Ask MetaFilter questions tagged with firstaid

Attention chemists and nurses.

lostburner — Thu, 21 May 2009 23:44:47 -0800

What chemical did I inject into myself, and will I be okay? Today I was in a biology lab taking apart a massive (refrigerator-sized) apparatus. I'm pretty sure the apparatus was built and used (for about 30 years) for running parallel executions of the Kjeldahl method on lake water samples. It's also possible that it was for determining mercury content. The setup seemed to be mainly for distillation, but there was a lot going on and nobody ran me through how the procedure was once done. There was what appeared to be a condensation chamber with a long glass discharge tube. I got a small puncture wound on the bottom of my forearm from the broken end of this tube, which bled for a bit. I cleaned this with alcohol and covered it with a band-aid, but a few hours afterwards the wound looks questionable. It's developed a red swollen area about the size of a quarter, and a red line extending about an inch straight away from the puncture site, suggesting an irritating substance in the vein. The red line looks like a scratch, but I didn't scratch myself and it seems to have grown. So far (13 hours later) there's no pus.

It hasn't been used in at least a year, but there were decades of chemical buildup and residue on everything. Based on the Wikipedia article on the Kjeldahl method, it looks like the chemicals that might have been in the tube are sodium hydroxide, ammonia, boric acid, and possibly mercury oxide or copper sulfate, as well as of course the trouble substances mentioned above. There were asbestos and lead pipes involved, with masses of corroded lead built up on other areas of the apparatus. There was also caked yellow residue that smelled like sulfur, and quite a bit of rust.

Does anyone have any relevant insights? Which of these things do you think would be present and would, in a small quantity, inflame a puncture wound in this way? What's the right medical treatment or the odds of it resolving itself? Will I lose my hand?

Also: I don't mind lots of responses, but this is a question referring to some pretty specific knowledge, so if you're taking a shot in the dark just let me know.

Help me stock my medicine cabinet...

somanyamys — Mon, 19 May 2008 12:38:26 -0800

What should a well-stocked medicine cabinet contain? I recently cleaned out my medicine cabinet, and finally threw out years of expired, largely unused junk. The only items that survived the purge were a box of band-aids, a tube of neosporin, and a bottle of Excedrin Migraine. I am starting with a clean slate.

It's just me and my husband, no kids. So what should two reasonably healthy adults really keep on hand in the medicine cabinet?

From what I could tell in my searches, previous AskMe questions were specific to babies and/or were focused on the larger issue of spending leftover FSA funds. Google has turned up very little (mainly survival-oriented first aid lists). That's a start, but I'm looking for something a little more comprehensive than just a first aid kit.

If you can point me to a really good, everyday, household-oriented list that's not focused on small children, I'll take it. Otherwise, I'm looking for specific recommendations for what a well-stocked medicine cabinet should or should not include.

Without some kind of guidance, I'm afraid I'll end up buying one of everything at drugstore.com, and in a couple of years I'll be throwing out another garbage bag full of barely used, expired stuff. Please save me from myself.

Infant CPR classes?

ND¢ — Thu, 03 Jan 2008 13:53:05 -0800

Do you know of any free or cheap infant CPR classes? So the wife and I are expecting our first child, and I came up with the bright idea for us to both take infant CPR classes. I was all sanctimonious about it when I mentioned it to my wife last night too, really playing up how responsible I was being, but then I was looking around today, and the damn Red Cross wants to charge $67 per person for the classes! I am sure that my first born son or daughter's life will be worth a lot to me, but $134? I don't know. Anyone know of any free/cheap infant CPR classes in Columbia, SC (online courses will not suffice I am afraid, cause then it will look like I am cheaping out on something that I was so high and mighty about last night)? Thanks.

Rambo would've used a bullet

TungstenChef — Tue, 20 Nov 2007 23:44:39 -0800

Am I going to get a nasty scar? While opening a can of dulce de leche today, my finger slipped and I gashed a divot out of my index fingertip about 1cm long, 3mm wide, and 3mm deep. It started bleeding a surprising amount, and borrowing from my pet first aid knowledge I stopped the bleeding with a styptic pencil, cleaned it with Bactine, and put on a bandage and Neosporin. Should I have gone i and tried to get stiches instead of the styptic pencil? Am I going to end up with a slow healing, large scar?

Is it possible to buy a box of single-dose OTC medication packets?

IndigoRain — Sat, 17 Nov 2007 13:09:29 -0800

Is it possible to buy a box of single-dose OTC medication packets? A friend is putting together a bunch of home-made first aid kits. She wants to put in those medication packets, like these at Minimus (which I suggested). However, she said those are a bit expensive. (Some are almost a dollar each.) Are there medical supply stores or whatnot where you can buy a box of single-dose packets of OTC medications?

Why is it so important to remove the bullet?

