Pandemic Waves In this companion video to a recent article, Dr. Joe Alton explains pandemic waves in the current COVID-19 outbreak, how things went 100 years ago with the Spanish Flu pandemic, and what to expect both from the natural course of the...

Survival Medicine Podcast: Visits During COVID, Heat Waves, Kazakhstan Virus? Man, it’s hot. Summer is here with a vengeance and parts of the Midwest and Southern U.S. are experiencing record high temperatures in major heat waves. Officials predict a hig...

Visiting Family During A Pandemic I recently saw an article on CNN where a number of medical experts were asked questions about how and when to visit friends and family during the COVID-19 pandemic. I’m just an old country doctor, but I decided to take t...

A New Virus In Kazakhstan? Over the years, I have made it my mission to notify the public (those that will listen, at least) of new infectious disease outbreaks. There have been quite a number in the last decade: Swine flu, Ebola, Zika, Chikungunya, and...

Sand Fleas and Flies Recently, we were on the west coast of Florida doing some fishing. On the open ocean, luck was with us with some nice big fish, one of which was a large Spanish Mackerel that fed all four in our party. The rest of the time, we fished...

Video: The Spanish Flu In this companion video to a previous article, Dr. Joe Alton recounts the history of the Spanish Flu pandemic of 1918-19, with some surprising facts thrown in. There are lessons that can be learned by studying our past, including i...

Survival Medicine Podcast: Near-Drowning, Spanish Flu Lessons, More Many people are concerned about what appears to be a second wave of COVID-19, the pandemic disease caused by the SARS-CoV2 virus. Indeed, some states that were relatively unaffected by t...

A Brief History of the Spanish Flu Pandemic We’ve spent a lot of time discussing the COVID-19 pandemic on this channel, but we should also take a look back down the line at the last major pandemic. We can learn a lot of lessons from history, if we’re wil...

Pandemic Waves Many people are concerned about what appears to be a second wave of COVID-19, the pandemic disease caused by the SARS-CoV2 virus. Indeed, some states that were relatively unaffected by the virus are now reporting high numbers of cases. Con...

Video: COVID-Fatigue, Waves, and Age In this video companion to a recent article, Dr. Joe Alton gives his thoughts on upcoming and, in his opinion, inevitable waves of COVID-19. He also describes a condition that’s affecting every American to one extent...

Survival Medicine Podcast: Tear Gas, Suture Needles, Second Waves, More If you’re reading the headlines, you’re probably hearing that, as the country slowly reopens, we’re seeing many more people in their 20s, 30s, and 40s getting coronavirus and a lot o...

Suture Basics For The Off-Grid Medic: Needles In my recent article “Suture Basics For The Off-Grid Medic “,  I gave some thoughts on suture materials, especially as they apply to closing skin lacerations. Your skin is your armor, and anything that b...