Getting sick while off roading and on the trails....

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umidkusername

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Alright, so any horror stories? I’m on my second round of food poisoning and just thought to myself, damn what if I were 1000 miles away from in network providers? What if I needed to go the hospital?

How do you manage this? Load up on vitamin C and herbal teas for trips?


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Food Poisoning is most likely caused by unsanitary conditions and /or poor or inadequate refrigeration. Bacteria can grow very quickly out in the desert, woods, wherever.
Some of the rules my wife and I follow if we are out:
1. DON'T let uncooked meat float in ice water even if wrapped in cellophane. The water will quickly become a cold bacteria soup. Drain the cooler and refill with fresh ice whenever possible.
2. WASH YOUR HANDS...with soap and hot water. We keep a Jet Boil in the truck for heating water so we can wash our hands before digging around in the cooler for munchies. Also wash any utensils, plates etc...even a scalding water rinse is better than nothing. Or use throw away.
3. Rubber gloves. Cheap, disposable and sold in boxes of 100.
4. Learn to like non refrigerated foods, jerky, trail mix, granola, protein bars, energy bars, freeze dried stuff. Not always gourmet, but it will get you by for a few days.
5. Get a Garmin InReach (or similar) two way satelite communicator. If you do get sick, injured, snake bit etc. You can get hold of someone to provide emergency assistance. Cheap protection considering it could help save your life someday. Pray you never need to use it...
Good Luck!
 
umidkusername said:
Alright, so any horror stories? I’m on my second round of food poisoning and just thought to myself, damn what if I were 1000 miles away from in network providers? What if I needed to go the hospital?

How do you manage this? Load up on vitamin C and herbal teas for trips?


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
Click to expand...

Getting caught in bad weather like thunder storm, lightening' flash' flood land slide'more of a concern. If you don't have any serious preexisting conditions and you are generally healthy you should be fine. Stay hydrated. Be aware of your surroundings while you drive hike, etc and you'should be fine.
 
Get some first aid training. Food poisoning is rarely more than miserable. Don't eat anything not freshly cooked and served hot. When I started traveling internationally, I could expect to get food poisoning at least once a year. But as time progressed It got less and less. I built immunity to the bacteria that we don't normally get in first world conditions. Rememnber, as many people vacationing here from Mexico get Montezuma's revenge as gringo's vacationing in Mexico.
After that, an Inreach or other device could be life saving. But knowing basic first aid is most important.
I treid to cut my fingure off many years ago about 50 miles from the nearest medical source. I was lucky as the saw didn't hit the vain. We sewed the wound shut after cleaning it with thread we had. And headed out of hunting camp. Got to the Dr and he thought we had done a pretty good job and left it closed like we had done. Sometimes you got to do what you got to do. Learn how. Most first aid is pretty intuitive.
 
This is something I deal with from time to time as an OTR truck driver.
Diarrhea on the road can be creative. Especially when no one wants trucks parked near them.

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It's actually happened to me when on a 3000 mile solo road trip, which included a mix of off-road and camping to save coin on hotels.

I only had a cooler and it was hard to maintain the ice, I probably got myself sick from food poisoning, or bad food I ate on the road between stops...

It was tough, I was feverish and I literally couldn't drive without feeling like I was going to fall asleep. I did have my own first aid and medication, and after I found a camp site to rest I realized it wasn't going to cut it.

While trying not to shit myself and/or throw-up in my 4Runner, I got back on the road and found the first hotel I could and checked in. Spend 3-4 days recovering at the cost of about $1k in hotel expenses…

I was lucky that I was close enough to a town, but I was often times out of cell coverage on the trip, but I did have a had ham radio for communications. As much as I love radio coms, it’s difficult to operate in distress, and in new areas without pre-programmed repeaters. Not only do you need a lot of practice in this method of communication, it takes time and research to find usable repeaters. For most operators it’s probably challenging enough in ideal conditions.

So what changed in to improve? Soon after that trip I bought a ARB fridge and installed a dual battery system to promote food safety, and added a Garmin InReach Mini (with SAR insurance) to my emergency kit. Generate a contingency plans before a trip, and inform friends and family of their rolls in an emergency before the trip. My ham radio now has APRS so my wife can keep tabs on me at all times, and as a backup method my GPS location to the InReach system.

Am I going to hit the panic button because I got a stomach bug, probably not, but it made me think of what happens if I was in a scenario where I wasn’t able to help myself. These days it’s unlikely I would make the same run solo… but at the time I wanted an adventure and I got it.
 
I've had food poisoning while camping once. In fact, everyone who went got sick so it was pretty miserable all around. This was pre-cell phone days and we were several hours away from anywhere, so we just rode it out and covered the campsite with vomit and poop, haha.
We did have HF radio in case it got dangerous and we did have 1st aid supplies, but most kits only cover supplies for injury (trauma, burns, bites, stings etc) and not illness. We now carry common pain relievers to help in those situations.
 
i have a fridge.

