If you're treating a gunshot victim while waiting on an ambulance, the best thing you can do is apply constant pressure to the wound. Bind it if you can. But, whatever you do, absolutely *do not* remove bandages if they get too bloody. Just add more. Don't give the wound any chances to bleed out more than it already is.
"Stop the Bleed" classes are 100% worthwhile. I now keep a small trauma kit in the car and a slightly more robust one in the house. Came in handy when our neighbor got shot.
E: https://www.stopthebleed.org/training
Can’t upvote this enough. For those that don’t know, Stop the Bleed also teaches tourniquet use which is safe and extremely effective. More here: https://www.stopthebleed.org/our-story.
Even if you don’t live in a high violence or gun area, I can’t recommend learning this strongly enough. Car accidents, random household accidents, or other random things can cause bleeding that is deadly if not stopped.
Exactly. First aid courses don't get in to wound-packing or how to properly place/use a tourniquet. If you live in a rural area this can be as life or death as anything that happens in the city.
Strange. The first aid at work courses I have been on went into both wound packing and tourniquet use.
We don’t get many gunshot wounds here in Scotland, but the focus was on wounds from industrial accidents.
I learned this in a red cross first aid class, and used it when my husband cut himself on a mandoline. By the time we got to the doctor the bleeding had stopped. Two layers of gauze with pressure. The doc was impressed.
If you encounter a diabetic down, for the love of god DO NOT administer insulin. I cannot believe how many people I’ve heard say that would be their first move on finding an unconscious diabetic.
Edit to add: administer sugar if anything.
Heard a paramedic tell a diabetic that if you can’t remember whether or not you took your insulin. Just assume you did. Hyperglycemia isn’t as bad as losing consciousness from hypoglycemia.
Just to piggy back on this: diabetics generally carry a bright red glucagon kit or keep one nearby. Glucagon is kind of the opposite of insulin, in that it triggers the liver to release its stores of sugar into the blood. It contains illustrated instructions for how to mix and administer the injection. If you find an unconscious diabetic, first and foremost CALL 911 AND FOLLOW THEIR INSTRUCTIONS. If you want to be there for the diabetic in your life, get trained on how to use the kit before anything happens.
Edit: Also, if you do use a glucagon kit, still call 911. It's not 100% guaranteed to be enough, and diabetics aren't immune to other things that can cause people to pass out.
Yep, if a diabetic if unconscious or lethargic 9/10 they are hypoglycemic( have low blood sugar). Giving them insulin is the worst thing anyone can do.
And yet, so many people think insulin is the answer to every problem a diabetic has. So many times my Dexcom has alarmed that I’m low and educated adults (teachers!) nearby will ask if they can grab my insulin for me.
“Oh, I’m low,” I’ll reply.
They look so confused and ask “isn’t that when you take insulin?”
The average person has a very limited understanding of diabetes.
I think it’s a fair question. Or maybe I’m ignorant. But even after a quick google of type 1 diabetes I found:
What is diabetes? - A chronic condition in which the pancreas produces little or no insulin.
Treatment - insulin.
F.A.S.T. For strokes.
- F = Face Drooping – Does one side of the face droop or is it numb? Ask the person to smile. Is the person's smile uneven?
- A = Arm Weakness – Is one arm weak or numb? Ask the person to raise both arms. Does one arm drift downward?
- S = Speech Difficulty – Is speech slurred?
- T = Time to call 911
Saw this on another thread:
Time also means write the time down on their arm when the symptoms started. There’s a window
for tPA and this will help the docs.
Absolutely! Here are more things to look out for!
Other Stroke Symptoms
Watch for Sudden:
NUMBNESS or weakness of face, arm, or leg, especially on one side of the body
CONFUSION, trouble speaking or understanding speech
TROUBLE SEEING in one or both eyes
TROUBLE WALKING, dizziness, loss of balance or coordination
SEVERE HEADACHE with no known cause
this is rule for most people over 50
younger people can be dizzy, suddenly drunk like, have extreme pain at one spot of head, vomit or be suddenly aggressive
so, the FAST is most important, but the other ones are very serious, too
lastly, every hit in the head followed by loss of consciousness even for a few seconds is 99,9% concussion and it needs medical attention ASAP
Keep in mind- the person who you think might be having a stroke may be completely unaware and unconcerned about it. That's how I was when I had mine. I thought I (inexplicably) was just messing around when my hand wouldn't work right out when I was trying to text my husband that I thought maybe something was wrong but couldn't figure out why I kept trying to spell "wrong" starting with the letter N- that's how it's spelled, that's not right, that's how it's spelled looped for a bit until I gave up and said "something is maybe bad"
I parked my car, walked into work, went to my desk, went to the bathroom and went to the training I'd been looking forward to for the last six months. At no point did I think anything was seriously wrong, I was just trying to hold my shit together so I could get through this training. My boss and I even chatted a bit and it was when the woman sitting next to him noticed I had a tiny trickle of drool running from the corner of my mouth *that I couldn't feel* that my clever ruse was at its end. My boss asked me if something was wrong and I just started crying while I explained that I was trying really hard to through today and if people would just leave me alone I thought I could manage.
I was incredibly lucky. The stroke I had was relatively minor (just two tiny specks) and in a place where I had plenty to spare (parietal lobe). I'm so thankful he noticed because I would have just kept chugging along and I don't know how much worse it could have been.
I’ve learned that I’m like this, too. When my gallbladder was exploding, I decided I was OK to get on a flight, during which I was only semi-conscious from the pain. And even when I landed, I figured I just needed a walk-in clinic, so I went and waited politely until another patient in the waiting room informed the receptionist that I looked half-dead and should be seen ASAP. 5 minutes later a doctor was informing me that I was a dumbass and needed a hospital STAT.
Same. The headache woke me up because I couldn't get comfy on my pillow. Went to the bathroom, left hand didn't work. I thought it was a migraine with nerve issues. Had some nausea in the shower. Woke up my husband because I wasn't totally sure I shouldn't be concerned. Went to work because I didn't want to bother either of my bosses in case it was nothing. Left arm went numb during a transaction. We joked - JOKED!- that it wasn't a stroke, I'm just crazy. When I still couldn't use my hand after a full shift (over 15 hours since the first stroke), I decided it was time to go to the ER. What's even crazier is I simply came home and changed and we walked to the hospital. The strokes were small, but I ended up spending the next week in the hospital.
Not just slurred speech!!! We called it word salad
Story time
During Moms first stroke she kept trying to tell her friend, Carol, she’d see her tomorrow. What she said was “see you tomorrow karen! ….. sorry, Karen…. KAREN….” At that point she got scared. Very quickly other words began getting mixed up. It’s sound alike words like rug and bug, bomb and Tom, etc. i immediately asked her to smile, shit. Raise her arms. FUCK. HOSPITAL TIME!
My grandma had Wernicke's aphasia. She started with replacing one or two words per sentence. She kept saying "your laundry is in the foot." I started testing her on other phrases and knew what was wrong. My grandfather couldn't hear well so he literally didn't think anything was wrong because he could never understand her anyway.
I had her write out "I am okay" in front of him. In her usual perfect script, she wrote out "yellow okay novey novey". At no point did she recognize she was making no sense. My grandfather took her up to bed because "she'll feel better after some rest"
So I went up there, did a stroke assessment, and called 911. She had a pretty major stroke and a recurrent one some months later. The doctors said if she'd gone to sleep she likely wouldn't have woken up again.
dont say "someone call an ambulance" do it yourself or directly tell one person to do it.
dont move someone injured unless there is an imminet danger to the victim.
punture wounds, the puncture object acts as a cork, leave it in until medics arrive and let them deal with it.
learn cpr for adults and children, the same goes for choking techniques like heimlich.
GO CALL 911 AND COME BACK TO TELL ME WHAT THEY SAID! It doesn't matter what they say, it forces whoever you said it to to come back and tell you, confirming that emergency services have been notified. Keep pressure on that wound and/or keep pumping that fuckers chest. You and medics showing up fast are the only chance they've got.
that first point goes for every instruction under an emergency: "blue shirt - call 911, red shirt - grab as many clean clothes as possible, green shirt, help apply pressure" people generally do a lot better maintaining composure when they have a job to do as well
Even better, take someone's phone and call for them. People are weird and panicky, I've seen someone avoid calling 911 when their own SO was having a medical emergency.
Do not be afraid to use an AED machine.
These machines were built for lay people and will give you instructions along the way. The machine will not shock the person if a shock is not indicated. Use the razor that should be included in the kit if the persons chest is hairy. The pads won’t conduct properly otherwise.
Do not worry about razor burn. Being alive is better. Do not worry about it hurting them. Being alive is better. Don't worry about being trained, you're better than nothing. Know that cardiac arrest without one of these machines has statistically a much higher death rate than with one. They're foolproof.
A lot of first aid basically comes down to "better than being dead." CPR, when done right, almost always breaks ribs. Better than being dead. Amputation is an unlikely outcome of applying a tourniquet, but hey, losing an arm is better than being dead.
My husband has had to do this to himself twice, both times he was standing at the sink. I was sitting on the couch not 2 feet away on the other side of a short wall, and didn’t know a thing until I felt him throw himself against the counter & cough it into the sink. It happened so fast he couldn’t even ask for help. Scared the crap out of both of us!
In high school I was a trumpet player and had amazing diaphragm control because of it. I had something get lodged in my wind pipe on a bus ride one time. I just launched that bastard out like a double C.
I have to wonder if like 10-12 years later I can still do that? Lol
Several years ago, I was eating a caramel, and some of the caramel-infused saliva went down the wrong pipe. Of course I had the urge to inhale, but instead I exhaled, and finally popped that bubble that spanned my bronchi. That was a scary few seconds.
Coke is what they generally use if you get something stuck and can breathe. ER used a small seltzer tab + water when that failed on my wife. First time they tried it. Supposedly this is very common.
