When it comes to survival gear, first aid kits are one of the most overlooked preparedness items out there. What items go into a First Aid Kit? A good first aid kit is always developed around your unique medical needs. There is no one size fits all solution, so every bag should be customized to deal with the most likely medical emergencies that you might experience. That means taking an inventory of who is in your household, what medications they are taking, what health problems they may have, and what you need to help them survive during times of crisis. While every kit is going to be a bit different, there are some things that every bag should have. Here are the top items that we include in our first aid kit list; these medical items should be the foundation that your bag is built upon, and will help you get going. Have a Way to Stop bleeding and Close Wounds Every good medical kit should have items that can be used to help stop bleeding, close and protect cuts, and help prevent infection from setting in. It can be a life saver when trying to treat a cut or wound when medical help may be too far away to reach quickly. Duct tape can quickly and safely pull together an open wound, and can buy you the time you need to reach medical help. When using duct tape or butterfly sutures to close a wound, make sure you carefully clean the wound and wash out any foreign materials or debris. If you have any kind of antiseptic, apply it to the wound and dry the area. Start in the middle of the wound and apply the strips, pulling the cut together as tightly as possible. Work your way towards the edges, gently bringing the two sides together and taping them shut. Infection can set in quickly, so you need to stay on top of any open cuts. Erythromycin, Ciprofloxacin, and Amoxicillin are all broad spectrum antibiotics. Pain Management Items Depending on your condition, pain can be a debilitating and even deadly thing if it causes you to lose hope or give up. Having a way to treat and manage pain, as well as decrease inflammation, is an important part of every emergency first aid kit. In some cases, especially in people who have food allergies, allergens can cause life-threatening anaphylaxis reactions that need to be treated immediately. They can help stop an anaphylaxis reaction and buy you time until medical help arrives. Items Specific to Your Unique Medical Needs No one kit is right for every person. What do you have in your medical kit? I my kids and grandchildren all have some different allergies, irritants, sleep apnea and asthma. My biggest concern pertaining to the kit list is the IODINE. PLEASE everyone use Benadine or clean water NOT IODINE. Iodine is made from SHELLFISH and there are a LOT of people allergic to anything seafood. NO LATEX GLOVES EITHER PLEASE! NO LATEX BANDAGES TOO! A lot of people are allergic or find very irritating many soaps, some people cannot use Hand SANITIZERS on their skin. Two of my kids are allergic to APPLE, LATEX. One is Highly allergic to seafood, cherries, apple, ect. I am allergic to wheat, yeast, coconut and latex. My grandchildren and one of my kids has asthma. Two grandkids have sleep apnea and have to use a cpap at night to sleep, they both got one way before the age of six. So can someone come up with a fairly easy tool or way to make a cpap for all to use that need it when we do NOT have electricity, distilled water, ect. DO NOT EVEN SUGGEST THOSE STUPID MOUTH GAURD THINGS THEY ARE ADVERTIZING ON THE INTERNET. Thank you in advanced from a concerned mom and grandmother. Every medical emergency is different- I think what is most important is that you have knowledge. Like this poor couple with sick grandchildren. You should have a clue what to do about your family situation. Yes there are answers. Six year olds should not have sleep apnea. Now would be a great time to research that and not rely on an overly busy doctor or others to be prepared for that matter. What you choose to prepare is for you and your family. If you thing you can dictate what others do because of your needs, your not taking responsibility. If you do have supplies, learn how to use them. Right now we have a overabundance of knowledge at our fingertips. READ it , take a class. Fill your mind with that which could soon be gone. Stop making excuses and do. All but one of them have been repaired by super glue. The first two went to the ER and the doctor cleaned the wound and glued it. Yes it is, BUT do not get near the eye…. Long story short, immediately took him to our Ophthalmologist and his eye was fine after being flushed for 1 hour, BUT he said that had we not gotten him in, the glue would have hardened and he would have lost his sight……. Reason being, I had a full ceramic hip replacement in 2009 when I was 38 at Wrightington Hospital where the hip replacement was pioneered by Mr Charnley. The scar is like somebody made a line with a red ball point pen, virtually non existent compared to the others left by my local hospital after 3 other ops on my hips, and they have had the best part of 30 years to heal and disappear, so yes, Superglue is an excellent addition for a first aid kit when used correctly. While using glue that you can buy in the store to close a wound would work, it also may produce extreme skin irritation and skin death when purchased in over-the-counter form. There are medical superglues that are often used in place of stitches to close certain types of wounds. Superglue is made of a substance called cyanoacrylate. When it comes into contact with liquids like water, it forms a plastic mesh that will keep skin, or anything someone wants glued, neatly bonded together. Regular superglue has methyl alcohol, however, which creates heat in order to produce the bonding effect. Using this type of glue to close a wound in deep tissue could result in killing some of the surrounding skin cells. It is true that the US military used superglue to close wounds during the Vietnam War. Most of the studies of problems resulting from use were recorded during this time. It is likely that doctors did save many lives with this procedure, however, because it gave them time to transport patients to M. Food was the first medicine known to man. If one is sick it is because that have not been in good health to start with; the notion that if you are sick, you have messed up some how. True health is predicated upon the ability to a. This is accomplished by having a strong, fit and