What's in your first aid kit?

[jmangum]

I usually carry a first aid kit with me on the trail. I was trying to figure out if I carry too much or too little. Those of you that carry a first aid kit:
What is included in your kit?
What do you regularly use from it?

[kevinweitzel75]

I try to have everything I might need without to much weight.
Lightweight emergency poncho
50' 550 para cord
Hand sanatizer
Water pills
Compass
Insect Repellent
20' 10lbs. fishing line with 2 hooks
tums
Imodium AD
Fire starter (flint and steel)
5' duct tape on hiking pole
Sewing needles(2)
Super Glue (for cuts)
Hydrocortsone cream
Alcohol swabs
Bandaids
bandana
Tweezers
All goes inside of a gallon size zip lock baggy

[Jeffshadows]

one of the hammock guys sells it here: http://arrowheadequipment.webs.com/apps ... ow/1076490
or http://www.whoopieslings.com
or many online Marine stores.

this is tuff, tuff stuff Al.

Same company that makes vehicle winch cord, if that helps... ;)

[te_wa]

yes, Samson.

[Al_HikesAZ]

The bottom line is surviving. First Aid is just part of that.
The best thing you can have in a First Aid Kit is a fast horse to get you home. (learned that in True Grit)
But since most of us don't carry a horse, let's look at the basics:
1) Injury and wound treatment
2) wound covering and infection prevention
3) medications
4) getting home

I got more to say. So hold your horses and let me collect my thoughts.

[Al_HikesAZ]

The first thing you need in your first aid kit is Knowledge.
The second is thinking and improvising. Staying focused and making do with what you got.

Hold your horses, I'm thinking and gettin' there.

[Al_HikesAZ]

How you get pumkin*d up depends on what yer doing.
And how you fix it all depends.
So there really ain't no answers here, just ways of reacting and fixing.
Different sicheeations need different solutions.

Now I'm gonna go drink my medication and dream on this.
And when I sober up I'll be back to talk about 1) injury and wound treatment and what you need in your kit.

[Al_HikesAZ]

So I look at these nice store bought first aid kits, and I read these nice first aid checklists. And I scratch my head (and other parts of my body) and I'm not really sure what I need.
Until the Defecation impacts the Oscillator, they are all just words on a page.

I round a curve in the trail, and there's this big ole Joe - half conscious (LOC A&O 1/2), bleeding profusely, leg bent at a might awkward angle. Now what? What do I need and what do I do?

Well - if it was a horse (and I had my 45), the solution would be a lot easier.

[azbackpackr]

I round a curve in the trail, and there's this big ole Joe - half conscious (LOC A&O 1/2), bleeding profusely, leg bent at a might awkward angle. Now what? What do I need and what do I do?

1. Assess the scene. Is it safe for you to help him? (For example, were the injuries caused by unstable geology that might come tumbling down on you?) Also, what assets do you have? Do you have anyone to send for help? What's in your first aid kit? How far are you from help? Send someone for help if possible, after you can give a brief description of MOI, situation and injuries, GPS location, etc.

2. Check for which are his life-threatening injuries: (head injury, profuse bleeding, spinal injury, etc.) You say he is 1-2 on the consciousness scale, so he ain't talkin' to you, cowboy. MOI may show possible spinal and/or head injury. However, you also have the profuse bleeding. This needs to be stopped. If there is only one of you, you need to stop the bleeding. Hopefully the bleeding is not in a place where you have to move the patient in order to apply direct pressure on the bleeding. Check his head to see if you can find any evidence of him hitting it. It will be good if you have a second person to hold C-spine, since you have an awful lot of other things to check out.

3. Take his vitals. Since he is non-verbal at 1-2 it is crucial you take his pulse and respirations every 15 minutes and write it down. That way you can watch if it goes up a lot (compensation for the loss of blood volume due to the bleeding) or down a whole lot (he is starting to croak). Assess other vitals as possible. You probably don't have a cuff with you. So, look at his skin color, is he very pale? Is he becoming blue? If you are able to treat his other injuries, such as cleaning wounds, applying traction, or cleaning and covering a compound fracture, do these in order they seem necessary. But your priorities are his level of consciousness, his vital signs and making sure he does not bleed out. Due to his LOC I don't see him hobbling out of there, so I question application of traction (if this treatment is even possible). If you are by yourself, you may have to pick and choose which injuries to treat.

4. Keep him warm, continue to assess. If you were alone to start with, and have him as stable as you can make him, now go for help.

Did I forget anything?

[LindaAnn]

I recently bought a 3 pack of “Bug Bite Thing”, and after myself and the kids getting attacked by mosquitoes around the pool and fire pit last night, we can all attest that this thing works magic at removing the itch from bug bites. Obviously not as good as preventing bites in the first place, but great to use after the fact, especially if you don’t want to use chemicals. As my son said when I used it on him, “What genius came up with this magic?”

[chumley]

As my son said when I used it on him, “What genius came up with this magic?”

Some crafty Danes!

Luckily they did a clinical trial in 1984 to prove its effectiveness and concluded:

As the principle of the vacuum extractor is quite simple and logical - prompt removal of the poison through the way it entered (the sting passage), it may be assumed that the symptoms can to a considerable extent be suppressed in people allergic to wasps, and the use of the vacuum extractor should be very beneficial for persons who have been exposed to other poisons (bees, snakes, scorpions, fish, etc.).

That seems to agree with other science regarding envenomation extractor pumps, so it's good enough for me! Where do I buy it?

[LosDosSloFolks]

@chumley
She stated she bought a 3-pack. So it appears she has a couple of extras for you and me. :-)

[LindaAnn]

I bought mine off Amazon in one of my daily boredom shopping purchases, but I suppose they are available from a variety of other retailers.

@losdosslofolks Lol! I gave one to my neighbor who has little kids, put one in my hiking pack, and one for at home.

[LosDosSloFolks]

@LindaAnn
So what are you saying...you're not going to share? Geez, some people.

[RedRoxx44]

Might pick a couple of those up. Got into a wasp nest about a month ago and got 8 stings, I am not allergic but it really hurt enough for an hour or so to get my attention. I didn't have any benadryl with me either, my usual go to. One bite irritated me for a week or so after too. So sucking out that venom might be the way to go.

[Tough_Boots]

That seems to agree with other science regarding envenomation extractor pumps, so it's good enough for me!

It's been my understanding that venom extractors have long been considered ineffective by the medical community...

[SuperstitionGuy]

The old standby for stings of any kind. Plant or wildlife.... Sawyer Extractor....

[joebartels]

Interesting the now wildly popular Sawyer Squeeze is the same company that has long made the questionable Sawyer Extractor. Seems they are grasping a smidgen of an iota for the heroically quick 1%.

Is there a truly effective solution to treat a venomous bite in the field?

The Extractor® pump is the only medically approved device for treating snakebites. When used quickly after a bite, later treatment results may be significantly improved. Some doctors even recommend carrying and applying two pumps, one for each fang bite site.

I'm not qualified to read a map without glasses at yoga class but the phd gummos at snakebitefoundation.org mention...

The Sawyer Extractor is perhaps the best known, best marketed example of a commercial snakebite kit that is not only useless but potentially harmful.

[SuperstitionGuy]

Joe I never said anything about snake bite's. But for various types of bee stings and a puncture wound from agave I reach for my Sawyer Extractor every time!

[joebartels]

@SuperstitionGuy
Good to know, I seriously value your experience. I'm not blind, just slow, started my comment minutes before your post.

[ALMAL]

Won't pounding a hand full of these Zip Fizz things fix or cure about anything?