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LUNCHBOX
06-27-2011, 02:20 AM
I know this sounds wrong in some way but does anyone ever think they have to much first aid gear....(see I told you it would sound wrong) What I mean is if you had to bug-out, obviously if you have a trunk load of first aid gear you won't be able to take it with you. Hide it? Leave it? Destroy it (that hurt just asking) I do understand you literally can't have to much but hopefully you guys know what I mean.

cwconnertx
06-27-2011, 04:01 AM
I imagine that certain things will be unobtanium if there is a big crisis, so I think you have to carefully decide on the risks and ditch, leave, hide, or give away things that can be replaced or substitutes. There has to be a balance, size, weight, relative value. I would hesitate to leave behind my pain killers, antibiotics, quick clot, and other high value items. I would also keep small stuff like tubes of triple antibiotic ointment, etc.

The most likely stuff to get rid of is wraps, rolls of gauze, etc, since there are substitutes and might be more likely to be scavenged. I can't imagine not being able to take all my medical supplies in a vehicle. Perhaps that means I need more? I can't take all my ammo (you would need more than a one ton vehicle), but medical supplies yes.

The Stig
06-27-2011, 12:23 PM
Too much first aid gear? Oh the humanity!

It's a fair question and one I've asked myself many times. How do you obtain balance? At what point should the resources go into other areas? But I always come back to the same answer: in the heat of an emergency, when your friend/loved one is bleeding out, can you have too few bandages?

For all of my first aid gear, it comprises of one backpack sized kit, one man-bag sized kit, and several smaller IFAK that are attached to something else (range bag, chest rig, etc). It hardly fills up a trunk let alone crowds out other gear.

Ultimately, you can go overboard by having too much first aid gear (or too much of one type of any gear) but as long as you have balance I'm a big believer in having a "little too much" med gear.

bacpacker
06-27-2011, 05:06 PM
I'm sort of set up similar to Stig. I have a EMT bag, about the size of a very thick day pack, that is pretty comprehensive. I also have a old vietnam era medics bag stuffed with supplies I keep in the truck (BOV). Both BOB & GHB each have a IFAK in them. I also have a tote that holds extra and bulk supplies, gause, tape, bandages, etc.

Outside of that, there are FAK's in the basement and shop for quick easy access. I'm also considering making one up in a sealed bag and attching it to the tractor just to keep it handy when out working a distance from the house.

There are several items I entend to purchase that I've discovered thru reading the postings on here and others, that I feel will pretty much complete my set up other than consumables and expirations. I don't have the skills to use it all, but if there is a trained person around without their gear, I can hopefully fill the need.

mitunnelrat
06-27-2011, 05:38 PM
I think the threshold for "too much" (of anything, really) is reached when one can no longer effectively organize, store, or protect their supplies/ equipment. We're already in the minority for stockpiling anything at all, so a set amount of "x" shouldn't concern us anywhere near as much as our ability to locate, access, and utilize (through our own skills or those of others) the materials we do have. Imo, caching allows us to multiply those abilities to a great extent, and breaks the amounts at any one location down so we can protect ourselves from "too much" loss ;). I can't say I'm a great practitioner of this yet, but I have worked it to some degree, and will expand in line with my resources over time.

LUNCHBOX
06-27-2011, 08:02 PM
The answers so far are exactly what I expected....My whole point to this thread was to see how easy it is to use the extra items you acquire. When you ifak each B.O.B. and kit each vehicle/house/garage and hide, it shows you can't have to much of a good thing.

izzyscout21
06-28-2011, 11:53 PM
for the situations we prep for, i can never see having too much first aid supplies. i figure they will bve used pretty extensively OR can be used as barter items

LUNCHBOX
08-17-2011, 10:23 PM
Other than diabetics or other medical needs...does anyone plan to keep any type of needles? If anything, they could be barter items or something someone may need later.

mitunnelrat
08-17-2011, 11:00 PM
I want to get a decompression needle for TPT into my trauma kit, and I need to ask about allergies in my household again. I used to carry epi-pens for my ex-wife after her anaphylactic shock experience, and it might be good to have again now for bee stings.

