Getting ill/injured and solutions

Has anyone seriously gotten ill or injured while backpacking or hiking, or where they were in the middle of nowhere? How did you cope or what did you do? This has never happened to me or anyone I've traveled with (knock on wood!) but I always wonder what I would do if this happened...

When I was 14 years old, I broke an ankle when I was about 5 miles from the the car; I was in the bottom of a canyon in California. Fortunately, it was broken in such a way that it would bear weight without further damage but not without pain. I was able to hike out, slowly and very painfully. I was with my father and we drove straight to the emergency room from the trail head. I was in a cast for three months after that.

I had to ditch a six-day trip on day two, hike out and check myself into a hospital. Luckily I was hiking with someone, so if I'd not been able to continue he could have gone for help.

I typically hike solo, so I'm considering a PLB after this experience. Had I been two days out before getting sick I could not have hiked all the way out.

Regards,

It has never happened to me either, but I do think that you should always be prepared for the worst. If my wife and I were hiking and she was to fall and break something, I am never in a position that I could not get her out of the woods. I just think that it is better to be prepared than to have to really really struggle with saving or rescuing some one that you are not prepared to do. Granted, if something would happen to me it would be more difficult for her to get me out, but from being prepared, I think that I could get her through it unless I was unconscious...sabre11004...

I got a high ankle sprain and cut my cheek that required 22 stitches to close. Immobilized the ankle with duct tape and got the bleeding stopped. Hiked seven miles out. The tough part was getting the bleeding stopped without a mirror. I always carry a mirror now.

Hydrate and keep moving to hold off the shock and reduce the swelling.

I boxed for a while and discovered when you hurt an opponent some of them will look for a way to lose and some will look for a way to win. Your mental attitude is VERY important.

I also take a PLB when I go solo, just in case. However, far more important is a wilderness first aid course. It will not only teach you how to handle common (and some not-so-common) emergencies, but how to improvise bandages, splints, etc. out of whatever is handy so you don't have to take a 5-lb. first aid kit that you'll probably never use.

Other than a severe knee injury on an x-c skiing trip 20 years ago--I was with a group at a cabin, they had a ski-partol type toboggan and we were only about 45 minutes from the cars--I have not had any illness or injury other than the usual minor cuts, scrapes and blisters. My dog got sick on a trip last summer; when he barfed up his breakfast the second morning in a row, I turned around and went out. It turned out just to be his sensitive Labrador stomach, which responded to frequent very small feedings, but it could have been something serious.

"Be prepared. that's the Boy Scouts' marching song..."

absolutely agree on the first aid course, and be sure it is one oriented toward outdoor situations.

Acquire a reaslistic understanding of the potential hazards you will be facing and take reasonable precautions to prepare for them.

Several times I or someone in the party has tweaked an ankle or knee, so I always have one Ace bandage with me, more typically two. They will help get you to the trail head and on to definitive care. Be sure and tell the good folks in the ER that it only hurts when you laugh.

I've gotten a bout of gastrointestinal illness before while backpacking (vomiting and dihareaha) a day into a 3 day trip. I turned around and bailed out back to my starting trailhead. drove home, and spent the next two days in bed with fever/flu
symptoms. it can happen. Had I been further in I would
have simply slept it off in camp for a while and worked my way out as best I could. Was I *very* miserable? yes. was I in any real danger?, no, I kept myself hydrated. Probably the most dangerous thing was me driving home in that state for 3 hours on a highway in the evening.

I've turned ankles and other things that have required me
to take it easy for a few days. once bad enough I had to tape it up with duct tape and grit my teeth to walk it out, but never bad enough to completely prevent me from walking at all.

Bumps and bruises, yes, the occasional deeper cut - all managable with basic first aid, duct tape,and bandaids.

As an old SAR hand,I really appreciate people like Phat. They are easy to find because of the blood trail they leave behind. Have a happy Thanksgiving!

He makes a very good point. Statistically, the drive to and from the trip is probably at least as dangerous as the trip itself, with or without the flu.

I can relate to this! One Christmas I went to Joshua Tree to climb. One by one everyone I was with started coming down with the flu. I headed home, driving. Tioga Pass was opened for a few days because there was no snow, so I headed over the pass. I ended up so sick that I had to stop. Stupidly, instead of stopping near the road I got worried about being busted for camping (not allowed) so pulled off half a mile down an obscure road. It started to snow and I got so sick that all I could do was lay in my sleeping bag. I had thoughts of the Park closing the road and there I would be stuck forever! I felt better in the morning and drove out before the road was closed. This was not a backpack scenerio but still points out that when you get really sick you often really cannot function. You need to recognize you are getting that sick and set up a safe campsite, gather water and just ride it out. It also brings out the point that you can be really sick for a day or so and then be just fine. I agree with Phat, no need to call the rescue people right away.

I have never been that sick backpacking on a long trip because I probably do not get exposed to any germs.

I do not recall first aid courses teaching much about handling stuff like the flu. All that experience simply came from being a Mom and caring for sick kids.

It is quite humbling how incapacitated you can get at the peak of illness.

W_D's account illustrates why it's a good idea to plan a layover day or two into your backpacking schedule.

I remember one summer horsepacking with my parents (I was about 14 or so) and my mother kept getting bouts of GI illness that laid her low for a day or two at a time. When we got home, she got a few more. She finally went to the doctor and ended up having an appendectomy. My father and I were thankful that she didn't get an acute attack while we were out in the mountains several days' ride from help!

Acute appendicitis (as opposed to the chronic kind my mother had) is a case in which a PLB would be a good thing to have.

