After I recent camping trip to a doc camp ground in the far north it made me understand the importance of being prepared with your first aid essentials. Not only do you need to consider the outdoor camping hazards such as sand flies, mosquitos etc. but the hidden hazards of contaminated water and what you can do if you get sick.I’ve compiled a short list of what I believe to be essential natural first aid supplements to take with you on your next holiday.
Depending on where you are camping or travelling to you can be exposed to contaminated water resulting in diarrhoea, vomiting, nausea and general malaise, none of which you want to experience while on holiday. Enterosgel is a gel like substance made from organic silica and purified water. It is classified as an ‘entero adsorbant’ as when it passes through the digestive tract it irreversibly binds
to bacteria, endo toxins from bacteria (stuff they release when they die), viruses, heavy metals, chemical toxins and radiation Enterosgel works wonders by binding the offending microbe and excreting it through your faeces and I believe a must in any first aid kit, natural or otherwise. Make sure you drink plenty of water and take it away from medication.
Plasters and bandages
You never know when you need them and what size so it is best to be prepared with an assortment or different sizes with enough tape (ideally water proof) to keep them on. Cuts and wounds heal better by being covered:
- Covering a wound prevents infection and infection hinders the healing process.
- Wounds heal better from the inside out rather than forming the outside in, which is what happens when a scab is formed on top. When open wounds are exposed to air, they form a scab on top first but often not underneath, however when they are covered by a plaster they heal from the inside out, healing quicker and making less of a scar. Make sure you put some of 37South’s anti-bacterial and healing Wound Care cream on the clean cut before you put the plaster on.
Bandages are useful for compression and support if there has been some soft tissue damage such as strains and sprains. You can put some of 37South’s Bumps and Bruises cream on to help with the bruising, inflammation and help with the repair of the injured tissue. Make sure you go and get it checked out if you suspect something more serious.
No camping or travelling kit is complete without sunscreen and lots of it. Make sure what you the sunscreen you purchase is free of oxybenzone and octinoxate, which can both disrupt hormones in the body and are toxic to the reefs. I like to use Avasol’s all 100% bio based, nasty free, clinically tested zinc for the face and Oasis’s Sun SPF 30 for the body.
A good quality probiotic is really helpful in keeping your bowel flora in check. If you’ve been exposed to contaminated water or food and have disrupted bowel function you can use these to ‘crowd out
the bad guys with the good guys’. Probiotics can be used as a preventative or as a treatment. Make sure that you buy shelf stable probiotics as you can’t always rely on refrigeration while traveling.
Echinacea and Andrographis
There’s nothing great about getting ill while on holiday. I have found the best way to nip a suspected sore throat and cold in the bud is get onto quick with the herbs Andrographis and Echinacea.
Echinacea increases your white blood cells, which are the cells that fight infection. Andrographis is anti-bacterial and works particularly well for infections of the gut and the respiratory tract. If you do feel yourself start to come down with something, take small amounts of these herbs very regularly for a couple of days. Note, Andrographis is not to be used by pregnant women, Echinacea is fine.
No first aid kit is complete without some anti-histamines of some sort. Depending on how tasty you are to the local insects and how much you react, anti-histamines can either make or break your holiday. Sand-flies are notorious for creating an allergic response in some sensitive individuals. I can
attest to this as after I’ve been bitten by a certain amount of them my whole body burns, not itches, burns and I can’t sleep at all. Other insects that can cause rather uncomfortable reactions more than
an annoying itch are spiders, bed bugs and jelly fish. Natural forms of anti-histamines are quercetin, rutin and vitamin C and are useful to take prophylactically however sometimes you just need to take a short term dose of pharmaceutical anti histamines to get you through the night.