Its also been in the back of my mind that some injectable "veterinary" antibiotics are identical to those prescribed for humans, but need to be recalculated for proper dosage. Learning how to do that, and having some syringes on hand for it might not be too bad either.

apssbc
08-17-2011, 11:07 PM
I keep needles in mine for med admin, and multiple other uses from irrigating wounds, to trade like was mentioned. Remember any liquid drugs last less time. Meds are much more stable in the pill form. Look up fish meds as they are great and work for humans in the same doses.

izzyscout21
08-18-2011, 04:33 AM
I keep all sorts of needles around. I have eveything from diabetic needles to chest decompression.I have an absolute TON of injection needles.

LUNCHBOX
08-18-2011, 04:45 AM
Izzy, after our dealings, I expected nothing less from you....lol. I have something for you, I'll be in touch.

izzyscout21
08-19-2011, 12:20 PM
roger that. If you need some needles, let me know

Stormfeather
09-30-2011, 09:33 PM
I kind of lucked out that a friend who is in our MAG is a medic who I deployed with. She managed to locate pretty much everything I would want in a medic kit. RIght now our medic bags are in full sized BOB's and we have 5 bags set up identically. Adding those to the IFAK's we have on our gear, I think we are set up pretty good!
On a side note, those CLS bags that the miltary currently uses, the 3 fold OD type, if anyone wants a empty one to fill, pm me and if you pay for postage, I will send one your way as I have a bunch of them that we ransacked for supplies! Right now they are gathering dust, so no reason I cant send them to folks that will use them!

bacpacker
10-01-2011, 01:46 AM
Stormy Let me know how you want to handle sellin me one of the bags. I am interested. I have an old Vietnam era OD bag I've had for years set up for the vehicle. I'd love to do a second one.

bobthe
10-01-2011, 04:40 AM
to much first aid gear...

I guess that depends on what you consider to be first aid gear. But I wager the answer is: not likely.
If you have so many bandaids and bottles of hydrogen peroxide that you cant/dont store/carry enough food, water, fuel, or other necessity, then yes.
But ideally a serious preper would love to have both medical knowledge AND supplies of antibiotics, heavy duty pain killers, anesthetic, heck an x-ray machine and defibrillator would be nice things to have stashed away, but how many people have access to such items?

for those trying to build up a home pharmacy:

http://whqlibdoc.who.int/hq/2011/a95053_eng.pdf
http://whqlibdoc.who.int/hq/2011/a95054_eng.pdf

izzyscout21
10-01-2011, 12:42 PM
Good stuff there, bobthe. Thanks for sharing.

Stormfeather
10-02-2011, 09:19 PM
Stormy Let me know how you want to handle sellin me one of the bags. I am interested. I have an old Vietnam era OD bag I've had for years set up for the vehicle. I'd love to do a second one.

Just paypal gift enough to flat rate box it out to you I guess would be fine. you can send it to strmfeathr@yahoo and make sure to pm me an address to send it to!

Stormfeather
10-12-2011, 05:51 PM
Also wanted to post this up there, this is a great site to get all of your "animal anti-biotics" without prescription.

Cal Vet Supply - your source for Antibiotics, Frontline, Syringes and Veterinary Supplies (http://www.calvetsupply.com/)

And if anyone wants one of those empty medic bags to fill with supplies of their own, let me know, will flatrate box as many as you want if you pay for the postage!

Sparrow
10-12-2011, 09:24 PM
Ladies I have three words: yeast infection creme

I don't mean to be crass fellas ... ladies can you imagine an infection in that area ... and not being able to go get that 10 dollar tube of medical cream? Me I have a 10 year supply just in case!

ladyhk13
10-13-2011, 03:34 AM
Ladies I have three words: yeast infection creme

I don't mean to be crass fellas ... ladies can you imagine an infection in that area ... and not being able to go get that 10 dollar tube of medical cream? Me I have a 10 year supply just in case!