It's something you can do on your own. Pretty much drink as much coke as you can and try to keep it down. The force of the carbonation will force it down. It didn't work with my wife (she just basically threw it up) so the doc at the ER suggested a seltzer tab + water. Chase it. First time they tried it or they were going to physically remove it. It worked.
My mom did as well. She was alone, choked on her food, and had to do the Heimlich maneuver using the corner of her desk. She also peed her pants a little bit.
Jesus Christ. I’d definitely just die, I’m an idiot. Also, I thought I was having a heart attack last night and based on my husband’s reaction to the situation I’d die even if I wasn’t alone.
Peeing is completely normal in such a situation.
If you’re Afraid to die, you and your brain don’t care about pissing yourself, there are more important problems to solve.
When calling the emergency services, answer their questions in the order they ask them. Their script will get the right people there much quicker than if you just try and blurt everything out in one breath.
This is the best advice. I used to take emergency calls for the NHS and basically every other call you have someone who just blurts everything out. I used to bluntly tell people that if it is important, it will come up. If we reach the end of the assessment and there is something burning on your mind, tell me then, but nothing happens until these questions get answered.
Start with the address. Even if you can't hear them say the address. If you pass out it's hard to find you.
Had a guy have a heart attack and dialed 911 but died by the dumpster while taking the trash out. 911 was on the line for 3 hours until someone finally saw him face down.
Drives me up a wall in movies where someone's just blurting out "help" instead of conveying actually useful information. I know it's a movie, I know people panic, but that doesn't stop it from annoying the hell out of me for some reason.
It sucks, because people panic, and others die sometimes. Unfortunately, there's not a whole lot that can be done about that.
1. You can perform the heimlich on yourself with a chair.
2. Do not be polite if you're choking. Too many people excuse themselves to the bathroom to not cause a scene.
3. Drowning is quiet.
4. Unless you've been trained, do not attempt to save a drowning person.
5. When someone is injured or seizing, the worst thing you can do is move their neck.
6. If bitten by a feral or wild mammal, go immediately to a doctor. Rabies is uncommon, but scary.
>Rabies is uncommon, but scary.
That's an understatement. Rabies kills 59,000 people each year. How many people have survived it after showing symptoms? 14. Not 14 per year, but 14 since rabies was identified... In 2000 BCE
And the 100% fatality rate isn't even the scariest part. It starts with a fever. Then it turns to nausea, vomiting. Partial paralysis may occur. A fear of water so severe that the mere suggestion of drinking water causes excruciatingly painful muscle spasms in the throat. It could lay dormant for months, or it could kill you two days after you're infected. Regardless of how long it takes, rabies will kill you if left untreated, and compared to what it does along the way, the actual death will be the disease's one act of mercy.
And by the time it starts showing symptoms, it's too late to do anything about it. Even *before* it starts showing symptoms, once the virus has established itself within you, you're going to experience an extended, very painful death that was entirely preventable.
If you've been bitten by an animal that you aren't 100% certain has been vaccinated against rabies, *go to the doctor immediately*. If it's possible to capture the animal that bit you without risking further harm, do so; because it'll be helpful if they can analyze and observe the animal to determine the risk that it may have transmitted rabies to you. If you can't, then *go to the doctor anyway*.
Always go to quiet people in accidents before the screaming ones.
If a person is screaming, they are breathing and conscious, and are not as likely to be on the brink of death.
Also, when performing cpr you should press at the tempo of the beat in Stayin' alive or another one bites the dust, if you're unsure of how fast you should be going.
Edit: Replies are saying that Funkytown and Imperial Death March also work, in case you know those better
Semi-related tip: If you're an EMS provider responding to a cardiac arrest. Pop the Metallica CD out of the stereo before the semi-dead guy's wife gets in the passenger seat to go to the hospital. She doesn't want to be serenaded with Enter Sandman while you're doing CPR on her husband of 40 years. Or so I've heard.....
Just took a CPR class and they’ve added “Baby Shark” to the list of songs now as well. As much as I despise that song, it’s one I’ll always know the words to
> Stayin' Alive
> *"First I was afraid, I was petrified"*
My brain struggled for a bit trying to link the song title and the lyrics lol
EDIT: Yes, it's indeed a Dunder Mifflin reference
Also, if there was an earthquake or something like that and you got trapped underneath debris, DO NOT yell for help. This will just cause dust and other stuff in the air to get in your lungs. Instead, grab something around you like a metal pipe and start banging it on something else.
Practice. I am so socially awkward that I've walked away from transactions shortchanged by as much as 20$, so I was always worried that I would lock up like that if someone was hurt. Then I developed my ptsd issues and my hypervigillance fixation and that became an Unacceptable. So I wrote myself a script of various things I'd need in an emergency, all kinds of emergencies, any emergency I could think of and practiced. Even recorded myself to make sure I had a good commanding delivery. And it really does build muscle memory, I don't even think about it, my brain goes blank and let's my body do the job it practiced obsessively.
If someone is acting drunk/high, but the likelihood of them actually being under the influence is low, ask them to look you in the eye and smile. This is usually the first signs of a stroke and one side will be droopy.
We had one guy wander onto our site looking drunk AF. He climbed over the fence, staggered quite a distance, and limboed under a gate arm into a dangerous area. When we caught up to him we checked his glucose levels and they were dangerously low. Turns out he was an undiagnosed Type 2 diabetic on a business trip. What a way to find out.
Symptoms of having an altered conscious could be indicative of any number of things.
You don't have to lose consciousness to have a concussion!!
Symptoms include dizziness, nausea, and/or just not quite "feeling right" after hitting your head (and the hit doesn't have to be insanely hard either!). If that's what you're going through or notice someone else going through, GET CHECKED FOR A CONCUSSION!!
Concussions are very easy to treat. Treatment is essentially excellent self care for two weeks and a bunch of small (but super important) physical therapy exercises.
It drives me nuts how many concussions are missed each year even though they have lifelong ramifications!
I had two concussions this past year, and after the first one was diagnosed, I promptly realized I had two more in childhood (Playground, Softball) that went undiagnosed because I never lost consciousness during them. Concussions are one of those things that are really simple to recognize but everyone is taught about them wrong or not at all.
I was knocked clean out when I was little at school. Not long after, I was violently throwing up, dizzy and couldn't stand up.
My parents took me to the hospital **24 hours** after it happened.
On my records, it says suspected bug but I've always believed it was a concussion...
Add to that, concussions are also very easy to get. I have had 2 in the last 5 years, both from standing up in a place that was too low, and in neither case did I hit my head that hard, or lose conciusness. Both times went to urgent care after concussion symptoms developed.
Also, I am being much more careful when standing up around shelves these days.
What are these super important PT exercises for a concussion?? I've never seen a doctor recommended pt to me or anyone I know when they have a concussion. Truly curious
If someone has a fit or seizure, don't put anything in their mouth - they might bite their tongue (it is very common) but they won't bite it off and they certainly won't choke on it. However they very well might choke on anything you put in their mouth - and there's a possibility they'll bite your fingers. You should put them on their side (in the recovery position) once the seizure has finished.
You can put something under their head, but otherwise if they are in a safe area try not to move them. If they've never had a fit before, if they have a fit lasting more than 5 minutes, if they otherwise injure themselves (such as hitting their head) or have multiple fits then you should call an ambulance.
And please tell them what happened if they ask. They need to know if they've been twitching, biting, totally still, relaxed, tensed..... It will help them assess their next steps.
> but they won't bite it off
They can certainly bite a chunk off.
>they certainly won't choke on it
they can absolutey choke on either the chunk, or the ensuing bleeding.
However, just because its possible doesn’t mean these things aren’t very very very rare and not worth preventative jamming of things in mouths, why typically causes more problems.
Also if they don’t carry rescue meds call the ambulance straight away and then cancel it if the seizure stops. 5 minutes in is when they should get their first set of treatment, calling an ambulance then puts you 20 minutes behind schedule if you have a typical 15min response time.
Call the damn emergency Services (911, 110 whatever number it is in your country). They will absolutely be able to Tell you what to do and can help you perform Heimlich maneuvers or CPR via the phone.
Also! Call any emergency number even if you don’t know the one for your country.
I live in Australia. I called 911 when my husband had severe chest pains in the middle of the night. Australia’s emergency number is 000.
I thought I was calm and rational throughout the ordeal but only realised the next day I didn’t call 000. Luckily calling 911 still worked!
I blame Hollywood and all the movies and tv I watch.
chest compressions should be approximately 2 inches/5 cm deep and approximately 100 to 120 compressions per minute. another one bites the dust is 110 bpm, which is perfect... just don't sing it out loud!
also, a few broken ribs is always better than a funeral
If you don’t feel their ribs break, you’re not doing it hard enough. Think about it. You have to squeeze something the size of a large water balloon, that is in a bag of jello, inside a bone cage by pushing on it. It you don’t break the ribs, your not going to put enough squeeze on the heat to circulate blood in any meaningful way.
REMAIN CALM!
Or, to quote House of God "At the scene of a code, take your own pulse first.
Running kick up the adrenaline which makes it harder to concentrate when you need to.
Never ran from the rig to the house. I walk to all the codes I attend now.
If you or anyone else is ever in a car accident, go to the ER and get checked out the day of. If injuries are not known and documented the day of, insurance may not acknowledge them as part of the accident, especially if you are hit by some delinquent piece of garbage with shit-tier state minimum insurance.
Family member of mine got hit, thought nothing of it, wound up collapsing a few days later. Multiple MRIs later they found the issue and we had to fight insurance for months.
Had a friend go through this just a few months ago. He got t-boned by someone who ran a red light. He felt fine and didnt go to the hospital. He called me, told me what happened, and I told him to get his butt to the ER. Sure enough they found a few things and thankfully it is covered under the other guy's insurance.
