Outdoor Class: How to prepare a medical bag for a hike

Every time you travel, be sure to carry a small medicine bag in your suitcase. Get ready according to where you are going and how you travel!

City Traveler

When traveling in the city, you can always choose to go to the nearest hospital to get help and treatment from a doctor. Therefore, the medicine bag you carry with you does not need to be too complete. It only needs some commonly used medicines to provide timely treatment.

1. Personal special medicines: If you have special health problems, such as heart disease, high blood pressure, asthma and other chronic diseases, don’t forget to bring life-saving medicines. In addition to not attempting dangerous sports, travelers with heart disease should also prepare nitroglycerin and quick-acting heart pills. People with diabetes should prepare blood sugar-lowering drugs, especially those who need to take insulin. If they need to travel, they need to check the medicines they carry with them carefully. If you are traveling to an equatorial city, even if you are only away for two hours, don't forget to bring a small electronic refrigerator to store insulin injections and ensure their effectiveness.

2. Motion sickness medicine: If you have experienced motion sickness, then motion sickness medicine such as Yunting and Visale is necessary. For example, if you plan to take a boat from Langkawi Island in Malaysia to Penang, taking a motion sickness medicine one hour in advance will make the three-hour journey very pleasant.

3. Gastrointestinal medicine: For travelers, local food is something that cannot be missed. Eating too much at a roadside stall is bound to cause indigestion or bacterial infection of the stomach and intestines. The medicine box must include digestive medicines with beneficial bacteria such as Lactase, Jianweixiaoshi tablets, as well as drugs for treating intestinal bacterial infections such as norfloxacin, berberine, and smecta. Drugs for treating diarrhea are also essential.

4. Anti-inflammatory medicine: Sore throat and constipation are the most common symptoms for travelers, so prepare Niuhuang Jiedu Pills, Huanglian Shangqing Pills, etc., which can greatly eliminate your troubles.

Outdoor backpackers

Away from bustling cities and deep into nature, we are also away from life-saving places with complete equipment and excellent medical resources. Everything is unknown when traveling, so it is safest to be prepared. If you are only traveling for two or three days, just take the medicines you use most frequently; if the trip is more than five days, then cold medicine, allergy medicine, antidiarrhea medicine, wind oil, cooling oil, Band-Aids, Yunnan Baiyao, gentian violet, etc. become panaceas in special circumstances.

In addition, when traveling outdoors, you may eat less vegetables and fruits, so vitamin supplements are also a good companion. Of course, if your travel destination is very special, you should also prepare special medicines just in case.

1. Red-hot zone: In the Egyptian desert, be sure to prepare anti-heat medicine. When going to the rain forest, you need to take medicine to prevent mosquito bites and heatstroke. Therefore, Huoxiang Zhengqi Pills, Rendan Tablets, cooling oil, and mosquito repellent oil are all good choices. In addition, oral rehydration salts can replace the salt lost through sweating.

2. Dense forests and mountains: Deep mountains and old forests are where poisonous snakes are most frequently found, so it is best to bring antidotes and elastic bandages. If you are bitten by a snake, stay where you are, take out a bandage and tie it tightly above the wound to prevent the venom from spreading. Put the knife on your body on a lighter to burn (disinfect), then make a cut about 1 cm long and 0.5 cm deep on the wound, suck out the venom with your mouth, take snake medicine immediately, and go to the hospital as soon as the situation stabilizes.

3. Plateau areas: When traveling to plateau areas, don’t forget to bring some anti-altitude sickness medicines, such as: Gaoyuanan, Rhodiola rosea, etc. In addition, you can also prepare some medicines to reduce the intensity of altitude sickness, such as sleeping pills, painkillers, motion sickness medicine, quick-acting cold medicine, aspirin, and oral glucose.

Special Tips

The more things in a travel medicine kit, the better. The basic principles should be simplicity and necessity. Since there is no doctor to consult, it is best to take only one medicine at a time to avoid "incompatibility" between drugs caused by chemical reactions and the production of toxic substances due to the use of multiple drugs together.

Do not take sleeping pills easily if you suffer from insomnia caused by temporary irregular work and rest schedules. The condition will naturally heal as your body gradually adapts to the local environment and the regularity of travel movements. If your condition and symptoms are unusual, such as a sudden high fever or vomiting and diarrhea, you should go to a local hospital immediately for examination and diagnosis. Do not take medicine without authorization and delay treatment.