So we’ve got the basics (Tylenol, ibuprophen, etc), but it seems like the whole family is sick this week.
What medicine/remedies are useful to keep on hand just in case (as the pharmacy is quite far)? 💊 🍵
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Burn ointment
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Neosporin (or similar; I’m not sure what the medicine part is named to offer generic names but it keeps the wound disinfected and speeds up healing)
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Antihistimines
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Anti-virals, anti-bacterials, and anti-fungals
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Dramamine
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An Aloe vera plant, not only are they pretty and fairly easy to care for (potted in a southern or western window, watered occasionally), their leaf goo is an excellent treatment for burns and the basis for a lot of over the counter topical salves. It’ll always be there when you need it and regrow what you use over time. Just snap off some of a lower leaf and squeeze out the goo on to a burn. Just… don’t eat it, not good for eating.
Ginger and garlic steeped as a tea are also a fairly good symptom alleviator for coughs, upset stomachs and head colds, adding a fair amount of honey is good too. Easy enough to keep around, not super extreme like some cold medicines can be but still surprisingly effective. Ginger is actually fairly easy to propagate and grow, but, eh, cheap and common enough at any story that keeping a plant of it around may not be worth the effort.
I eat aloe vera if it’s soaked in water for a while, it takes the iodine out of it. It’s a good plant to have, helpful for lots of remedies. I will buy some to plant when I get the chance.
Ginger is pretty easy to get, and I’ve been meaning to get garlic. I’ll have to look into propagating ginger, could be a neat project.
Burn dressings.
Seriously, this is the one piece of “real” first aid stuff (as opposed to the acetaminophen and bandaids I also keep in mine) that I’ve needed to use enough to replenish them. I’ve used my gauze roll once, when I absolutely shredded my hand by stupidly breaking a ceramic bowl in half. Never had to use my tourniquets and hopefully never will.
I recommend Burnshield Hydrogel dressings. They don’t just stop the damage from getting worse, I can tell you from experience that if you use them right they can even prevent the blistering from 2nd degree burns.
If you ever get hydrocodone after a surgery, add that to your kit, for emergencies.
Thanks! I’ll add that to the list. Bandaids aren’t enough for big cuts sometimes.
Hydrocodone for general strong pain relief or is it for something specific?
Just strong pain relief.
A trauma kit would be useful for serious injuries, to stop heavy bleeding:
- CAT or SAM type tourniquet
- Emergency dressings (OLAES® Israeli bandage or similar)
- Sterile packing gauze (with or without QuikClot)
- EMT shears
- Chest wound seals
- Emergency blanket for hypothermia
- Nasopharyngeal device
- SAM splints
- Burn dressings
- Cloth tape
- Sharpie for writing down the time
In addition to this, not really first aid and probably obvious, but a fire extinguisher.
Ooh I used to have EMT shears, I should have kept them. Is a trauma kit overkill if the medical center is 20mins away? I’m not sure if I would ever use it. ((I guess I hope I don’t have to.))
I still see it being useful. A heavy aerial bleed can cause a bleed-out death within about 3 minutes, so timing is important even if ambulances are nearby.
A purpose built tourniquet can stop blood flow when placed correctly on the limbs, and packing gauze, emergency field dressings, and pressure on the torso can limit this loss until help can arrive.
Granted, both will hurt like a mofo, but you’ll be saving their life.
You can get trainer tourniquets to practice with (good if every member of the household is familiar with their use).
I plan on getting a kit prepared and storing it behind a headrest in my car (there are MOLLE style headrest mounts commercially available), as that’s probably the most likely place I’d need to have it for trauma injuries.
For first aid, I keep a stock of bandage supplies like gauze and tape, adhesive bandages (band aids), and bacitracin. For falling off bikes, falling out of trees, woodworking, mechanic repairs, lots of cuts and scrapes can be fixed at home.
For medicine, in addition to the basics you listed and prescriptions, we keep a “cold kit” with things like guaifenesin (Mucinex) for chest congestion and pseudoephedrine (Sudafed) for nasal congestion. Some antacids like Tums are also handy.
I definitely have Tums on hand. Thanks for the ideas about different kinds of kits, makes sense to have one for colds and one for injuries!
