Emergency Meds Rx

[Rich M]

I can't get additional prescription stuff - all over the counter.

Neosporin
Aspirin/Advil/Goodies
Tums
Benadryl
Imodium
Musinex

 

[Tod osier]

For prescription meds in areas where it is hard to get out and takes a long time to get out or you may get weathered in (raft trip, fly in, etc... ) we have always carried: Cipro, Amoxicillin (Augmentin), Metronidazole (Flagyl) an epi-pen and an opioid. OTC: Naproxen , Diphenhydramine (Benadryl) and Loperamide (Immodium) are the main things. On a foot-based long backpack, We take a few days of each in baggies labelled, otherwise just bring the sack. As a family we have always had separates for our son.

Generally our family Doctor and Pediatrician have been great to deal with. Last summer, I could not extract an opioid from our family Doctor.

 

[CorbLand]

I have ibuprofen, allergy meds, diarrhea meds. I also keep some hydrocortisone lotion in my pack as I have really bad eczema and that can really ruin your hunt.

 

[WV Mountaineer]

If anybody here understand debilitating pain, I promise I’m at the front of the list. However, I’ve yet to experience it, know it doesn’t exist unless you have broken something required to take a step, and will just have to take reasons for having in a back country med kit as generating nothing more then a feel good gesture. No pun intended. Seriously.

To each their own. God Bless men.

 

[CrzyTrekker]

"They make you high. Not stop pain enough to make you able to walk out. Quite the opposite truly. It'd be the best cause I know of to force you to lay down and die versus sucking it up and humping out. They have absolutely zero use for being better prepared in the back country for anyone that doesn't require them to function daily. Correct me if I am wrong. Which I may be. but, I can't see it."

I think this may be missing the point. I've carried prescription pain killers for years and never used them to "suck it up and hump out." I'd only take something as extreme as a prescription pain killer if I was alone (which I often am), incapacitated, and had already used sat comms to request a rescue. Then I might take a prescription pain killer to ease the next 24 hours waiting in a blizzard.

 

[CrzyTrekker]

I realize we have an opioid crisis going on in America, but I also assume I'm talking to folks that don't have that particular issue, and we don't need any more virtue signalling on that subject. This thread is about what may belong in a very competent individual's emergency medical kit.

 

[pods8 (Rugged Stitching)]

So, unless you have a chronic pain that needs treated daily, what on God's green earth makes you rationalize they are needed for a back country first aid kit?

Chronic pain management is absolutely NOT what you use opiates for, that's why the country has an opiate problem (folks get addicted and their brain recreates the pain chronically to keep getting more drug), they are meant for short term pain management and they are affective in that realm.

They shouldn't be folks "go-to" in a med kit but they can be affective at dulling pain from a blown knee or such in the right dose to limp out. I certainly don't go out of my way to keep a script up to date for them but I have leftovers around from prior injuries and a few are in my med kit, but ibuprofen is my go to when needed still as a first step.

 

[pods8 (Rugged Stitching)]

If anybody here understand debilitating pain, I promise I’m at the front of the list. However, I’ve yet to experience it, know it doesn’t exist unless you have broken something required to take a step, and will just have to take reasons for having in a back country med kit as generating nothing more then a feel good gesture. No pun intended. Seriously.

To each their own. God Bless men.

Back spasms is a situation that comes to mind where a pill that effectively numbs/relaxes the spasm trigger cycle makes a notable difference in being able to move or not.

 

[Selway]

Cipro is an absolute tornado of an antibiotic. NO WAY should you carry that around as a "just in case" medication.

 

[Trial153]

I/we extracted a hiker Monday afternoon that slipped on ice and fractured his acetabulum. Should I have given him Acetaminophen and stick to a bite on?
On second thought I went with fentanyl and then morphine.
Some of the holier then thou self Righteous bull shit that gets posted is just amazing.

 

[CrzyTrekker]

"I/we extracted a hiker Monday afternoon that slipped on ice and fracrated his acetabulum."

Black swan or catastrophic accidents. They can happen. I think there's probably a place for a prescription pain killer in my ruck, next to the Ibuprofen and Tylenol.

 

[oldgoat]

Aspirin, ibuprofen, Benadryl, Imodium, a couple Pepto bismol tablets, a couple cough drops

 

[CorbLand]

Aspirin, ibuprofen, Benadryl, Imodium, a couple Pepto bismol tablets, a couple cough drops

Cough Drops. I should put a few of those in my pack. Thanks for the idea.

