Had a family come in to the ER last night. Their little boy (~3yo) got ahold of the pot of boiling water on the stove. Clear 2nd degree burns to (I'd say) at least 30% of the inside of his arm. Little guy had dark skin, but the burn basically sloughed down to reveal bright pink flesh.
The family put sugar (!) on the burn at home. When they brought him in, the RN had to clean the wound and basically the sugar just debrided the fresh burn even more. I've been racking my brain trying to figure out the logic behind putting sugar on a burn I even Googled it and the only thing I can tell is people sometimes put it on a burned tongue. Then I was thinking that sugar on a burn probably makes an awesome growth medium for bacteria. I told the family very firmly that they must leave the dressing intact until the burn unit followed up with them - all I could imagine was them taking the dressing off and putting some other mystery substance on it. Then they refused 1/2 the kid's pain meds, but I digress.
Have you guys heard of this, or other wonky "home remedies" that you've seen come through the doors?
I've heard of the bar of soap for leg cramps as well maybe its multi use. Tea tree oil is great for treating fish water to prevent bacterial infections on fish
a couple of decades ago when I was doing ER rotations for my EMT and then Paramedic certs, we had more than one older lady come in with a potato holding up a prolapsed uterus.
Which only gets more gross when I tell you that one of the women apparently had it for months and never changed out the potato. :: shudder ::
My mother always cleaned our scrapes and cuts with baking soda and vinegar. She would put a little baking soda in the bottom of a deep bowl and suspend the finger or foot or whatever over it, then pour vinegar onto the soda. The resultant foam would bubble up and clean all the dirt out and stop the bleeding. And it didn't hurt, just really cold. Worked great!
Specializes in Quality Nurse Specialist, Health Coach.
I've had 2 patients in the past that let their dogs lick their wounds:barf02:....funny now that I think about it they both ended up with amputations! I tried my best to educate them that this is not a good idea, guess you can't fix stupid!
I had a patient a few years ago who was a school bus driver. His A1C was 19.0. I asked him what he was doing about his diabetes and he replied " I treat it with cinnamon".
I have a home care pt who only uses cinnamon supplements for their diabetes. So far so good. Doc knows, doc is fine with it.
I have a home care pt who only uses cinnamon supplements for their diabetes. So far so good. Doc knows, doc is fine with it.
Cinnamon does increase insulin sensitivity, and It can also aide in improving metabolic syndrome. In no way is it a subsitute for insulin or oral hypoglycemics, though.
There are a number of people I know who manage their bladders with catheterization [indwelling and intermittent] using instillations of a wound-care product called Microcyn to prevent urinary tract colonization and infection. Several dozen people with indwelling caths [urethral and suprapubic] have remained free from even colonization, verified through C&S, for over a year by instilling up to 60ccs of the product for 20-30 minutes q24 hours or BID.
I'm having similar off-label success treating chronic bronchiectasis-related lung infections by nebulizing the more affordable and more potent veterinary version of the product, available under the brand name Vetericyn VF. [same formula and quality production standards as Microcyn.]
And while it's an FDA-approved use and therefore not a home remedy, Microcyn/Vetericyn/Puracyn is far and away the best wound care product on the market. Works ten times better and faster than any OTC triple antibiotic cream available, and better than several prescription topical ABX, too.
I even Googled it and the only thing I can tell is people sometimes put it on a burned tongue. Then I was thinking that sugar on a burn probably makes an awesome growth medium for bacteria. I told the family very firmly that they must leave the dressing intact until the burn unit followed up with them - all I could imagine was them taking the dressing off and putting some other mystery substance on it. Then they refused 1/2 the kid's pain meds, but I digress.
LouisVRN, RN
672 Posts
I've heard of the bar of soap for leg cramps as well maybe its multi use. Tea tree oil is great for treating fish water to prevent bacterial infections on fish