Lidocaine for Medical Preparedness

Most of you have probably heard of and used lidocaine, but perhaps without knowing it.  It's an anesthetic used for topical numbing of the skin prior to suturing and for minor surgeries.  It's in topical creams for relieving itching and available in pain patches.  According to Wikipedia, it's on the World Health Organization's List of Essential Medicines, the most effective and safe medicines needed in a health care system.  

In addition to use as a local anesthetic, lidocaine finds application as a nerve block.  It works synergistically with epinephrine so that the numbing effect lasts longer with less lidocaine and decreases bleeding.  

The topical creams often used in tattooing contain up to 5% lidocaine, the strongest available without a prescription.  My daughter used this to numb her ankle prior to digging out a deep sliver.  She didn't feel a thing.  

Injectable lidocaine can be a little troublesome to obtain.  It's not a controlled substance, and it's not by any means illegal to possess it.  If you have a good relationship with your physician, and he recognizes the state of our nation and the need to prepare, he may be willing to get some for you.  For the rest of us, fortunately, lidocaine powder to make your own injectable solution can still be purchased without a prescription. One supplier is MedicalNumbingAgents.com. (I have no interest, financial or otherwise, in this company.)  They have recently started selling vials of injectable lidocaine, and it can also be purchased through some overseas pharmacies.

How are you going to use this lidocaine?  Well, actually, unless you have some advanced training (which I highly recommend), you aren't going to use it.  Remember, when life gets interesting, a physician will probably be a lot easier to find than any of the medical supplies we need or want for our families.  So the physician will be administering the lidocaine.  

I wasn't sure how much to purchase for our family.  Medical Numbing Agents only sells three drugs--caffeine, benzocaine, and lidocaine.  Their primary clients are hospitals and medical offices.  So I went with the smallest amount, 25 grams, for $22.00 at the time.  But I wasn't sure this was sufficient, so at our class a few months later I asked Dr. Steve what he would recommend for my family of seven.  

"500 grams."  I was sure he hadn't understood me.  I about choked.  So I asked again, emphasizing it was just for my family of seven.  Yep, the answer was still the same.  

Fortunately, it is much less expensive to purchase in bulk.  If you have a few families you can get together with on this purchase, so much the better.

One tip if you do choose to purchase through MedicalNumbingAgents.com:  The company offers all new customers $11 off their first order.  So of course, most take advantage of that.  However, if you put an item in your cart and then leave for a day or so, they will email you and offer you 10 percent off your purchase.  At least, that happened for me.  And I've found that with quite a few companies, so it's worth a try.  

Copyright 2018, PrepSchoolDaily.blogspot.com

28 august 2024

Tips and Tricks: Cosmetic Travel Bag for Organizing Medical Kit

In the process of assembling your family or advanced medical kit, you come to realize that there are a whole lot of tiny supplies that you want to carry.  But because they are so small, they can become hard to find, especially in an emergency.  One of the tips I learned from the grid-down medicine class I took a few months ago was to organize all those tiny items in a cosmetic travel bag.

Pure genius.

Household Essentials 06910 Hanging Toiletry Travel Bag for Men and Women - Store Travel Accessories, Jewelry, and Cosmetics - Black, $14.99 on Amazon

I spent quite some time searching and pondering what size and style of bag to purchase.  There were a few other bags I considered but ultimately decided on this one because it could fold flat and would fit nicely into the backpack style medical bag we already had.  I also wanted one that could hang, with different sizes of plastic pockets, not mesh.  

I am amazed at how many supplies we can fit in here.  What do we carry in our kits?

Row A

• Pocket 1
• Hydrocortisone cream, 3 packets
• Burn gel, 4 packets
• Lubricating jelly, 3 packets
• Betadine ointment, 1 packet 
• Petroleum jelly, 1 packet
• Triple antibiotic, 4 packets
• Benadryl cream, 1 packet
• Oral pain relief gel, 2 packets
• A&D ointment, 2 packets 
• Pocket 2
• Credit card magnifier
•  Pocket 3
• Band-aids, 7 in various sizes
• Insect repellent wipes, 2 
• Pocket 4
• Nail clippers
• Vet-Bond

Row B

• Pocket 1
• Baby aspirin, 24
• Children's chewable baby aspirin, 10
• Activated charcoal powder, packet
• Usnea wound powder, packet
• Children's chewable Benadryl, 8
• Tylenol PM, 2
• Vicodin, 1
• Benadryl, 8
• Acetaminophen, 2
• Children's chewable acetaminophen, 4
• Meclizine, 5
• Doxylamine succinate, 4
• Meloxicam, 2
• Caffeine, 4
• Ibuprofen, 2 
• Pocket 2
• Penlights, 2(batteries stored separately)
• Rubbing alcohol, 2 oz 
• Iodine tincture
• Dual tip Sharpie, 1 
• Pocket 3
• Steri-strips, 20 in various sizes
• Thermometer, 1
• Benzalkonium chloride wipes, 3
• Sutures, 2 
• Tegaderm film dressings, 3

Row C

• Pocket 1
• 5% lidocaine cream (Numb Master)
• contact lens solution (eye wash)
• lighter
• matches
• emergency shears
• hand sanitizer
• liquid bandage
• tincture of benzoin

Row D

• Pocket 1
• chest seal
• duct tape
• moleskin
• medical tape
• Celox nosebleed dressing; 
• Pocket 2
• Light sticks, 3
• Saran Wrap (burn dressing)
• Biofreeze, 3 
• 2x2 gauze, 10
• Sterile Q-tips, 20
• 4x4 kerlix gauze roll, 1
• Hand cleaner towels, 2
• Sterile non-adherent dressings, 3

That's a lot of stuff!  And I hope we never have to use any of it.   

