Ultralight Minimalist 1st Aid Kit - 1 Week + (60-80g)

This then is my basic minimum first aid kit for a week or more. Other items may be added to this kit based on the time of year, the terrain and the remoteness etc. All of these items do of course fit into a small waterproof Aloksak.

Let's now break down what is in the kit:

Wound Cleaning - Antiseptic wipes

I tend to consider wound cleaning to be a nice-to-have rather than essential. Cleaning a wound lowers the probability of infection. To help with this I carry two antiseptic wipes.

Clean water may also be used for wound cleaning as also may be your toothbrush (if first sterilised with the wipe or your alcohol hand gel from your personal hygiene kit).

Small Wound Treatment - Compeed

I have always found plasters to be basically useless in the field. Instead I tend to take along some sort of liquid wound dressing. This time I am trying out Compeed because it is a wound dressing and a coagulant. On previous trips I have used items such as New-Skin which in a 0.3oz bottle would be ideal.

Liquid dressings will take care of small wounds that might be worth treating due to infection risk.

Medium Wound Treatment - 1 pack Steri-Strip / Butterfly stitches

These are small strips of adhesive-coated plastic that will help to close up a larger wound. They are the commercial version of the type of thing used in hospitals to close large wounds. They are not going to close all wounds and they are not going to be 100% perfect on some parts of the body but for the majority of the simple types of cuts that you might receive - a V-cut - they will be good enough until you can seek proper medical care.

Large Wound Treatment - Safety Pins

If something is too big to close with Steri-strip I would sacrificie a piece of clothing to make an adhoc bandage. I might also sacrifice a spare bootlace or piece of nylon cord to fix it in place. The safety pins may be used to produce an adhoc bandage or to fix things such as broken zips in kit.

Insect Bites - 4 Antihistimine tablets

Most insect bites can be ignored. If you have a lot of bites on one day or are allergic to some insect then an antihistimine tablet will take away the worst of the irritation. You can also use topical treatments and I sometimes carry a very small tube of liquid for treating midge bites when it is the midge season and I am in midge territory.

Headaches - 4 Paracetamol tables

Pain is your friend. Pain helps to prevent you making an injury worse. To override your own pain is to potentially increase your risks.

For headaches and miscellaneous harmless pain I carry a few paracetamol. It is worth mentioning that if you are popping a pill on the trail because of a headache it is going to be worth thinking very hard if there is a cause for the headache - such as low blood sugar or dehydration - which if treated will alleviate the headache.

It is a separate subject but it is important to be aware of what your own symptoms are for dehydration and low blood sugar levels.

[Low blood sugar levels are caused by you burning mainly fat and have insufficient glucose in your system to keep your brain working efficiently. Eating glucose tablets (or glucose-rich food) will clear a headache caused by low-blood sugar.

When my blood sugar levels drop it is typical for me to become very irritable and annoyed with the world in addition to losing clarity of thought - I make mistakes with navigation and get annoyed with birds singing etc.

When I see these symptoms I know to increase my food intake quickly. I always have 'reserve' food with me and may well put glucose tablets (or jelly babies) in my first aid kit. A glucose tablet or two can quickly clear your head if you are suffering from low blood-sugar.

I do not usually see anything like this on day 1 or 2 of a walk because my own glucose reserves will generally last that long on 'normal' calorie intake.

Other Pain and Inflammation - 4 Ibuprofen 200mg tablets

Ibuprofen is the generic name for the key ingredient in many pain relief drugs. It is much cheaper and simpler to buy generic drugs - you are then sure of the dosage and are sure that other ingredients are not in the drugs.

Often the only difference between generic Paracetamol and 'Extra Strength Flu Relief' is Caffeine equivalent to a cup of coffee.

Anway, Ibuprofen is a pain-relief and anti-inflammatory drug. It is good for the relief of and recovery of sore muscles and joints.

Again, it should not be used to mask symptoms. You have to consider if it is better not to take any drug at all. For instance if your knee is causing you pain there might be a very good reason for it - such as footware issues.

I have in the past used Ibuprofen as a temporary measure to suppress the pain caused by injury sufficiently to allow me to travel to safety. Of course, by doing this I did in the long term increase both the injury and the recovery time but that is just a trade-off you might have to make in the real world.

Food Poisoning / Dehydration - 4 Dioralyte sachets

Dioralyte is a brand name for a treatment which is basically a packet of essential salt and minerals tha the body can lose through Diarrhoea or dehydration.

The main issue with Diarrhoea is that you lose a lot of fluids and it tends to ruin your bodies electrolytic balance - which means that you feel tired, exhausted and often have headaches. Something like Dioralyte is very effective for doing this - much more so than many sports drinks. It is also relatively cheap.

Blisters

I have found that many commerical blister kits only make a little difference and only temporarily. If you do not mind the weight or the price some of the spray treatments - that form a second skin - can be quite effective for a few days.

The treatments that involve taping something over the blister tend to cause problems because the tape moves and this then creates a blister.

A cheap alternative is micro-pore tape which can be used to protect the surface of the skin and immobilise the blister. Tape the area rather than plaster it!!!

Anything else

Anything not listed above is either too trivial to worry about or of sufficiently low risk that it does not justify carrying equipment for it. If I die you can say 'I told you so'.

You may see that I have not included scissors in my kit. I tend to carry a Leatherman Micra on week-long trips to handle personal care for nails etc and this has an excellent pair of scissors and a usable knife.