Antiseptics- whats your choice?

I will tell you that mine is and always has been Mercurochrome, because I am an old geezer, 56, and I grew up with it, and all my life I have used all sorts of stuff, and I don't care that they banned its sale in Canada and the US, because they said there was no testing done on the product to prove it was safe and effective, even though it had been widely used since 1919.

It contains trace amounts of mercury, and if a child were to ingest it, it could be very harmful if not fatal, so they banned it.

However, I have seen it cure an infection so bad the person had blood poisoning. No other antiseptic I have ever seen, could handle cuts and scrapes like it.

So whats your choice of antiseptic keeping in mind that you may not have access to anti-biotics so your antiseptic better be good.

Raw non-heat treated honey. Burns like methialade, but will kill any infection. You can put it on any wound regardless of severity. Again, it burns unlike any pain most have felt.

reply to post by Rocketman7

I don't suppose you might want to share a modern day source of that stuff? I understand you wouldn't want to go tempting TPTB by explaining how one would go about delivery of such a thing in a place where it's banned....so lets pretend I live in Tonga and delivery is all on me. It sounds like something I really want in my disaster medical pack!

What I use myself depends on the problem. I have 3 on the shelf in bulk though. Hydrogen Peroxide as the old standby for almost anything. Rubbing Alcohol for when pain just has to be dealt with for the benefits it gives. Finally Sea Breeze when I need both antiseptic properties as well as something to completely dry out the skin or problem area.

S/F for a great thread! I look forward to your reply and seeing what others may have in their supplies. It's always nice to hear other ideas!

Mercurochome would be a good one. I would probably use colloidal silver and olive leaf extract. For an internal antibiotic I would use Samento (a derivative of cat's claw, very potent).

Honey and cinnamon together are also very good for putting on wounds. Honey is a natural antibacterial and the cinnamon adds extra kick.

Let us not forget the old stand-bys, hydrogen peroxide and isopropyl alcohol.

ST37
AG404
POTATOS

iodine

isopropyl alcahol

reply to post by Rocketman7


I always use Tea Tree oil as an antiseptic. It has always worked a treat for me.

Rev

reply to post by Rocketman7


My choice is Povidone-iodine, stuff works better than anything I've ever tried, i've heard its also very effective on different strains of Staph infections as well. I had a few fingers severely mangled 15 years ago or so when I was a machinist was working on the machine and bumped the jog button and basically peeled my skin like a bananna on 2 of my fingers and broke both bones in my forearm and 10 or so other bones in my hand, the doctor soaked my hand in Povidone-iodine for about 30 minutes before scrubbing everything out real good, never had an infection and he said i'd be at severe risk of infection since there were so many broken bones in that area, never had one complication 15 years later all i have is a few nasty scars but everything functions as it should.

Povidone-iodine also doesn't add to the pain like Alcohol or Hydrogen Peroxide only negative thing that I can see besides it being expensive to buy is it leaves an orange stain, but thats not a big deal considering its benefits. I always have some in my first aid kit at home and in the car and use it with just about every cut that I get and put a bandaid over it and never had an infection. 15 years and never used anything besides Povidone-iodine its that good.

reply to post by Rocketman7


it depends

i have several solutions

TCP because its safest for oral use

IPA because it has so many other uses

HTP because when you need absolute cleanliness in a deep and ragged wound & AGRESSIVE debridment nothing else will do

lugols soln. because it can be used to treat dringing water too


different circumstances require a different response ie :


if i have a scratch from a thorn that has not even drawn blood - a dab of TCP or iodine is fine

but when you have pulled a rusty nail out of someones hand and have no anti-biotics or hope of external assistance - the mindbloweing pain of pouring peroxide into the wound looks attractive

Originally posted by Wrabbit2000
reply to post by Rocketman7

 

I don't suppose you might want to share a modern day source of that stuff? I understand you wouldn't want to go tempting TPTB by explaining how one would go about delivery of such a thing in a place where it's banned....so lets pretend I live in Tonga and delivery is all on me.

It sounds like something I really want in my disaster medical pack!

What I use myself depends on the problem. I have 3 on the shelf in bulk though. Hydrogen Peroxide as the old standby for almost anything. Rubbing Alcohol for when pain just has to be dealt with for the benefits it gives. Finally Sea Breeze when I need both antiseptic properties as well as something to completely dry out the skin or problem area.

S/F for a great thread! I look forward to your reply and seeing what others may have in their supplies. It's always nice to hear other ideas!

I just ordered some from Australia. It cost me 3 times what it is worth for the delivery. The stuff was 4.99 and the delivery was 15 bucks, so total was about 23 bucks Canadian, but what price a limb?

I will give you the link because it is not a controlled substance. Some compounding pharmacies in the US still sell it and many doctors reccommend it still after surgery.

