From the article: 14 Greatest First Aid Myths
Whether it's peeing on a jellyfish sting or cooling your burn with a little butter out of the fridge, there are quite a few first aid techniques out there that aren't exactly regulation. Some myths are actually taught by instructors - incorrectly. Scraping off a bee sting is one of them. No need to scrape, just yank that sucker out as quickly as she put it in. Tell Us Yours
Blood Thinners and Quikclot
- One area that does not get any attention when a patient must be put on blood thinners is that of the difficulty in controlling bleeding. I use Coumadin and have had a number of situations over the last several years that have been really frightening due to uncontrolled bleeding from cuts, scratches or "blood bubbles" that occur on my legs. My doctor kind of shrugs off those issues, but they are a factor in my life that I believe needs to be addressed. I was told about a product called Quikclot that is a type of gauze pad that has a substance in it that causes the blood to clot. I ordered some at their website and have used it several times to deal with bleeding. It works magnificently and very quickly. By just pressing the gauze into the bleeding area and putting pressure on it, the bleeding stops in just a couple of minutes. Previous to getting Quikclot, I sometimes had to call 911 for help. Now,I keep it in my medicine cabinet and I can deal with the situation myself.
- —Guest Stuck52
Jelly Fish Stings
- When vacationing in Bermuda we came upon a crowd of people trying to keep a girl, who had been stung by jelly fish, warm while waiting for the ambulance-over 20 min. A native came along, had her boyfriend pee then wiped it all over the welts, etc.-----It was miraculous! She was able to stop shaking and was able to stand and then walk. The ambulance still hadn't arrived!
- —Guest Toni
Spoonful of Sugar-cures Hiccups
- A half spoonful of white, granulated table sugar that is then washed down with half a glass (about 4 oz of plain water. Sounds silly, but it has worked for over 40 years for me and my family. Go figure!
- —Guest ALeta D
SureCure for Hiccups
- Calmly and firmly breathe out and breathe out and breathe out until your can feel your diaphragm pushing up hard to get out the last breaths. There is a lot of air in there, so be patient. And do NOT breath in during that whole time. Works like a charm.
- —Guest KathyC
Peanut butter for Hiccups
- My mom's friend told her this one: if you get the hiccups, suck on a teaspoon full of peanut butter (i.e. a teaspoon from the silverware drawer, not a measuring spoon). I get the hiccups all the time and, while it doesn't have a 100% track record, the PB trick reduces the severity of my hiccups if it doesn't eliminate them entirely. Knowing how hiccups work - spasms of the diaphragm - I think the PB trick works by forcing your body to focus intently on something. Whatever it is, I'm just glad to be rid of the hiccups!!
- —mboyd987
Jelly Fish Stings
- When my boy was 2, he was stung by a jellyfish and in panic I got my partner to pee on him. Don't think it helped at all, our boy has no doubt been left emotionally scarred more by his dad peeing on him than the jellyfish sting!
- —lisamills65
Treatment for pimples!
- When I started getting pimples (and I still do), my grandma would boil a cup of tea called 'Mazania Tea' that not only worked great for stomach aches, helped reduce zits! She'd get a piece of gauze, dip it in the tea and start wiping my face with it and leaving small pieces of gauze on the more affected areas. Surprisingly, it worked! To this day, I still use this treatment.
- —Guest Stephanie
treat jellyfish stings
- many years ago I was in mexico and dove into a bay (pacific ). I was surrounded by jellyfish and stung all over. the mexican whose boat I was in immediately sliced what they call "limon", a green lemon, and squeezed the juice over all the welts. I had no reaction to the stings and they disappeared in minutes... for what it's worth.
- —Guest bill cosgrave
Epistaxis (Nose Bleeds)
- A trick / Old Wives' Tale for nose bleeds, is to place a large key on the patients back between the scapulae. This trick, I believe, was developed for child care - children, inherently, have no concept about sitting still, placing the key on their back's would force them to stay seated and, it also, by default, get's the patient to lean forward!
- —DJGnome
Hey!
- Hi Rod, I'd like to correct one of your myths as being true. Number 5, Curing Croup with Steam. It is completely true that steam helps someone suffering from croup to breath easier. I suffered from croup infections at least once a year until I was 12 years old and I can tell you out of all of the things I tried over the years the one and only thing that relieved the symptoms was to put my head over a bucket of boiling water with a tea-towel over my head to keep the steam inside. The only other help is steroids which are only needed in severe cases, why take steroids when you can use steam?
- —Guest c0ldfyr3
nobody nose about my nose
- My grandmother always said the cure for a nose bleed was to hold your head up; my mom said open your legs and hold your head down but neither worked
- —Guest Deliria
Wet nappies (diapers) were good for skin
- Yuck ! My kids recoiled in horror when I told them what grandma did to them....lol My mum would chide me for using a wet dish cloth to wipe the kid's dirty faces, yet she would often use their wet nappies - supposedly the urine was good for their skin !!! Most likely not true - and definitely didn't make anyone want to kiss their little faces !
- —Guest Rachel
Butter for bumps on the head
- If I, or my siblings ever happened to fall and bang our heads, the first thing mum did, was to hold a piece of butter on it....I think the idea was, that it kept the swelling down...lol
- —Guest Rachel
Breathing into a bag no cure for hiccups
- Breathing into a bag to cure hiccups never worked at all for me -- or anyone I knew (Rod's note: This is VERY DANGEROUS, don't ever breathe into a paper bag for any reason). However, bending over to drink from the opposite side of a glass works for me just about every time.
- —Guest SusanH
Soothe a Cold and Treat Burns
- If you were unlucky enough to have a cold and be staying at Grandma's house, she'd make you wear onions...fried onions...wrapped up in a t-shirt or a towel, and hanging under your chin like a bib. It never seemed to help, but didn't seem to hurt, until the time she neglected to let the onions cool before she put them into the towel...the oil soaked through the towel and burned me on my chest. Ouch!
- —candleandsoap
