What do you do if your best friend is stung by a jellyfish? If you read the internet, you may think the right idea is to pee - as in urinate - on the sting.
Yuck! Wrong.
It's time to dispel some of the most popular myths in first aid lore. Read on to see the worst first aid ideas, demystified with the correct response to each emergency.
Click on these mistakes to see what should really happen.
11. Rubbing Alcohol to Cool a Fever
Alcohol dries very quickly, and that makes it feel cool. Unfortunately, it can absorb into the skin and it causes nasty results when it does. Never drink isopropyl (rubbing) alcohol, and don't rub it all over your body, either.12. Keeping Head Injury Victims Awake
"Don't let him go to sleep!" You've heard it on TV and probably on the football field. One of your buddies gets knocked silly and everyone wants to make sure he doesn't get any shuteye. How exactly does keeping one awake treat one's head injury? Hint: it doesn't.13. Tourniquets for Bleeding
© Rod Brouhard
This works, but the cost is huge. Putting a tourniquet on an injured arm or leg cuts off blood flow to the entire extremity. That means to stop bleeding from one cut, a tourniquet leads to tissue damage in the whole arm. In fact, if a tourniquet is done right and left in place long enough, the arm or leg may have to be amputated. Properly using the steps to control bleeding will usually do the trick.
