Imagine if you didn’t have access to the internet. What if you didn’t even have any medical or nutrition books to help guide you? And what if there wasn’t a doctor of any kind, for miles around? To compound these issues further, what if this hypothetical situation you’re in lasted for several years?
This is a major dilemma for Preppers, because we would no doubt face medical emergencies from time to time, especially from those conditions that are chronic in nature. It could be from a lack of nutrition, radiation, or chemicals slowly leaching into our environment from our eroding infrastructure. In any long term survival scenario, Preppers need a basic understanding of how to spot chronic conditions. There is often nothing more telling, than observing our fingernails.
[amazon asin=0615601219&template=*lrc ad (left)]Listed below are a number of fingernail ailments that could be signs of a more serious condition. Or it could nothing at all. Having something weird on your fingers isn’t a guarantee that there’s a problem. Treat it like a “lead” in the investigation of your body. After that If you still think there’s a problem, seek medical advice from a professional, at least while you still can.
Color
The color of you’re nail is one of the most recognizable indicators of your wider health. If you have slow growing yellow nails (not the kind of yellowing you get from holding a cigarette) it could be signs of a respiratory illness, jaundice, or perhaps from a heat related injury. Other possibilities include fungal infection, thyroid disease, diabetes, psoriasis, amyloidosis, or even injury to the medial nerve that runs throughout the arm (most commonly caused by carpal tunnel).[amazon asin=B007ADOL28&template=*lrc ad (right)]
Nails that are pail in color, are often a sign of anemia, malnutrition, or liver disease. They can often show up after chemotherapy, renal failure, or cirrhosis. Nails that are gray or show little color, could indicate a variety of conditions including, diabetes, breast cancer, b12 deficiency, lichen planus, syphilis, or could simply be the result of chemical exposure to nail polish, varnish, hair dyes etc. While nails that are nearly blue in color, are usually a sign that you’re not getting enough oxygen circulating in your body. This could be caused by a lung or heart problem. And if the skin around the nail is puffy and red, it could indicate a connective tissue disorder.
Sometimes it’s simply a sign of aging, but Terry’s nails are often a sign of liver disease, diabetes, or heart failure. The condition might not be that easy to recognize. It’s simply a dark band of color just before the tip of the nail. Another condition that is usually just a part of aging, is known as Onychorrhexis. This usually creates long vertical ridges across the nail that are very visible. Other than simple aging, they can be caused by arthritis, iron deficiency, protein deficiency, folic acid deficiency, or the genetic condition known as Darier’s disease, in which these ridges are red and white.
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