If I got bit by a zombie, I would reach for the Mercurochrome

Originally posted by GoldenRuled
Raw non-heat treated honey. Burns like methialade, but will kill any infection. You can put it on any wound regardless of severity. Again, it burns unlike any pain most have felt.

edit on 5-1-2012 by GoldenRuled because: (no reason given)

As far as I know, the reason honey kills bacteria is because it contains hydrogen peroxide.

Now honey by itself, will keep forever. But you cannot store meat by covering it with honey.

Honey has very little mositure in it and that is why it will keep forever.

So my opinion on that is people like to sell honey, and hydrogen peroxide will kill some forms of bateria.

But magic healing properties and old wives tales and folk medicine, come from the days when life spans were 40 years on average and a lot of people walked around with missing limbs.
Just my pence.
Maybe it works, but scientifically speaking, its hydrogen peroxide and that is good for cleansing wounds, but not maybe the best choice.

Originally posted by ignorant_ape
reply to post by Rocketman7

 

it depends

i have several solutions

TCP because its safest for oral use

IPA because it has so many other uses

HTP because when you need absolute cleanliness in a deep and ragged wound & AGRESSIVE debridment nothing else will do

lugols soln. because it can be used to treat dringing water too


different circumstances require a different response ie :


if i have a scratch from a thorn that has not even drawn blood - a dab of TCP or iodine is fine

but when you have pulled a rusty nail out of someones hand and have no anti-biotics or hope of external assistance - the mindbloweing pain of pouring peroxide into the wound looks attractive

I have a big bottle of iodine as well since in a pinch, as you say you can use it make drinking water potable, and also because in a pinch you can use it for radiation protection. Also it is a spray bottle, so for a large area, you can spray it on.
But I wouldn't trust it as an antiseptic.
After they took Mercurochrome off the market and I got a cut and used iodine I found that it did not work as effectively to prevent infection. So I asked my doctor why they took Mercurochrome off the market and told him that the iodine was not effective.

He said they took it off the market because it contained mercury, and so just to be safe. But he also said that he agreed, iodine by itself was not affective, and that what most people were doing was making a solution of rubbing alcohol and iodine and that was a better antiseptic than iodine alone or alcohol alone.

And maybe it is, but I grew up with Mercurochrome, and all I ever had to do was dab it on, and never once did any cut ever fail to improve right away. It seems to dry the cut right away and protect it from moisture and kill the surface bateria and I have nothing but confidence in it, whereas I have not had that same degree of success with any other product or cream.

As I stated at the start of this thread, a person who worked for me once as a dishwasher, in a restraurant I owned once complained that he had a cut and his arm was sore. He wore rubber goves while washing dishes with an industrial machine but he had cut himself and put nothing on the cut on his hand and the rubber gloves were moist inside and this was a number of days after it happened that he mentioned his arm was sore.

So I took a look and GEEZUS! He had a bad infection, and clear signs of septicemia. His arm was red and swolen and the small veins were showing in his forearm and everything. I think he was even running a fever.
But he didn't like doctors. One of those guys. So I went to my car and got my bottle of Mercurochrome out of the glovebox and gave it to him. The wound healed right away. Even under those conditions.

I was a believer in it and that is why I felt confident that it could handle even that and it did.

Originally posted by Aliensdoexist
reply to post by Rocketman7

 

My choice is Povidone-iodine, stuff works better than anything I've ever tried, i've heard its also very effective on different strains of Staph infections as well. I had a few fingers severely mangled 15 years ago or so when I was a machinist was working on the machine and bumped the jog button and basically peeled my skin like a bananna on 2 of my fingers and broke both bones in my forearm and 10 or so other bones in my hand, the doctor soaked my hand in Povidone-iodine for about 30 minutes before scrubbing everything out real good, never had an infection and he said i'd be at severe risk of infection since there were so many broken bones in that area, never had one complication 15 years later all i have is a few nasty scars but everything functions as it should.

Povidone-iodine also doesn't add to the pain like Alcohol or Hydrogen Peroxide only negative thing that I can see besides it being expensive to buy is it leaves an orange stain, but thats not a big deal considering its benefits. I always have some in my first aid kit at home and in the car and use it with just about every cut that I get and put a bandaid over it and never had an infection. 15 years and never used anything besides Povidone-iodine its that good.

Yikes!
I was a worker in a factory once working on a big drill press and God it was so boring. And I guess I was a bit dozy but this huge hobart drillpress came down on the metal I was supposed to be drilling and the drill bit jammed, the press kept going down and capow the bit exploded and whizzed past my head at about 70 mph and embedded itself into the wall. I quit.

