About two years ago I went on a lovely little boat ride in Mexico that turned into a minor disaster.
It was no small feat getting to the Tamul waterfall. First we sat in the back of a pick-up truck for a twenty minute drive, followed by a little hike through a wooded area until we finally made it to the water.
In my experience, meandering excursions like this add to the sense of isolation and make for amazing adventures in the end. You end up feeling more connected to your destination for having journeyed so long to get there.
But this time, the remoteness became a problem.
You see, it was at a remote cenote on this boat trip where I stepped on a family of angry little red ants and quickly discovered that I’m apparently quite allergic to them. Our excursion abruptly ended right then and there, but it was another 45 minutes before we made it back down the river, back to the bank, back in the pick-up truck, and back to my luggage where I kept my allergy medications. You see, until this episode, I’d never really known what it was I was allergic to, and my reactions were always pretty minor.
Now I realize how important it is to carry allergy medication with me at all times. I’m very lucky that the hour in transit to my medication wasn’t life threatening, but it was absolutely miserable… You’ll have to watch the video to see the pictures of my allergic reaction and to see my newfound solution for carrying meds on boat trips like this one.
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[…] Post: Very good as add-on to video. More info about trip and allergic reaction. […]
Great idea for the waterproof meds ! I would ask your Dad or your doctor , however, about having an Epi-Pen with you for remote trips like these in the event your reaction is a bad one and the Benadryl/Pepcid combination is not enough.
Nice ending…for a minute I thought you were going to mention GEICO or something…
A possible new addition to your “I’ve Been (Sick) Everywhere post. Good advice.
Don’t want to spoiler but this is a great hack not only for the specific mentions in the video and this particular use, but for many other types of applications. I have a bunch of those things too.
Definitely will like for the compact suitcase packing tip at the end, even though it is a hack that I could not come close to replicating.
Fabulous idea! A first aid kit is always a good idea too. But this is how to bring medications in a waterproof manner. What’s the Pepsid for?
I will have to ask my dad again (retired Physician’s Assistant and go-to for all my health questions!) but if I recall it somehow blocks the absorption of more of the allergen or something like that…
I was very lucky that he was with me for this trip so he knew exactly what to do. Obviously an epipen is best!
Famotidine (Pepcid) works on H2 histamine receptors. Benadryl, Zyrtec and more traditional allergy meds work on H1. If you go to the ER with an active reaction, that’ll give you that cocktail on top of the Epi and predisone
Yoder
What u should do is ask pops what’s the min. to have in ur BP and suitcase for medical in a flexible waterproof pouch. I had like $30 worth in my suitcase pouch with my hotel shampoo thing and that trashed it HaHa.