GriffX — Thu, 04 Oct 2007 21:35:38 -0800

In umpteen movies and TV shows that we have all seen, when someone is shot, the first thing that anyone giving them aid is concerned with is "getting the bullet out" - usually followed by a painful extraction of the projectile before any other first aid is applied. Why is this? You often hear about people who survived gunshot wounds who still have slugs inside them, right? So in the movies, is this done sheerly for dramatic effect, or is there any basis in reality for the urgency of removing the bullet? Is there any pressing need to remove the bullet from a shooting victim that trumps the need to stop bleeding, disinfect the wound, et. c?

I'm bleeding from my hands. So why can't I hear?

eritain — Sat, 12 May 2007 07:08:58 -0800

Hypotension/hypovolemia as a low-pass filter: I got cut, I went into shock, and then everything started sounding funny. I'd guess it was a 40 dB (±10) rolloff, which began near 200 Hz (±50) and left me with nothing above 1kHz. How in the world? Story, discussion of numeric estimates, off-the-cuff physiological speculations, etc... About a week ago I had a gentlemanly disagreement with a pane of glass, which left venous blood running richly from two of my knuckles. (No winner was declared, but you should see the other guy. I totally took him.) At the first-aid station, I dropped into a typical case of shock: pallor, weakness, sweating, and thirst. I knew what it was, so I got my head between my knees and asked a bystander for water to sip. I was still feeling awful when someone got a car to drive me and my now-bandaged hands to the emergency room (where those hands would get six stitches and some iodine).

As I walked some 15 or 20 feet to the car, I experienced an unfamiliar symptom: My hearing drained out. First the high end, then the mids went very quiet. A waterfall fountain became inaudible; male voices had a very flat timbre. I could hear the bass rumble of the car engine very clearly, but not its rattling-type noises, or much road hiss/tire noise.

Note that I am pretty bad at estimating loudness, but it was a profound loss. Frequency, I'm a little better with. I understood people speaking, so I must have had some hearing up to 1000 Hz (to make out the first two vowel formants). But 700 Hz is a good estimate for the top of the road hiss that I wasn't hearing, and the loudest sounds were definitely 100-160 Hz or so.

Qualitatively, here is how much shock I was in: My vision was washed out, but not tunneled. My lips, I'm told, were colorless. I did walk 20 feet, but I'm sure I couldn't have gone 40. I had the presence of mind to keep my knees slightly bent in case I went down, and to be irritated at the people who thought that holding my elbow was really gonna help if I fainted. (Arms go limp, yo?) I did not have the presence of mind to say, 'Hold me at the shoulder, not the elbow,' or better yet, 'Wait, give me a minute here, I can't walk yet.' In the car, with a few minutes' rest and some water sipped, the normal shock symptoms receded, and the hearing loss with them.

So: What was that? Has this happened to other people? Can you propose a mechanism? (Could shock drain fluid from your cochlea, or do some fibers of the auditory nerve have a better blood supply than others, or would it more likely be the auditory cortex going under?) I welcome hypotheses, but I'm not about to go gouge myself again to test them. (Hmm, guineapigs.metafilter.com is still available.)

How well can I expect a burn to heal?

KevinSkomsvold — Wed, 21 Feb 2007 10:04:58 -0800

How well will a 2nd degree burn heal? My 6 year-old daughter was burned on her forearm.. ..by very hot coffee. It broke the skin, blistered pretty good and she rightfully screamed her head off. I applied a cold washcloth for about 20 minutes and then applied a non-stick burn bandage along with some Burn-Free ointment and wrapped it in gauze. Any ideas as far as how well I can expect it to heal? I'm not asking for free medical advice - I know burns can leave some pretty nasty scars. I'm just feeling like the worst father in the world right now and need to hear of any experiences with this. (She will be seeing her pediatrician within the hour).

just in case reading list

luriete — Thu, 07 Dec 2006 09:33:37 -0800

What are the best survivalist's reference books? That is, if the power went out tomorrow for an indefinite period of town, what are the books on first aid, shelter, hunting, farming, nature, tool use & making etc. that you'd want to have and be familiar with?

What should be in my medicine chest?

LobsterMitten — Mon, 23 Oct 2006 19:57:55 -0800

For household first aid, should I use rubbing alcohol or hydrogen peroxide or witch hazel? Growing up, we only ever had rubbing alcohol in the house. Oral thermometers were wiped down with it after each use. Wounds would get washed with soap and water, then doused with rubbing alcohol, then bandaged. But I know others use hydogen peroxide for the same purpose, and someone recently said to me that they use witch hazel. This previous thread suggests that hydrogen peroxide is not a true disinfectant.

What are the proper uses, and drawbacks, of these three substances?

Certification/training beyond first aid/cpr?

devilsbrigade — Sun, 10 Jul 2005 22:55:42 -0800

What's the highest level of medical training (focused on EMT stuff) I can get without looking at it as a career? Red Cross offers CPR (have that), first aid (taking that) and AED (I plan on it), but nothing beyond that. The next step seems to be taking EMT classes, preparing for a job. I'd like to be more prepared (and preferrably certified for it) than the Red Cross training, which I feel is amazingly minimal, but I'm not seeing the oppertunities of how.