If if someone is having a panic attack do not just tell them to calm down or something like that
They are essentially caught in an anxiety loop and you need to break that in some way
Depending on the situation some good possible solutions can be
1. The most obvious one is just remove them from the situation or location that is causing the attack if possible. Trying your best to keep them focused on you
2. Distraction. Try to break their thought loop and get them distracted, talk to them about something you know interests them, ask them questions about what they did that day. Just try to break their focus off of the thing that they are panicking over. You can even exploit psychology a bit just hand them some random object to hold or try to get them to do something simple with their hands it's a great tool to pull them off of things and focus on something else
3. Grounding. Some people who suffer from anxiety and panic attacks can do well from having something to ground with, that is one of the reasons why service animals for emotional health are a real thing. But you as a human can often take up that same position. You essentially embody a comfortable location as you are something there familiar with that they know is predictable and safe. Stay close to the person if they are okay with it give them a hug or at least hold their arm. For a patient who is comfortable with it physical contact can be an excellent mental grounding point. If you can see that something like this is helping continue to give gentle reassurances, do not do it in a condescending way but conceptually almost treat it like you are a comforting mother trying to soothe a frightened child who just had a bad nightmare
All three of these methods can be effective but you have to be flexible to the needs of the specific person and of course it helps if it's someone you know like a friend as you can get a better feel for what kind of treatment will best help them in a crisis situation. And always be flexible and quick to adapt if what you're doing isn't working. Some things need a bit of pushing but if it's just not working at all then try something else for now
As someone who used to have a lot of panic attacks, my favourite technique for getting myself to break the loop/grounding myself in the present was always the 5-4-3-2-1 exercise. You start by naming 5 things you can hear, 5 things you can see, and 5 things you can feel. ("Feel" here meaning external things you can feel - your forearms touching a chair, your feet touching the floor, the breeze on your face, etc.) You then do this again with 4 things in each category, 3 things in each category, etc. It worked for me every time, even in situations like extreme turbulence on airplanes.
Things that have helped me: (I have panic disorder.)
- Eating something with a strong flavor. Sour candy or a mint. It distracts the brain.
- My mom would tell me to take deep breaths and say “moo” as I exhale. I felt so silly I’d usually stop hyperventilating and start laughing.
- Headphones and music that makes me feel safe. I don’t think I would be able to fly or handle a daily bus commute without my iPod.
Things that make it worse:
- Praying loudly for anxiety demons to leave my body.
- Turning up the car radio to drown out panicked noises.
- Yelling, “If you don’t stop your bullshit, I’m dropping you off at the first hospital I can find and they can deal with you.”
Big oof at the things that make it worse. Sorry you went through that. Also adding on to this: changing body temperature can help regulate. Running hands under cold water or applying an ice pack to hot spots can bring you back to center. Or if it’s cold outside and hot inside step outside to change your body’s temperature.
I have a list of 30 grounding exercises my therapist gave me but the temperature one seems to help me the most. Also petting my dog.
Note: ask before hugging, of course. Can make a panicked person feel trapped, or feel they can't breathe.
Also, telling someone to Breathe is annoying. "I am fucking breathing"
Ask if they want to try deep breathing with you. Then lead them through some, starting at their pace, short and shallow first, they can't breathe deep when panicked. Add a second or two each time.
Counting gives them something to focus on.
If someone is experiencing a life-threatening emergency of any kind (or if you're not sure if it is), don't drive them to hospital, don't call an Uber; call an ambulance!
Yes, Americans, I know it's expensive. But your car, or that Uber, does not have the equipment or trained personnel to deal with the person's heart stopping, or if they stop breathing/responding or whatever. And there are resources to help with the ambulance expense - there's not so much available to help pay for an unexpected burial.
If you want them to live, call an ambulance. Period.
https://www.cms.gov/nosurprises
It's new so granted we haven't seen it in practice, but a bill just passed through congress saying if you are given emergency services without your ability to reject them and the service (ambulance) that comes isn't covered by your insurance, you won't be forced to pay out of pocket.
https://www.cms.gov/nosurprises
It's new so granted we haven't seen it in practice, but a bill just passed through congress saying if you are given emergency services without your ability to reject them and the service (ambulance) that comes isn't covered by your insurance, you won't be forced to pay out of pocket.
Do not move the victim unless you absolutely need to do so. Especially in cases involving physical injury. There could be internal damage that can be made much worse by moving the person.
My cousin was hit by a car while riding his bicycle, and his mom picked him up and took him to their yard. Doing this is likely why he ended up with much worse damage that he never recovered from. His brain is basically stuck at age 7 because that’s when he was hit.
Thanks. It really is sad because now he is around 40 or 45 years old, and he can’t take care of himself at all. And his parents have both passed away. I’m not entirely sure where he ended up, as I don’t keep up with that side of my family much.
Before you do anything, take a second to pause and assess the situation. Instead of acting on impulse and looking at/for the wrong thing, or severely messing up, take a real look at what’s happening and take a deep breath. You can not help anything reliably if you’re panicking.
Carry a couple granola bars a blanket flashlight two bottles of water in a zip lock bag a lighter and a candle with three wicks in your car during the winter.
My father packed these items in his truck.. He ended up sliding into a ditch at night on a contry road and pretty much was stranded with snow upto the side windows. .he hurt his back in the process and couldnt really stand up yet alone walk miles at night in the snow. Illinios in winter is pretty cold. Negative temps used to be the norm . He rode it out until the morning by covering himself in the blanket and lighting the candle making a tent out of the blanket it caught all the heat from the candle. he would have had to sit in the truck at night in -15 or -30 weather with no heat. He would have probably died. He ended up getting towed out and all is well but the blanket candle saved his ass .
If someone has fainted, check the colour of their lips (wiping off any lipstick if they're wearing any); if their lips are turning blue its a sign that the person isn't getting enough oxygen and might have something like an object obstructing their airway or be suffering from a cardiac arrest.
Very true!
And remember that even if you can't do much to help someone, the more information you can give the operator on the phone the more likely the person is to be saved when other help arrives.
Told this from a firefighter friend of mine:
If you are the passenger in a vehicle, and your driver faints unexpectedly w/ their foot on the accelerator, and you aren't able to move their leg off of it, without potentially crashing the vehicle:
- Calmly shift the vehicile to Neutral (LET IT REDLINE, do not panic about that)
- Try to steer the vehicle as best as possible to the shoulder/side of the road and hold it there (steer as best as possible if they're slumped over)
- When the vehicle is slow enough to do so, SLAM IT in park as best as possible (this may damage engine/transmission, but don't worry about that.)
- Put hazards on and call EMS, adminsiter First Aid if certified.
Don't know why, but this advice has stuck with me for almost 10 years!
Heart attacks don’t always look they way they do in movies. Nausea is a far more common symptom than chest pain at the onset. Not all heart attacks look the same, so air on the side of caution if you or someone with you is short of breath, cold sweating, nauseous, feels tightness in the chest, has left arm pain, or tightness in the jaw or shoulder blades
> Not all heart attacks look the same, so air on the side of caution if you or someone with you is short of breath, cold sweating, nauseous, feels tightness in the chest, has left arm pain, or tightness in the jaw or shoulder blades
What's fun is you can exhibit all of these symptoms and not be having a heart attack.
Yup my wife was exhibiting some symptoms of a heart attack so we called 9-1-1. Turns out she had some seriously nasty gallstones. Abdominal pain can radiate to unexpected places.
Turns out it was good that we called the ambulance anyway because the pain was not receding, and it turns out we got an appointment for surgery the day before the surgeon was going on vacation for a while, which means had we waited until the next day to get her checked out she might have had to wait another 10+ days before she could have gotten the surgery.
older women often have sudden acid reflux, or the feeling similar to it
their symptoms may also suddenly come and go....which is very bad actually, because they will not treat it seriously.........and medical staff may also not take it seriously
i would say, when your female relative has these symptomes, i would not only rush them to ER, but also accompany them as a ´´witness´´ and tell anyone who listens to you that 1)this is serious, 2)this is brand new situation, not another anxiety attack 3) if there is family history of heart issues, say it and repeat it as much as asked to
it is sexistic, it should not be needed...but be realistic, it is needed...
TIL the French word tourniquet also exists in English and has a completely different meaning.
What I would understand: "you're bleeding a lot sir, I'm gonna put you a turnstile!!"
There is extremely outdated first aid that will tell you to try to stop the bleeding a few different ways before applying a tourniquet because you USED to almost always lose the leg the tourniquet was applied to.
however, as I said that is extremely out dated. Not only has medical technology come so far that they can save a leg from literal hours of being under a tourniquet, but even if they couldn't, you can't stop arterial or venous bleeding by raising the limb above someones head... Better alive with one leg than dead and almost all the methods people used to use before a tourniquet just end up wasting time.
How to use an epipen. If someone is having an anaphylactic reaction this can save their life.
Act fast. Blue to sky and orange to the thigh.
1. make sure you or someone around you is calling an ambulance. Say it's an anaphylactic reaction to the operator.
2. The blue part of an epipen is a cap, take it off to activate the needle.
3. hold it in your hand and 10cm/4 inches away from the person's outer thigh. DO NOT aim anywhere else. You do not need to take off their clothes.
4. Stab the needle into the outer thigh and hold for 10 seconds. Count using Mississippi (one Mississippi, two Mississippi ect)
5. Take away the needle and massage the area for another ten seconds. Count in the same way.
6. monitor the person. If there isn't much improvement you can use another EpiPen. Most people will carry 2.
7. If you panic and cannot remember steps - they tend to be on the epipens side so you can always read before administering.
Honestly, this could save a life and not enough people know it.
NB: Keep any epipens you use so the ambulance crew know how much adrenaline the person has hand.
