Wilderness FAK's in Perspective

Ramm9 said:
The MD's I've encountered or observed on relatively remote trips always seemed to have a much, much, smaller kit than I would have expected.
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Yep, and they have a good reason for that: a lot of stuff that people carry on their FAK won't help much.
 
LUW said:
That's the point; they will NOT save your life in case of severe diarrhea. Think about it, if they were that good they would be in use in emergency rooms and hospitals all around the world, specially in developing countries. But they are not used, and in fact, the WHO is against their use as a way to treat diarrhea.
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I agree with LUW here. Hydration and rehydration is the key. Use the anti-diarrheal meds with care.
 
LUW said:
I'm strongly against taking antibiotics if you don't have formal training to do so. Even if you know what you are treating and how to treat it, you'll have to haul a lot of supplies if you want to treat it right. There's no need to use local antibiotics in a wound if you clean it right. If you don't clean it right, you can put a bucket load of antibiotic powder over it that it still won't help, so a bar of soap is more useful then dressings with antibiotics or powder antibiotics. The only reason to carry antibiotics to the field is if where you're going is so remote that it would take more then two days to get to civilization and if you know what you're doing (ie, have formal training) and you're lugging the right stuff in enough quantities.
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What do you pack to clean wounds? Do you just use regular soap or something similar to a prep sponge?
 
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mikeal said:
What do you pack to clean wounds? Do you just use regular soap or something similar to a prep sponge?
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Only an antiseptic soap, whatever the brand, that usually is small enough to fit in your pack without taking much space.

But more important then the brand of soap, is how thoroughly you wash the wound. You have to take care to remove all the dirt that got in, that is crucial. If no dirt is left in the wound when you make the bandage, it will be unlikely that it will infect afterwards. Even if you don't have soap, but your able to rinse the wound with abundant clean water and rub thoroughly with your (clean) hand will make a lot of difference.
 
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