integrated vessel in the first place. Do you really think that pharmaceutical companies actually come up with these medicines chemically alone? The essential compound come from the rain forest. So if you think that you can eat fast food frequently and live healthy you are wrong. If that was a fact, people would have never died before modern medicine. The story in which you tell is like abnormalist said, snake oil salesman. Debbie is correct, and you need to go back on your mind altering drugs. I use wild crafted oil of oregano one drop under tongue at the onset of any cold or sore throat and have not been sick in years. Also use tea tree oil on any minor cut or cat scratch and it heals fast with no infection. Peppermint essential oil mixed with olive oil on temple for headaches. Small bottles fit well in first aid kits. Get a good prepper book on emergency meds and look up fish antibiotics on eBay. Few drops over boiling water-towel over their head-can b a life saver. Insects eating u to death try citronella oil othets respond well to cedarwood oil. Nothing to bring a fever down-aspirin is made straight from Willow bark that you can make a tea out of! FYI…FEMA which stockpiles large amounts of antibiotics, used to replace them quite often, at huge cost. They funded a study and found that most antibiotics in tablet or caplet form, retained pharmacological and therapeutic effectiveness for up to 5 years beyond the manufacturers expiration dates. None were found to degrade in a medically deleterious manner. Therefore, in a SHTF situation, the medically indicated use of such expired date antibiotics could be life saving, and in the worst case, they may have no effect at all. This was NOT found to be the case for liquid form medications of all sorts, which generally lost therapeutic value and may become otherwise harmful when used beyond manufacturer expiration dates. I have YUNNAI PAIYAO in my emergency kit — it is a Chinese Herb used to stop the bleeding, pain and swelling immediately. Comes in little ball pills or powder. This a life saver. Another herb is CURING PILLS for stomach problems. YIN CHIAO pills are great for balancing the system just when you begin to feel something coming on. Two compressed pills usually do the trick before bedtime. Ask for these at any Asian market or buy it online. A favorite homeopathic remedy is Oscillococcinum by Boiron. This too, is great to take just when a sore throat, flu or cold is coming on. Ten Tiny white pills wipe out that symptom so nothing continues to magnify into real discomfort. I take it before boarding a flight to ward off the air-borne germs that are flying around the cabin. You are incredibly right. So cities and small counties with large populations normally around cities. Your local fire department can provide very cheap or free education in first aid or basic medical care as well as access to smaller medical supplies like gauz and bandages. People are always picking things up, touching things and then eating without a thought. This can be risky. Clean hands are therefore extremely important out in the field before doing any food or water prep. Washing your hands regularly with soap and water is not always possible and a real faff if you are having to sterilise water to do it. Either there is no soap and water, the water is not reliable or there is no clean towel available. For all those moments when there is no soap and water available, Care Plus® Clean Disinfect Gel is the solution. It is a softening and cleansing antibacterial gel that protects your hands against harmful outside influences. Care Plus® Clean Disinfect Gel eliminates 99. Contents: a handy pocket size 30ml ml. Ideal for use especially post and prior to prepping game and food, dressing injuries or sterilizing water. This gel also makes a great addition to a fire lighting kit as it is alcohol based. I am a trained nurse,Paramedic and combat medic UK so i carry a comprehensive kit. I would add tampons,panty liners heavy absorbency, which make great wound plugs like gauze, and dressings. They have many other uses too,tampons for fire starting. Petroleum jelly as a sealant,also added to cotton wool a long burn firestarter, steristrips and tinc benzoin for wounds, safety pins, potassium permanganate crystals add to sugar firestarter ,add to water purple dye signal, or antifungal for feet HI Jay Cee, Your list makes the most sense of the things a good first aid Kit should have, and in case of shortages of basic medicines. I will be stocking the things you have mentioned and also a lot of good other items some people have added. I have no medical background whatsoever can you explain what does the purple dye gel do by adding it to to water? I do have a suggestion to add to the First aid kit and that is what we call Alum powder? My dad had this Alum stone which he would use after he had had shaved and cut himself. It was like a magic stone and it would stop the bleeding immediately. I think a good Tweezer is also a good addition to the Kit. Thank you for all for the great advice. I have read some of the other comments and I agree with jay cee. The items described are a great complement to the baseline you describe. I believe that the superglue, stapler, and RX antibiotics. I think you have to prepare for minimum of 72 hours of emergency care. Carolyn, that all depends on your skill level. Then you can get into more advanced training and books. Medicine for Mountaineering, Emergency War Medicine, ect. Just because this looks like a good place to put this… A myth about snake bites says to apply a turniqute. The bitten area will swell regardless and you can create larger problems such as burst blood vessels and killing tissues. The best thing like others have said is have the antivenom. This is in accordance with the Maryland State EMS Protocols 2015. In case you needed verification In the US only 3 of the items would need a prescription. Codeine, Epipen, and the antibiotics. There are plenty of OTC painkillers that would work in a pinch. An Epipen would be great, and if you or a family member have asthma or bee sting reations, you most likely have a prescription already. There are plenty of animal grade antibiotics on the market, but without knowing exactly what strain of infection you are dealing with it is kind of pointless, or possibly dangerous. Maybe learn how to run Gram stain tests and ID the bug and have a reference book to determine the proper antibiotic.
