MacGyver MD

Pretty cool little fix-um-ups.

Yeah- pretty cool little article. Definitely the kind of first aid tricks MacGyver would know and employ.

I knew the bee sting one. Thankfully I haven't had in a very long time- but I remember having to knock off the stinger and slather on the baking soda as a kid. I also remember the baking soda tasted pretty good too!

EW!

Did you also eat paste as a kid??? or that salt clay from art class???

Oh, no, no, no. I saw this page last week and just winced. Some of the solutions are harmless but some are BAD. Shoelace as a splint? No. It's too narrow and would cut off circulation. You can use it to hold an actual splint in place, but not as the bandage itself.

As for krazy gluing the tip of your finger, when I lost the pad of one of my fingers and eventually made it to the ER, I was congratulated for NOT doing the krazy glue trick (which would have been an option since I do carry krazy glue in my kit). You can't reattach dead tissue like that. Krazy glue does have its place in a first aid kit, but not in this case.

Mac

No, but Play-Doh was (is) VERY tempting...

If you slice off pieces of a finger, put the finger in a plastic bag with ice. Wrap the piece in clean gauze. Apply pressure to the other part of the wound and head for the emergency room. The sliced off bit can be surgically reattached.

A rolled up newspaper or magazine can be used as a splint. Pretty much any type of material that will hold an injured joint immobile will work. When tying on a splint, be sure that the ties are tight but not so tight that they cut off circulation. If the injured person is able, have them move their fingers or toes to make sure you haven't tied any bandages too tight.

Just a side note, for deep cuts that are bleeding heavily, put a bandage over the wound and apply direct pressure to the wound to control bleeding. You can also elevate the injured limb above the heart to slow bleeding and apply pressure to the pressure points on the inner, upper part of the arm or against the inner, upper thigh. Tourniquets should never be used to control bleeding. They cause much more damage then they help.

I will have to remember the duct tape for thorns the next time I am hiking in the desert backcountry.

Yes, that's all well and good for fingers, arms, legs, feet, hands, and toes (if you got a fairly clean cut), but this article was referring to just the tip of a finger, that is the fleshy part. You can't reattach that.

When I finally made it to the ER after my accident, the doc said that she wouldn't even try stitching a wound like that.

(BTW, reattachment is never a guarantee.)

Mac

Oh, no, no, no. I saw this page last week and just winced. Some of the solutions are harmless but some are BAD. Shoelace as a splint? No. It's too narrow and would cut off circulation. You can use it to hold an actual splint in place, but not as the bandage itself.

The article didn’t say to use it by itself. Said to use with high top shoe. By itself it wouldn’t be a splint… would be a tunicate.

Even with the high top shoe, it could be a tourniquet. A boot could work, but it depends on the thickness and rigidity of the material.

Mac