 © 2019, PrepSchoolDaily.blogspot.com  12.29.19 03.07.21

Book Review--Armageddon Medicine by Dr Cynthia Koelker

Armageddon Medicine is just what the title suggests:  medicine for the end of the world, or as the author writes, "How to be your own doctor when there's no other choice."

If you can't attend a class like OnPoint Tactical's Off-Grid Medicine by Dr. Steve Pehrson (reviewed here), this book is an excellent guide to have.  Dr. Cynthia Koelker does not go into the depth that Dr. Steve does, but she does cover some topics that he has not in the classes I've attended.

Dr. Koelker, a board-certified family physician with thirty years of experience treating patients and their families, recognizes what is coming and the need to prepare accordingly.  Her website, ArmageddonMedicine.net, features dozens if not hundreds of educational and thought-provoking articles not included in her book.  Unfortunately, her website is not currently updated due to health issues, but I've communicated with her through email and she has always responded and been quite helpful and encouraging.

Her years of communicating with patients and their parents in her family medicine practice shine through in her writing.  Dr. Koelker writes in a conversational, very easy to understand style, like she is talking to concerned parents who need to be able to care for children or other loved ones when there is no one else.  She assumes the reader has no medical background whatsoever.

Armageddon Medicine is 588 pages, 8.5 x 11 inches, in what looks like a 12-point font, double-spaced, so it's very easy on the eyes.  The table of contents includes the following (there is more, but I'm highlighting what I think readers will be most interested in):

Section 1:  The Basics
Section 2:  Mental Illness
Section 3:  Acute Infection and Symptoms (quarantine, isolation; animal bites, rabies; respiratory infection; sore throat, mouth, lips; ear infection; gastrointestinal infection and symptoms; urinary and reproductive infections)
Section 4:  Skin conditions
Section 5:  Pain
Section 6:  Acute Injuries (burns, back strain, cuts and lacerations, knee and ankle injuries, insect bites and stings, concussion, fractures)
Section 7:  Selected Conditions (anemia, arthritis, asthma and COPD, blood clots and pulmonary embolism, botulism, constipation and diarrhea, diabetes, gout, headache and migraine, hearing loss, heart disease, heartburn, GERD, ulcers, hernia, high blood pressure, kidney stones, low back pain, sleep apnea, swelling, thyroid disease, vision) and women's health
Section 8:  Medication Concerns (simplifying your medications, expired medications, fish antibiotics, getting your doctor to help you stockpile medications, essential OTC drugs to stockpile, herbal medicine)
Section 9:  Special Topics (nuclear fallout, bioterrorism)
Section 10:  Becoming a Healer (taking a medical history, performing a physical exam)
Appendices (Resources, free downloads, medical textbook recommendations, medical kit, useful OTC medications)

Merely stating that there are appendices for the medical kit and useful OTC medications is inadequate. The medical kit appendix is 12 pages long and includes not just the items that Dr. Koelker recommends for your kit, but also the quantities for a family (basic), small group (intermediate), or professional (advanced).  Her suggestions will help you budget your medical dollars wisely.  For instance, how many bottles of rubbing alcohol have you stored?  Believe it or not, she advises just one bottle for a family, five bottles for a small group, and twenty for a professional level.  She includes prescription medications and quantities of each.   The OTC meds appendix is seven pages long, and lists the common name, other names, primary use, and other possible uses.  So the first item in that list is Benadryl, aka diphenhydramine, which is primarily used for colds and allergies.  But it can also be used for anxiety and insomnia.  Zantac, aka ranitidine, is marketed as a heartburn remedy.  But did you know it can also treat hives? 

Armageddon Medicine is only available through Dr. Koelker's site, ArmageddonMedicine.net.  At $89, it is a little pricey, but the information is invaluable, and there is so much that I have not seen elsewhere.  This book is definitely the place to begin for your medical preparation and will provide a solid foundation should you desire further education.  If you're skeptical, go to her site and read the articles there.  They are not duplicated in the book, but you will get an idea of the kind of information she provides.  This book may not save your life, but then again, it might.  It's written with the hope that none of us will ever need it and that hospitals and doctors will always be there for us.  But as the saying goes, we plan for the worst and hope for the best.

Disclaimer:  I receive no compensation of any kind whatsoever for the review of this book.

Links to related posts:
The Survival Medicine Handbook  
Survival and Austere Medicine, 3rd Edition   


 © 2019, PrepSchoolDaily.blogspot.com