sticking plasters!

62Granny

I often cut the top of my fingers, usually when I am sorting out DH medication getting it out of the plastic and foil packaging🙄, I always say if a forensics team came into the house after I have tried to open a plaster they would have a field day, as for some reason this type of cut bleeds worse than anything. Before people say anything due to his disability DH can't sort his own medication out. I will take others advise and have a little bag with some already open to use quickly.

for fingers, I have some of those little expanding fabric tubes that you push on twist a push on again and I use cotton wool to cover the cut and then this on, simply because I cannot get plasters to stay on. (They wash and reuse a couple of times)

Casdon

I’ve got an all singing and dancing penknife, with a corkscrew, bottle opener, scissors etc, and even a thing to remove stones from horses hooves, but I keep it in the car, as I try to keep my handbag as light as possible, and I’ve always got wherever I’m going by car.

Like a Swiss Army knife?
Were you a Girl Guide? 😀

Fair enough 4allweknow - I thought I'd just give the updated info.

Not Spaghetti Wonder how long a short delay is in getting to hospital. Given all the waiting times nowadays for an ambulance I'm still carrying an aspirin.

I’ve got an all singing and dancing penknife, with a corkscrew, bottle opener, scissors etc, and even a thing to remove stones from horses hooves, but I keep it in the car, as I try to keep my handbag as light as possible, and I’ve always got wherever I’m going by car.

Re the small scissors, I have a small folding pair that I’ve had for years which I keep in my makeup bag. They’ve never been picked up when I’ve gone through airport scanners and they’ve come in useful numerous times.

No longer sure about the stroke/Asprin thing.

The Royal College of Physicians has produced clinical guidelines for stroke.1 These include recommendations for the treatment of acute stroke. The first recommendation is that 300 mg aspirin should be given as soon as possible after the onset of stroke symptoms (if a diagnosis of haemorrhage is considered unlikely). This recommendation is graded A, indicating that the evidence is strong. Because of this the Oxfordshire ambulance service considered having paramedics treat patients with aspirin but consulted widely with clinicians to gain their support.

We found that the recommendation in the guidelines might not be applicable before patients reach hospital. Aspirin has been shown to reduce the risk of early recurrent ischaemic stroke when given within 48 hours of acute stroke.2,3 However, any benefit in reducing the severity of the acute stroke seems to be small, and there is no evidence that overall benefit would be reduced by delaying the administration of aspirin by an hour or so.2,3 Paramedics have been trained to administer aspirin safely in acute myocardial infarction,4 but in cases of acute stroke there are potential dangers in using aspirin before the patient reaches hospital.

Firstly, the number of cases was small and the confidence intervals were wide in two studies that found that there was no evidence of harm in patients with acute stroke who had been randomly allocated to receive aspirin before having computed tomography of the brain and who were subsequently found to have had an intracerebral haemorrhage.2,3 Thus, since it is difficult to exclude intracerebral haemorrhage on clinical grounds there remains a potential risk of harm occurring with the inadvertent administration of aspirin to patients with intracerebral haemorrhage.

Secondly, the ability to swallow safely is commonly impaired in the acute phase of stroke. Given the potential difficulties of training paramedics to assess swallowing, aspirin would have to be administered rectally in order to avoid the risk of aspiration.

We therefore decided that if there is no evidence that a short delay in administering aspirin reduces its efficacy in acute stroke and since there is some potential for harm, the indignity of rectal administration by paramedics could not be justified. We wonder what other ambulance services are doing and whether future recommendations should take into account the prehospital phase of treatment.

BMJ. 2000 Jul 29;321(7256):299.
Paramedics should delay giving aspirin to patients with stroke

We have First Aid kits in our cars, but since Covid and always carrying hand sanitiser, my handbag now has a small section holding some sealed antiseptic wipes, a couple of dressings, some micropore tape and plasters. Very fortunately my use of these emergency first aid items has largely involved others. Children with grazed knees and nothing to clean them up have been able to use my supplies, but the best ever was when, together with 3 friends, I was sitting on high stools at a beach bar. It was a hot day and very busy. Behind me there was decking and sand. An elderly man and his Wife/Carer were leaving their seats on the decking and he must have fallen. There was a shout as he toppled just off the edge of the decking into the sand but struck his head on something. Lots of people asked if they needed help, but he was being very loud and saying odd things which possible deterred anyone from doing very much.

He was sitting up but making so much noise I asked if he was in pain and did they need an ambulance. His Wife said not. He said not and then I realised that all the comments he was making suggested that he might have some mental health issues. But his forehead was bleeding so I told her that she was welcome to have something to clean the wound and maybe apply a dressing.
'Would you do it', she said? ' I can, but I'm not a Nurse'. ''I'd be grateful', she said. He was immediately interested and sat very still.
'Can you make me look handsome again' he asked. 'Absolutely' I said. Cleaned him up, applied the dressing and told her that since he had hit his head it might be a good idea to take him to a Clinic to be checked over.

