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This week I’m off to sunny…Cork?

Yup Amanda Harper is on the move. It’s time to visit my mom, meet up with a little sister or two, and then come back home relieved to be with my puppies, and my XBox. But packing this morning (Thursday) got me thinking about travel-kits for people who are chronically unwell.

As any regular reader knows by now that in addition to a rather convoluted mess of emotional problems I also have fought with increasingly bad bowel problems for many years. To put it plainly even my diarrhea has diarrhea, and my stomach pains write long eloquent tragic epic poems about the cramps they themselves suffer from. Yes, I spend a lot of time on the toilet, clutching a hot water bottle, with YouTube running on my mobile phone.

But when I want to travel alone for much of any distance I have to assemble a kit. And for the most part its contents are pretty much common sense.

Amanda Harpers travel kit.

Two pairs of spare panties.Two heavy flow sanitary pads. (In case of accidents, they won’t stop a flood, but might just save you from a little squirt.)
Antiseptic wipes.
Antispasmodic medication.
Imodium/Lomotil.
Codeine based painkiller.
Doggy poop bags. (It’s better than nothing to go in, believe me.)
Deodorant.
Mouthwash. (To cool the burn.)
Spare cash. (To get my burning ass home.)

Pretty much common sense, right?

Now admittedly I’ve been rather bold lately and haven’t had much of this kit with me when I go out. I should. I know I should. But it kind of started to feel like a ball and chain that I dragged around the place with me. However after the past three days I will be reassembling it in the next week or so, and it will be coming everywhere with me.

Anyway, packing got me thinking about my kit, and wondering if other people with different problems have their own kits. Do for example diabetics have a kit they travel with? Coeliacs? Migraine sufferers? People with mobility problems, or emotional problems? So, I’m asking those of you who have such problems to reply here, and if you use such a kit tell my readers and myself about it. Because when you have bad health even the smallest of things can make a big difference, and information is most definitely one of the not so small things.

And with that I’m off to Cork. Huzzah!

Posted on 04/05/2013 at 9:00 AM in entertainment, Health and Beauty, home life   |  RSS feed |   Reply   |   Trackback URL

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7 Comments to “This week I’m off to sunny…Cork?”

    
  1. Claire Ryan
    04/05/2013 at 9:25 AM

    Migraine sufferer here. My kit is mostly painkillers and water. I got the pills for the pain, and the water to keep myself hydrated, because I’ll trigger an attack if I get too thirsty.

    Depends on the sufferer’s triggers though. Tough to determine.

    Reply
    • Amanda Harper
      04/05/2013 at 10:08 AM

      Yeah, it was more the trigger specific kits I was thinking of with migraines. I mean for mine I can’t have a kit beyond my pain meds, because mine tend to be tiggered by sleeping too deeply. How in the hell do you avoid that?

      Reply
  2. Kitten
    04/05/2013 at 10:20 AM

    You’re definitely not alone of that one, sweetheart. I don’t leave the house without a mini-pharmacy; painkillers, imogas, deflatine, rennies and gavascon (for acid reflux. Did you know they come in tablet form now so you can have them in your bag?), anti-histamines (2 types if I can), ducolax (the quicker you get the trigger out, the better), ontop of all the viatmins, supplements and actual meds I might be on at any one time.

    I also can’t go without eating for more than a couple of hours or else I crash really hard (similar to diabetic drop), so I always have a cereal bar, a small twisty lunchbox fill of nuts / trail mix, and at least one from of sugar with me at any one time.

    And then, just because I’m organised, I usually have wipes, plasters, anti-septic wipes, notebooks and pens with me(I used to have burn gel too, I should replace that….); you never know when they will be needed! They’re not necessarily emergency items for me, but when you’re already carrying the rest around with you, a few actual “general use” items don’t really take up much room, and people are always so grateful when I have them in my magical bag.

    Reply
    • Amanda Harper
      04/05/2013 at 4:55 PM

      Holy crap Lyssa, that’s impressive. And every single one makes sense. My kit is mostly about the clean up on aisle three, rather than treatment because my body just does what it does, never bothering to ask my opinion in the matter. But I will definitely have to add Gaviscon to the list, hiatus hernias do not like reflux. And you’re very right, having those few extra general use items would be a very good idea. After all when you already carry panty liners, panties, and all the rest…well it’s hardly an imposition on yourself.

      Reply
      • Kitten
        05/05/2013 at 10:55 AM

        You’ll like that the plasters come in normal, dinosaur or hello kitty options, to suit all tastes! When I was first trained as a first aid responder I also carried bandages with me for the first few weeks, but realised the impracticality of that. Also, the one time I’ve had to really depend on those skills was the one time that I didn’t have my bag with me, so I realised it’s more about intuition than having the right kind of equipment with you. So sterile gloves, anti-septic wipes, normal wipes and plasters are the one items that remain, though when I locate the single use sachets of burn gel again, they will definitely be going back in. Funnily enough, I know I backpack is huge, but my pharmacy is all located in a tiny little pouch, about the size of your hand. But this is why I don’t do handbags 😛

  3. Victoria Oldham
    04/05/2013 at 3:23 PM

    Hope you have a wonderful trip, full of laughter and no need for the med-kit!

    Reply
    

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