Efficacy of Tampon/Sanitary Napkin Use for Hemorrhage Control

[echo5whiskey]

Although not issued or recommended by our Corpsmen, I had seen the tampon idea quite often from various sources throughout my operational time. These sources were not meidcal pros, but usually guys who had seen a couple deployments before me, so I took their word for it. I didn't really look into it, neither did I carry any, nor did I have the need to use one that someone else was carrying. I am glad that I didn't; and even more so, that now I know better, and will never have to resort to robbing my wife for medical equipment.

[Abraham]

Yeah, but what about using Preparation H for wrinkle smoothing...?

Fact or myth?

If it works, I'm gonna buy a case as time has rendered me the look of "The Face On The Barroom Floor"!

My face isn't wrinkled - it's fissured!!

[FishTaco]

What about those large desiccant packs that are useful in the Gun Safe. Would they work better?

[SeriousStudent]

What about those large desiccant packs that are useful in the Gun Safe. Would they work better?

I would be extraordinarily hesitant to introduce a non-medical device like that into a human body. Especially if it was someone I liked.

Honestly, good first aid supplies are just not that expensive. A couple of rolls of gauze is a couple of bucks.

If the gun safe desiccant pack is labeled "Do Not Eat", then it's likely not very good to pour it into a wound, right?

[echo5whiskey]

SS, what is your take on this? http://www.popsci.com/article/techno...und-15-seconds

I haven't been able to find if it was actually approved by the FDA, but 30mm seems like it would pretty difficult to shove inside a wound track (obviously, I've never had to do it).

[SeriousStudent]

It's been quite some time since people paid me to pack wounds. But I am of the opinion that knowledge almost always trumps gear.

There are exceptions, of course - heart-lung machines and medical imagining devices leap to mind.

But my personal first aid kit has 4 Olaes pressure dressings, 4 packs of Quik-Clot combat gauze and 4 SOFTT-W tourniquets in it. Along with a butt-load of Kling gauze and Hyfin chest seals. And oodles of gloves, and one Hello Kitty band-aid.

A couple of weeks ago I was at the Lone Star Field & Tactical Medicine Conference. http://lonestarmedics.com/tactical-medicine-conf/

We were working with some very realistic mannequins - I'm talking loud screams and arterial spray. I would personally recommend something like that first - some solid training from people like Caleb Causey, Dark Angel Medical (Kerry Davis) or others. You may be more limited in your options out there in the Pacific. But there have to have been some pretty solid former FMF Corpmen that did time with Third Marines, and liked it out there in Paradise. You might try and hunt one of them down through the Red Cross, or some other organization.

But you can do some great work with roller gauze, cotton arm slings and Ace wraps. And that would be just $20, which would be a lot less than that injector doodad. And way more versatile.

That just my opinion, I'm not a doctor. But I have seen a lot of people leaking hydraulic fluid over the years, and am a fan of gear that you can multi-task with.

Hope that helps.

[echo5whiskey]

I share your opinion of knowledge. I received quite a bit of really good training from a couple of awesome 3rd Marines Corpsmen, and I have a kit that I built around that and an GI IFAK. The major difference is that my daughter insists that I keep a full box of Hello Kitty bandaids.

[SeriousStudent]

Yes, I keep the one Hello Kitty band-aid as a motivational tool. It has been offered, but never applied.

[CLHC]

I would be extraordinarily hesitant to introduce a non-medical device like that into a human body.

If the gun safe desiccant pack is labeled "Do Not Eat", then it's likely not very good to pour it into a wound, right?

Now right then and there!

[FishTaco]

I would be extraordinarily hesitant to introduce a non-medical device like that into a human body. Especially if it was someone I liked.

Honestly, good first aid supplies are just not that expensive. A couple of rolls of gauze is a couple of bucks.

If the gun safe desiccant pack is labeled "Do Not Eat", then it's likely not very good to pour it into a wound, right?

I'm fairly sure that the do not eat provision implies cutting the outer packaging and eating the desiccant raw. Just as they're used in the safe- with the outer wrapping/packaging- seems to me like the best way to apply them to a wound if they are deemed effective.