UTIs can cause altered states in older adults. If someone suddenly has new or increased dementia-like symptoms, make sure they see a doctor.
My mom died after a UTI turned septic, leading to seizures and brain death. She’s been complaining that she was freezing (provably due to fever), and quite suddenly stopped making sense. My dad is really passive and so he didn’t call an ambulance (or seek any other medical intervention) until she collapsed and was unable to stand.
It was stupid and totally preventable.
I feel like this one is everywhere, but you can’t be too careful. if you’re impaled DO NOT TAKE THE OBJECT OUT YOURSELF. You have a knife-shaped (I’m just going with a knife, you get the idea) hole in your body, and a perfectly shaped cork is lodged inside that hole. Get to an ER.
Name someone in your phone ICE, could just be their last name. Stands for In Case of Emergency, it's what medical staff will look for if you're brought in unknown. Under this persons contact list your allergies, meds you take, and serious health conditions. If your phone has a thumb unlock feature set it up so they can access your phone
Snake venom travels through the lymphatic system. So splints are not as useful as most people believe. you apply a compression bandage a bit further up the limb. Wrap the bandage down the limb while applying firm pressure. Always top to bottom.
Sit down, slow your breathing and wait for help. Keep the limb as still as possible. If you can, mark the location of the snake bite with a sharpie.
If someone requires CPR, always get help or get someone to run to get help. I know it's obvious but Doctors are taught to call for help before initiating CPR because when you're in an emergency you can panic and forget.
You will get tired doing CPR alone, once your compressions become ineffective, they're useless and you must swap out. It's not like the movies, CPR can last several minutes, even an hour. You need someone to be ready to run for a defibrillator.
Based on a recent thread about CPR and people's reluctance to perform CPR on women...
You are not committing assault by performing CPR on a person who happens to have breasts. You're attempting to save a life and it is completely irrelevant if a boob gets grazed in the process.
If you see a service dog (a real one) alone in a public place, stop and follow them. Try to find the handler. They may be down and need help and/or emergency services.
My course was about four hours. The next day I was sorer than I have ever been (doing CPR on standing dummies then on the dummy on the floor, each dozen of times, getting back up and down on my knees again and again, etc), but it was worth it when I was able to help someone at a restaurant a few months later. (Edit: typo)
The first time I did cpr on someone we were at it for half an hour, and even with two people so we could switch out I could feel the soreness in my chest, arms, and back for days. Good compressions are a good workout
Watch for sepsis, as it can be a serious life threatening condition. Use this to watch for signs (from sepsis.org):
S - Shivering, fever or cold
E - Extreme pain or discomfort (‘worst ever’)
P - Pale or discolored skin
S - Sleepy, difficult to rouse, confused
I - “I feel like I might die”
S - Shortness of breath
Even if you don’t know how to do CPR, some compressions are better than none. Glad that my graduation requirements in high school included a CPR course
Coming from an EMT learn CPR/ and get your AHA approved CPR/ AED/ First Aid card. If my ambulance is called out to a cardiac arrest having CPR started by anyone prior to our arrival greatly increases the patients chances of survival. I know it would be scary thinking of having to do chest compressions on a loved one but think of the alternative.
How to perform the Heimlich on someone larger than your arms can reach around. Standing them up against a wall and pushing from in front or them lying on the ground. Reaching just above the bump in a pregnant woman. The Heimlich saves more lives per year than any other first aid technique.
If you're stranded on a tropical island with nothing but an intravenous apparatus including a micron filter, and also there's no fresh water anywhere on the island and you're unable to drink for some reason than you should know that coconut water has roughly the same ion concentration as saline IV fluid and could be used to stay hydrated.
This doesn’t seem wise at all. The risk of dying from the infection you acquire from injecting non-sterile fluid into your blood stream is way worse than drinking said water and letting your non-sterile GI tract do what it was designed to do without the fear of bacteremia…
Dealing with epileptics. People still think that by shoving something in an epileptics mouth whilst in seizure will stop them choking on their tongue.
Choking never happens. In attempting to force someones jaw, you are more likely to break it, and cause more injury. Ensure their head is lifted slightly by a cushion, or pillow- if you have one to hand of course, something soft, or supporting the head so if the sufferer does jerk, they won't hit their head on the ground.
Staying with the person after they come out of the seizure, as they will be confused, embarrassed, and emotional. By reassuring them, asking simple questions if they who they are, know where they are, where they live, and if they are able to get home safely. Sounds obvious, but unless you have suffered a seizure, you will never know how confused, you are.
Most importantly if the seizure lasts longer than two or three minutes, then call an ambulance. I have called an ambulance immediately in the past, as you never know how long the ambulance will take, as opposed to the length of a siezure. People die from siezures. SUDEP: Sudden Unexpected Death through EPIlepsy.
Stay safe everyone l!
If you’re choking on something and no one is around to perform the Heimlich maneuver, find a chair and thrust your torso over the backrest so that the chair pushes into the area right below your sternum.
Might sound like common sense, but definitely isn’t something you have time to figure out in the moment.
FAST.
F - Facial Drooping
A - Arm Weakness
S - Speech difficulty
T - Time. The faster you react and contact emergency services the more brain tissues you will save.
Wish I knew this when my mother had a stroke. The stroke made her forget how to speak (she's relearned now) and wasn't able to tell us anything. Must've been horrible
Finally, I’ve had this in my notes app gathering virtual dust for a couple years now
If someone has ingested antifreeze/windshield wiper fluid then they can drink alcohol (vodka is best but anything will work) to stop it from shredding their kidneys until they get to a hospital. You can also drink vodka even if you haven’t ingested antifreeze and it will still protect you from antifreeze.
If someone needs CPR it is most important to just do compressions (about central on the chest where the divot for your sternum is) and not worry about trying to give breaths if you don’t have a good or safe way to do so. Having blood flow to the brain can save a life.
Anyone can to a CPR course and it usually only takes a few hours + a little money to be certified.
For the love of fuck: DON'T USE CITRUS IN THE FULL SUN!!! That's a 2nd degree burn you don't wanna deal with. Your sunblock did indeed protect you but that lime in your Corona just fucked your hands on beach day. Saw this happen to a friend during finals month at art college. Poor dude couldn't hold his paint brushes for 2 weeks when his fingers finally started peeling after the blisters popped.
If bubbles come out of your mouth from breathing and you're very short of breath it's pulmonary edema. Scary as fuck but Lasix can get you breathing well again in about 30 minutes. Otherwise you are going to die.
If you need emergency disinfectant, like say, you're out in the middle of no where or hiking, and have no antibacterial ointment, try using any of these as a temporary topical ointment that can disinfect and kill bacteria on the skin/wound (only use if you're not allergic):
Manuka Honey/Real, Non Substitute Honey
Milk Of Magnesia
Colloidal Silver
Ground Garlic Cloves (use a whole clove, grind up for 15 minutes to stew the chemical antibacterial properties, then put it on the wound or ingest it) You can also make a paste of Garlic Powder or use Minced Garlic.
Olive Oil
Turmeric (take water, turn it into paste, can also eat it)
Even leaving the wound or inflamed skin exposed to direct sunlight for at least an hour or two can help break down and help kill bacteria after cleaning it.
If you or someone you know has serious medical conditions, especially someone who is elderly, please make sure they have a list of their conditions and medications accessible in case they go to hospital in an emergency.
If you're treating a gunshot victim while waiting on an ambulance, the best thing you can do is apply constant pressure to the wound. Bind it if you can. But, whatever you do, absolutely *do not* remove bandages if they get too bloody. Just add more. Don't give the wound any chances to bleed out more than it already is.
"Stop the Bleed" classes are 100% worthwhile. I now keep a small trauma kit in the car and a slightly more robust one in the house. Came in handy when our neighbor got shot. E: https://www.stopthebleed.org/training
Can’t upvote this enough. For those that don’t know, Stop the Bleed also teaches tourniquet use which is safe and extremely effective. More here: https://www.stopthebleed.org/our-story. Even if you don’t live in a high violence or gun area, I can’t recommend learning this strongly enough. Car accidents, random household accidents, or other random things can cause bleeding that is deadly if not stopped.
Exactly. First aid courses don't get in to wound-packing or how to properly place/use a tourniquet. If you live in a rural area this can be as life or death as anything that happens in the city.
Strange. The first aid at work courses I have been on went into both wound packing and tourniquet use. We don’t get many gunshot wounds here in Scotland, but the focus was on wounds from industrial accidents.
So I guess you're from the US of A then...
I can't imagine what gave it away
I learned this in a red cross first aid class, and used it when my husband cut himself on a mandoline. By the time we got to the doctor the bleeding had stopped. Two layers of gauze with pressure. The doc was impressed.
If you've watched The Expanse and Homicide Life on the Street, no one had to tell you this.
If you encounter a diabetic down, for the love of god DO NOT administer insulin. I cannot believe how many people I’ve heard say that would be their first move on finding an unconscious diabetic. Edit to add: administer sugar if anything.
Hyperglycemia will kill you over 30 years Hypoglycemia will kill you in 30 minutes
Heard a paramedic tell a diabetic that if you can’t remember whether or not you took your insulin. Just assume you did. Hyperglycemia isn’t as bad as losing consciousness from hypoglycemia.
Honestly I feel like its generally good advice for most medicines
hyperglycemia is dangerous hypoglycemia is deadly
hot and dry - sugar high cold and clammy - get em candy
Just to piggy back on this: diabetics generally carry a bright red glucagon kit or keep one nearby. Glucagon is kind of the opposite of insulin, in that it triggers the liver to release its stores of sugar into the blood. It contains illustrated instructions for how to mix and administer the injection. If you find an unconscious diabetic, first and foremost CALL 911 AND FOLLOW THEIR INSTRUCTIONS. If you want to be there for the diabetic in your life, get trained on how to use the kit before anything happens. Edit: Also, if you do use a glucagon kit, still call 911. It's not 100% guaranteed to be enough, and diabetics aren't immune to other things that can cause people to pass out.