I carry steroids, antibiotics, pepto bismo, and immodium in my first aid kit.

helps that i have access to RX only things like steroids and antibx.

I also carry extra underwear just in case....never know man..never know.
 
I'll second a kit including Imodium A-D... I carry it in my hunting gear as well as in both my rigs. That stuff's a lifesaver - whether it's flu, food poisoning, or Giardia that's causing your keester to remain unwillingly unclenched. Regarding that, also pack a few vitamin waters along with your standard H2O. They're needed to replenish electrolytes that are purged along with fluid, which'll help keep your energy afloat until you can get to (what people call) civilization. They can also be handy to help rehydrate if you're exerting in the heat.

Regarding Giardia - DO NOT take a chance with any natural source of fresh surface water while 4-wheeling the outback. Carry a water filter of some sort, at least something small like a Katydyn "Be Free" or a LifeStraw personal water filter for emergency drinking. Or take the time to boil stream water or treat it with germicidal iodine tablets.

While you can drink spring water dripping from a clean pipe stuck into a wet hillside, NO flowing surface water is safe from gastric bugs these days. My work once had me annually living out of a wall tent in a seasonal forest camp at 9000 feet along the Continental Divide in the Sierra Madre mountains of southeast Wyoming. While we trucked in our own water, I used mountain stream water to wash our camp dishes. Didn't dry my coffee cup one morning and wound up with a stubborn case of recurring Giardia that took months and multiple treatments with Flagyl to finally cure. Turns out that a local ranch had been grazing sheep up the drainage in the weeks prior to our camp. On the plus side, I temporarily lost my beer gut.

Temporarily being the operative word.
:cheers:

mrblah said:
i have a fridge.

I carry steroids, antibiotics, pepto bismo, and immodium in my first aid kit.

helps that i have access to RX only things like steroids and antibx.

I also carry extra underwear just in case....never know man..never know.
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1) Find out what got you sick, in the first place and follow advice above.
2) If you prefer fresh over processed/canned food, try more plant-based foods. Spoiled/poorly refrigerated animal products will make you sick. Spoiled fruits/veggies just turn to wine or vinegar :)
 
I got sick on the Whipsaw trail, it's a 2 day drive in the mountains of BC with some pretty rough trails and rock obstacles. I think I got food poisoning. The first day was great but for dinner I had some pork sausages that were stored in my crappy cooler with only a few small freezer bricks, don't think it was cool enough. That night was not fun. The next day I was so nauseous, I drove about 4-5 hours until I had to give up the wheel to my buddy. The trail is rocking you back and forth all day so you can imagine.

I now have bought a better cooler and next time will buy a block of ice. Helps if you have a fridge for longer trips. Bring pre-cooked easy to heat or packaged foods.
 
Vitamin C has antimicrobial properties. While not as powerful as the prescription antibiotics, it can combat and/or prevent bacterial infections. Vitamin C has also been shown to make antibiotics more effective.
 
I always bring a fully stocked paramedic bag with color coded emergency pouches depending on the issue. Medication in the side pouches as well that i have collected from other stomach issues and surgerys.

Food poisoning meds would be in the green pouch like imodium AD.

I hope i never need the Red pouch (quikclot ect...).

eqjOBLH.jpg
 
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Ripper238 said:
I always bring a fully stocked paramedic bag with color coded emergency pouches depending on the issue. Medication in the side pouches as well that i have collected from other stomach issues and surgerys.

Food poisoning meds would be in the green pouch like imodium AD.

I hope i never need the Red pouch (quikclot ect...).
Click to expand...

Impressive... Was this built up with professional background or just something you put together with research?
 
Bumbo said:
Impressive... Was this built up with professional background or just something you put together with research?
Click to expand...

As with everything i do its a little bit of everything. I have some first aid training but my Son is also a Paramedic, so with his ability to get stuff and some research i put this bag together.

As an old Eagle Scout i find it's very helpful to always be prepared. I don't want to be miles into the wilderness with no communication and not at least have a solid medic bag.

There are so many videos and blogs that can help. I found many of the bugout and survival videos helpful to provide some additional ideas over bandages and the basics.
 
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My wife got kidney stones one weekend we were at an off road park in New Hampshire.

We rushed to the hospital, they gave her some meds and we went back and camped out as planned, she was miserable in the morning (understandable) and we loaded up and headed home. She was curled up in the passenger seat the whole way in pain, the f550 was not a comfy ride. . I felt so bad, she was in so much pain. Went to another hospital when we got back home they helped her a little more. Luckly they passed soon after.. but what a bummer.
 
I recommend activated charcoal for quickly clearing up stomach issues.

And of course as a Brit I have to agree with DanVance, tea by the bucket full
 
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