Basic molecular chemistry is the secret of this kit that anyone can make at home.
Acid breaks down a wasp’s venom into harmless chemicals. Base breaks down a bee’s venom and treats nettle stings in the same way.
I would go into detail, but it would risk you getting it backwards in a crisis.
Acid for wasps, because they’re ****s. That’s all you need to remember.
Base is for bees and nettles.
That’s pretty much the whole kit, as far as chemistry goes.
Tiny tweezers are there to draw stingers out, but this is for insect stings only.
You need JETS OF WATER ACROSS YOUR SKIN to draw nettle hairs/stingers out. Nettle leaves are covered in hundreds of tiny hollow silica needles (trichromes) full of a range of acids and neurotransmitters, one of which makes your skin feel like it’s on fire.
Assuming you have not been foolish enough to rub the stung area (with or without a dock leaf) like a doofus, you can immediately alleviate most of the pain and prevent further pain in your future simply by drawing those needles out. You know: instead of breaking them off so they’re stuck in your skin and leaking venom while being resistant to treatment… like a doofus might do with a dock leaf.
If you aim a jet of water across the skin, the parts of the needles that are still poking out will be ‘caught’ by the water and drawn along with its momentum, dragging the embedded tips along with them.
This kit contains a ‘push pin’ with a sturdy top that allows you to poke a hole or holes into the plastic cap of a water/drink bottle to create these jets of fluid that will grip the needles and draw them out quickly, painlessly and very effectively.
Alternatively, you can immerse the effected limb(s) and sweep/draw them through the water quickly for the same effect.
Sprinkle liberally with bi-carb while the area is still damp: this will neutralise any remaining nettle venom.
(Similarly, you will need a small amount if water to activate/distribute the bi-carb when treating bee stings.)
Shampoo-top bottles are tremendous dispensers of bi-carb powder, and I have two of these plus a series of water bottles on stand-by for ‘wide games’ and other Scouting/outdoor activities that involve proximity to nettles. And to put it delicately… nettles are everywhere that humans go farming or camping, because they love our waste. Nom nom nom.
I once saw near to a dozen young people pile out of the woods after a mass nettle encounter in the dark, and had them all treated and ready to face the woods again inside of 6 minutes.
My personal kit also contains added antihistamines and calamine lotion, but this would be for extreme encounters.
The big spray bottle is for the day one of us treads on a wasps nest. It hasn’t happened yet, but I’ve had enough close calls to want to be prepared.
As usual, eBay is the place to look for small vials and squeeze tubes for this purpose.
It is less friendly as a dispenser, but a small round tin of bi-carb tucked under your water bottle in its usual holder will make all the difference if it’s on hand at the right moment… and being on hand is what it’s all about with this kind of kit. You don’t normally plan on being stung.
There’s a special first aid bag that comes with us on every wide game, and it includes a large sting kit with water bottle included. Also, when I make tin versions of this, I make them small. A tin that is too big for your pocket and too heavy for your shorts is no good to anyone, and will probably be left behind on the day it matters.
The ‘Love Box’ tins pictured are by the good people at Durex, by the way. They designed a tin that was meant to fit comfortably in your pocket for much the same reason, and now those tins are still out there, keeping people safe.Thanks, Durex.