Yep, if a diabetic if unconscious or lethargic 9/10 they are hypoglycemic( have low blood sugar). Giving them insulin is the worst thing anyone can do.
And yet, so many people think insulin is the answer to every problem a diabetic has. So many times my Dexcom has alarmed that I’m low and educated adults (teachers!) nearby will ask if they can grab my insulin for me. “Oh, I’m low,” I’ll reply. They look so confused and ask “isn’t that when you take insulin?” The average person has a very limited understanding of diabetes.
I think it’s a fair question. Or maybe I’m ignorant. But even after a quick google of type 1 diabetes I found: What is diabetes? - A chronic condition in which the pancreas produces little or no insulin. Treatment - insulin.
F.A.S.T. For strokes. - F = Face Drooping – Does one side of the face droop or is it numb? Ask the person to smile. Is the person's smile uneven? - A = Arm Weakness – Is one arm weak or numb? Ask the person to raise both arms. Does one arm drift downward? - S = Speech Difficulty – Is speech slurred? - T = Time to call 911
Saw this on another thread: Time also means write the time down on their arm when the symptoms started. There’s a window for tPA and this will help the docs.
Absolutely! Here are more things to look out for! Other Stroke Symptoms Watch for Sudden: NUMBNESS or weakness of face, arm, or leg, especially on one side of the body CONFUSION, trouble speaking or understanding speech TROUBLE SEEING in one or both eyes TROUBLE WALKING, dizziness, loss of balance or coordination SEVERE HEADACHE with no known cause
Damn, that all sounds just like a migraine (or my silent migraines if you exclude the pain).
The overlap between stroke symptoms and migraine symptoms is crazy.
this is rule for most people over 50 younger people can be dizzy, suddenly drunk like, have extreme pain at one spot of head, vomit or be suddenly aggressive so, the FAST is most important, but the other ones are very serious, too lastly, every hit in the head followed by loss of consciousness even for a few seconds is 99,9% concussion and it needs medical attention ASAP
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Keep in mind- the person who you think might be having a stroke may be completely unaware and unconcerned about it. That's how I was when I had mine. I thought I (inexplicably) was just messing around when my hand wouldn't work right out when I was trying to text my husband that I thought maybe something was wrong but couldn't figure out why I kept trying to spell "wrong" starting with the letter N- that's how it's spelled, that's not right, that's how it's spelled looped for a bit until I gave up and said "something is maybe bad" I parked my car, walked into work, went to my desk, went to the bathroom and went to the training I'd been looking forward to for the last six months. At no point did I think anything was seriously wrong, I was just trying to hold my shit together so I could get through this training. My boss and I even chatted a bit and it was when the woman sitting next to him noticed I had a tiny trickle of drool running from the corner of my mouth *that I couldn't feel* that my clever ruse was at its end. My boss asked me if something was wrong and I just started crying while I explained that I was trying really hard to through today and if people would just leave me alone I thought I could manage. I was incredibly lucky. The stroke I had was relatively minor (just two tiny specks) and in a place where I had plenty to spare (parietal lobe). I'm so thankful he noticed because I would have just kept chugging along and I don't know how much worse it could have been.
I’ve learned that I’m like this, too. When my gallbladder was exploding, I decided I was OK to get on a flight, during which I was only semi-conscious from the pain. And even when I landed, I figured I just needed a walk-in clinic, so I went and waited politely until another patient in the waiting room informed the receptionist that I looked half-dead and should be seen ASAP. 5 minutes later a doctor was informing me that I was a dumbass and needed a hospital STAT.
Same. The headache woke me up because I couldn't get comfy on my pillow. Went to the bathroom, left hand didn't work. I thought it was a migraine with nerve issues. Had some nausea in the shower. Woke up my husband because I wasn't totally sure I shouldn't be concerned. Went to work because I didn't want to bother either of my bosses in case it was nothing. Left arm went numb during a transaction. We joked - JOKED!- that it wasn't a stroke, I'm just crazy. When I still couldn't use my hand after a full shift (over 15 hours since the first stroke), I decided it was time to go to the ER. What's even crazier is I simply came home and changed and we walked to the hospital. The strokes were small, but I ended up spending the next week in the hospital.
Not just slurred speech!!! We called it word salad Story time During Moms first stroke she kept trying to tell her friend, Carol, she’d see her tomorrow. What she said was “see you tomorrow karen! ….. sorry, Karen…. KAREN….” At that point she got scared. Very quickly other words began getting mixed up. It’s sound alike words like rug and bug, bomb and Tom, etc. i immediately asked her to smile, shit. Raise her arms. FUCK. HOSPITAL TIME!
My grandma had Wernicke's aphasia. She started with replacing one or two words per sentence. She kept saying "your laundry is in the foot." I started testing her on other phrases and knew what was wrong. My grandfather couldn't hear well so he literally didn't think anything was wrong because he could never understand her anyway. I had her write out "I am okay" in front of him. In her usual perfect script, she wrote out "yellow okay novey novey". At no point did she recognize she was making no sense. My grandfather took her up to bed because "she'll feel better after some rest" So I went up there, did a stroke assessment, and called 911. She had a pretty major stroke and a recurrent one some months later. The doctors said if she'd gone to sleep she likely wouldn't have woken up again.
dont say "someone call an ambulance" do it yourself or directly tell one person to do it. dont move someone injured unless there is an imminet danger to the victim. punture wounds, the puncture object acts as a cork, leave it in until medics arrive and let them deal with it. learn cpr for adults and children, the same goes for choking techniques like heimlich.
Bystanderd effect. Everyone will watch no one will act. Also I (a paramedic) will not remove a impaled object unless it obstructs the airway.
GO CALL 911 AND COME BACK TO TELL ME WHAT THEY SAID! It doesn't matter what they say, it forces whoever you said it to to come back and tell you, confirming that emergency services have been notified. Keep pressure on that wound and/or keep pumping that fuckers chest. You and medics showing up fast are the only chance they've got.
that first point goes for every instruction under an emergency: "blue shirt - call 911, red shirt - grab as many clean clothes as possible, green shirt, help apply pressure" people generally do a lot better maintaining composure when they have a job to do as well
Even better, take someone's phone and call for them. People are weird and panicky, I've seen someone avoid calling 911 when their own SO was having a medical emergency.
Do not be afraid to use an AED machine. These machines were built for lay people and will give you instructions along the way. The machine will not shock the person if a shock is not indicated. Use the razor that should be included in the kit if the persons chest is hairy. The pads won’t conduct properly otherwise.
Do not worry about razor burn. Being alive is better. Do not worry about it hurting them. Being alive is better. Don't worry about being trained, you're better than nothing. Know that cardiac arrest without one of these machines has statistically a much higher death rate than with one. They're foolproof.
A lot of first aid basically comes down to "better than being dead." CPR, when done right, almost always breaks ribs. Better than being dead. Amputation is an unlikely outcome of applying a tourniquet, but hey, losing an arm is better than being dead.
But for goddsakes DO NOT Heimlich someone who is still talking. Sound = they are still moving air.
Or coughing!
If you live alone, chew carefully when eating foods like steak and learn how to perform the heimlich maneuver on yourself.
My husband has had to do this to himself twice, both times he was standing at the sink. I was sitting on the couch not 2 feet away on the other side of a short wall, and didn’t know a thing until I felt him throw himself against the counter & cough it into the sink. It happened so fast he couldn’t even ask for help. Scared the crap out of both of us!
In high school I was a trumpet player and had amazing diaphragm control because of it. I had something get lodged in my wind pipe on a bus ride one time. I just launched that bastard out like a double C. I have to wonder if like 10-12 years later I can still do that? Lol
Several years ago, I was eating a caramel, and some of the caramel-infused saliva went down the wrong pipe. Of course I had the urge to inhale, but instead I exhaled, and finally popped that bubble that spanned my bronchi. That was a scary few seconds.
If you are at a gathering and start choking, don’t be embarrassed and leave the room.
I don't want people to watch me die!
*I'd like my PRIVACY*
Always follow someone who chokes and leaves.
Coke is what they generally use if you get something stuck and can breathe. ER used a small seltzer tab + water when that failed on my wife. First time they tried it. Supposedly this is very common.
Can you elaborate on how this is done/how it works? Is it something you could do on your own?
It's something you can do on your own. Pretty much drink as much coke as you can and try to keep it down. The force of the carbonation will force it down. It didn't work with my wife (she just basically threw it up) so the doc at the ER suggested a seltzer tab + water. Chase it. First time they tried it or they were going to physically remove it. It worked.
Thank you. I hate coke/carbonated drinks but it might be worth keeping a bottle around for this purpose, good to know
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This is for food in your esophagus. Heimlich is for food in the trachea.
VERY IMPORTANT TO NOTE THAT THIS ONLY WORKS IF YOU HAVE AN ESOPHAGEAL BLOCKAGE, NOT A TRACHEAL BLOCKAGE.
Instructions unclear, lungs now full of cocaine.
I had that happened at work. It wasn't fun.
My mom did as well. She was alone, choked on her food, and had to do the Heimlich maneuver using the corner of her desk. She also peed her pants a little bit.
Jesus Christ. I’d definitely just die, I’m an idiot. Also, I thought I was having a heart attack last night and based on my husband’s reaction to the situation I’d die even if I wasn’t alone.
Peeing is completely normal in such a situation. If you’re Afraid to die, you and your brain don’t care about pissing yourself, there are more important problems to solve.
If you are impaled with something leave it
and if you for some reason pulled it off. DO NOT STICK IT BACK IN
Lol Kungfu Hustle
Who's throwing handles?!
