so I'm wondering what all you guys put into a diy first aid kit for a 3 day or more backpacking/camping trip. I was going to purchase neat the store but they sure all very expensive lol.

What I put in my FAK might well be different from what you would assemble, because our training and experience probably differ, and we may well be hiking in different situations. In general, realize that much of what is needed can be improvised from other gear. Some things can't. I generally carry sterile dressing, some kind of tape, elastic (Ace) bandages, and modest painkillers like aspirin. Nowadays I also include at least a pair of nitrile disposable gloves. I always have bandaids in my wallet and a reasonably clean bandanna in my left rear pocket - that is the immediate FA gear for me.

I really like elastic bandages. Over the years, the most debilitating injury has usually been a wrenched knee or ankle. As long as you are sure no fracture is involved, wrap 'em up and keep on hiking.....

Standard, required statement - Get trained. Without training, the FAK is basically just so much junk. With training, you can do quite a lot even without any dedicated items at all.

Those pre-packed kits are expensive, and we find that they dont' really have what we think we need--or at least what we use.

So here is what we use most---and carry in our FAK:

Multiple band-aids of various sizes
Advil, Tylenol, Imodium, Pepto-Bismol--4-10)tablets of each.
Some alcohol wipes
Neosporin/anti-bacterial ointment
A couple of rolls of pre-wrap flexible bandage
An Ace bandage (we've never used it)
A partial roll of white adhesive tape
A sewing kit--more for the tent than for us!
A knife
A few gauze bandages

I think that's about it. Our theory is that if we need serious first aid for a compound fracture, heart attack, or major burns, we are not going to be able to provide that anyway. We just focus on what we can fix/ameliorate...and go for help if we need more.

And we are careful to avoid needless risks.

my only addition to the list is some benadryl tablets.

I carry what I am trained to use and has proved useful to me over the years:

It's *very* small

- Bandaids (good fabric ones, and waterproof duct-tapy type ones)
- Blister Pads of various sizes (small and biig ones)
- 1/4 oz nalgene of iodine
- 1/4 oz nalgene of polysporin
- 8 percocet tablets
- 4 4x4 gauze pads
- 2 2x2 gauze pads
- a half dozen butterfly bandages.
- a couple of knuckle bandaids
- a coupule of really large bandaids
- a full roll of very good 3m adhesive tape
- 4 doses of imodium AD
- 4 doese of benadryl

Everything else is provided by other stuff in my pack - I normally have a good supply of analgesics (ibuprophen, naproxen)and antihistamines as well as shirt that can become bandages, trekking poles and line that can become splints, duct tape, thread, needles, alcohol.. etc.

for stuff I'm *not* trained for I have a PLB.

I have an aquiaintaince I hike with who is a helicopter flight medic - and here that means he can intubate people and the whole 9 yards - he carries very little more than me.

You really can't do a lot more than that in the field without support. if you are concerned about more serious injuries, get a SPOT or PLB. (I have one).

I add ear plugs and one of those blue hydrogel pads maybe 2x3 inches. One of those pads makes the wound feel better and heal faster. When used on my buddy's leg that got badly scratched up, the area where we put the blue patch was the baddest damaged and it healed the best with the least scarring.

Since cuts and scrapes are all that I've seen - besides my own shattered knee - I threw out the suture kit. I take Gauze and tape and 3 bandaids - oh and very small tweezers, 2 ccs of "soap" for washing wound, a small aluminum thingy of polysporin, nail clippers and a plastic comb. I hate sleeping bag hair.

jim

Any first aid kit I've looked at contains a lot of items I'd never use, and lacks a number of items I do use (for example, the bandaids in most kits are usually the lowest quality and don't stick). The most important part of any first aid kit is what's between your ears! If there's any way you can take a Wilderness First Aid course, I strongly recommend you do so. Check the schedule for the NOLS Wilderness Medicine Institute, check with the American Red Cross in your area (some areas offer WFA classes on demand); google for Wilderness First Aid classes in your area (colleges and universities often offer them). The standard First Aid classes from the Red Cross are not the same; they assume that paramedics are just around the corner (i.e. call 911). WFA classes assume that rescue may take several days and focus on stabilizing the patient until SAR arrives. Most WFA classes teach you to improvise with what's available, so you actually end up taking less first aid gear.

