Medical scenario 1

[PreppingPingu]

Good thread. What is it that makes pepper or cayenne pepper so useful? I knew about using proper honey - the Romans among others used it. Its an age old tried and tested item due its properties and shelf life. What are the properties in those peppers that make them useful, in I assume helping clotting? Fascinating stuff. Also can you use too much pepper? I would hate to make something worse.

[Lanky Yankee]

http://www.ehow.com/how-does_4925036_ca ... eding.html
I've read about cayenne paper from a couple different books. The clotting on external bleeding is helpful, but I want to know about taking it internally to regulate blood pressure. Not sure but it could mean that it may be helpful for people who are on B/P meds might have an alternative when meds run out.

Not knowing enough about taking it internally I would stick to taking it once a day. I now my mum use to drink a nasty tasting 'potion' made of cayenne,vinegar, and garlic to stay healthy. God it was awful but she didn't get colds.

[Stasher]

I'm fascinated by the use of cayenne pepper here. My reaction would be to use a saline solution to clean. Presumably cayenne pepper is preferable to saline, but saline is still better than plain water?

[Holomon]

Quick roundup of answers on scanning the thread;

Superglue - No, for the love of god don't use it. Use medical glue (or veterinary glue at a pinch), as some superglues can cause an exothermic (heat producing) reaction and do more damage to the cells that they are doing good. Or just do what a normal person would do and use a bandage, trauma dressing etc etc. Leave gluing wounds to medical professionals.

Cauterisation - Another one in the "why in the hell would you do that?" column. It's very painful and makes you very susceptible to infection unless carried out in a sterile environment, plus you get lovely second and third degree burns and will be dependent on antibiotics to fight off that infection you just gave yourself.

Seriously, use pressure dressings, israeli bandages or non-exothermic hemostatic dressings/agents, do not attempt any crap that you see in movies or that people with "experience" tell you works.

Better yet before speculating on a fantastic new way to get yourself killed go and get some actual medical training.

Raising legs - You do it if the wounds allow it, so depends on the nature and extent of injuries. The whole point is to keep as much blood as possible flowing to the vital organs and not wasting time in the legs while their system is shutting down, or to stop blood fountaining out of an ankle that has lost it's foot.

[Malthouse]

Better yet before speculating on a fantastic new way to get yourself killed go and get some actual medical training.

Raising legs - You do it if the wounds allow it, so depends on the nature and extent of injuries. The whole point is to keep as much blood as possible flowing to the vital organs and not wasting time in the legs while their system is shutting down, or to stop blood fountaining out of an ankle that has lost it's foot.

Yes indeed and I have offered several times to run first aid courses specifically for Preppers.

The point about raising legs was in the context of shock.

[undomesticdiva]

apparently you can use cigarette ash to treat a small wound, experiences?

[ForgeCorvus]

apparently you can use cigarette ash to treat a small wound, experiences?

I don't know about that, but I have used tobacco as a styptic to stem bleeding (small cut right in the web of my hand that kept re-opening)..... I wouldn't recommend it though, it stings really bad and seems to slow healing.

[Holomon]

The point about raising legs was in the context of shock.

Ahh sorry, must have missed the context. If I may ask, who was running the course?

I haven't heard anything about non-elevation for shock, as far as I know there haven't been any recent studies related to it, but I can't read everything lol

apparently you can use cigarette ash to treat a small wound, experiences?

I haven't heard that one, but I just did a quick google and the claim seems to be based on it being sterile and able to bind very small wounds.
If it's that small a wound it'll probably close without the use of ash, plus you shouldn't be smoking to start with! (Sorry, sorry, I know...)

[undomesticdiva]

fair enough lol, it is probably just as easy to use a plaster in the first place.
as for the smoking, don't worry, I'm used to almost daily lectures haha in the nicest way possible I just let it go over my head: )

[preparedsurrey]

I work in the building trade and to be honest superglue gets used far more often than plasters on most of the sites I'm on.