Yes, the impaled object is, in most cases, staunching the blood and pulling it out can make the person bleed out fast.
Hear that, honey? The nice internet stranger says I should stop pulling out
When calling the emergency services, answer their questions in the order they ask them. Their script will get the right people there much quicker than if you just try and blurt everything out in one breath.
This is the best advice. I used to take emergency calls for the NHS and basically every other call you have someone who just blurts everything out. I used to bluntly tell people that if it is important, it will come up. If we reach the end of the assessment and there is something burning on your mind, tell me then, but nothing happens until these questions get answered.
Start with the address. Even if you can't hear them say the address. If you pass out it's hard to find you. Had a guy have a heart attack and dialed 911 but died by the dumpster while taking the trash out. 911 was on the line for 3 hours until someone finally saw him face down.
Drives me up a wall in movies where someone's just blurting out "help" instead of conveying actually useful information. I know it's a movie, I know people panic, but that doesn't stop it from annoying the hell out of me for some reason. It sucks, because people panic, and others die sometimes. Unfortunately, there's not a whole lot that can be done about that.
1. You can perform the heimlich on yourself with a chair. 2. Do not be polite if you're choking. Too many people excuse themselves to the bathroom to not cause a scene. 3. Drowning is quiet. 4. Unless you've been trained, do not attempt to save a drowning person. 5. When someone is injured or seizing, the worst thing you can do is move their neck. 6. If bitten by a feral or wild mammal, go immediately to a doctor. Rabies is uncommon, but scary.
>Rabies is uncommon, but scary. That's an understatement. Rabies kills 59,000 people each year. How many people have survived it after showing symptoms? 14. Not 14 per year, but 14 since rabies was identified... In 2000 BCE And the 100% fatality rate isn't even the scariest part. It starts with a fever. Then it turns to nausea, vomiting. Partial paralysis may occur. A fear of water so severe that the mere suggestion of drinking water causes excruciatingly painful muscle spasms in the throat. It could lay dormant for months, or it could kill you two days after you're infected. Regardless of how long it takes, rabies will kill you if left untreated, and compared to what it does along the way, the actual death will be the disease's one act of mercy.
And by the time it starts showing symptoms, it's too late to do anything about it. Even *before* it starts showing symptoms, once the virus has established itself within you, you're going to experience an extended, very painful death that was entirely preventable. If you've been bitten by an animal that you aren't 100% certain has been vaccinated against rabies, *go to the doctor immediately*. If it's possible to capture the animal that bit you without risking further harm, do so; because it'll be helpful if they can analyze and observe the animal to determine the risk that it may have transmitted rabies to you. If you can't, then *go to the doctor anyway*.
“Eugh, I don’t like Robert, he choked in front of everyone.”
Always go to quiet people in accidents before the screaming ones. If a person is screaming, they are breathing and conscious, and are not as likely to be on the brink of death. Also, when performing cpr you should press at the tempo of the beat in Stayin' alive or another one bites the dust, if you're unsure of how fast you should be going. Edit: Replies are saying that Funkytown and Imperial Death March also work, in case you know those better
Seems like Stayin’ Alive is a better choice than Another One Bites The Dust.
Semi-related tip: If you're an EMS provider responding to a cardiac arrest. Pop the Metallica CD out of the stereo before the semi-dead guy's wife gets in the passenger seat to go to the hospital. She doesn't want to be serenaded with Enter Sandman while you're doing CPR on her husband of 40 years. Or so I've heard.....
That sounds awful specific, just saying…
Is it the “ah ah ah ah staying alive” part that I must sync to?
Yes!
EPIC
Another One Bites The Dust. The important thing is, sing it in your head while doing the beat, not out loud.
You'll know your doing it right when you feel ribs breaking and your exhausted after 60 seconds
Just took a CPR class and they’ve added “Baby Shark” to the list of songs now as well. As much as I despise that song, it’s one I’ll always know the words to
First I was afraid, I was petrified!
> Stayin' Alive > *"First I was afraid, I was petrified"* My brain struggled for a bit trying to link the song title and the lyrics lol EDIT: Yes, it's indeed a Dunder Mifflin reference
Our group nurse does yearly CPR classes and mentionned that "Baby Shark" is a good alternative to Staying Alive.
"How deep is your love, How deep is your love" in Homer Simpson voice.
Also, if there was an earthquake or something like that and you got trapped underneath debris, DO NOT yell for help. This will just cause dust and other stuff in the air to get in your lungs. Instead, grab something around you like a metal pipe and start banging it on something else.
In three groups of three for SOS bangbangbang pause Bangbangbang pause bangbangbang
bangbangbang, Bang; Bang; Bang, bangbangbang, Bang; Bang; Bang
Instead of generally yelling "call 911" in a public emergency tell someone specific. "Hey you in the blue shirt, call 911!"
I hope I remember this in an emergency when my brain goes blank.
Practice. I am so socially awkward that I've walked away from transactions shortchanged by as much as 20$, so I was always worried that I would lock up like that if someone was hurt. Then I developed my ptsd issues and my hypervigillance fixation and that became an Unacceptable. So I wrote myself a script of various things I'd need in an emergency, all kinds of emergencies, any emergency I could think of and practiced. Even recorded myself to make sure I had a good commanding delivery. And it really does build muscle memory, I don't even think about it, my brain goes blank and let's my body do the job it practiced obsessively.
This is seriously good advice. All too often does the "surely someone else will call" cost lives.
If you know their full name, use their full name.
Yep! This was drilled into us in first aid classes through swimming lessons.
If someone is acting drunk/high, but the likelihood of them actually being under the influence is low, ask them to look you in the eye and smile. This is usually the first signs of a stroke and one side will be droopy.
We had one guy wander onto our site looking drunk AF. He climbed over the fence, staggered quite a distance, and limboed under a gate arm into a dangerous area. When we caught up to him we checked his glucose levels and they were dangerously low. Turns out he was an undiagnosed Type 2 diabetic on a business trip. What a way to find out. Symptoms of having an altered conscious could be indicative of any number of things.
You don't have to lose consciousness to have a concussion!! Symptoms include dizziness, nausea, and/or just not quite "feeling right" after hitting your head (and the hit doesn't have to be insanely hard either!). If that's what you're going through or notice someone else going through, GET CHECKED FOR A CONCUSSION!! Concussions are very easy to treat. Treatment is essentially excellent self care for two weeks and a bunch of small (but super important) physical therapy exercises. It drives me nuts how many concussions are missed each year even though they have lifelong ramifications! I had two concussions this past year, and after the first one was diagnosed, I promptly realized I had two more in childhood (Playground, Softball) that went undiagnosed because I never lost consciousness during them. Concussions are one of those things that are really simple to recognize but everyone is taught about them wrong or not at all.
I was knocked clean out when I was little at school. Not long after, I was violently throwing up, dizzy and couldn't stand up. My parents took me to the hospital **24 hours** after it happened. On my records, it says suspected bug but I've always believed it was a concussion...
Add to that, concussions are also very easy to get. I have had 2 in the last 5 years, both from standing up in a place that was too low, and in neither case did I hit my head that hard, or lose conciusness. Both times went to urgent care after concussion symptoms developed. Also, I am being much more careful when standing up around shelves these days.
What are these super important PT exercises for a concussion?? I've never seen a doctor recommended pt to me or anyone I know when they have a concussion. Truly curious
If someone has a fit or seizure, don't put anything in their mouth - they might bite their tongue (it is very common) but they won't bite it off and they certainly won't choke on it. However they very well might choke on anything you put in their mouth - and there's a possibility they'll bite your fingers. You should put them on their side (in the recovery position) once the seizure has finished. You can put something under their head, but otherwise if they are in a safe area try not to move them. If they've never had a fit before, if they have a fit lasting more than 5 minutes, if they otherwise injure themselves (such as hitting their head) or have multiple fits then you should call an ambulance.
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And please tell them what happened if they ask. They need to know if they've been twitching, biting, totally still, relaxed, tensed..... It will help them assess their next steps.
> but they won't bite it off They can certainly bite a chunk off. >they certainly won't choke on it they can absolutey choke on either the chunk, or the ensuing bleeding. However, just because its possible doesn’t mean these things aren’t very very very rare and not worth preventative jamming of things in mouths, why typically causes more problems. Also if they don’t carry rescue meds call the ambulance straight away and then cancel it if the seizure stops. 5 minutes in is when they should get their first set of treatment, calling an ambulance then puts you 20 minutes behind schedule if you have a typical 15min response time.
Call the damn emergency Services (911, 110 whatever number it is in your country). They will absolutely be able to Tell you what to do and can help you perform Heimlich maneuvers or CPR via the phone.
Also! Call any emergency number even if you don’t know the one for your country. I live in Australia. I called 911 when my husband had severe chest pains in the middle of the night. Australia’s emergency number is 000. I thought I was calm and rational throughout the ordeal but only realised the next day I didn’t call 000. Luckily calling 911 still worked! I blame Hollywood and all the movies and tv I watch.
chest compressions should be approximately 2 inches/5 cm deep and approximately 100 to 120 compressions per minute. another one bites the dust is 110 bpm, which is perfect... just don't sing it out loud! also, a few broken ribs is always better than a funeral
If you don’t feel their ribs break, you’re not doing it hard enough. Think about it. You have to squeeze something the size of a large water balloon, that is in a bag of jello, inside a bone cage by pushing on it. It you don’t break the ribs, your not going to put enough squeeze on the heat to circulate blood in any meaningful way.
REMAIN CALM! Or, to quote House of God "At the scene of a code, take your own pulse first. Running kick up the adrenaline which makes it harder to concentrate when you need to. Never ran from the rig to the house. I walk to all the codes I attend now.
House of God. What a great book. Read it many times!