I think one very important thing if you get injured is staying hydrated. I have never had a bad cut or injury in the wilderness but I have had a few bad cuts. Different people will react differently to these things but I have found that if I get a pretty bad cut my body will got into survival mode and pull all of my blood to my core leaving me lightheaded. I know some people will drink water at a stream and then walk to the next stream without any and get some there. I dont do this because having water at a moments notice can prevent a poor situation turning to a serious one.
Moral of the story, always stay hydrated and have water with you.

I was once up at Lower Ottaway Lake, about 10,000 feet, when the guy I was with finally admitted that he felt lousy...and we hiked out 15 long slow milesin one day to get him to a doctor. He had bronchitis, and we were just about to go over Red Peak Pass and continue another 30 miles into the
backcountry.

And as a guide, I once had to hike a kid seven miles out because he had such bad altitute sickness that he kept vomiting. Not fun, but it is amazing what the human body is capable of doing if you take it slow.

It's important to note that in each case one of us was healthy, sane, and not stressed...so the decisions were pretty reasonable.

There should always be a plan "B"

I got what the Dr. later told me was blood poisoning on one trip.

I got a high fever and chills one afternoon and felt lousy. I got in my bag in the tent and held still for the next 12 hours or so. There was a point (just like in the movies) where my fever broke and I started to feel better.

I kept a pencil and paper near me. Whenever I thought of something that bothered me I wrote it down. I didn't want anything diverting my healing energy and by writing it down it was out of my head.

Next day I walked out and noticed in the motel that there was a red stripe going up my leg toward my groin. At the lower end of the stripe there was a pin sized hole.

Dr said I got bit or poked, developed an infection and my body was able to stop it at the lymph nodes located in my groin. He also told me that I might have died if it got past my lymph nodes. He put me on heavy antibiotics to make sure it didn't start up again.

Lessons from this? Stop if I feel lousy. Check my body over for clues. See a doctor if you have any doubt what is going on.

I'd like to add one potentially serious emergency that I mentioned in Phat's new thread. That's when you keep on vomiting/having diarrhea that doesn't stop. No matter how much water you drink, a goodly portion of it will exit from one end or the other before your body can absorb it. You will quickly become dehydrated to a dangerous level. My youngest son had this happen on a weekend outing--after a couple days of this he ended up being hospitalized for three days. In this case you need to seek help or push the PLB button immediately.

Yes, I concur.. That's an easier call "imminent danger to life or limb" - that qualifies just fine.

The big problem was that neither my son (who was 18) nor I realized how fast he was getting dehydrated. The symptoms started about noon Saturday while he was on a weekend outing. He went to the ER twice (two different hospitals). The first (Saturday afternoon) put him on antibiotics thinking it was beginning appendicitis (that, of course, left no way of tracing the source of what was probably food poisoning). He managed to drive home Sunday and went to the ER again Sunday night. They just told him to rest, drink lots of fluids, etc. He stayed home Monday. When I got home from work Monday I felt his forehead, scrambled for the thermometer and found he had 104* (F). At age 18 he was supposedly out of the care of the pediatrician we'd been using, but I called the pediatrician anyway and he put my son in the hospital immediately, on an IV and on sedation to stop the two-way cramping. I understand the pediatrician really tore into the first ER for giving him antibiotics before taking samples of what was emerging from both ends. He had some choice words for the local ER, too!

What I'm trying to point out here is that the onset of dehydration in this case was insidious and rapid, and neither of us realized what was happening. We both figured since he was keeping part of the fluid down, he was OK, not realizing that most of what stayed down was leaving the other end! My son was pretty out of it by the time I got home Monday. I don't want to think what would have happened if he'd been off by himself! Of course now he reaches for Pedialite the minute one of his kids upchucks!

I know, and have even taught, that driving to the mountain was more dangerous than climbing. But in many years of practicing and teaching mountaineering that has not been the case. I have been involved in a few serious accidents on the mountain and know of no traffic accidents on the way to the trailhead. I know what you said is oft repeated, I wonder where it came from. It would not be too hard to look at the national accident data and come up with the real facts.

I'm in the same boat with you on this, generally speaking. Are we dealing with another urban myth?

The closest I have come to any real statistics was a PBS show on perception of safety. They started with an account of a spectacular accident by Lynne Hill, where she fell 80 feet, landing in a tree and escaped with relatively minor injuries. They then gave a frequency rate for rock climbing accidents. Next was displayed the accident rate for driving - the frequencies were virtually identical. The point was that we typically underestimate the hazards of familiar tasks and overestimate the hazards of exotic events.

I did lose a climbing buddy to an auto accident, but I have also lost another to a climbing fall, as well.

Life is hazardous. Be careful out there.

Thanks for your comments. It happens that I worked in the safety field and often worked with statistics, accident rates, and compared clients with statistics collected by the National Safety Council (NSC)and the Bureau of Labor Statistics OCWC/OSH. The problem with recreational activities (climbing, scuba diving, river rafting and such) is the collection of data. First you get a lot of anecdotal data from people who are not trained in accident invistigation, so you don't really know the true (proximate) cause of the accident. Secondly, we don't have good records of the hours of exposure,or even the number of people doing it, so the rate is not possible to accurately calculate. But enough of this. Sorry I rambled on so. I used to find this all very interesting.

I suspect it's something that was coined to make folks feel better about their choices. I have no doubt that since the driving cohort is massive compared to the backcountry adventurer cohort the latter has a much higher fatality rate. I'll guess all backcountry activities get lumped together when considering fatalities, but (luckily) backpacking will never be as hazardous as, say, big wall climbing or out-of-bounds skiing.

FWIW I've known more people killed in the mountains than in car accidents which, now that I think of it, is pretty amazing.

Never travel solo without a safety net. If you do not make it back in time your contact will know where you were going and who to contact for search and rescue. The rest is up to you to bring the essentials to deal with an unexpectedly long stay. At least one day's food, fire/first aid kits, etc. (Look up 10 essentials)