The small crowd who were paying attention to all of this seemed to be in agreement. I hope that's what happened. They left then with him shouting his thanks to the 'very nice lady'.

The very moment they left, the owner of the bar appeared at our table with an ice bucket, bottle of champagne, 4 glasses and a big smile! And me? Well, I've been waiting all summer to see if a few new plasters might result in another reward...........🤞

Another vote for strips of fabric plasters which are easy to access.

In May I was stung by a wasp in Lyme Regis and had no anti histamine and thought I could get some easily. The local Boots had closed, the supermarkets had nothing and the pharmacy attached to the GP surgery had no stock either. No medical supplies for a town heaving with visitors and locals!

I realised that if the dear granddaughters had any medical emergency on the beach, however small, there would be nothing to help them with. I immediately put together emergency supplies for the next visit.

When grandad grazed his knee I was able to offer him a Gruffalo plaster. Somewhat ungraciously declined.

amzn.eu/d/51r4gd4

These they stick on and stay on and let the wound “breathe” and heal - tear half way along the outer pull the ends off and pull off the backing strips.

When I went on holiday with my sister she seemed to carry a "complete pharmacy" yu name it she had it.

@Casdon, I can only think that you might have been a Kindergarten teacher... I have scissors and 2 pencils in my bag, along with sundry other items. Once, our car stalled, and we got back home because there was this 'torn' piece of rubber and I put tape over it to tighten it... and I know nothing whatsoever about cars.

Were you a Girl Guide by any chance? Be prepared and all that!

Casdon You should add a couple of Aspurin tablets to your box. Netherlands advises older citizens to carry Aspirin in case of stroke. I have a couple on my bag now.

As well as plasters, etc, I too keep a small pair of folded scissors with me - invaluable for snipping a corner of the mayonnaise packets in some eateries!

I think that because you don’t go through a box of plasters as fast as when there were young children at home something happens to the wrapping over time where it absorbs moisture from the plaster making the paper slightly tacky

You are very sensible, and because you've got everything organised, you are now unlikely to have an accident!

I use fabric strips too. Easy to cut to size. I cut my finger opening a tin of beans a couple of weeks ago. It was a deep cut - lots of blood. I started out with a broad strip and cut them narrower as it healed. With my current level of manual dexterity, if I’d had to mess about peeling the covers off the usual plasters, after finding one the right size, it would have got very messy!

62Granny

I often cut the top of my fingers, usually when I am sorting out DH medication getting it out of the plastic and foil packaging🙄, I always say if a forensics team came into the house after I have tried to open a plaster they would have a field day, as for some reason this type of cut bleeds worse than anything. Before people say anything due to his disability DH can't sort his own medication out. I will take others advise and have a little bag with some already open to use quickly.

I also have to be in charge of DHs meds, and have cut my fingers when getting tabs out of the foil blister packs.

I often cut the top of my fingers, usually when I am sorting out DH medication getting it out of the plastic and foil packaging🙄, I always say if a forensics team came into the house after I have tried to open a plaster they would have a field day, as for some reason this type of cut bleeds worse than anything. Before people say anything due to his disability DH can't sort his own medication out. I will take others advise and have a little bag with some already open to use quickly.

Ah yes I do have safety pins, all joined together like a little chain in a pocket of my bag. My old mum always had a well stocked handbag, with handkerchiefs, safety pins, a small tin of germolene and a little bottle of lavender water that she would hold under our noses when we felt travel sick, it actually made me feel a bit more sick. As far as I know she didn’t have plasters though.

I too carry plasters in my bag, as well as painkillers, antacid tablets, loperamide ( anti diarrhoea ) capsules, buccastem ( anti nausea ) tablets, hand sanitiser, a small tin of Vaseline and clean tissues. I’m often asked by others for a painkiller or antacid!

Just reminding me to replace first aid box that got sold along with last car. Fabric elastoplast is my 'go to' that I get in long strips and cut into chunks. I still have some elderly tubes of Germolene ointment! I would also have some white dressings that do not stick to a wound and then over it some microporous tape. I dont seem to use a handbag post covid but car acts as back up when away from home.

I spent a few days in an Air BnB with DiL's parents recently, Outlaw father not too steady on his feet and he fell in the street, grazing his hand on the gritty pavement I was the one with tweezers, antiseptic cream and plasters, surprised that the outlaw mother didn't have a mini first aid kit with her.

I forgot, I have paracetamol and Rennies as well as safety pins, the tiny sewing kit has never been used so that's been removed now