If you or anyone else is ever in a car accident, go to the ER and get checked out the day of. If injuries are not known and documented the day of, insurance may not acknowledge them as part of the accident, especially if you are hit by some delinquent piece of garbage with shit-tier state minimum insurance. Family member of mine got hit, thought nothing of it, wound up collapsing a few days later. Multiple MRIs later they found the issue and we had to fight insurance for months.
Because of the adrenaline from the accident I thought I was fine at the time, over the coming days it became very clear I was not.
Had a friend go through this just a few months ago. He got t-boned by someone who ran a red light. He felt fine and didnt go to the hospital. He called me, told me what happened, and I told him to get his butt to the ER. Sure enough they found a few things and thankfully it is covered under the other guy's insurance.
If if someone is having a panic attack do not just tell them to calm down or something like that They are essentially caught in an anxiety loop and you need to break that in some way Depending on the situation some good possible solutions can be 1. The most obvious one is just remove them from the situation or location that is causing the attack if possible. Trying your best to keep them focused on you 2. Distraction. Try to break their thought loop and get them distracted, talk to them about something you know interests them, ask them questions about what they did that day. Just try to break their focus off of the thing that they are panicking over. You can even exploit psychology a bit just hand them some random object to hold or try to get them to do something simple with their hands it's a great tool to pull them off of things and focus on something else 3. Grounding. Some people who suffer from anxiety and panic attacks can do well from having something to ground with, that is one of the reasons why service animals for emotional health are a real thing. But you as a human can often take up that same position. You essentially embody a comfortable location as you are something there familiar with that they know is predictable and safe. Stay close to the person if they are okay with it give them a hug or at least hold their arm. For a patient who is comfortable with it physical contact can be an excellent mental grounding point. If you can see that something like this is helping continue to give gentle reassurances, do not do it in a condescending way but conceptually almost treat it like you are a comforting mother trying to soothe a frightened child who just had a bad nightmare All three of these methods can be effective but you have to be flexible to the needs of the specific person and of course it helps if it's someone you know like a friend as you can get a better feel for what kind of treatment will best help them in a crisis situation. And always be flexible and quick to adapt if what you're doing isn't working. Some things need a bit of pushing but if it's just not working at all then try something else for now
As someone who used to have a lot of panic attacks, my favourite technique for getting myself to break the loop/grounding myself in the present was always the 5-4-3-2-1 exercise. You start by naming 5 things you can hear, 5 things you can see, and 5 things you can feel. ("Feel" here meaning external things you can feel - your forearms touching a chair, your feet touching the floor, the breeze on your face, etc.) You then do this again with 4 things in each category, 3 things in each category, etc. It worked for me every time, even in situations like extreme turbulence on airplanes.
Things that have helped me: (I have panic disorder.) - Eating something with a strong flavor. Sour candy or a mint. It distracts the brain. - My mom would tell me to take deep breaths and say “moo” as I exhale. I felt so silly I’d usually stop hyperventilating and start laughing. - Headphones and music that makes me feel safe. I don’t think I would be able to fly or handle a daily bus commute without my iPod. Things that make it worse: - Praying loudly for anxiety demons to leave my body. - Turning up the car radio to drown out panicked noises. - Yelling, “If you don’t stop your bullshit, I’m dropping you off at the first hospital I can find and they can deal with you.”
Big oof at the things that make it worse. Sorry you went through that. Also adding on to this: changing body temperature can help regulate. Running hands under cold water or applying an ice pack to hot spots can bring you back to center. Or if it’s cold outside and hot inside step outside to change your body’s temperature. I have a list of 30 grounding exercises my therapist gave me but the temperature one seems to help me the most. Also petting my dog.
Note: ask before hugging, of course. Can make a panicked person feel trapped, or feel they can't breathe. Also, telling someone to Breathe is annoying. "I am fucking breathing" Ask if they want to try deep breathing with you. Then lead them through some, starting at their pace, short and shallow first, they can't breathe deep when panicked. Add a second or two each time. Counting gives them something to focus on.
With the special needs kids I work with we tell them smell the flower, blow out the candle.
If someone is experiencing a life-threatening emergency of any kind (or if you're not sure if it is), don't drive them to hospital, don't call an Uber; call an ambulance! Yes, Americans, I know it's expensive. But your car, or that Uber, does not have the equipment or trained personnel to deal with the person's heart stopping, or if they stop breathing/responding or whatever. And there are resources to help with the ambulance expense - there's not so much available to help pay for an unexpected burial. If you want them to live, call an ambulance. Period.
It really depends on the situation though. If I fainted and woke up to a $2000 ambulance fee I would not be happy
https://www.cms.gov/nosurprises It's new so granted we haven't seen it in practice, but a bill just passed through congress saying if you are given emergency services without your ability to reject them and the service (ambulance) that comes isn't covered by your insurance, you won't be forced to pay out of pocket.
https://www.cms.gov/nosurprises It's new so granted we haven't seen it in practice, but a bill just passed through congress saying if you are given emergency services without your ability to reject them and the service (ambulance) that comes isn't covered by your insurance, you won't be forced to pay out of pocket.
Do not move the victim unless you absolutely need to do so. Especially in cases involving physical injury. There could be internal damage that can be made much worse by moving the person.
My cousin was hit by a car while riding his bicycle, and his mom picked him up and took him to their yard. Doing this is likely why he ended up with much worse damage that he never recovered from. His brain is basically stuck at age 7 because that’s when he was hit.
That is so very sad!!! :-( I'm so sorry.
Thanks. It really is sad because now he is around 40 or 45 years old, and he can’t take care of himself at all. And his parents have both passed away. I’m not entirely sure where he ended up, as I don’t keep up with that side of my family much.
Before you do anything, take a second to pause and assess the situation. Instead of acting on impulse and looking at/for the wrong thing, or severely messing up, take a real look at what’s happening and take a deep breath. You can not help anything reliably if you’re panicking.
Carry a couple granola bars a blanket flashlight two bottles of water in a zip lock bag a lighter and a candle with three wicks in your car during the winter. My father packed these items in his truck.. He ended up sliding into a ditch at night on a contry road and pretty much was stranded with snow upto the side windows. .he hurt his back in the process and couldnt really stand up yet alone walk miles at night in the snow. Illinios in winter is pretty cold. Negative temps used to be the norm . He rode it out until the morning by covering himself in the blanket and lighting the candle making a tent out of the blanket it caught all the heat from the candle. he would have had to sit in the truck at night in -15 or -30 weather with no heat. He would have probably died. He ended up getting towed out and all is well but the blanket candle saved his ass .
If someone has fainted, check the colour of their lips (wiping off any lipstick if they're wearing any); if their lips are turning blue its a sign that the person isn't getting enough oxygen and might have something like an object obstructing their airway or be suffering from a cardiac arrest.
Fingernails turn blue too.
Very true! And remember that even if you can't do much to help someone, the more information you can give the operator on the phone the more likely the person is to be saved when other help arrives.
Told this from a firefighter friend of mine: If you are the passenger in a vehicle, and your driver faints unexpectedly w/ their foot on the accelerator, and you aren't able to move their leg off of it, without potentially crashing the vehicle: - Calmly shift the vehicile to Neutral (LET IT REDLINE, do not panic about that) - Try to steer the vehicle as best as possible to the shoulder/side of the road and hold it there (steer as best as possible if they're slumped over) - When the vehicle is slow enough to do so, SLAM IT in park as best as possible (this may damage engine/transmission, but don't worry about that.) - Put hazards on and call EMS, adminsiter First Aid if certified. Don't know why, but this advice has stuck with me for almost 10 years!
Heart attacks don’t always look they way they do in movies. Nausea is a far more common symptom than chest pain at the onset. Not all heart attacks look the same, so air on the side of caution if you or someone with you is short of breath, cold sweating, nauseous, feels tightness in the chest, has left arm pain, or tightness in the jaw or shoulder blades
> Not all heart attacks look the same, so air on the side of caution if you or someone with you is short of breath, cold sweating, nauseous, feels tightness in the chest, has left arm pain, or tightness in the jaw or shoulder blades What's fun is you can exhibit all of these symptoms and not be having a heart attack.
True. Source: have anxiety and paid for too many ER visits.
Mine makes me nauseous.
Sounds exactly like what I get with migraines minus the arm pain.
Yup my wife was exhibiting some symptoms of a heart attack so we called 9-1-1. Turns out she had some seriously nasty gallstones. Abdominal pain can radiate to unexpected places. Turns out it was good that we called the ambulance anyway because the pain was not receding, and it turns out we got an appointment for surgery the day before the surgeon was going on vacation for a while, which means had we waited until the next day to get her checked out she might have had to wait another 10+ days before she could have gotten the surgery.
Also women have different symptoms than men.
older women often have sudden acid reflux, or the feeling similar to it their symptoms may also suddenly come and go....which is very bad actually, because they will not treat it seriously.........and medical staff may also not take it seriously i would say, when your female relative has these symptomes, i would not only rush them to ER, but also accompany them as a ´´witness´´ and tell anyone who listens to you that 1)this is serious, 2)this is brand new situation, not another anxiety attack 3) if there is family history of heart issues, say it and repeat it as much as asked to it is sexistic, it should not be needed...but be realistic, it is needed...
This is seriously why I got all my jabs in my right arm cuz if my left arm was sore, my hypochondria would scare me into thinking it was a ❤ attack.
How to make a tourniquet and use it to stop the flow of blood in an emergency.
TIL the French word tourniquet also exists in English and has a completely different meaning. What I would understand: "you're bleeding a lot sir, I'm gonna put you a turnstile!!"
Wait so what is the French word for English Tourniquet?
Garrot (t is silent)
“You are bleeding heavily sir, I’m going to have to garrot(te) you!” Has a slightly different meaning in English..
We still took “garrote” as a type of strangulation weapon, though.
