Black pepper for cuts

[justtom]

I was cutting some plastic drain pipe with my Leatherman tool and slipped. Major pain and blood spurting from my finger. I had read about packing cuts with black pepper to stop bleeding. I washed my finger under flowing water, dumped about a teaspoon of pepper into the cut and wrapped with gauze and tape. Then I went back to doing yard work. 2 hours later there is no bleeding and the cut looks good.

Notes to self:

Buy more pepper
Do not use sharp knives while oblivious :-)

[Saul Mine]

I don't cut myself. I learned to point the blade away from my skin.

[gnome]

Heard that cayenne works, too. Cayenne is also strongly antiseptic, but it will burn a bit.

[Goldhedge]

They make a PVC pipe cutter for about $6-$8 that will last you for ever...

[Nickelless]

Thanks for the tidbit, Justtom. I've got several pounds of cayenne in my spice stash but no black pepper. I'll have to pick some up for both the kitchen and the medicine cabinet.

[beercritic]

I use cayenne, as well. The powder. But in a pinch, crushed red pepper seeds will do. There's more rubbing and more stinging involved. But at least the wound tastes good.

[shades]

Don't go sticking strange stuff into wounds.

Wash it with cold water. Apply clean cotton gauze to provide some pressure and dress it. If it's a deep cut, or you cut a vein, go and get some stitches from a
GP and some antibiotics are always worth thinking about if you have any doubts about what you cut it with.

While I appreciate packing a wound with something interesting might help it stop bleeding, the infection risk far outweighs that unless you packed it with something
sterile.

I have seen minor wounds in the tropics from fish hooks etc. that turned completely septic. The guy with the wound was just wandering around squeezing the
spurting infected pus out of it, but something like that can turn real bad and kill you overnight. I thought a lot more about infections after that.

[beercritic]

Agreed Shades,

But cayenne isn't strange. It's a styptic and it's antibacterial. Granted, a good rinse with clean water would come first, if possible. Sure, if I cut a vein, I'm prpbably heading for the Dr. If I'm hiking in the woods hours from my car, I'd probably hit it with pepper. Hmmm... wonder how effective Tabasco is? They do make those cute 1/8 oz bottles that would easily fit in a fanny-pack first aid kit.

[Green Light]

I use cayenne, as well. The powder. But in a pinch, crushed red pepper seeds will do. There's more rubbing and more stinging involved. But at least the wound tastes good.

Don't forget a generous wad of salt. It will really pump up the flavor.

[Professur]

Isn't one of the major ingredients of Tabasco .. white vinegar?

[goldie40]

just plain white flour works better that anything

[Nickelless]

I remember reading a couple years ago about research into pepper compounds as a treatment for prostate cancer. I don't even want to think of putting a habanero in my prostate.

[CrufflerJJ]

I remember reading a couple years ago about research into pepper compounds as a treatment for prostate cancer. I don't even want to think of putting a habanero in my prostate.

Ahh, yes. The eeeevil Chili Willie!

[wallew]

Cayenne is a NATURAL blood clotting chemical. And as he says, an antiseptic. I've read and USED cayenne a lot. You can get 1000 IU caplets. I generally take two before I go to my dentist when I'm having major work done. He recently commented on how little I bleed. I related to him WHY. I also take three advil before I go as well.

I'm two and a half years through an almost complete dental rebuild. Due to having IBS and throwing up so much, my stomach acid ate the enamel off the back sides of my teeth. I guess the upside is when I used to smell someone else puke, I would also ralph. Now, I just hand them a cold cloth, tell them to go lay down and I'll clean it all up. While I don't really see the fascination with throwing up (bolemia), I guess some folks do all sorts of things that don't make sense to others.

Like store food, water, ammo, guns, etc.

Because hey, dah gubment will save yah...

[Nickelless]

Cayenne is a NATURAL blood clotting chemical. And as he says, an antiseptic. I've read and USED cayenne a lot. You can get 1000 IU caplets. I generally take two before I go to my dentist when I'm having major work done. He recently commented on how little I bleed. I related to him WHY. I also take three advil before I go as well.

I'm two and a half years through an almost complete dental rebuild. Due to having IBS and throwing up so much, my stomach acid ate the enamel off the back sides of my teeth. I guess the upside is when I used to smell someone else puke, I would also ralph. Now, I just hand them a cold cloth, tell them to go lay down and I'll clean it all up. While I don't really see the fascination with throwing up (bolemia), I guess some folks do all sorts of things that don't make sense to others.

Like store food, water, ammo, guns, etc.

Because hey, dah gubment will save yah...

Thanks for the info on the health/first aid aspects, Wallew. I've got at least 10 pounds of cayenne powder in my spice stash but hadn't thought of its first aid applications.

[wallew]

The best part is, you can grow Cayenne pepper ALMOST anywhere.

I grow four plants every other year. Let them dry for at least two or three months (here in Colorado, you just leave them in an open container) and then I run them through my blender.

Instant Cayenne pepper powder. I also grow Jalapeno, Habenero, and most of the other peppers at one time or another. I can what we don't eat fresh.