Critique my medkit please. Anything missing?

[redhtbassplyr]

23 minutes ago, balzaccom said:

You are getting good advice here.  I always assume that I should only take stuff that I am medically competent to use--which allows me to leave a lot of stuff at home.  Multi-tool?  Too heavy.  I already carry a small knife, and the tool doesn't offer anything useful for more weight. 

And Diamox?  It takes quite a while for that to take effect.  You would be better off hiking downhill than taking Diamox and waiting for it to help.  If you are seriously suffering from HACE/HAPE, get the heck off the mountain.

Well I'm debating ditching my other knife, haven't decided yet, but if so this would be my only one. It's only 1.4 oz, but yea I'll think about it if I do take my other knife. The Diamox I misspoke a little. I'm taking it more for comfort in prevention of Acute Mountain Sickness. I'm taking 125mg twice a day starting the day before accent which is the day of the flight for me once we've landed.  I only have 1 day to adjust. Mild symptoms like headache nausea and getting dizzy is what I'm trying to avoid. I'm really sensitive/prone to motion sickness and nausea as is. As far as HAPE/HACE yea it maybe can increase tolerance a little, but that's not what I'm going for. Yes, we would be turning around for HAPE/HACE symptoms. We'll be trying to camp at 7k- 10,500ft or so. We have some hiking that will take us higher, but we should make it back to lower spots for the night.

[Norb5150]

get a piece of mole skin for blisters

[redhtbassplyr]

Mostly finalized, not packed full and will be easy to pack. Just looking to replace the Neosporin with 2-3 smaller single use packets. Still debating taking out the multitool, but I think this is it and realize this is for 2 people. Obviously some Rx items here some people won't need and are specific to myself. Thanks everyone for the thoughts so far.

https://imgur.com/gallery/hsDUIUc

[Lunar_Herbalist]

Looks good to me. I like the EpiPen on that loop on the outside. Nicely done.

[Brett]

All great suggestions.  I am gonna combine a lot of the stuff into mine.  Thanks for the great ideas.

[jhelms]

Dude, you are thorough.  The only thing I see missing is an EMT.  It is more than adequate. 

My kit is much smaller but that may be because I am the guy whose mother caught him, when he was 15 years old, suturing his own thumb with a regular sewing needle and a hair from a horses tail. She worked in a hospital and was horrified.  I told her I soaked the needle and the hair in alcohol before I started and while that calmed her a little, she was still pretty disgusted with me.  

Anyway, I think I would include some larger butterfly bandages in my kit.  I have put myself back together with those almost as often as I have with super glue.  Both are really much better than trying to stitch up a small gaping wound with a horsehair or even catgut on the trail.

Oh, by the way, the thumb healed fine and you can barely see the scar some 49 years later.

Edited October 19, 2018 by jhelms

[redhtbassplyr]

6 minutes ago, jhelms said:

Dude, you are thorough.  The only thing I see missing is an EMT.  It is more than adequate. 

My kit is much smaller but that may be because I am the guy whose mother caught him, when he was 15 years old, suturing his own thumb with a regular sewing needle and a hair from a horses tail. She worked in a hospital and was horrified.  I told her I soaked the needle and the hair in alcohol before I started and while that calmed her a little, she was still pretty disgusted with me.  

Anyway, I think I would include butterfly bandages in my kit.  I have put myself back together with those almost as often as I have with super glue.  Both are really much better than trying to stitch up a small gaping wound with a horsehair or even catgut on the trail.

Oh, by the way, the thumb healed fine and you can barely see the scar some 49 years later.

Yeah I am thorough, but given I had the room and didn't mind the weight, which wasnt much. it gave me piece of mind. Done with my big trip and it served me well. Only used 1/3 or 1/4 of the items, but the rest was there on standby and I don't carry a beefy medkit like this everywhere, but I was out of cell service for 5 days over 50 miles in bear country and wanted to have no issues. EMT is included FYI and even better. I'm a trauma nurse with emt credentials as well with 6 different life support certificatons. Thankfully I needed none of them for that trip for myself or others. Got mildest form of high altitude pulmonary edema twice that lasted all of the 30-45 mins we were summitting. Felt like I had temporary walking pnumonia and was wheezing and having some breathing difficulty, but knew to get down quick, and took an extra dose of diamox when I felt it and between the meds and getting down in elevation I was fine. My brother threw up a couple times from the altitude but just pushed through it

[jhelms]

7 minutes ago, redhtbassplyr said:

Yeah I am thorough, but given I had the room and didn't mind the weight, which wasnt much. it gave me piece of mind. Done with my big trip and it served me well. Only used 1/3 or 1/4 of the items, but the rest was there on standby and I don't carry a beefy medkit like this everywhere, but I was out of cell service for 5 days over 50 miles in bear country and wanted to have no issues. EMT is included FYI and even better. I'm a trauma nurse with emt credentials as well with 6 different life support certificatons. Thankfully I needed none of them for that trip for myself or others. Got mildest form of high altitude pulmonary edema twice that lasted all of the 30-45 mins we were summitting. Felt like I had temporary walking pnumonia and was wheezing and having some breathing difficulty, but knew to get down quick, and took an extra dose of diamox when I felt it and between the meds and getting down in elevation I was fine. My brother threw up a couple times from the altitude but just pushed through it

Honestly, I think your kit is a really good one.  Only you know what is good for you and I was serious when I said it looks thorough.  Planning for what you need and don't need is as important as being in the proper physical shape for the treks on which you are about to set out.

Good luck and happy hiking.   

[ppine]

I want to go hiking with jhelms.   Sewing with a needle and hair from a horse's tail is how cattle get doctored in the field.  Superglue works. 

In over 60 years of time in the field, the main injuries are burns from a fire, axes in the foot, but mostly falls.  Sprains, ligaments, and once in  awhile a break.  Falls are the worst and hard to plan for. 

[balzaccom]

Falls are the perfect example of the unexpected.  But if you aren't prepared, they can be a nightmare.  I think you had one of those, Ppine...