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Magazine
For a safe trip
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What a standard First Aid Kit for travel should contain.
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People are travelling more than ever: on business, leisure activities, family outings. A well-equipped First Aid Box is as handy as a purse or tickets.
As recently as 30 years ago, little was known or written about travel stress as a recognisable medical condition. Travel-stress symptoms commonly include indigestion, headaches, fatigue, respiratory ailments (asthma), and anxiety, all of which can affect the traveller’s performance.
Common illnesses, like Traveller’s Diarrhoea (TD), are usually triggered by poor sanitation and acquired through ingestion of contaminated food or water and a change in diet or climate. Typical symptoms of this infection, which usually last for three to seven days, include diarrhoea, nausea, abdominal cramps, bloating, fever, and malaise.
Another common ailment faced by more than two million people each year is dizziness and an untold number suffer from motion sickness. The symptoms include nausea, vomiting, and dizziness. Motion sickness can lead to problems such as dehydration, weakness and delusions. Unlike ordinary sickness, vomiting will not relieve the nausea.
Before you pack your first aid kit, check thepurpose of each ingredient. For instance, gauze pads, iodine and alcohol prep pads help disinfect the area of injury while antibiotic ointments applied with or without bandages secure the area from further contamination. Similarly, anti-diarrhoeal medication helps in cases of diarrhoea. But indiscriminate use is not safe; it is better to check with a doctor about how and when to use such drugs. In cases of diarrhoea, administration of electrolytes dissolved in a litre of water helps the patient recuperate faster than any oral medication. If you get nausea, vomiting, and dizziness pop an anti-emetic drug before long journeys. It acts on that centre in the brain, which controls and maintains the equilibrium between various systems. However take it judiciously during pregnancy.
Antihistamines, on the other hand, helps control frequent bouts of sneezing, stuffy or runny nose as well as itchy and watery eyes, symptoms that indicate allergy. But commonly available antihistamines are sleep-inducing and could prove risky if the patient drives or handles machinery after taking the medication. Consult a doctor to learn more about such drugs.
Another important component of a First Aid box should be an effective painkiller and fever reliever. Here the choice should be paracetamol due to its safety record for mild to moderate fever and pain.
So next time you leave home don’t leave without your First Aid kit. A little negligence can ruin your holidays and turn the picnic into a nightmare
A checklist
Pack these into your kit bag:
Pain and fever relievers such as Paracetamol
Antacids
Diarrhoeal medicines and electrolytes
Antihistamines
Motion sickness aids
Insect repellant
Sunscreen (SPF higher than 15)
Gauze pads, iodine, alcohol prep pads,
Bandages, medical adhesive tape
Antibiotic ointment
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