# Survival > Bushcraft Medicine >  Painful Screwed Up

## Adventure Wolf

It's been awhile guys, but I have a story. Recently it snowed big here in Tennessee and North Carolina. I was out in one of my family's cabins. Two days before the snow storm, I was outside in the woods. I was wearing to many layers and sweating. On top of that, the pants that I was wearing rubbed the inside of my thighs raw. i bathed that night, then went to bed.

The next day, I was out in the woods. I spent about 12 hours in the woods doing this and that. I did not bathe. Snow began to fall, and I was going to stick it out in the cabin.

Day of the snow, I pulled my pants down and the first thing I noticed was a smell that was like walking across a dead animal in the woods. The rash was bright red, I could see where it was infected. The snow was at least two inches and I had a front wheel drive car in the mountains. There was no way I could have gone to town or the doctor in the bigger town further away. I took a bath.

I looked through the bathroom and all I could find was a bottle of rubbing alcohol. I sat down in the bath tub and applied this rubbing alcohol to the infected part of my thighs from where my thighs met my pelvis to my knees with a washcloth. The burning was unimaginable. I had to stop multiple times to lay back and grimace so hard my face hurt. I can still feel that burn thinking about it.

The rash cleared up well enough by the time the snow did that I didn't have to see the doctor.

Edit: Moral of the Story - Bathe everyday

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## hunter63

That even hurts to hear about it......
Monkey butte....
https://www.walgreens.com/store/c/pr...=361437-308614

Kinda make you wonder how people went for months and years and you don't hear much abut it..

Maybe tougher back then?

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## randyt

been there but the only thing I had was a alcohol based aftershave.

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## Adventure Wolf

> That even hurts to hear about it......
> Monkey butte....
> https://www.walgreens.com/store/c/pr...=361437-308614
> 
> Kinda make you wonder how people went for months and years and you don't hear much abut it..
> 
> Maybe tougher back then?


I don't know, but I failed to mention that I cleaned it twice a day for two days like that.

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## Alan R McDaniel Jr

One day while fishing in the bay, I had pulled up on the bank and could see out in the marsh.  There were pools out there and I could see redfish tailing in the shallow water.  I pulled off my shoes and waded out there.  I didn't catch any and so, started back.  I didn't come back the way I went in and walked into an oyster bed.  It was all I could do to keep from falling down (that would have been a catastrophe).  I finally got back to the boat and my feet were shredded on the soles.  I washed them out as good as I could with salt water and put my shoes back on to slow the bleeding.  There had been reports of flesh eating bacteria in the area so I was a bit concerned.  When I got back to the truck I broke out my bottle of rubbing alcohol and scrubbed the cuts out with a toothbrush.  I can say wit all honesty that nothing before or since has been that painful.  I have lower back issues that when they spasm will put me on the floor. It was more painful than that.  

So, I know what you mean about the pain of alcohol in a tender area.  But, my cuts healed remarkably quick and completely. So, if faced with similar circumstances  in the future, I will use that method again.

Alan

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## Adventure Wolf

> One day while fishing in the bay, I had pulled up on the bank and could see out in the marsh.  There were pools out there and I could see redfish tailing in the shallow water.  I pulled off my shoes and waded out there.  I didn't catch any and so, started back.  I didn't come back the way I went in and walked into an oyster bed.  It was all I could do to keep from falling down (that would have been a catastrophe).  I finally got back to the boat and my feet were shredded on the soles.  I washed them out as good as I could with salt water and put my shoes back on to slow the bleeding.  There had been reports of flesh eating bacteria in the area so I was a bit concerned.  When I got back to the truck I broke out my bottle of rubbing alcohol and scrubbed the cuts out with a toothbrush.  I can say wit all honesty that nothing before or since has been that painful.  I have lower back issues that when they spasm will put me on the floor. It was more painful than that.  
> 
> So, I know what you mean about the pain of alcohol in a tender area.  But, my cuts healed remarkably quick and completely. So, if faced with similar circumstances  in the future, I will use that method again.
> 
> Alan


Gahhh!!!! Holy crap...

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## hunter63

I use rubbing alcohol for chigger bites....some of which are in '''em....ah...That area".......that sting knda cancels out the itching....for a while

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## Antonyraison

you dont have honey laying around? very good natural anti-biotic!

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## Rick

Have you guys ever heard of antibiotic ointment? Just saying......I once had a cut and a bottle of alcohol. I just laughed and laughed and broke out the antibiotic ointment. No way in he]] I'm putting alcohol on stuff like that.

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## Antonyraison

hahahaha... Failing the anti-biotic, clean the wound... 
Alcohol may help with that, but owch... that will be darn sore.

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## crashdive123

It's fairly early as I sit here reading this.  As I finished reading all of the posts thinking that I'm glad I never had to resort to a solution as described above, I noticed that my legs were clamped together tightly.  Probably just a reflex action, but yeah it sounds painful.

