Medical facts that could help save a life

[festus]

1. Tampons fill bullet holes...it will hurt like hell but you will not bleed out nearly so quickly. They are sterile, and do not require extensive training to use. If it gets you to the hospital alive they can probably save your life.

2. Benydryl is a modern miracle to allergy sufferers. It can save a life and buy time in the event of anaphylaxis.

3. Aspirin while it will save your life during a heart attack, promotes bleeding due to blood thinning. Take Motrin or Tylenol instead.

4. Clean even the smallest cuts and scrapes and apply a neo-sporin type ointment to aid in healing and help prevent infection.

5. Maxi pads make great large surface area compression bandage dressings (use unscented).

6. In extremely rural areas(read that as hospital not available) a veterinarian may be your best bet in the event of extreme trauma. They see a lot of messed up pets and gun shot wounds in livestock (acts of jackassery) after all we are just a bunch of big dumb animals...except for that whole we have a soul thing.

7. Get a Special forces medical manual...lots of good stuff and helpful hints at staying healthy and active in the wild!

[HK4U]

1. Tampons fill bullet holes...it will hurt like hell but you will not bleed out nearly so quickly. They are sterile, and do not require extensive training to use. If it gets you to the hospital alive they can probably save your life.

2. Benydryl is a modern miracle to allergy sufferers. It can save a life and buy time in the event of anaphylaxis.

3. Aspirin while it will save your life during a heart attack, promotes bleeding due to blood thinning. Take Motrin or Tylenol instead.

4. Clean even the smallest cuts and scrapes and apply a neo-sporin type ointment to aid in healing and help prevent infection.

5. Maxi pads make great large surface area compression bandage dressings (use unscented).

6. In extremely rural areas(read that as hospital not available) a veterinarian may be your best bet in the event of extreme trauma. They see a lot of messed up pets and gun shot wounds in livestock (acts of jackassery) after all we are just a bunch of big dumb animals...except for that whole we have a soul thing.

7. Get a Special forces medical manual...lots of good stuff and helpful hints at staying healthy and active in the wild!

+1. Also some type of EMT training would not be a bad idea or see if you can volunteer in a a local E.R. to gain a little knowledge.

[1911 Headbanger]

Yep, some pretty good advice and a good post. Back in my Paramedic days, we kept a couple of boxes of Kotex Feminine Napkins, as they were called back then, on the Ambulance and a few individually wrapped ones in our Trauma Kits. They were big, thick and rectangular shaped and soaked up gallons. The ones nowadays are more hourglass shaped and some have adhesive strips on the back. Get the thickest ones you can get, because they still absorb well.

As for the tampons, it depends on the caliber and bullet type. Entrance wounds tend to be small and after the skin stretches during penetration, it tends to close back up and appear as a very small bloody spot with a little black or grey ring around it. Exit wounds are different of course and tampons can work there, but you'd probably do more damage than good on an entrance wound, unless it was a very big and powerful caliber. Another method is to take sterile gauze bandage and shove strips of it into the entrance, carefully using hemostats, as kind of a stuffing or packing in the wound, but that is a last resort for being well away from help. I also carry a small bottle of Betadine to saturate a large wound, before bandaging. That is as long as the person is not allergic to Iodine. Betadine is an Iodine Prep solution that's been used to clean and prep areas prior to surgery. Good stuff.

[RugerP345]

Yeah, I can just see me now showing up at the ER with maxi pads duct taped all over me and little white strings hanging off my body.
The ER crew would get a kick outta that.





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[boris]

Yeah, I can just see me now showing up at the ER with maxi pads duct taped all over me and little white strings hanging off my body.
The ER crew would get a kick outta that.





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would you rather them hang a toe tag on your dead, lifeless body? bring on the maxis!!

[1911 Headbanger]

Yeah, I can just see me now showing up at the ER with maxi pads duct taped all over me and little white strings hanging off my body.
The ER crew would get a kick outta that.





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Yeah, but you'd be surprised. We've wheeled guys into the E R bleedin' like a stuck pig, but the bleeding had stopped and was easily absorbed. In fact an old E R Doc told us about them, and we started using them regularly. The guy at the grocery store had to be wondering why these Paramedics kept comming into the store buying 2 and 3 boxes of Kotex pads at a time. They have ABD Pads nowadays which are basically a giant sized Kotex that's folded over and sterilized in the package. The only time I ever saw the E R staff really laugh at something was when one of the local Motorcycle cops took a spill. We wheeled him in. When they cut his pants off, it revealed he was wearing two pair of X-Large panty hose. The Motorcycle cops used to wear them in winter under their pants as a layer in the cold. They actually worked pretty well. But don't ask me how I know that.

[Glock Fan]

Yeah, but you'd be surprised. We've wheeled guys into the E R bleedin' like a stuck pig, but the bleeding had stopped and was easily absorbed. In fact an old E R Doc told us about them, and we started using them regularly. The guy at the grocery store had to be wondering why these Paramedics kept comming into the store buying 2 and 3 boxes of Kotex pads at a time. They have ABD Pads nowadays which are basically a giant sized Kotex that's folded over and sterilized in the package. The only time I ever saw the E R staff really laugh at something was when one of the local Motorcycle cops took a spill. We wheeled him in. When they cut his pants off, it revealed he was wearing two pair of X-Large panty hose. The Motorcycle cops used to wear them in winter under their pants as a layer in the cold. They actually worked pretty well. But don't ask me how I know that.

