A Doc in the Solomon,s, Md told me to get Chloraseptic spray for a very raw throat, worked for me.
All U Get
Experience with First Aid & Medical Emergencies at Sea
- Thread starter Kings Gambit
- Start date
All U Get
I ride a Harley and end up in some isolated places. I carry duct Tape, an Airforce emergency suture kit, steri-strips, super glue, Betatine,Carra-clens, burn packets and cold packs in addition to the things normally found in first-aid kits.
I've been known to overdo preparedness, but even in coastal cruising the window to stabilize someone is much shorter than the arrival time for any kind of aid. I have advanced first aid training, and consulted several recommended books on marine first aid - built our own kit set up to handle most possible on-board traumas (again, stabilize), but I used stuck offshore for 24 hours as a consideration for level of supplies. I carry a defibrillator, oxygen, and epipens based on personal experience - three things that you cannot wait for the helicopter for. Other things, like splints can be improvised.
Actually, if you inspect the WM catalogue... they sell many levels of first aid/medical emergency kits. Not just the little day sailing version. If you're going cruising... you need to upgrade your first aid equipment.
Any offshore cruising book or course will discuss the medical emergency issue extensively.
The tonsils still intact, Chloraseptic spray and the lozenges are in the medicine cabinet every year when winter starts.
Winter sort of sneaked up on us here in So. Cal. this year. No "cold" weather arrived until after underway; i.e., on Christmas Day. That is, if you can call overnight lows in the low 50s cold!
I was also reading this crazy book, Shipkiller, published in the 70's when the Shah was still running Iran. A kind of "Indiana Jones" story [unrelenting crises throughout] about a guy who was mowed down & sunk in his sailboat off Iberia by an oil tanker heading for Southhampton. He washes ashore in Corning four days later(?); wife never found. Eventually, he recovers and buys a TOW anti-tank rocket launcher on the military weapons black market in Germany, loads it on a 38' Swan, and takes off to ambush the tanker on its return to the Persian Gulf with a girlfriend of no sailing experience who was the doctor that had treated him in England--a Nigerian woman from a military/political family of Nigeria. Crazy tale. He's an MD as well. SO, during a storm she gets flung down somewhere in the boat and breaks her arm; simple fracture. Being a doctor, he splints the arm, immobilizes it in a sling, and then gives her a shot of MORPHINE for pain. He then goes back up to battle this Force 8-9 storm off northern Africa while she sleeps.
I realize--his character is a doctor; but--who else carries MORPHINE in their FIRST AID Kit? I haven't seen anyone mention about strong (narcotic) pain-killers. Also, tetanus shots. Who carries that?
I realize--his character is a doctor; but--who else carries MORPHINE in their FIRST AID Kit? I haven't seen anyone mention about strong (narcotic) pain-killers. Also, tetanus shots. Who carries that?
Well, uh, I carry combat morphine. I think a lot of us provision from our past experiences. It'll get you through something pretty bad. It's kinda fun too..
MS or Morphine Sulfate is also the "drug of choice" for emergency treatment of CHF (congestive heart failure) which it reverses almost immediately, only lasts for a short time and would need longer lasting diuretics administered also.
When you say "combat morphine" I think of the metal tubes with a screw on needle from back in the day. Probably a nice pre-load with retractable needle these days.
BTW while training they describe the effect of morphine as "It doesn't take the pain away, it just makes it so you don't care anymore". pretty accurate
When you say "combat morphine" I think of the metal tubes with a screw on needle from back in the day. Probably a nice pre-load with retractable needle these days.
BTW while training they describe the effect of morphine as "It doesn't take the pain away, it just makes it so you don't care anymore". pretty accurate
Really and truly that is about the size of it. That stuff, along with sutures are one of those things like flares or whatever; you hope you never need it.
(Keep your eyes on the dates of some of these things as well).
Last edited:
Almost forgot, Morphine is also usually used to manage the pain and anxiety after you bring your patient back to life by stopping their heart with your defibrillator.
Found something interesting on "stocking up." How to Prepare a Medical Kit for Yacht Racing
see at link-- from the Bayview Yacht Club in Detroit.
http://www.byc.com/files/DrAmslersMedicalBooklet20080109.pdf
see at link-- from the Bayview Yacht Club in Detroit.
http://www.byc.com/files/DrAmslersMedicalBooklet20080109.pdf
I've also found that pre assembled kits are filled with redundant junk that you don't need, and overpriced. Assemble your own based on others recommendations in this thread.
Also, prevention is big. Especially re injury. Wear a life jacket that covers front and rear. This will protect during falls in rough seas and also the obvious life jacket benefits. I use a bicycle helmet for the noggin in rough conditions. Boom bang or fall can cause concussion or loss of consciousness neither of which is good news.
Also, prevention is big. Especially re injury. Wear a life jacket that covers front and rear. This will protect during falls in rough seas and also the obvious life jacket benefits. I use a bicycle helmet for the noggin in rough conditions. Boom bang or fall can cause concussion or loss of consciousness neither of which is good news.
throat lozenges??? My kit is designed for heavy bleeds etc. It is more similar to a TEMS kit and I have it more for work, rather than the boat. I just carry it there because I figure it can handle most anything that is serious.
Meds and throat lozenges would be carried on and off. Boat is not a good environment for things like that.
Meds and throat lozenges would be carried on and off. Boat is not a good environment for things like that.
Not really an option for Liveaboard cruisers. Our kit has all the stuff you would have in your medicine cabinet at home plus stuff for emergencies. We might have to deal with a serious injury or illness when we can't get to a hospital for days.
On another note, we also have a dog kit on our boat. Some items are cross over but others are significantly different. We also have a small kit in our dinghy bag and another small kit in our ditch bag. That's 4 kits on a 31 foot boat.
You probably had the perfect solution right in front of you, but didn't have the knowledge necessary to see it. My surgeon father always gave me an aspirin tablet to suck on if I had a sore throat. Worked like a charm, but didn't taste very good.
You could probably spend thousands on a med kit and still not have everything you might need. Better to keep it simple and do some research or pick up some first aid books as to how to use what you do have.
You would have been amazed at how simple a med kit he put together for us amateurs to take on a circumnavigation. For instance; no sutures, only butterfly bandages. His reasoning was that we couldn't get an injury clean enough and we could seal in an infection with sutures. And he supplied us with a 30 year old Merck Manual of Diagnosis and Therapy, because the chances were that we would find those meds easily in the 3rd world, back then, not the latest super drugs.
You could probably spend thousands on a med kit and still not have everything you might need. Better to keep it simple and do some research or pick up some first aid books as to how to use what you do have.
You would have been amazed at how simple a med kit he put together for us amateurs to take on a circumnavigation. For instance; no sutures, only butterfly bandages. His reasoning was that we couldn't get an injury clean enough and we could seal in an infection with sutures. And he supplied us with a 30 year old Merck Manual of Diagnosis and Therapy, because the chances were that we would find those meds easily in the 3rd world, back then, not the latest super drugs.