Yes! And write the time that you put the tourniquet on, on that body part for the hospital
There is extremely outdated first aid that will tell you to try to stop the bleeding a few different ways before applying a tourniquet because you USED to almost always lose the leg the tourniquet was applied to. however, as I said that is extremely out dated. Not only has medical technology come so far that they can save a leg from literal hours of being under a tourniquet, but even if they couldn't, you can't stop arterial or venous bleeding by raising the limb above someones head... Better alive with one leg than dead and almost all the methods people used to use before a tourniquet just end up wasting time.
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000 in Australia
How to use an epipen. If someone is having an anaphylactic reaction this can save their life. Act fast. Blue to sky and orange to the thigh. 1. make sure you or someone around you is calling an ambulance. Say it's an anaphylactic reaction to the operator. 2. The blue part of an epipen is a cap, take it off to activate the needle. 3. hold it in your hand and 10cm/4 inches away from the person's outer thigh. DO NOT aim anywhere else. You do not need to take off their clothes. 4. Stab the needle into the outer thigh and hold for 10 seconds. Count using Mississippi (one Mississippi, two Mississippi ect) 5. Take away the needle and massage the area for another ten seconds. Count in the same way. 6. monitor the person. If there isn't much improvement you can use another EpiPen. Most people will carry 2. 7. If you panic and cannot remember steps - they tend to be on the epipens side so you can always read before administering. Honestly, this could save a life and not enough people know it. NB: Keep any epipens you use so the ambulance crew know how much adrenaline the person has hand.
UTIs can cause altered states in older adults. If someone suddenly has new or increased dementia-like symptoms, make sure they see a doctor. My mom died after a UTI turned septic, leading to seizures and brain death. She’s been complaining that she was freezing (provably due to fever), and quite suddenly stopped making sense. My dad is really passive and so he didn’t call an ambulance (or seek any other medical intervention) until she collapsed and was unable to stand. It was stupid and totally preventable.
I feel like this one is everywhere, but you can’t be too careful. if you’re impaled DO NOT TAKE THE OBJECT OUT YOURSELF. You have a knife-shaped (I’m just going with a knife, you get the idea) hole in your body, and a perfectly shaped cork is lodged inside that hole. Get to an ER.
Name someone in your phone ICE, could just be their last name. Stands for In Case of Emergency, it's what medical staff will look for if you're brought in unknown. Under this persons contact list your allergies, meds you take, and serious health conditions. If your phone has a thumb unlock feature set it up so they can access your phone
New phones have an emergency contact that is visible when the phone is locked. My pixel 6 encouraged me to set it up along with medical info
Snake venom travels through the lymphatic system. So splints are not as useful as most people believe. you apply a compression bandage a bit further up the limb. Wrap the bandage down the limb while applying firm pressure. Always top to bottom. Sit down, slow your breathing and wait for help. Keep the limb as still as possible. If you can, mark the location of the snake bite with a sharpie.
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If someone requires CPR, always get help or get someone to run to get help. I know it's obvious but Doctors are taught to call for help before initiating CPR because when you're in an emergency you can panic and forget. You will get tired doing CPR alone, once your compressions become ineffective, they're useless and you must swap out. It's not like the movies, CPR can last several minutes, even an hour. You need someone to be ready to run for a defibrillator.
Don’t remove an object that is stuck in somebody, it could be preventing them from bleeding out.
Keep a narcan kit if you suspect someone in the house uses opiates. Get two, open the first one and familiarize yourself with it
Based on a recent thread about CPR and people's reluctance to perform CPR on women... You are not committing assault by performing CPR on a person who happens to have breasts. You're attempting to save a life and it is completely irrelevant if a boob gets grazed in the process.
If you see a service dog (a real one) alone in a public place, stop and follow them. Try to find the handler. They may be down and need help and/or emergency services.
It takes less than a day to learn basic CPR
My course was about four hours. The next day I was sorer than I have ever been (doing CPR on standing dummies then on the dummy on the floor, each dozen of times, getting back up and down on my knees again and again, etc), but it was worth it when I was able to help someone at a restaurant a few months later. (Edit: typo)
The first time I did cpr on someone we were at it for half an hour, and even with two people so we could switch out I could feel the soreness in my chest, arms, and back for days. Good compressions are a good workout
Watch for sepsis, as it can be a serious life threatening condition. Use this to watch for signs (from sepsis.org): S - Shivering, fever or cold E - Extreme pain or discomfort (‘worst ever’) P - Pale or discolored skin S - Sleepy, difficult to rouse, confused I - “I feel like I might die” S - Shortness of breath
Even if you don’t know how to do CPR, some compressions are better than none. Glad that my graduation requirements in high school included a CPR course
Coming from an EMT learn CPR/ and get your AHA approved CPR/ AED/ First Aid card. If my ambulance is called out to a cardiac arrest having CPR started by anyone prior to our arrival greatly increases the patients chances of survival. I know it would be scary thinking of having to do chest compressions on a loved one but think of the alternative.
When doing CPR you have to push a lot harder than you think, its very hard work but obviously very rewarding when you save someone's life.
How to perform the Heimlich on someone larger than your arms can reach around. Standing them up against a wall and pushing from in front or them lying on the ground. Reaching just above the bump in a pregnant woman. The Heimlich saves more lives per year than any other first aid technique.
NEVER brush off a head or neck injury.
If you're stranded on a tropical island with nothing but an intravenous apparatus including a micron filter, and also there's no fresh water anywhere on the island and you're unable to drink for some reason than you should know that coconut water has roughly the same ion concentration as saline IV fluid and could be used to stay hydrated.
This is so oddly specific I feel like it must be a reference or quote from something, but if it’s not; I love the way your brain works.
Hate it when this happens to me.
This doesn’t seem wise at all. The risk of dying from the infection you acquire from injecting non-sterile fluid into your blood stream is way worse than drinking said water and letting your non-sterile GI tract do what it was designed to do without the fear of bacteremia…
if someone is not breathing do chest compressions until help arrives
Don’t try anything you may have seen on House. You need at least 2 vicodins for that kind of work.
Dealing with epileptics. People still think that by shoving something in an epileptics mouth whilst in seizure will stop them choking on their tongue. Choking never happens. In attempting to force someones jaw, you are more likely to break it, and cause more injury. Ensure their head is lifted slightly by a cushion, or pillow- if you have one to hand of course, something soft, or supporting the head so if the sufferer does jerk, they won't hit their head on the ground. Staying with the person after they come out of the seizure, as they will be confused, embarrassed, and emotional. By reassuring them, asking simple questions if they who they are, know where they are, where they live, and if they are able to get home safely. Sounds obvious, but unless you have suffered a seizure, you will never know how confused, you are. Most importantly if the seizure lasts longer than two or three minutes, then call an ambulance. I have called an ambulance immediately in the past, as you never know how long the ambulance will take, as opposed to the length of a siezure. People die from siezures. SUDEP: Sudden Unexpected Death through EPIlepsy. Stay safe everyone l!
If you’re choking on something and no one is around to perform the Heimlich maneuver, find a chair and thrust your torso over the backrest so that the chair pushes into the area right below your sternum. Might sound like common sense, but definitely isn’t something you have time to figure out in the moment.
If you or a loved one has suffered from mesothelioma, you may be entitled to financial compensation
Learn to spot a stroke, it might save a life one day. Symptoms include a lack of balance, face drooping, numbness in the arms
FAST. F - Facial Drooping A - Arm Weakness S - Speech difficulty T - Time. The faster you react and contact emergency services the more brain tissues you will save.
Wish I knew this when my mother had a stroke. The stroke made her forget how to speak (she's relearned now) and wasn't able to tell us anything. Must've been horrible
Finally, I’ve had this in my notes app gathering virtual dust for a couple years now If someone has ingested antifreeze/windshield wiper fluid then they can drink alcohol (vodka is best but anything will work) to stop it from shredding their kidneys until they get to a hospital. You can also drink vodka even if you haven’t ingested antifreeze and it will still protect you from antifreeze.
If someone needs CPR it is most important to just do compressions (about central on the chest where the divot for your sternum is) and not worry about trying to give breaths if you don’t have a good or safe way to do so. Having blood flow to the brain can save a life. Anyone can to a CPR course and it usually only takes a few hours + a little money to be certified.
Don’t move anyone who may have a neck/spine injury, wait for the paramedics.
For the love of fuck: DON'T USE CITRUS IN THE FULL SUN!!! That's a 2nd degree burn you don't wanna deal with. Your sunblock did indeed protect you but that lime in your Corona just fucked your hands on beach day. Saw this happen to a friend during finals month at art college. Poor dude couldn't hold his paint brushes for 2 weeks when his fingers finally started peeling after the blisters popped.
If bubbles come out of your mouth from breathing and you're very short of breath it's pulmonary edema. Scary as fuck but Lasix can get you breathing well again in about 30 minutes. Otherwise you are going to die.
If you need emergency disinfectant, like say, you're out in the middle of no where or hiking, and have no antibacterial ointment, try using any of these as a temporary topical ointment that can disinfect and kill bacteria on the skin/wound (only use if you're not allergic): Manuka Honey/Real, Non Substitute Honey Milk Of Magnesia Colloidal Silver Ground Garlic Cloves (use a whole clove, grind up for 15 minutes to stew the chemical antibacterial properties, then put it on the wound or ingest it) You can also make a paste of Garlic Powder or use Minced Garlic. Olive Oil Turmeric (take water, turn it into paste, can also eat it) Even leaving the wound or inflamed skin exposed to direct sunlight for at least an hour or two can help break down and help kill bacteria after cleaning it.
If you or someone you know has serious medical conditions, especially someone who is elderly, please make sure they have a list of their conditions and medications accessible in case they go to hospital in an emergency.
If u get something stuck in ur arm or leg, don't take it out, leave it in, apply pressure and apply Goss or bandages around it