The pantyhose work great for keeping warm. Not sure why, but they keep the skin insulated. Ask any female ice skater and she'll tell you that with the pantyhose, it's not as cold as it looks. We use the pantyhose here in PRHI when we go diving in areas that have box jellyfish. The pantyhose act as a barrier and prevent the jellyfish from stinging us. As least in the cases referenced, the pantyhose had some functional purpose.

What got me (and the rest of my squad) ROFLOAO was when we were attending to an injured somewhat "hard a$$" Lieutenant. He caught some shrapnel in his upper thigh. When we cut away the pant leg we discovered he was wearing a pair of bright red G-string undies. Had he not been passed out at the time, I'm sure the $hit would have hit the fan! Once we got the guy stabilized and on his way to a safe place, we had some down time where we discussed the observation among ourselves. We agreed not to bring up our observation, though all bets were off if he brought it up. Once we got back to the states the man gathered us up and asked us if we saw anything "unusual" when we were patching him up. His timing was horrible as this was just before an award ceremony where we were all going to get various medals and awards for our actions while in theater. My whole squad bust out laughing and it took him several minutes to calm us down. He ordered us "Not a word to anyone". We all had tears running down our faces when he pinned us and shook our hands. We never found out why he was wearing the non-regulation undies, but did have a few good laughs before he transferred to another unit.



gf

[1911 Headbanger]

Hey Festus, Here's another one that may not save a life, but surely could make one more comforable while going through pain. A Doctor Buddy told me that, when you don't have anything stronger for pain, other than store bought stuff, suggested that you use the sleep aid pain relievers, such as Tylenol PM, or Excedrin PM. He said in the case of a fracture or other lingering pain, the PM part helps make you sleepy or groggy in addition to the pain relieving part of the medication. Sleepiness will always reduce the stress, relax the muscles, and cause less conciousness to the pain, therefore increase pain "relief" qualities. I tried it when I broke my foot a few years ago. Two or three Excedrin PM's really does help, as long as you can stay in one place, relax and don't have to drive or something. I keep a few extra bottles of the stuff in my supplies.

[1ofmany30]

Goodo on the tampons for anything greater than a 9mm round, but keep in mind that generally, gun shot entrance wounds from a caliber of 9mm or less are self sealing from subcutaneous tissue and have little to no external bleeding at all. Tourniquets are great as well and thank good they are making their way back in to civilian street medicine and EMS protocols, but don't go buy yourself a $30.00 military contraption called a tourniquet (unless its called a TK-4 made by H&H for about 4 bucks)because the spandex on your old boxers or briefs will do just as good a job.

Benydryl is a miracle drug and although the box does not support my claims it can be used as an anti nausea/diarrhea, local anesthetic for minor stitches and cuts or for mouth sores or tooth pain when chewed, can be used as a sedative/ anti anxiety or for motion sickness. It also cures dystonic seizures almost instantly. as well as offering relief from minor to severe allergic episodes.

for you chest pain sufferers, if you have been diagnosed with angina or have MI history and if no nitroglycerine is available, sucking on a book of paper match heads will help drop your blood pressure and reduce chest pain. only use till desired effect.... meaning till chest pain goes away.

a good local EMT class is your best bet

as far as the special forces handbook....unless you have had some sort of medical training the SF book may just confuse the hell out of you, nonetheless it IS a great reference tool. If you have no medical or CPR training only, I would recommend the good ole scout field book (1948 to 1954 editions are great) from boy scouts of america. BTW there is tons of great need to know survival and mapping info in them aside from just medical. I like the older editions best because some of the info like bandaging and finding certain arterial pressure points is very pertinent information that you just don't see very often in todays literature.

other good tips: go see your doctors and let them know your putting together a disaster kit for your family. Under this context many docs will prescribe you epi pens, antibiotics like cipro, anti inflammatory drugs like prednisone and salu-medrol along with extra supply of your current everyday prescriptions as needed. i would advise that you not go looking for any narcotics like morphine or demerol it will more than likely throw up a red flag with your care provider. try a good bottle of rum for pain instead... ha ha

[flcracker]

I ride on the streets a lot in one of the most dangerous areas of the country for motorcycles...

I got a tip from another rider one day, and followed through...

Get yourself a relatively small capacity flashdrive, and a lanyard to hang it around your neck... On it, type and save your 'medical specs' and any known history.... Name, address, DOB, SS #, who to notify 'in case of', any known allergies to drugs, your BLOOD-TYPE, Insurance info, medical history if your have any... all that kind of info. Then write or place a sticker on the outside of the drive that says: ... ICE ... or ICoE.. (In Case Of Emergency).

EMT's carry laptops, and when they get to the scene, they will always check for allergy bracelets, necklaces.. When they find your little flashdrive, it goes into the laptop, and right away they have your 'vitals'.

I never leave my house these days, riding or not, that I don't have mine on.... One just never knows...

FLc