The War on Infection

[Woolies]

So yeah, I have that bad habit of chewing at the sides of my nails sometimes.

And uh-huh, my poor wee pinkie finger has got infected and is a wee bit swollen & sore (only enough pus to be a satisfying squeeze that first time and sadly no more...)

But any clever ideas on how to get rid of the swelling and infection?

My normal method would be leave it alone and it'll fix itself but I'm going out on a limb and considering other options. Would some sort of savlon-esque cream be in order or can I venture into the woods to search by the light of a gibbous moon for wyrd herbs with which to fashion some foul smelling poultice?


PS: anti-biotics = Woolies Death By Allergy

[LesMTS]

If you can't use antibiotics use honey. Seriously. It's not a lot of hippy hokum. The sugar draws the moisture away from the bacteria and retains it and the bacteria die a nasty moistureless death.

I'd give it a good clean and wrap it up in something that won't stick to it (like those gauze patches that are shiny). A plaster is a bad plan - it won't let the wound dry and heal so you want air to get at it, but a protective barrier to stop it getting bumped and germy. Can you get manuka honey easily?

Is it all antibiotics you're allergic to, or just the 'cillins?

[Zooropa]

I do this continually.

What I also did once about a year ago was attack the hard skin on the ball of my foot after hillwalking with nail-clippers. I grew to love doing it.
It keeps coming back bigger and harder (oooo-er!) and I just keep picking and cutting.
It bleeds and gets sore sometimes, so I cover it with Germolene and wait a few days.

I also do the biting clipping around the sides of all my fingers and thumbs.
Germolene makes them settle in time for my next flaying session.

You could try garlic (bruise the clove and put onto the cut), tea tree (not straight!) or aloe vera if you want a herbal remedy. I've successfully used the latter two but never tried garlic. And gauze is a good plan

[hotblonde]

If it's an infection into the quick, you will probably need an antibiotic. You can get non-penicillin based ones if that's what you're allergic to. Another option is to clean your finger in salty water and use a sterile (has to be sterile) plaster (if that's big enough) to cover in between cleans. You'll have to bathe it at least every few hours, over a period of a few days. If it's not better in 2-3 days, you may just have to bite the bullet and see what anti-B's you can tolerate. Hope that helps!

[Woolies]

so far favourite is rubbing with garlic and then a honey poultice.

Practicalities may send me towards the salt-water & sterile wrap as I've had to do that before for things and am practiced. (yup, penicillins & their ilk leave me dieing a death; other antibiotics only mean rashes & throwing up green bile for the duration, still not a good choice!)

Garlic & honey is more hippy fun sounding than silly doctor type suggestions as well

I'd leave the garlic until the morning or you'll wake yourself up everytime your hand moves during the night. Try honey to start with.

[LesMTS]

Don't know about garlic but a honey poultice is definitely a good bet. There's good theory behind the claims of using honey as a good antispetic for infected wounds.
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/entrez/q..._uids=15298770
Most of the stuff I can find on garlic is about fighting intestinal infections.

[hotblonde]

hehe....you are obviously able to work out if and when it gets any better or worse, so I'll leave it with you. You know where I am if you need me and my silly advice

As I said, I've not tried the garlic myself so may not work but I have read on a survival website somewhere that it is good at fighting off infections as it's a natural antibiotic, although I'm pretty sure it suggested peeing on your wound too

This site talks a lot about garlic and also honey mixtures which may be helpful:

http://www.kitchenmedicinebook.com/016796.html

[LesMTS]

Originally Posted by pogoprincess

As I said, I've not tried the garlic myself so may not work but I have read on a survival website somewhere that it is good at fighting off infections as it's a natural antibiotic, although I'm pretty sure it suggested peeing on your wound too

According to "The Last Word" in New Scientist (obviously a flawless source of information) peeing on your wound only works because you subconsciously wash and (more importantly) dry the area you've pissed on much more thoroughly than you normally would.

[endless psych]

Originally Posted by LesMTS

According to "The Last Word" in New Scientist (obviously a flawless source of information) peeing on your wound only works because you subconsciously wash and (more importantly) dry the area you've pissed on much more thoroughly than you normally would.

The notion of the subconsious is one that intrigues me... Was this "last word" based on common sense assumption or scientific fact? (When I say scientific fact I of course mean currently proven theory )

[LesMTS]

Originally Posted by endless psych

The notion of the subconsious is one that intrigues me... Was this "last word" based on common sense assumption or scientific fact? (When I say scientific fact I of course mean currently proven theory )

As far as I can remember it started with the scientific fact that there is nothing in piss that should make it a particularly effective at fighting infection (infections of the urinary system are commonplace, after all). It went from there to hypothesise that any observation of piss being effective at cleaning wounds might be because someone would pay more attention to washing and drying an part of their body they'd recently pissed on, possibly subconsciously.

[i_am_blip]

"hello mr pharmacist, what do you suggest for this infection, bearing in mind i suffer from "X" allergy."

best plan methinks.