As mentioned before, there's no point in taking stuff you don't know how to use. It's just a danger to you and to anyone you might encounter.

Also, consider the statistical chances of various injuries. The favorite scenario of WFA classes, encountering a multiple disaster along the trail (such as a river rafting accident with lots of multiple injuries) is a very useful "final exam" for a class, but in real life the chances of encountering such a thing are probably less than 0.01% (and a good thing, too!). My own "injuries" have been limited to small cuts on my hands (usually the dreaded hangnail, easily infected), small splinters and the occasional blister (nonexistent since I switched from boots to trail runners and started using Body Glide on vulnerable parts of my feet). I have several times had to help beginning hikers with blisters. I did sprain an ankle once (X-C ski trip). My father was kicked in the arm by a horse when I was 9, leaving a nice hole in the flesh (from the horseshoe caulk) but fortunately not breaking the bone. I've had a few skinned elbows and knees, and of course my grandkids are more prone to that sort of thing. I once had an encounter with a yellowjacket nest (they nest on the ground), but fortunately my horse was stung, not me (he tossed me a long way from the nest, fortunately). There's always a chance of a yellowjacket encounter in late summer/early fall. My only encounter with a serious injury was when I ripped most of the ligaments in one knee during an X-C ski trip--fortunately with a large group at a cabin, where there was an evacuation sled. That's in 70 years of backcountry experience!

BTW, the WFA class I took 2 years ago showed us how to use a sleeping pad to stabilize a knee injury so the patient can hobble out. I'm glad I didn't have to try it, though!

My first aid kit:
-Bandaids, various sizes, most of the water block type
-Second Skin for blisters (also great for burns and abraded-type wounds)
-Moleskin for blisters (cut a hole for the blister and pad the area around it)
-Antibiotic ointment
-Tweezers
-Needle for sliver removal, with hole large enough to use dental floss as thread (in my repair kit)
The rest rarely get used but I don't like being without them:
-2 nonstick 2' x 2" gauze pads
-Tegaderm (non-stick) large dressing (1)
-3 butterfly bandages (for gaping wound)
-Duct tape (wrapped around one of my trekking poles)(adhesive tape substitute)
-Self-adhering foam wrap ("vet wrap")--originally bought for my dog, but I discovered that with duct tape reinforcement on the outside it makes a great sprained ankle bandage, much lighter than Ace bandage
-Acetaminophen (1 day's maximum dose)
-Ibuprofen (1 day's maximum dose)
-2 Rimadyl tabs for my dog, one day's dose (don't give pets either acetaminophen or ibuprofen; they're poisonous)
-2-3 Imodium tablets (enough for me and dog for 1 day)
-2 baby aspirin (to chew in case of heart attack)
-A few Benadryl capsules (enough for me and dog for 1 day) (for wasp nest encounters)
-2 Tums
-Two sanitary pads--the best compress (per the WFA instructors) for heavy bleeding (a case in which fast action is needed and you probably don't want to use your sleeping bag!)
-A few individually wrapped alcohol pads (for cleaning skin around wounds or disinfection before removing slivers)
-2 Ziplock sandwich bags--glove substitute and (with small hole in one corner) for irrigating wounds--never use iodine, hydrogen peroxide, alcohol or any other disinfectant in an open wound--it damages flesh and retards healing. Irrigating with treated water is the medically approved treatment. The latest from the US Army in Afghanistan is that pressure irrigation is "out," just flood the wound with copious amounts of clean water. Don't put antibiotic ointment down into a large wound, either, just a tiny bit on a gauze pad over the top. It also slows healing.
-Katadyn Micropur tablets, a day's worth in case of filter breakdown.
-Safety pins, large, 3 (in my repair kit)--if a sling is needed, pin sleeve to front of shirt.