 

[slatty]

I'm a physician and i'll tell you what I carry (I work ER and office family practice). This is based on what I know and what I feel is good for me and any possible hunting partners. Anything more than this I don't think I would treat in the field. It's not that you can't treat in the field, i'm just not sure it's worth doing so. I hunt backcountry for multiple days but I could always be back in civilization within a day. I carry an inreach. My med list is:

antiemetic (gravol)
antidiarrheal (immodium)
acetaminophen
ibuprofen
antihistamine (benadryl)

I have a good first aid kit as well.

 

[LostArra]

I/we extracted a hiker Monday afternoon that slipped on ice and fracrated his acetabulum. Should I have given him Acetaminophen and stick to a bite on?
On second thought I went with fentanyl and then morphine.
Some of the holier then thou self Righteous bull shit that gets posted is just amazing.

Your comments and the drugs you mention aren't relevant to what goes in Joe Rokslider's hunting pack.

You are obviously a physician with the training to diagnose a pelvis fracture in the field, manage a patient's airway and respiratory depression. But I would love to hear the patient request:

Joe Rokslide: "Well doc I'm going on this elk hunt and I might get hurt. Could you write me a few prescriptions? Fentanyl, Morphine and some Valium ought to do it.

Yeah, yeah I know but Heath Ledger, Tom Petty and Prince were complete idiots. "

 

[Poltax]

Why would you need pain killers in the backcountry........Kidney Stones!! They will put you down and you will cry like a little girl. I have had a couple Kidney Stone attacks one while on the road for work. The other in the backcountry snowmobiling. I carry some perscription pain killers just in case.

 

[JPD350]

Black swan or catastrophic accidents. They can happen. I think there's probably a place for a prescription pain killer in my ruck, next to the Ibuprofen and Tylenol.

I agree that there is a place in the kit for them. T-3's have been in my kit for many years but I have never ever used them even though I have had some painful issues that I've had to deal with out in the field, they are for issues that require them. I really don't like taking drugs in general but I have been hurt enough times to know that Ibuprofen isn't the only thing ever needed when badly hurt. One time I had an ATV roll over on me fracturing my back, the place my wife took me to only gave me Ibuprofen but after an hour or so I was in such pain that I started trembling uncontrollably, after me yelling out loud WTF for an hour or so they finally dosed me up with a narcotic for my ambulance ride to a place that wanted to help me. If I ever slip and fall to where I re-injured it I can tell you without a doubt I will eat the T-3's while I am waiting to get extracted.

A side note, if you ever get hurt call an ambulance! don't let your wife take you somewhere that you are not welcome..........LOL she took me to a women's hospital that didn't take my insurance and they really did not want to give me anything other than Ibuprofen.

 

[5MilesBack]

I carry pain killers, Ibuprofen, Benadryl, Imodium, Cipro, and a Z pack. The Ibuprofen is all but worthless for me except for headaches. I avoid most Acetaminophen except what's in the pain killers, it's never done anything for pain anyway......like taking sugar pills. Same for T-3's......absolutely nothing even after 6 of them. I have a naturally very high tolerance as well, and I don't drink. Even before and during surgeries, they've had to up the drugs and anesthesia because they've done nothing for me, or I wake up on the table and start flopping around trying to get up.

But Vicodin and Percocet works enough that I can then at least function. With three herniated discs in my neck and in need of a 4-level fusion, there are times when it gets just unbearable. The pain meds make it bearable. I've had prescriptions for them since 2006 and haven't had any issues with addiction or otherwise. I might go months without taking any, and then end up taking them for three days straight when I can barely move because of the pain and spasms. My last Rx for them was from 2012, and I still have some left after almost 7 years. I don't see a problem with them if people would take them as intended, but people overindulge with alcohol, food, and everything else in life as well, so what do we expect. People shouldn't be taking them if they can't handle them.......it's their choice.

Even my mom when she was 80 was taking Vicodin 8 times a day for 9 months before her hip replacement, and went cold turkey the day she left the hospital.

 

[Huntindog45]

neosporin
Benadryl
hydrocodone
xanax (helps sleep)
jack Daniels.

they all go well together too.

 

[Huntindog45]

i have heard tums is important to have also for altitude related issues. I have never confirmed this. anyone have an educated opinion on this?