<p>I have a billion jars of vitamins & supplements, lotions and tinctures, but I’m apparently not that great in keeping basic first aid supplies, outside of ice packs, aspirin, and band-aids.
As you might have read on another thread, Thursday night I recieved multiple bee stings ( I am pretty sure they were yellow jackets, after id-ing one in the bathtub). I am also allergic, and while I took Benadryl immediately, and used a huge box of baking soda as a poultice, by 4am I was going into shock and had to go to the emergency room. </p>
<p>I am feeling much better today, actually due to the steroids that were prescribed, I am feeling better than I did before I was stung, because the steroids are also making my arthritis feel great! ( I will also call an allergist on Monday to see about getting desensitized)</p>
<p>But I am putting together first aid kits for the kids to have in their homes, just in case.
Benadryl can be used for lots of things. I like the colorless gel caps. I use them sometimes during spring allergy season to get to sleep at night, and don’t have so much trouble breathing during the day. I also learned from the nurse @ the hospital that Pepcid is an antihistamine that can be taken with Benadryl for cases like mine.</p>
<p>Vitamin C powder is something I used to have and it came in very handy when D was a toddler and she put her hand on a burner that wasn’t red but was still hot. I sat with her all night soaking her hand in ice water with vitamin C dissolved in it, and by morning it was just pink.
Cortisone cream ( although it didn’t do a thing for me) and neosporin are things I usually have but forget to restock.
Rubbing alcohol, to clean cuts, & hydrogen peroxide, and Epsom salts to soak muscles.
I’m going to get some meat tenderizer / papain, I hear that is great for insect bites although I have never tried it.
I also used to have garlic capsules, or drops, because D would get ear infections, but not take amoxicillin.
Moisturizing eye drops.
Hot water bottle or heating pad.</p>
<p>I don’t think there’s anything you could have put in the kit that could spare you the unpleasantness of spending several hours in an ER after a big-league allergic reaction.</p>
<p>Even if your bee sting allergy proves to be severe enough so that your doctor wants you to carry an epinephrine injector with you, you would still have to go hang out in a medical facility after using it because the effects of the drug can wear off before the reaction does, and the medical people want you on hand in case they have to give you more shots.</p>
<p>For me it’s generally a combo of OTC medicines and general ‘first aid’ items. I have a plastic container under the bathroom sink that has stuff like:
Advil/Motrin/Excedrin (different pains = different pills)
Pepto/Immodium/Mylanta for an upset tummy
Benedryl for all sorts of allergies
Vaseline for skin irritations
aloe vera for sunburns
rubbing alcohol and hydrogen peroxide
bandaids
Neosporin
gauze
Ace bandages for sprained joints
cotton balls and Qtips
contact solution (#1 solution for that bout of pink eye you wake up with before an interview)
chloraseptic spray or lozenges
Robitussin
Nyquil/Dayquil
Cough drops
Mucinex</p>
<p>I’m sure I’m forgetting stuff, but when I lived in my sorority house, everyone came to me since I always had the perfect cure in the closet.</p>
<p>Also as a completely random FYI, if you have the flu or a prolonged intestinal/stomach issue…Pepto actually makes it worse. Take Mylanta, works like a charm.</p>
<p>Burts Bees ResQ is good for sunburns, burns and rashes.
gauze pads and roll, in case of significant cut
hot/cold pack (just bought one filled with clay at Target for D, love it)</p>
<p>Gosh, you’re all much more organized than I am. Lot of times I’m hard pressed to find a band-aid. Also, everything I have is scattered. Some in the big bathroom, some stuff in the little one, stuff in the linen closet, in the kitchen junk drawers and some stuff in a few kitchen cabinets. The kit is in the linen closet but hasn’t been added to since DH coached youth soccer when my son, now almost 19, was 5! Last time I looked in there for a band-aid all there was was gauze but the tape dispenser was empty. :(</p>
<p>I wasn’t really thinking of for me- but for college kids who might be dealing with stuff without mom!
( I did get a couple epi-pens and a practice one, because if you put the wrong end into your thumb, you are in a world of hurt)
Also a thermometer.
A tiny flashlight would be good too, for those extra sore throats so you have info to tell the dr over the phone.
My youngest says they have lots of mosquitos. So I should send her some campho-phenique or bite stick.
