Carry more than 2 immodium - that is the first dose only.

You should have enough for 24 hours to prevent severe dehydration - expect several loose motions in that time! You will be improvising with charcoal or tannin teas after that.

As a 19 year + Army medic, I can tell you what I have seen the most in the Norhern and Southern Hemispheres:

North: dehydration, hands down the winner. Followed by contact dermatitis (poison ivy and such); relatively few cases of hypothermia.

South: dehydration, hands down the winner. Followed by fungal infections, gastro-intestinal disorders due to local food consumption, and sexually transmitted diseases.

For what it's worth, in the deserts north and south: dehydration and hypothermia seem to go hand in hand. Also, don't pick up the rocks, don't play with the snakes....and dang sure shake out your boots before you put them on!

Good point about blisters. I always break in my footwear but you never know when Murphy will strike. I may throw in a couple of bandaids for that reason or look into moleskin. I know many people carry it but I have zero experience wlth it--in fact, I've never even seen any.

Regards, Vince

My thinking on sunblock/lipbalm is that I can always find shade where I am at, or if I am on the move, I can shield myself from the sun with my space blanket. I still carry those things--I am just leaving them out of this kit for the sake of space. Ditto on the trauma pad.

Regards, Vince

You are right about the Immodium. I only packed two because that's all it's ever taken to fix me up in town. <img src="/images/graemlins/smile.gif" alt="" />
There's a lot more at stake in the wilds. I'll probably cut back on the aspirin and replace them with at least two more Immodium.

Regards, Vince

I had not thought about chewable aspirin. That's a great tip.
Thanks!

Regards, Vince

I started a discussion about Benadryl awhile back and the general concensus seemed to be that oral was better than nothing. I am not allergic myself, but from what I have gathered you can develop an allergy later in life, even after hundreds of stings. I don't really want to mess with trying to get and then using an Epi-pen, especially since I have zero formal medical training. Here is the old discussion and I would be very interested in further comments:

http://www.equipped.org/ubbthreads/showf...o=&vc=1

Regards, Vince

You are right Vince. It is better than nothing. A first allergic response to something may not be life threatening so the benadryl would help. Thanks for the added thread. Checking it out now.

I too keep Immodium or LoMotil in my emergency kit(s) but we probably should all be aware that it isn't a given that you should use it for diarrhea in wilderness emergency situations.

I recently was setting up a kit prior to an Alaska trip and was talking with some MD friends: Family Practice, Surgeon, and an Infectious Disease doc (all experienced outdoorspersons). They agreed (it was scary for 3 docs to agree) that if you slow/stop motility, you trap toxins in your system that need to get out. In the extreme, they are highly dangerous. So they think that if you have safe drinking water... keep drinking and "let'er rip". I don't know if I'll take this advice.. but here it is FWIW.

I know here in Aus there are basically three options - one drug bungs you up (good if you have a flight to catch), the other drug opens the gates, and the other option is clean water and bland food - up to 15 litres of water may be required in the first day if you have it bad.....Of course you may have it coming out both ends....
Now wash your hands.....