Ok Sparrow, girlfriend...this is the stuff that goes on the Ladies Forum LOL!

ladyhk13
10-13-2011, 03:40 AM
I think you buy whatever you can afford, stash anything you can. If you can use it great, if you don't have the knowledge that's ok because someone in your group may or if all else fails you can barter with it. If you are set on your other supplies it's certainly time to stock up on a variety of med supplies...there is no such thing as too much.

mitunnelrat
10-13-2011, 08:41 PM
Ok Sparrow, girlfriend...this is the stuff that goes on the Ladies Forum LOL!

I actually would disagree here. There are undoubtedly discussions between you that are better left private (I grew up in an otherwise all woman household, I am quite possibly wise beyond my need in this, lol), but, I also look at it like this: If I, as a male - and the only active prepper in my household - have a combative or unresponsive spouse/ embarrassed teen girl, I'm going to want a resource I can turn to for determining what her product needs may be. How it works, or why, or in comparison to... is definitely not my need to know, but what my household needs, is. :)

Stormfeather
10-17-2011, 12:51 AM
I actually would disagree here. There are undoubtedly discussions between you that are better left private (I grew up in an otherwise all woman household, I am quite possibly wise beyond my need in this, lol), but, I also look at it like this: If I, as a male - and the only active prepper in my household - have a combative or unresponsive spouse/ embarrassed teen girl, I'm going to want a resource I can turn to for determining what her product needs may be. How it works, or why, or in comparison to... is definitely not my need to know, but what my household needs, is. :)

I agree 100%

LUNCHBOX
10-17-2011, 02:18 AM
Agreed....I don't have that bag of pads just as pressure dressings. My wife is in on the prepping idea but I have a few daughters and might need input from a female prepper with more experience in this area. I may have 1000 rounds of .22 but not one Midol pill.

ladyhk13
10-17-2011, 03:33 AM
Ok, everyone can stop beating me up now about my response. As you can see I wrote LOL at the end...it was a tongue in cheeck response. I can see people are taking issue with it.:) please???? I feel bad.

Sniper-T
10-17-2011, 02:17 PM
That is the reason I hate seeing 'ladies' or 'youth' threads on different forums. sure it is a private place to talk... but if things are being discussed that may help me be more preparred, I feel like I'm missing out.

I sneaked around in my wife's cupboard, and found her prefered brand and size of products and bought and stashed away a couple years worth, and have things like midol... but would never have thought of yeast cream.

I will probably also end up with my wife's ill-equipt sisters' family at my place post SHTF including her teenage boy and girl. I, as a non-parent, don't have a clue what 'extra' things they might require

mollypup
10-17-2011, 04:43 PM
I went Amazon.com and bought the following fish antibiotics:

penicillin 250 mg
amoxicillin 250 mg
cephalexin 500 mg
metronidazole 250 mg
tetracycline 250 mg

I bought 2 bottles of each and paid $143.16 total including shipping.

I'll try to get more as soon as I get some more money.

izzyscout21
10-17-2011, 04:50 PM
make sure you keep a goot eye on that tetracycline. When that stuff goes bad it's not pretty if used.

Sniper-T
10-17-2011, 06:41 PM
K, so hurry up and get an infection and try some of them out, report back!

j/k

;)

mitunnelrat
10-18-2011, 02:17 PM
Ok, everyone can stop beating me up now about my response. As you can see I wrote LOL at the end...it was a tongue in cheeck response. I can see people are taking issue with it.:) please???? I feel bad.

Sorry, it wasn't at all my intention to seem like I was coming down on you. You're absolutely right that some discussions are better off private :) Like I said, I know! I learned the hard way. Its amazing what women will say when they don't care who's listening. ;)