# Stitching yourself up....



## Anita in NC (May 10, 2002)

I know I can get sterile packs of suture and needles from vet catalogs. Can I also get the stuff to numb up the area from vet catalogs? Does anyone know?

Anyone else do their own doctoring..... Even with insurance I think we should be more able to take care of the smaller stuff ourselves.

Anita


----------



## WildernesFamily (Mar 11, 2006)

Anita,

You can also buy the human suture kits online. I found one place that sells lidocaine powder and the base cream, so you can make your own numbing agent. I haven't bought from them yet, but if you want the link send me a PM.

You may also want to consider a "skin stapler" which may be easier (or not?) to use.

I think a suture kit is a great item to have in your First Aid kit, especially if you are a good drive away from medical help.


----------



## HaysFarm (Jul 23, 2005)

Hello,
I've never seen anything that would numb the area up so to say, But depending on how "in" with your vet you are. You might be able to set a small amount from him/her.
I've also been told that there are natural herbs that you can mix to make a paste to numb the area.


----------



## danoon (Dec 20, 2006)

Get the staple gun, though its hard to close a wound and staple it one handed [if the wound is on your arm] it is great for anything else. Suture kits come in handy also.


----------



## Oggie (May 29, 2003)

If you can't close the wound with butterfly bandages (aka Steri-Strips) or Super Glue, you might want to seriously consider what vascular or nerve damage might be enclosed in a self-stitched wound. Add to that the risks of infection.

Then, go for it if you like. Just be aware that some of the damage might be more difficult to fix if it has healed the wrong way for a while.


----------



## moopups (May 12, 2002)

Any material with the last letters being 'cain' is a type of numbing agent. Novocain, procaine, cocaine.


----------



## Jenn (Nov 9, 2004)

I recommend you NOT get the injectable lidocaine or other numbing agent. Too dangerous if injected in too large an amount or into a vein by accident (which could stop the heart in too large an amount). Also if you do get injectable CERTAINLY do not get the sort with added epinephrine/adrenalin to decrease blood loss- this can cause a finger or other appendage (toe, pen*s, ear) to die off from lack of blood flow.

Topical numbing gel should be safe if not too big a wound- won't likely absorb fatal amounts. However if for EOTWAWKI, except for children, maybe suturing without anesthetic is not such a bad plan.... if for routine medical care might be too much discomfort too often though.

COI: I am a physician.


----------



## CJ (May 10, 2002)

We've used the staple gun ourselves (from our dog kit, no less). Not pleasant by any means, but it does the job.


----------



## big rockpile (Feb 24, 2003)

Years ago I got shot in the Leg,my Stepfather sewed it up.Then it got infected,they had to cut the infection out.

Far more pain than anyone has to put up with :Bawling: 

big rockpile


----------



## Cabin Fever (May 10, 2002)

In a pinch, you can sow yourself up with hair from a horse's tail.


----------



## CoonXpress (Sep 20, 2004)

Oggie, has the best response. Butterfly bandages and superglue. Plus with the superglue, it'll seal it up and keep infection out of the wound.
Will


----------



## sewsilly (May 16, 2004)

You can purchase steri-strips... If the problem needs more help (on a knuckle, into the muscle, more than just skin deep) then there are definately other issues involved that need professional medical attention. For cost savings, either an urgent care center or a free clinic.

Infection is the most sizable risk. 

My peds doctors gave me the steri strips and instructed us on cleaning wounds one summer when we kept having to come in about every other day. He sat me down and discussed which things needed to be seen and which didnt' and wished me luck!

The children all survived.


----------



## CGUARDSMAN (Dec 28, 2006)

Cabin Fever said:


> In a pinch, you can sow yourself up with hair from a horse's tail.


catching the horse while your bleeding might be a little tough  

we use super glue with great results both animal and human


----------



## blue gecko (Jun 14, 2006)

CoonXpress said:


> Oggie, has the best response. Butterfly bandages and superglue. Plus with the superglue, it'll seal it up and keep infection out of the wound.
> Will


Keep in mind that you can also seal the infection in. Most gashes will heal as long as you keep the area clean. If they're deep they need to heal from the inside out. Coaxing a good closure with butterfly bandages helps keep it together. Albeit you may end up with a lovely scar.

As far as stitching is concerned, lidocain injections hurt often times far worse than stitching without it.

The most difficult thing is getting the bandages to stick and often you'll have to reapply them pretty much daily. If you will super glue the bandage parallel to the wound and leave a folded edge on the wound side you can stitch the bandage together without going through the skin. 