Well if that iodine works for you, then power to you my friend. As long as it does the trick.
For me, as I say I have it too but I just feel I need a little something more for the zombie apocalypse.
I don't have any right now, I use whatever but then the levels of airborne bacteria are not what you can expect them to be during the apocalypse.
Thats why I ordered some for my bug out bag today. Just so I have some if I need it.

reply to post by Rocketman7


I will agree with you on the use of Mercurochrome, there is nothing like it today.
We are in the same age group, and my dad used to swear by it as well.
I used to play a lot of hockey and football when I was young and got cut up on a regular basis.
That stuff used to work so well, a few days later the wounds were healed and no pain at all.
It is true it is poisonous to kids if ingested, but so is a bottle of peroxide if one were to drink it.
You can get it from India, through the net, and other places as well.

This stuff will take the spots off a dog, so be carefull when you apply it and cover the wound with a bandage.

Originally posted by charlyv
reply to post by Rocketman7

 

I will agree with you on the use of Mercurochrome, there is nothing like it today.
We are in the same age group, and my dad used to swear by it as well.
I used to play a lot of hockey and football when I was young and got cut up on a regular basis.
That stuff used to work so well, a few days later the wounds were healed and no pain at all.
It is true it is poisonous to kids if ingested, but so is a bottle of peroxide if one were to drink it.
You can get it from India, through the net, and other places as well.

This stuff will take the spots off a dog, so be carefull when you apply it and cover the wound with a bandage.

I agree. I ordered some from Australia but there are probably other places where you can get it.

If it wasn't for my bug out bag, I would not concern myself that I didn't have any and I would just use other methods and in a pinch go get a shot and some anti-biotics.

But if there are no anti-biotics to be had, well then I want the best I know of and that is Mercurochrome not because of what people say, but because of experience.

You know a couple years ago i was thinking about this and looked into natural anti-biotics and had an ear infection and poured a bit of grapefruit seed oil into my ear. One of the biggest mistakes I ever made in my life.
I ended up having to get some real powerful anti-biotics before the infection was cured and it felt like I had a permanent hole in my eardrum for about 2 years. Only recently has that ear gotten back to normal.

The doctor looked at it recently and said it was completely fine but still when I blow my nose when I have a cold, that one gets air blown into it from the pressure and the other one doesn't.

I said to myself after that never again will I reach for some homeopathic remedy and try to treat myself when I should be just getting some anti-biotics.

Stop and think for a second. Before anti-biotics people died from infections and there was all the honey and grapefruit seed oil and camomile tea then and it never saved anyone.
If any of that was effective we wouldn't need anti-biotics.

If your immune system cannot handle the infection, and lets say strep throat. A simple thing like strep throat, becomes scarlet fever and you die. And what can you use to treat strep throat? Nothing. If your immune system cannot handle that infection, and you do not have any anti-biotics you will get scarlet fever.
And strep throat is a common ailment, easily transmitted as some people are carriers.
en.wikipedia.org...

I read somehere the reason they took Mercurochrome off the market in the US was people were swabbing their throats with it. And if you do that you risk mercury poisoning.
Maybe you could swab your throat with iodine for strep throat I don't know.
But no amount of honey or salt will kill strep throat that I know of.

reply to post by Rocketman7


Actually there have been some studies done recently especially on diabetics, who have a lot of issues with wounds that do not heal, and honey has been incredibly successful in clearing them up. I think part of the effect is the restriction of oxygen to the wound, as well as the actual contents of the honey itself.

My personal favorite from cuts to burns is honey. www.worldwidewounds.com... l-agent.html

Honey is an ancient remedy for the treatment of infected wounds, which has recently been 'rediscovered' by the medical profession, particularly where conventional modern therapeutic agents are failing. There are now many published reports describing the effectiveness of honey in rapidly clearing infection from wounds, with no adverse effects to slow the healing process; there is also some evidence to suggest that honey may actively promote healing. In laboratory studies, it has been shown to have an antimicrobial action against a broad spectrum of bacteria and fungi. However, further research is needed to optimise the effective use of this agent in clinical practice.

I use it all the time. Burns heal faster with honey for me that with something like polysporn.
a documented experiment

CONCLUSION: Significant antibacterial activity can be maintained easily when using honey as a wound dressing, even on a heavily exuding wound. Concentrations of hydrogen peroxide generated are very low in comparison to those typically applied to a wound, thus, cytotoxic damage by hydrogen peroxide is very low.

Works for me

reply to post by Rocketman7


Dog spit

Hydrogen Peroxide, also will be useful for many other things like tooth paste, face wash, water disinfectant.
Baking Soda has many uses as well.

Another common item that can be scavenged is Hand Sanitizer or Ethyl Alcohol.

All the honey will be radioactive, 'honey'.

But you probably have a couple gallons stored away for everything. Right beside the 50 pound sack of camomile tea.

Its not that I don't believe you, its just that honey has been around since time began, and people still died in droves all the time from everything.
Won't it attract bees?