sugar and slat for wounds?

[dstimpf]

Ive recently heard of a crude method to heal cuts and scraps with sugar and salt, apparently I was told that if you put slat in your wound it could actually disinfect it and sugar would be used after to help attract white blood cells and help them in actually in the healing process,im wondering does it actually work? and has anyone actually tried it? thanks for replies!

 

[crustpunk82]

i know that salt water heals wounds real good. i had a real severe and deep burn on my arm and it got really nasty and stunk really bad and i had put neosporin , Hydrogen peroxide and many different other things on it and after a month it was still just as rotten as the day i got it. then one day i went to the beach and had jumped it the water( that hurt like a son of a bitch), then by the end of the week it was healing really good and fast. also i bite my finger nails alot and sometimes the cuticles or something in there gets infected an hurts like fuck. i just microwave some water and pour salt in it then soak it and the hot water seems to dull the pain and the salt cures it quicker then any other things i have tried. as far as the suagr i have no idea but salt has always worked for me

 

[MrD]

I know that epsom salt can help heal an entire mess of things like sores and bruises, not sure how great it would work on cuts tho.

 

[crustpunk82]

the burn i had was haggard as fuck. it was deep into the muscle and was bleeding all the time and salt water healed it up pretty fas compared to every thing else i tried.

 

[cranberrydavid]

Salt works really well and has been around for ever. (You've heard of "rubbing salt in a wound". Why do you think they did that?)
Soaking in hot epsom salt solution is better though. It will clear up an infection in a day or two that might take a week with regular salt.

When I was working in fish canneries, any little scratch or chafe would get this nasty infection called Fish Rash that would make your hand or whatever swell up like a baloon. The cannery would lay you off if they found out. If I got a cut or saw a rash getting red, I'd grab some salt from the can line, make it into a paste and slap it on whenever I got a chance. It never failed. It does burn like hell on an open wound though. That's how you know it's working!

 

[dstimpf]

damn, didnt expect that salt would work that well but whats epsom salt?

 

[cranberrydavid]

It's a magnesium sulfate salt. It's really cheap at any pharmacy. It gets through the skin better than regular salt so it gets to the infection faster, especially for puncture wounds. It's also good on taking down swelling of sprains.

 

[Wolfeyes]

+1 to everything that has been said. After fire(ouch!), salt is mankind's second oldest disinfectant. If you have a wound, first rinse it out with very salty water, then pack a bunch of loose salt over the wound and wrap it up with cotton gauze. It will hurt like a mother, so keep your favorite painkiller (Grass, booze, etc.) handy. Rinse it with salt water and re-pack the wound every day.

It is more likely to leave a scar than other disinfectants, but it's cheaper and, from what I've seen, more reliable. Unlike modern chemical disinfectants like alcohol, neosporin, etc. the salt doesn't work by trying to kill off the bacteria, it works by making the area inhospitable to bacterial growth. Bacteria need three things to grow, heat, moisture and food(your flesh). The salt draws out most of the moisture, limiting the amount of bacteria and allowing your body to fight the little beasties off more easily.

 

[finn]

Salt will work for small wounds, it works by dehydrating the hell out of bacteria, but it'll also do the same for your exposed flesh- causing pain in the process. For big wounds- like a large burn- it can put your body into shock and kill you, so take that into consideration. If the amount of salt you use would be too much for you to stand putting in your mouth, it's way too much.

Now, if you think salt is painful, sugar is much, much worse. Sugar doesn't attract white blood cells, whoever told you that is full of it. If you go with the sugar route, you'll need some friends to hold you down as you're screaming because the sugar that you packed your wound with, needs to be scrubbed out as much as possible. This is because sugar really only has two stages:
stage 1- sugar will dehydrate bacteria and surrounding flesh in pretty much the same ways as salt.
stage 2- sugar becomes food for surrounding flesh and bacteria.
Now the flesh can rebuild, which is the sole advantage that it has over salt, but since the bacteria get to snack out too, it needs to be taken out, hence the painful scrubbing while you're held down screaming process. Since your flesh is connected to you, it'll stick around mostly, and the bacteria will be removed, mostly. If you left the sugar in there, it will get severely infected and without quick medical intervention (think blood tranfusion with IV drip) you will die... well the speed of death does depend on the severity of the wound. Oh, and you need to scrub out/pack in 8 times a day, so every 3 hours. You might get a sore throat after a few days because of all the screaming you'll do.

This is why the sugar technique isn't used except in times of warfare or civil unrest. So the point of this is, don't use sugar, it's okay to use a little salt, and if you're uncertain, go school yourself some in some biological sciences and medical techniques and traditions.

 

[cranberrydavid]

Thanks for the greater wisdom, Finn. I'll remember that!

Where I usually end up using table salt is when I've cut myself on something nasty. What we were taught (by our dad who was combat infantry in WWII) was to suck and spit, suck and spit until you've got the wound as clean as you can, then use whatever antiseptic is available as fast as possible. Usually the salt is closer than the H202 or iodine.

I've been using it for many years and it works really good, but you need to watch it, and if an infection is spreading it's time to go to the medic for the antibiotics.

 

[dstimpf]

hey thanks i appreciate the replies it really seemed like a long shot that either would help at all I tend to know people who can get the right concept but not fully know what the hell theyre talking about

 

[Deleted member 1505]

Okay so this isn't about honey and salt, but another great wound healer I think is worth mentioning is honey.

Honey works in many ways to heal wounds. Honey’s thick consistency forms a barrier protecting the wound from outside infections. The moistness allows skin cells to grow without creating a scar, even if a scab has already formed. Meanwhile, the sugars extract dirt and moisture from the wound, which helps prevent bacteria from growing, while the acidity of honey slows or prevents the growth of many bacteria. An enzyme that bees add to honey reacts with the wound’s fluids and breaks down into hydrogen peroxide, a disinfectant. Honey also acts as an anti-inflammatory and pain killer, and prevents bandages from sticking to wounds.

-http://www.wounds1.com/news/mainstory.cfm/45/news/mainstory.cfm/45

You should look into it! Honey has so many more uses as well. I personally use honey to boost my immunity and fight infections, and I have a friend that uses it for a skin condition.

The only thing that sucks about honey is that it is very sticky and if you plan on traveling with it you should keep the bottle in either a zip lock or plastic container.

Take care.

 

[someoneelse321]

I was a medic in the army from 07-10, we never used anything more than antibiotic ointment on a wound. The key isn't what you put on it but how you take care of it. Rinse thoroughly with clean water several times a day and change your bandages as often as you can. If its a deep wound, it should be packed with sterile gauze because your skin will push foreign pathogens and nastiness to the surface of your wound and the gauze will collect it which is why it needs to be changed often. Suturing (aka stitching) isn't all that hard, but again, sterility is the key. As long as you keep it clean you should avoid infection; which is really the goal of wound care. It'll heal on its own as long as you don't let it get infected.