Home made anesthetic?

[redskies]

Ether is volatile and explosive

The best plant based one (Opium) is likely to get you arrested as would Cannabis (proven to help treat a wide range of heath problems).

All anesthetics are basically poisons


Willow bark and cloves are mild painkillers and not really up to what you're asking about (that said, if you're going to reduce my fracture I'd rather have willow bark then nothing)

Frankly apart from nitrous oxide* almost anything that will work well is illegal to have....Mostly due to abuse.


*Start stocking cans of squirty cream now

Just a passing thought, as I'll be covering the use of both willow bark AND clove oil next year. There's a difference between a local anaesthetic and a painkiller. Willow bark contains the active ingredient salicylic acid, the active ingredient in aspirin. It's something you'd take to dull a current pain, just like aspirin, rather than a local anaesthetic, which is how clove oil works. Salicylic acid is, oddly enough, also used in facial scrubs as it's a natural exfoliant. It has a number of interesting and useful properties - http://www.chemicalland21.com/specialty ... 20ACID.htm

But you wouldn't use it before an op, because analgesic isn't the same as anaesthetic!

[ForgeCorvus]

I've been using the wrong terms
It'd be great to read more about this subject Redskies

Question: What would Cannabis be used as medically ?

[redskies]

You can actually use cannabis as an anaesthetic, although I suspect you'd need rather a lot to achieve the desired effect!

Studies are showing some good results with cannabis alongside counselling for PTSD. It's also an excellent painkiller, as well as getting rid of things like nausea. Folks having chemo find it very good, as do those with MS.

More recent studies are showing that cannabinoid oils are effective in killing some kinds of cancer. The studies I've looked at are peer reviewed, which is excellent and an important part of verifying the findings. The range of their effects isn't fully known yet, but I'll be interested to see where it goes and what it does.

THC's have also been used in treating depression. Evidence there is anecdotal, but interesting. Again, something I'd like to see more research on.

All round, it's a handy thing to have post SHTF, not least because of the recreational value. I believe that studies linking it to mental health issues MAY have been misrepresented - I haven't had time to have a proper look yet. I suspect that rather than causing mental illness, it more likely exacerbates a predisposition towards mental illness, if that makes sense. I also suspect that in a lot of those cases, the patient had been abusing rather than using, which does make a difference. As I said, I've not looked properly yet, I'm just going on what I've been seeing in the media, and we all know how reliable that is


Speaking personally, as someone who used to run city centre pubs, if they banned booze and brought in cannabis instead, you'd see a HUGE drop in violence on the weekend. I've known a lot of folks who've used it, and very very few have had adverse effects. You'll not get someone who's been smoking/eating the stuff to have a fight, generally speaking, they'll be far too busy getting the munchies and the giggles. Or possibly just sitting in the corner, lost in the music!

[ForgeCorvus]

Didn't Queen Victoria use "hemp" during labour ?

I dimly remember reading about it being used for Glycoma (spelling fail ?)

[redskies]

She quite possibly did. It certainly wouldn't surprise me. I've read that the only reason it was banned in the states is because it was poised to oust wood as a base for paper making, amongst other things, and the log barons had hysterics!

Glaucoma - you were close. There's two different kinds of glaucoma. It's basically pressure in the eyeball. Cannabis was used to relieve the headaches caused by it, but I'm afraid there's no cure, and if the pressure gets too high, you either have to relieve it or risk your eyeball bursting. Basically, the fluid in your eye is constantly circulated - drained and renewed. Glaucoma, the most common kind*, is caused when the drain stops working properly or at all and pressure builds in the eye. So whilst yes, you can use cannabis to treat the symptoms, you can't treat the problem. These days you'll get drugs to help balance it all out, and, occasionally, an op, if the pressure gets too high. In those days, the only way to do it was, er, manually. In other words, a clean needle, puncture the eye, relieve the pressure. It was done in the white of the eye.


It should be noted that cannabis and hemp are not the same thing. It's the levels of the active ingredient - THC (Tetrahydrocannabinol) - that make the difference, although the two plants are in the same family. Hemp has low levels, cannabis has higher levels. Oddly enough, nettles are also in the same family, although they don't contain THC as far as I know.



*The other kind of glaucoma is a not very common one. It's where babies are born without the valves etc that drain the eye. And that's why I know so much about it; two young members of my family were born like that. And it runs in the older members too!

[QUAID]

OK i've chickened out of testing chloroform..... Still gonna give it a go though.

Another useful thought would be the use of snow and ice in a controlled manner to completely numb the area of interest. Hypothermia and frost burn may be a big risk though.

[redskies]

Tbh, don't bother trying to make it either. Phosgene is a chemical weapon, and it does nasty things.

Snow and ice are a possibility for short term numbing, say for a few stitches. And would also be useful to help stop bleeding.

[Arzosah]

Yikes ... horrified that anybody's actually thinking of making chloroform, and *really* testing it on a person ...

OTOH ... whats this about squirty cream? Hoping thats *not* a joke I like the sound of that

[PreppingPingu]

It should be noted that cannabis and hemp are not the same thing. It's the levels of the active ingredient - THC (Tetrahydrocannabinol) - that make the difference, although the two plants are in the same family. Hemp has low levels, cannabis has higher levels. Oddly enough, nettles are also in the same family, although they don't contain THC as far as I know.

I watched a River cottage the other day and he was using hemp to make bread among other things. You can grow hemp legally as the THC are very low tho I am not sure if you have to be registered or anything like that. Hemp also grows very fast and the long stalks are used to make rope etc and seed heads for food. As the levels are so low in hemp, I would guess they'd be useless for any form of pain relief.

[redskies]

It should be noted that cannabis and hemp are not the same thing. It's the levels of the active ingredient - THC (Tetrahydrocannabinol) - that make the difference, although the two plants are in the same family. Hemp has low levels, cannabis has higher levels. Oddly enough, nettles are also in the same family, although they don't contain THC as far as I know.

I watched a River cottage the other day and he was using hemp to make bread among other things. You can grow hemp legally as the THC are very low tho I am not sure if you have to be registered or anything like that. Hemp also grows very fast and the long stalks are used to make rope etc and seed heads for food. As the levels are so low in hemp, I would guess they'd be useless for any form of pain relief.

It's not illegal to grow hemp in the UK, but it's illegal to grow it without a license. It's not difficult to get one - we've been looking at it, grow your own house anyone? - but there are conditions applicable. Things like distance from main roads etc etc, and mostly designed to keep twits away.

The uses for hemp are, almost, endless. You can feed chickens on hemp seed, make cloth, paper, fuel and all sorts of other things, including 'hempcrete'.

And yes, because of the low levels of THC, it's virtually useless as a painkiller.