It would be prudent to know the signs of infection, a small cut on your hand could end up with the loss of your hand, your arm, your life.


----------



## Callieslamb (Feb 27, 2007)

A dr in the ER once used super glue on the back of our son's head and it took forever! to heal. I didn't like it at all. But you all have made me stop and think. Certainly less painful than mom trying to stitch someone up.....Sutures in our 1st aid kit is our item for July. We would only use them in a real emergency - such as no Dr available at all. Would super glue would be okay in that case? How much to you use and what kinds of wounds? Could some be too large for super glue?


----------



## Oggie (May 29, 2003)

I have not used SuperGlue although I carried it in the first aid kit when I was director of high adventure at a camp. Most of the wounds on the people I went into the back country to bring out were to be stitched up later, so I used only Steri-Strips to close the wound.

I'm more comfortable using a bandage than a glue, but I was able to find lots of info on the Internet.

And from this site: http://www.aafp.org/afp/20000301/1383.html

_This tissue adhesive should not be used on animal bites, severely contaminated wounds, ulcers, puncture wounds, mucous membranes (including mucocutaneous junctions) or areas of high moisture content, such as the groin or axillae (Table 2). The adhesive may be used on selected hand, foot and joint wounds if these areas are kept dry and immobilized._

Here's a site with a whole bunch of info on a survival first aid kit: http://www.equipped.com/medical.htm

From there:

_Wound closure or suture strips are a modern replacement for butterfly bandages, used to close a wound and hold the edges together. Most kits include a package of these with about three to five strips per package. This is another example of a specialty bandage that you should have more of in the kit. These strips are much better than butterfly bandages, are easier to use and take up less space besides. Having tried out more than a few of these products over the years, the "Cover-Strip II" by Beiersdorf seems to be the winner here. The advantage is that they can be repositioned in case you goof in applying them, which occurs frequently. The others, such as J&J's "Steri-Strips," cannot, losing their tackiness if pulled up. 

Another technique for closing wounds is to use "super glue" (also often called "crazy glue") to join the edges of the skin together. This is a fairly common technique in many emergency and operating rooms. My emergency medical consultants seem to agree that there is no need to try to find and purchase the overpriced "sterile" super glue used in hospitals and now available over the counter from some limited sources, trademarked "Dermabond." Any unopened tube of super glue will work satisfactorily. There remains some controversy with some doctors and those who sell and manufacture the Dermabond claiming that consumer grade super glue is dangerous, but many others have found, as we have in our own personal experience, that it works fine with no adverse effects.

One advantage of the Dermabond is that it looks "medical" which might be an advantage for use on someone who might otherwise be concerned when you try to use a consumer packaged super glue. 

Dermabond comes in a crushable ampoule applicator, which does make it easy to "paint" the edges of a wound. Super glue is available in applicator packaging that makes it easier to position exactly one drop exactly where you want it without making a mess of the patient or yourself, but you still must use some means, NOT YOUR FINGER, to spread it out. These sturdy plastic applicators seem less susceptible to damage than the conventional small metal tubes of the glue that offer less control and are worth the small extra cost. 

Use Google to search on Dermabond and you'll find plenty of information on the proper use of this glue._


----------



## Danaus29 (Sep 12, 2005)

Remember that the most important thing to do to a wound is to clean it thoroughly!!! Very important! I have seen the ER leave this step out, they did when dh split his thumb open and when he gashed his knee (even though fibers from his pants were visible in the wound). And sometimes the stitches leave a bigger scar than the original wound. Steri-strips are the best, IMO. If the cut is too big for a couple steri-strips you need to get to the doctor ASAP! I always clean wounds gently with warm running water and a bit of peroxide. Apply aloe or Neosporin before closing the wound. IMO, aloe works better than Neosporin.


----------



## big rockpile (Feb 24, 2003)

When I was working as a Meat Cutter had a woman get stabbed.The Nurse put a butterfly bandage on it.When the woman got home it come lose and she almost bled to death.

Oh when I had problem with infection.I went swiming before it healed,got so infected it was stinking.

big rockpile


----------



## Jolly (Jan 8, 2004)

Superglue is routinely used on small cuts in the ED and in opthamologist's offices for small cuts. Make sure the wound is clean, though.

I'm not too bad with a set of stats and a curved needle, but that's only on animals...I think I'd think twice before sewing up people...lots of things to go wrong...


