Hey if you are a potential future racer here may be your medical kit!
Here is my medical kit that I took on the world race. I am an EMT-Paramedic and a WFR. These are my opinions and entertainment. If you do not know how to use something don’t do it. This is not any golden rule book. I take no responsibility for this blog and what you may or may not use on the race. This is just what I did for your FYI.
The medical book that I found highly useful and extremely entertaining was Where There Is No Doctor a village health care handbook by David Werner with Carol Thuman and Jane Maxwell. I believe it was approximately $10 USD used from Amazon.
The PILL CASES I found extremely useful! Especially on travel day. In them I placed the following medications.
- Imodium (plugging you up, favorite choice on travel day)
- The famous cocktail for travel days (two Imodium and one Benadryl one hr before)
- Benadryl (putting you to sleep & allergic reactions/allergies)
- Tylenol (head aches, fever, chills, etc)
- Naproxen (minor pains, muscles pain, fever)
- Ibuprofen (minor pains, aches)
- Tylenol PM (aka Tylenol with Benadryl)
- Baby Aspirin (heart attack & long distance no movement travel)
- Laxatives (makes you poo)
- Pepto Tablets Chewable (tummy aches)
- Meclizine (Anti dizzy medication)
- Pseudoephedrine (decongestant makes your snot go away)
- Excedrin (migraines + caffeine energy)
- Dramamine (Ginger tablets aka ground ginger works better pick up bottle at local grocery store)
- Metoclopramide HCL (Reglan) 10mg (these you can pick up at any pharmacy across the world for cheap. Anti-nausea and side effects of drowsiness)
If you have prescription extras some things that would be nice would be a sedative, antibiotics (amoxicillin, penicillin, cipro).
Special medications that I purchased on the race in light of pin worms, round worms, etc and malaria would be
Malaria TX– ARTEFAN 20/120 or LUMARTEM which is artemether 20mg + Lumefantrine 120mg OR DUO-COTECXIN 40/320 which is Dihydroartemisinin 40mg + Piperaquine phosphate 320mg
These are used for after you get malaria. I strongly recommend purchasing two doses of one of these types. If you get malaria like symptoms when at home then you can take them yourself. They only cost about $3-$6 USD on the race in certain countries instead of hundreds of dollars for all the diagnosis and treatment and medications at home in the US. Malaria can be dormant so you should buy two doses just in case.
Preventing Malaria– I have found that the best thing for preventing malaria is to not get bit! Ha ha but it is true, bring your bug nets & bug spray. I have found that Malarone (Mefloquine) works the best just a once a day tablet. You can use Doxycycline too but Malarone seemed to work better.
Worms– round worms, threadworms, whipworms, hookworms, or pinworms. We found and used BENDA MEDBENDAZOLE 500mg or ALBENDAZOLE UNIBAZOLE 200mg. These are cheap at pharmacies around the world when you get worms and let’s face it, it is the race, so most likely they will find you!
Things that are in my medical kit (besides medicine)
MEDICAL KIT!
Hydrogen peroxide (very cheap everywhere), Iodine antiseptic, New Skin (fancy superglue), triangular bandages, ace bandage wrap, coban, tape, mole skin (blisters), whistle (for annoying your teammates), band-aids various sizes, 4x4s (not 2x2s) and one or two bigger gauze pads, ear plugs (very very useful in Africa), plastic baggies, Q-tips, gloves, alcohol preps, sunscreen, aloe vera, tweezers, safety pin, toe nail clippers, thermometer, hand sanitizer, and creams.
Creams!
Gold Bond medicated anti-itch cream, After-Bite, Cortizone 10, Clotrimazole Cream, Benadryl Cream, Hydrocortisone Cream, Monistat 7 Cream, Blistex, Triple Antibiotic Ointment, Icy Hot, silvadine burn cream.
Specialty Items if & ONLY IF trained!
- Epinephrine & syringes
- Albuterol inhaler
- Sutures, staples, or steri strips
- Lidocaine jelly
Thanks for reading 🙂
Ty