That's what I take for solo (with dog) trips. For larger groups, each should carry a few items for themselves (especially meds) and one person should have a group kit with some extra items. Obviously, the more people in the party, the higher risk of a problem, especially if the additional persons are inexperienced or children.  

Since most of my trips are solo or with my grandchildren, I do take a PLB.

It's vitally important to check the kit every year, replace expired meds (just replace them yearly so you don't have to worry about dates), bandaids whose paper wrappers are yellow with age, etc. If you use the foam vet wrap, it should be replaced yearly--with heat and pressure it molds together into a single lump. The elastic in Ace bandage also loses its oomph after a year or two or if used.

Take a first aid class designed for addressing wilderness issues, or pick up the NOLS Wilderness Medicine guide. The regular first aid protocols are not intended for issues that are 10+ hours from professional level medical care.

My kit has bandages, gauze (a small roll, a bunch of patches of various sizes, sterile), sport wrap, immodium, various headache pills (I need prescription migraine meds, sinus meds, and then there's regular old ibuprofen, plus some naproxen), sudafed, benadryl to help with allergic reactions, a tick puller (one of the few items that's gotten several uses), two pairs non latex gloves, leukotape (for blister prevention), some blister pads/bandages, alcohol swabs for the sterilization of the microtool, and some neosporin ointment. I put a few feet of medical tape around a pill bottle.

I also consider everything else in the pack to be part of the first aid kit. If someone is hypothermic, dehydrated, or having some issue that is likely compounded by dehydration (like elevation sickness) then the water filter and clean water supply are necessary. You need clean water to irrigate wounds so the hydration bladder becomes a wound cleaner. Clothes can be put into service to put pressure on heavily bleeding wounds, or layered on the person to warm them. Sleeping bags need to be wrapped around the hypothermic person. Fire starters to make fire (ignoring regulations in a survival situation) in order to signal rescuers, or to warm up the person, or make warm drinks or dry out their soaked clothes (hypothermia happens exponentially faster after falling into cold water). Pack stays, trekking pole sections, or foam sit or sleeping pads can all be splints or braces, or with a jacket the poles can become a travois for transporting the injured.

You also use plastic garbage bags, or the ground cloth, or the tent fly, or the tarp, to complete the hypothermia wrap - bundle in dry clothes, then sleeping bag, then a vapor barrier to re-warm the moderate to severe hypothermic. Placing hot water in bottles in the hands, armpits or along the thighs to slowly warm the person puts those plastic bottles or Nalgenes in the first aid kid too.

Training is the first and most essential tool in the FAK. Everything else is already there.

Excellent point. In fact, the knife in our FAK is not in our FAK. And yes, we consider the rest of this stuff the raw material for emergency first aid.

One way to cut down on first aid supply costs is to go to the local farm store. Ours has a medical section for treating horses and cows/pigs etc. Some of the stuff is exactly the same stuff you find for humans, just cheaper. Mostly look for sterile gauze and those elastic stick-to-themself bandages. They also have 99% rubbing alcohol for the stove freaks. I haven't found any use for the drugs, other than aspirin for the dog (they sell dog specific aspirin).

As others have said, the best thing is a comprehensive First Aid course. Knowledge is very lightweight.

As far as a kit goes, the most common and most likely "injuries" will be minor cuts, scrapes, blisters etc. I carry a few different sizes of Band-Aids, antiseptic wipes, antibiotic ointment, blister pads, a couple gauze pads and tape, and some OTC meds such as Advil, Immodium etc.

I would add some aloe vera gel for sun burns or other minor burns. You can also apply a small amount of toothpaste to minor burns to take the sting out.

Not sure if anyone carries anything for rashes like poison ivy but if you crush up a plain aspirin and mix it with some non scented hand lotion it will reduce the inflammation and itch.

I will also be carrying some Bag Balm with me. It is great for just about everything.