----------



## Danaus29 (Sep 12, 2005)

Thanks brp, I forgot about that. Deep wounds should always be looked at by a doctor. Even a nail hole can hit an artery and cause a person to bleed to death.


----------



## rwinsouthla (Oct 24, 2005)

Cut my forearm really bad while camping with my grandpa on an old rusty hinge on an old cabin. He poured whiskey on it. Burned like the dickens!!! He said it cleaned it out. THen, drank about a half of cup of whiskey. He taped it closed in the middle and on the ends. Stitched it up with dental floss in between the tape. Then, removed the end tape, stitched there, then the other end tape, stitched there. Then stitched in teh middle. No infection. No pain either.


----------



## 65284 (Sep 17, 2003)

moopups said:


> Any material with the last letters being 'cain' is a type of numbing agent. Novocain, procaine, cocaine.


Yep, it's also restricted, supposed to be available by prescription only. Anyone that gets caught with any of that stuff in their posession will probably be in bigtime trouble. Any injury that needs numbing should be attended by a trained professional.


----------



## Country Doc (Oct 26, 2005)

I will remind you lidocaine is lethal if you get the dose wrong. If you insist on doing it, the safer thing would be without anesthesia. A pigs foot from the butcher is somewhat close to human skin if you want to practice.


----------



## WildernesFamily (Mar 11, 2006)

65284 said:


> Yep, it's also restricted, supposed to be available by prescription only. Anyone that gets caught with any of that stuff in their posession will probably be in bigtime trouble. Any injury that needs numbing should be attended by a trained professional.


Is that true for lidocaine as well? I know you can buy some OTC products that contain lidocaine, like MecuroClear, etc.

And as far as dosage and the lethality of it.. what about using it mixed into a base cream and applied topically? I know it still gets absorbed into the bloodstream, but would it be possible to get an overdosage of it used this way? What I'm thinking of, is a TEOTWAWKI situation, and having to do stitches, and needing something to dull the area a little to make stitches less painful. I don't even know if it would be effective for that.

I'd really appreciate answers here, I'll not meddle with anything illegal, and I wouldn't know where to start looking to find the info for myself, so if anyone can tell me with 100% certainty or point me in the right direction, I'd appreciate it.


----------



## VALENT (Dec 6, 2004)

I stitched a cut on my right elbow without any numbing agent. It doesnt hurt that much anyhow. I forget what I used(I believe it was sewing thread or floss) and a regular sewing needle. It healed fine but did leave an uglier scar than a professional job. Of course, this was in a mirror and left handed and I had to have help to pull the stitches tight. I couldnt reach with my mouth.


----------



## Farmerwilly2 (Oct 14, 2006)

Seems we have several different camps here: some want to do all their own docterin, some want to do it when getting to the doctor would be hours or days away, and some envision a time when there in no doctor. Most of the advice given seems sound, if it applies to the appropriate situation. Myself I'm partial to doctors and dentists, but given no other choice it'll be a pull from the jug and a needle and thread if I got nothing else available. I'll make sure I've got something else available.


----------



## titansrunfarm (Aug 14, 2005)

TriCare horse ointment has Benzocaine in it and if surely numbs lips as I found out the hard way, might be enough to take the edge off to stitch in a pinch, though.


----------



## blue gecko (Jun 14, 2006)

You can also numb with ice. Echinacea tincture has a numbing quality as well and there are a couple of other plants known for their numbing effects:

Aralia spinosa (also called angelica tree, devil's walking stick, prickly ash), and 
Zanthoxylum clava-herculis (also called pepperwood, Southern prickly ash).


----------



## MarleneS (Aug 21, 2003)

Husband rented the movie "Shooter" yesterday, the main character got shot, and with his military training new how to make a saline solution, how to use sugar as an anti-bacterial, and how to use a marinate injector and tubing as and I.V. He had to find someone else to help him do the surgery however, and they failed to explain exactly what it was he had her buy in aerosole cans to put him under. His instructions to her was to go in, then stitch back up in reverse....personally, I would have probably died from the stuff he poured in the wounds to stop the bleeding.

Next time you self doctorers sew yourself up, could you do a video?

Hugs,
Marlene


----------



## VALENT (Dec 6, 2004)

Mine was not a very big deal. The video would be quite boring.


----------



## gccrook (Nov 21, 2003)

Forget the numbing agent, and just put a good stick in your kit. You know, something to bite down on.


----------