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## madmax

I think A. W. And Alan were very lucky.  I know rotten flesh smell means gangrene and oyster bed cuts are notorious for getting infected fast.  Plus oyster cuts seem to hurt worse on their own, even without alcohol.  Bare minimum,  I carry triple antibiotic ointment, gauze, and athletic tape.  But the bacteria are getting more and more tricky to treat.

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## Fixit

I agree with antonyraison . Raw honey does wonders . The closest I have come to this was shreding an finger with a chainsaw . Bone was visible . Washed it out and wrapped it up . Got home and unwrapped it. Took off all dead tissue . Then soaked in colloidal silver for 5 min. After the soaking I would wrap it in a crushed comfrey leaf . Did this for 2 weeks . Healed up nicely, no cold or heat secitivity and full range of motion.

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## hunter63

Morel to this story....carry a flask good bourbon or whisky....medicinal purposes....and you can take a pull yo get by the sting.

BTW ...I don't know how I would like trying to walk in the bush with my crotch slathered up with honey?

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## kyratshooter

I am not rubbing honey on my private bits while in the Smoky Mountains!

Ever hear the story of the mom that smeared honey on her little girl so she could take a picture while the bear licked it off?

Like a couple of the others here, I use antibiotic cream as a wonder cure.  AB cream, alcohol, peroxide and Listerine will take care of 90% of what ails you.  To that add Chloraseptic spray for a tingle of sore throat and Tylonol for light pain.  Past that and you better get to the doctor.

And if you keep that stuff in the big FAK you have in the vehicle while traveling it will always be there for you.

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## randyt

in a perfect world Doc Adams would come out and check me out but sometimes things are not so perfect.

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## Rick

I cannot imagine a world so imperfect that I could contemplate splashing alcohol on an open wound. I have to envision this balance scale in front of me with NEED on one side being very light and SCREAMING LIKE A LUNATIC on the other outweighing the sun on the other. For those that don't quite get the visual.....

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## Alan R McDaniel Jr

Anybody got any good Bactine stories?

Alan

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## Alan R McDaniel Jr

> I am not rubbing honey on my private bits while in the Smoky Mountains!
> 
> ....


I can barely get through a soda or sweet tea down here much less smearing actual honey on something.  I'd never get rid of the bees then.  

Bee's wax heated and mixed to a semi liquid state with mineral oil makes a great treatment for wooden spoons, kitchen knife handles and such.  I get swarmed by bees every time I use it.  Now I only use it at night and outside.  The next day the bees are all over the place where I treated the utensils.

Smearing honey, uh, down there, would NOT be a good idea.


Alan

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## chiggersngrits

Staying at my grandfolks farm when I was a kid, if you got bite or stung you put Campho-phenique on it. If you got cut, you dipped the little stick in the bottle and put Mercurochome on it. Then blow like crazy.

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## randyt

Rick, it only hurts for a second, really less time than it takes to utter a scream.

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## hunter63

> Rick, it only hurts for a second, really less time than it takes to utter a scream.


Takes a minute or so to catch you breath... to do a scream....

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## Adventure Wolf

> I cannot imagine a world so imperfect that I could contemplate splashing alcohol on an open wound. I have to envision this balance scale in front of me with NEED on one side being very light and SCREAMING LIKE A LUNATIC on the other outweighing the sun on the other. For those that don't quite get the visual..... [/img]


Sometimes you just have to play with the hand you dealt yourself. I would have loved to have some sort of antibiotic ointment. Maybe some gold bond. Sometimes in life, you dig a ditch for yourself and have to lay in it. I had to. I will never make that mistake again. Trust me. Apparently that nerve column is shared with another part down there. I could feel it radiate....

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## Rick

You guys have more guts than me. I always watched the movies of those guys in WWI in which the Lt. blew the whistle and yelled, "Let's go!" and the guys climbed out of the trench and all ran forward into the withering machine gun fire. I would have been the guy that said, "Wait a minute. What's plan B?"

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## Alan R McDaniel Jr

I too will never let the prospect of a big fish guide my actions.  Now I carry steel shanked wading shoes with me on the off chance I EVER get out of the boat again.  I used up a lot of luck on that oyster shell thing.  A friend of mine was doing that one day and fell.  He was majorly effed up and most of his cuts got infected but fortunately it wasn't the flesh eating kind of bacterial infection.  

You live, you learn, or you die.