I also heard ammonia is good?</p>
<p>I really like that spray-on bandage stuff. It is great for blisters, small cuts, or cuts in locations where a bandaid is awkward (eg, fingers). One thing to consider if you put together a package is to check periodically and pitch stuff after its expiration date. I usually give it a few months after the date, but with medications I don’t let them go much past.</p>
<p>I made a first aid kit to send S1 to college. Not sure he used it, but it made me feel a lot better! Actually, he did use it, because he called at 2 a.m. to ask where it was and what was in it!</p>
<p>We have livestock so get biffed up quite a bit in the barn–wire fence, horns, misc. things in a barn–my go to items are peroxide, neosporin, and band aids. H keeps enough bandaids to mummify anyone at any given time :)</p>
<p>We pretty much have creams and pills for about any given ailment. What isn’t in the people medicine cabinet is probably in the goat medicine cabinet. My mom used Mercuochrome (sp?) and straight alcohol…said if it didn’t hurt, it wasn’t working. I thought it was a wonderful world when my boyfriend introduced me to the cleansing and pain-free powers of peroxide.</p>
<p>Nexcare waterproof bandages. Awesome. Even on a cut finger, they totally seal out water and stay in place for a day or more, even through showering or washing dishes. Will never go back to regular bandaids.</p>
<p>Vitamin A & D Ointment. The stuff stinks but it makes everything heal faster. Great for burns, cuts, scrapes - you name it. I usually put a little dab on the cloth pad of the bandaid since it’s kind of greasy and the bandaid won’t stick if the ointment gets on the skin.</p>
<p>We have store bought first aid kits in both cars in a pinch. In the house scattered between two medicine cabinets and dining room cabinet:</p>
<p>Bandaids
Gauze pads and tape
Neosporine
Hydrogen Peroxide
Rubbing Alcohol
tweezers
ace bandage
advil/tylenol/aspirin
benedryl pills and lotion
cortisone cream
some sort of prescribed cream for eczema
various cold remedies and cough syrups I think are worthless, but DH bought
Rolaids
Younger son has stuff for traveler’s diarreah</p>
<p>NEVER use hydrogen peroxide on wounds. Ever. It’s true that H2O2 kills bacteria on contact, but it also kills body cells! The aftermath of hydrogen peroxide application is now known to leave behind an oxygen-rich, “burned” environment that promotes bacterial growth.</p>
<p>Instead, you should use a dilute povidone-iodine solution. Take off-the-shelf 10% povidone-iodine, further dilute it 10-to-1 with water and presto, you have a surgical prep cleaner that kills microorganisms safely and effectively.</p>
<p>I carry gloves and a Laerdal rescue breathing pocket mask in my backpack. It’s cheap peace of mind - think body substance isolation.</p>
<p>It’s also a good idea to take first aid/emergency medicine training… a lot of the “old wives tales” will get dispelled. I invested a week in getting certified as a Wilderness First Responder, but even a two-day Advanced First Aid course will leave you much better prepared for the worst.</p>
<p>I wouldn’t say never. I’ll tell you to use it right after the injury when you are trying to clean the wound and get debris out of it. After that, not again. Use regular soap and water, use betadine. Hydrogen Peroxide only as “first aid.” </p>
<p>It also works great to get blood out of clothing. That’s what I use it for most…</p>
<p>H2O2 is cytotoxic and kills the body’s healing cells on contact. There is never a reason to use it instead of PI, which is a more effective and less toxic antiseptic.</p>
<p>If you’re trying to irrigate and flush out debris from an open wound, clean water under pressure using an irrigator-tipped syringe is the best option. (Doesn’t have to be sterile, any clean drinking water supply will do.) If you can’t get the debris out with that method, it’s time to consult a professional. Serious debridement isn’t a field technique unless you’re really in the middle of nowhere.</p>
<p>As a sterilizer/cleaner of objects, H2O2 has its purposes. But for cleaning human body tissue, it’s been totally deprecated.</p>
<p>Any suggestions for the iodine-sensitive? My mom couldn’t use that at all (also had a shrimp allergy). Consequently, it isn’t something I’m willing to put into Happykid’s first aid kit.</p>
<p>Actually what I really liked hydrogen peroxide was getting blood out of clothes from ds’s frequent nosebleeds. I have it because we’ve been told to use it after various surgeries.</p>