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Post by cweston on Sept 9, 2019 8:40:21 GMT -8
Let me put a plug in here for antibiotic ointment.
You may remember me posting about this a couple years ago: long story short, I had a bad torn blister from a pair of street shoes. It eventually became the host for a nasty staph infection, which sent me to the ER because I basically crashed about a week later: my whole leg was throbbing, I could hardly walk by the time I got there, etc.
The cautionary tale is that the doc told me that shoes are the perfect incubator for infection: warm, moist, create friction to really rub those bugs into wound, etc. So, for those of us who do this thing in the wilderness, with limited access to modern medicine, where blisters are the most common "injury," that seems like something to pay attention to. I not only make sure I have anti-biotic ointment in my FAK, but I've also become much more pro-active about using it.
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ErnieW
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I want to backpack
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Post by ErnieW on Sept 9, 2019 12:45:34 GMT -8
Let me put a plug in here for antibiotic ointment. Plus one on that. I was car camping at a KOA a few weeks ago and something jabbed me fairly deeply in the left index finger pad. After two days it was showing bad signs of infection. Very painful. First just local swelling then I could feel it taking hold in my finger more. I pulled open the entry hole and kept triple antibiotic and a band aid on it and the infection finally yielded. I knick my fingers often camping and infection is a lot of times an issue. Antibiotic cream and band aids are essential for me.
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toejam
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Post by toejam on Sept 10, 2019 6:24:32 GMT -8
I've used lots of bandaids, but also had to deal with some cuts and abrasions bigger than a bandaid. 2" x 3" non-stick gauze pads with some tape are always in my pack. I currently have some lueko tape, some paper tape, and some of that sticky, stretchy tape they wrap around your arm after a blood test.
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reuben
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Gonna need more Camels at the next refugio...
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Post by reuben on Sept 10, 2019 7:14:10 GMT -8
Let me put a plug in here for antibiotic ointment. Yeah, I always have one of those little tubes of Neosporin. The original is a little greasier than the "pain" version, and stays in place longer.
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rebeccad
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Post by rebeccad on Sept 10, 2019 7:20:07 GMT -8
I've used lots of bandaids, but also had to deal with some cuts and abrasions bigger than a bandaid. 2" x 3" non-stick gauze pads with some tape are always in my pack. I currently have some lueko tape, some paper tape, and some of that sticky, stretchy tape they wrap around your arm after a blood test. Most of you are guys, and others of us past this, but... a minipad (menstrual pad) makes a pretty good cover for a large abrasion. Still have to tape it in place, since the adhesive part is on the waterproof side Not sterile, so not as good as a sterile pack gauze pad, but if you don’t have anything else...
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davesenesac
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Post by davesenesac on Sept 10, 2019 8:07:14 GMT -8
I've never purchased one of those consumer medical kits. The most important item I've brought over decades is construction grade duct tape and for the last decade that is the Gorilla Tape 2.88" width that I wrap around a tripod leg so as a frequent base camper it is available while on day hikes and not just back at camp spots. Most of the other items remain unused over several years of trips. I carry usual items like a selection of bandages, moleskin, tweezers, baciticin neomycin, Ibuprofen, skin lotion, shampoo, sunscreen, lip balm. Recently added one of those small bottles of alcohol based hand cleaner to my photo day pack that I've found very useful as it not only can disinfect and clean wounds, but also cleans DEET and sunscreen off skin and dissolves pine tar.
Considering all the off trail travel I do carrying too much weight and gear, it is surprising how little I ever need to use any of the above. On the 5 day trip to Duck Lake we just returned from Sunday, my fourth backpack this summer, I used the Gorilla tape and a tent stake to repair a broken leg. The lower leg completely broke off and was laying on the ground. I had no pain of distress because it just took a few moments for me to figure out how I would deal with it. With a few wraps of Gorilla tape around the two sections of leg splinted with the tent stake it became usable over the rest of our trip. Oops excuse me, forgot this is about first aid kit stories of human use. That was my very beat up old Induro carbon fiber tripod leg and just got an email from B&H with tracking info for a replacement (expensive Oben CT-2361) due Thursday.
In 1996, two of we 35mm SLR photographers were up in the Granite Park basin of the John Muir Wilderness midway on a 9 day trip. Our backpacks were off nearby while we stopped to take some photos. While holding with my right hand my big camera on the tripod, I slipped banana peel style on a very grainy crumbling granite boulder ripping off a big patch of elbow skin. Blood immediately poured out so I tightly pressed my hand over the wound while mr D got a Kleenix tissue pack and antiseptic out of my pack, then unwound some duct tape off my tripod. Tissues with some antiseptic applied were placed on a section of the tape that would cover the wound. Recall when we were ready, as soon as I removed my hand, a bloody mess expanded but he just wrapped it up tightly quickly and then I cleaned the external arm areas with tissue wetted from my water bottle. With a strap off my pack plus more tape, we fashioned a sling around my neck for the arm that would remain immobile for a few days until we hiked out since the resulting elbow scab might easily break. For a few days I was a one-arm photographer. On the day we hiked out, I removed the duct tape bandage and was amazed at how well the skinned elbow had healed. The worst pain of the ordeal was ripping hairs off my arm removing the tape.
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