permaculture

[Harold Waldock <hwaldock@telus.net>]

On the Permaculture Saying, "Prepare for Disaster"

Oral Rehydration Solution: Why have it & where you can get it cheap. 
 I've never seen it included in emergency-first aid kits
Salts in the body are known as electrolytes and they are essential to life.  
Oral Rehydration Solution was developed to save the lives of children as 
diarrhea was the major cause of death.  It is cheap 6c per serving or less if 
you know where to get it.  See wikipedia article 
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Oral_rehydration_therapy about history and other 
details.  I am not a doctor but I knew about this before I went to India and 
took some. It really worked but I could not get more while I was there in 
1984-5.

Why Have It

Many diseases and situations cause the body to become short of electrolytes.  
Use in quantities needed to replace what is missing or lost after every 
incident.  Many cups a day are needed in the worst cases:
Is the major remedy for:
Spanish Flu/Avian Flu/Swine Flu/SARS or similar Pandemic - diarrhea & 
vomiting  you will feel better after 1 or 2 cups after 20 to 30 minutes with 
mild cases.  If you can stay strong you can survive the worst flu and more 
likely survive the usual subsequent opportunistic infections such as 
pneumonia bronchitis etc.  It is not something you can buy when you need it - 
you have to buy it before you need it. 
  When you don't feel well you don't want to leave the house and in a 
pandemic nothing is available.  Bye the way these Pandemics usually occur 
when the population is tired, malnourished and under stress such as after war 
or financial collapse. Financial collapses are frequent in history. We are in 
one now.  
Cholera - Survival with out it or IV is less than 20% for healthy adults in 
some studies not common anymore
Typhoid/Dysentery/Beaver Fever/Cryptosporidium/Montezuma's Revenge etc etc - 
increases survival and energy.
Radiation Sickness From Nuclear Bomb or Disaster- Vomiting and diarrhea that 
lasts 2 -3 weeks from exposure.  It weakens people who have had everything 
blown apart and have been poisoned.  If you can survive this stage the 
likelihood of survival greatly increases. The Japanese drank miso soup which 
is salty and is aged (radiation free if they could get pure water).  For a 
family you will need up to 10 cups a day per person for 2-3 weeks.  It is not 
something you can buy when you need it, you have to have it at home.
Heat Stroke/Heat Stress - Hot weather or countries or demanding physical 
exercise mean sweating and salt loss that reaches a crisis that cause 
fainting, nausea, vomiting, tiredness, irritability and more.  Gatoraid is 
hard to pack on your back up the mountains and may have a best before date.  
But a powder you can mix for more serious cases or lick up in less serious 
cases can dramatically improve health and increase your energy.  Sometimes 
one gets heat stress even though one has been drinking water but it just goes 
through you and you still feel tired and thirsty.  This is the situation for 
electrolyte or if you don't have it regular salt.  A powder made from salt 
and sugar never has a best before date unless you get it moist and something 
grows in the sugar water/paste- you have to package it in moisture proof 
containers.
Food Allergies and Unknown Stomach upsets For a long time I had trouble with 
diarrhea but did not know the source resulting in tiredness for the rest of 
the day: ORS was what could bring back the energy in 30 minutes so I could 
get on with my life.  This was for 20 odd years till I could find what the 
problems were.  It turned out to be most strawberries and oranges. But there 
are other days.  
Antibiotics and other medicine cause trouble too because your stomach needs 
the bacteria to firm things up or because of side effects.

Alternatives Considered
Table salt does not quite do it.
A basic oral rehydration therapy solution is composed of:[19][20][21]
30 ml (6 level tsp) of sugar
2.5 ml (1/2 level tsp) of salt, dissolved into
1 litre (4.25 Cups) of clean water
(Note that these expedient rehydration mixtures do not replenish potassium, 
and usage over long term may result in hypokalemia.)
 For me it is the potassium salt that is missing or in very low quantities in 
most table salts.  I've tried table salt.  Table salt and sugar in the right 
mixture is quite good but not as effective.  You can get potassium enriched 
table salt but now the calculations of ratio to water and salt is 
problematical.  Can't do it by weight, they have inert silica and I don't 
have enough info/time to calculate it out.  Pharmacy grade products measured 
out by the pharmacists are the best.  All you have to do is get the quantity 
right for 250ml of water with a measuring spoon. 

Commercially available is Gastrolyte in most drug stores for $13-17 per 10 
servings (not even a cup) very expensive and often out of stock.  Gatoraid 
has technical formulations for athletes that may be better but I don't know 
and has best before date, more expensive, bulky and heavy.  

Every family or family member (I have lots) I call when I hear that they are 
sick are out of stock of Gastrolyte or similar in the house or too sick and 
tired to go get some.  Nobody, including myself has enough when it is needed 
ie  This is what is driving me to do this and yes, I was a little sick 
recently (and somebody had thrown out my supply) 

The enhanced new formula not the old one.
> UNICEF/WHO reduced osmolarity version from wikipedia:
> 
> Concentrations of ingredients in reduced osmolarity ORS[22]
> Ingredient                                                              g/L 
>   Molecule/ion    mmol/L
> sodium chloride (NaCl)                                                  2.6 
>   sodium  75
> glucose, anhydrous (C6H12O6)                          13.5    glucose 75
> potassium chloride (KCl)                                                1.5 
>   potassium       20
>                                                                             
>             chloride      65
> trisodium citrate, dihydrate Na3C6H5O7·2H2O     2.9   citrate 10


Where to Get It
Compounding pharmacies are rare in Vancouver Canada and 2 others would not 
help me:

Dr. Edward Thorpe at Kripps Pharmacy http://www.krippspharmacy.com/
5413 West Boulevard
Vancouver, B.C. Canada V6M 3W5 
Toll Free Phone
1 (877) 312-8822
Local Phone
(604) 687-2564
Fax (604) 685-9721
"Dr. Edward Thorpe" <altermed@portal.ca>  he is not good with email call him

He said:  $70 for powder for 100 litres ie 400 servings or 6c a serving.  
Make sure he tells you the dose in g/250ml and teaspoons/8oz  because when 
you need it you can't find the gram level scale. (most food scales are not 
accurate enough) try to get a desiccant packs to keep the powder dry.  

If you have more information than I have as I am not a medical professional, 
let me and the list know.

Harold Waldock