Alan

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## JohnLeePettimore

> It's been awhile guys, but I have a story. Recently it snowed big here in Tennessee and North Carolina. I was out in one of my family's cabins. Two days before the snow storm, I was outside in the woods. I was wearing to many layers and sweating. On top of that, the pants that I was wearing rubbed the inside of my thighs raw. i bathed that night, then went to bed.
> 
> The next day, I was out in the woods. I spent about 12 hours in the woods doing this and that. I did not bathe. Snow began to fall, and I was going to stick it out in the cabin.
> 
> Day of the snow, I pulled my pants down and the first thing I noticed was a smell that was like walking across a dead animal in the woods. The rash was bright red, I could see where it was infected. The snow was at least two inches and I had a front wheel drive car in the mountains. There was no way I could have gone to town or the doctor in the bigger town further away. I took a bath.
> 
> I looked through the bathroom and all I could find was a bottle of rubbing alcohol. I sat down in the bath tub and applied this rubbing alcohol to the infected part of my thighs from where my thighs met my pelvis to my knees with a washcloth. The burning was unimaginable. I had to stop multiple times to lay back and grimace so hard my face hurt. I can still feel that burn thinking about it.
> 
> The rash cleared up well enough by the time the snow did that I didn't have to see the doctor.
> ...


I can testify to the need to wash all of your major crevices using actual soap.  (virtual cookie to the one who identifies the source of that)

This applies especially to those carrying a bit of extra load.  Recently I skipped showering for two days.  I overslept on a Friday morning, so I didn't have time.  I didn't Saturday morning because I was about go out and get all sweaty anyway, so I figgered I'd just clean up when all was said and done.  Certain overlapped areas were pretty bad.  Not dead animal smell, but pretty rank.  Bacteria like dark, dank places, and they were obviously having a party.

I apologize if this is TMI, but I don't think so for this crowd.  Pretty lame, actually, based on some other posts I've read.

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## hunter63

Actually pretty pertinent as well all find ourselves needing the one thing you didn't bring....so using what you have....or can forage becomes more important 

My FAK's has a tube of Neosporin....and well and a couple of individual packs..... (wish I could find more without buy bulk for $50 bucks.)
Anyway....seem to help with most anything scraped, cut, or itchy....

Also have iodine, for the same reason, as well as possible disinfect.

Any suggestions are alway a good thing.

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## randyt

I like triple antibiotic ointment.

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## Batch

I was getting into shape about 10 years ago and decided I would do my after work run on the beach. My plan was to run from Pompano pear to the jetty at the Hillsboro Inlet. I left my shoes and socks in the truck and ran on the hot sand. 

My feet were hot and burned. But, I just figured it was due to the hot sand. About 3/4 of the way to the jetty and my feet were really burning. So, I stopped and looked. The skin on the balls of both feet had slewed off and was just hanging.

I now had no skin on my feet and I was a long way from the truck. I was just thinking how could I not catch an infection walking back with open wounds on most of the bottom of my feet. I decided to walk to the street and take the sidewalk back. That walk sucked. 

I cut the skin off and dealt with it for awhile. When it healed I went back and alternated running and then walking in the water. In no time at all I could run that whole stretch back and forth without any problem.

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## hunter63

I know ocean water is bad for infections.
DW and I were in Puerto Vallarta on vacation.

We wanted to go into ocean....but maybe wasn't a good idea...everyone else was in the hotel pools.

Right along the shore where the waves ended was a lot of pea gravel...that acted like quick sand....DW got stuck....
Told her to quit screwing around and come out.....she was stuck...and NOT Happy.

Got her to kind of roll on her side...and pulled her loose.....

She scratched her side and back....and was stinging.
Rubbed her down with her loton.
Next morning was all red and infected

Went looking for help...
Hotel, forgot how to speak english....so no help or joy....wanted to call a DR...I bet he did everyone is on the take there.

Next morning we headed into town to a drug store....every was labeled in Spanish believe it or not.

Anyway we found a young lady that could speak english...she found Neosporin (in spanish)....so we used that.
Really helped....
Have carried Neosporin ever since....

Nasty business....

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## Batch

Yeah, growing up we always heard to go to the healing waters of the ocean to heal your wounds. LOL

As a grown up (kinda) we know better.

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## Adventure Wolf

> I was getting into shape about 10 years ago and decided I would do my after work run on the beach. My plan was to run from Pompano pear to the jetty at the Hillsboro Inlet. I left my shoes and socks in the truck and ran on the hot sand. 
> 
> My feet were hot and burned. But, I just figured it was due to the hot sand. About 3/4 of the way to the jetty and my feet were really burning. So, I stopped and looked. The skin on the balls of both feet had slewed off and was just hanging.
> 
> I now had no skin on my feet and I was a long way from the truck. I was just thinking how could I not catch an infection walking back with open wounds on most of the bottom of my feet. I decided to walk to the street and take the sidewalk back. That walk sucked. 
> 
> I cut the skin off and dealt with it for awhile. When it healed I went back and alternated running and then walking in the water. In no time at all I could run that whole stretch back and forth without any problem.


Wow. That sounds painful.

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## Rick

Fish poop and pee in the ocean. 'Nuff said.

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## Alan R McDaniel Jr

That's not all they do in there!

Alan

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## Fixit

I think for y'all to see how useful honey is we need to use a test dummy . So we take Rick down to Fl. Slather on some honey sit him on an anthill and see what happens.

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## Rick

If your aunt is willing so am I!

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