Paleo Diet and Paleolithic Diet Questions & Answers

Question

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What is your wound treatment? Anything from a small cut to massive gash.

Do you use topical triple-antibiotics or more natural, even paleo, treatments?

I normally let small wounds heal themselves, but thats risky with larger wounds. Even the smallest wound is prone to infection when in the wild or certain climates like the tropics.

flag	asked Dec 11 2010 at 11:41 sean 1,898●6●17

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Interesting read: Early history of wound treatment. Afraid I'd eat the honey+lard treatment before it made it to the wound. ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC1437561 – sean Dec 11 2010 at 21:57

Eva · Accepted Answer · 2010-12-11 16:28:07Z UTC

Some years ago, I heard of a very old recipe for antibiotic that came from before chemical drugs. The recipe was passed down through the generations of one family who refers to it as 'Schlemmer Salve' according to their family name. It has bees wax, sheep tallow, butter, and rosin, cooked up with a quick shot of gin. It is shelf stable for at least 20 years. Most of these items have known antibiotic qualities. For instance, rosin comes from pine sap which is a known antibiotic. This is what I use for a variety of things including dry cracked lips in the winter, any wounds which I want to heal quickly with minimal scars, and any wounds that resist healing. It's been said to be extremely effective for diabetic wounds that refuse to heal. I have experimented with my cuts and scrapes and found that putting it on my worst scrapes causes them to heal faster than the nearby less bad scrapes that I did not put it on. So it definitely does something! I once got a nasty 1 inch long deep cut on the bottom of my foot while on vacation hiking and search for jade. I was able to continue my jade hunt only by constantly applying this salve which kept the wound soft and happy even though I was walking on it for days (still kinda hurt but was tolerable). So I really like stuff, plus it does not smell bad nor sting when applied. I keep a small vial of it with me at all times in my purse. It's really amazing how fast things will heal with this stuff slathered on and then a bandaid on top to keep the stuff from rubbing back off.

coprophagous · Answer 2 · 2012-01-02 00:15:28Z UTC

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As a retired microbiologist i would suggest silver salve, the kind used for burns. no bacteria have ever developed resistance. is it toxic? hell yes it kills doesn't it? so use common sense.

answered Jan 2 2012 at 0:15

coprophagous
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wjones3044 · Answer 3 · 2010-12-11 15:02:24Z UTC

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Alcohol
Bandage

answered Dec 11 2010 at 15:02

wjones3044
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Kikilula · Answer 4 · 2010-12-11 20:27:53Z UTC

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Honey,
Coconut oil, Lavender oil (on minor burns)

edited Dec 11 2010 at 20:27

answered Dec 11 2010 at 15:21

Kikilula
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A hypertonic sugar, like honey or sucrose (table sugar), prevents infection when applied to wounds. – Ed♦ Dec 11 2010 at 18:59

Nance · Answer 5 · 2012-01-02 00:45:14Z UTC

I use 3 things: bacon fat, honey and yogurt.

I come from a racetrack (horses) family. Most of my time was spent around Thoroughbreds but there was a 2-year stint with harness horses. When horses would get chafed, we used bacon fat to heal them because the hair would re-grow the original color rather than white (modern salves.) So I've smeared bacon fat on sores a few times and they always healed great (and smelled good too.)

Like Paleolady, I don't always put anything on small cuts and scrapes but if I do it's honey. If I have a place showing signs of prickly heat or yeast infection I smear on a little home-made yogurt.

Louisa · Answer 6 · 2010-12-11 14:21:21Z UTC

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dog-lick is good.

answered Dec 11 2010 at 14:21

Louisa
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yes people die of dog bite infections but a doggie lick is good. – coprophagous Jan 2 2012 at 0:17

Shebeeste · Answer 7 · 2010-12-11 18:14:40Z UTC

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Alcohol and air (no bandaid) if not too oozy. And/or commercial salve (Mountain Rose Herbs) based on either goldenseal & myrrh or comfrey & St. John's wort, depending on the severity, if I don't have any of my friend's excellent homemade salve. I've tried tea tree oil, but not sure how effective it actually was.

answered Dec 11 2010 at 18:14

Shebeeste
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My dermatologist actually told me you want to keep wounds covered and moist. I had to ask twice because I thought air helped it heal faster as well. – Jason Dec 11 2010 at 19:37

Huh, I've heard it both ways. I wonder what the evidence-based answer is. – Shebeeste Dec 11 2010 at 20:26

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Keep it moist and covered. If it dries, it dies is the mantra in wound care. There's nothing in the air that's good for a wound. – Michael Dec 12 2010 at 4:05

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I've tried it both ways. The salve I use to keep the wound soft makes it heal way way faster than air drying. With the salve on, the edges do not die and do not get tight and scabby and so do not pull apart from eachother. Often, the live wet edges will actually nit back together right away. The end result is zero redness from infection, zero dieback, zero dirt in the wound, and a very quick recovery. Yep, I used to believe in the air dry thing too, until I tried it the other way. However, effectiveness may depend on what tonic is used as well. – Eva Dec 12 2010 at 5:18

I think it's best to keep it covered for the first couple days. – wjones3044 Dec 13 2010 at 3:00

show 1 more comment

Katiemae · Answer 8 · 2010-12-11 18:18:03Z UTC

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Bag balm (the stuff in the green tin from Vermont) !!! That stuff heals anything. It's oils and herbs in a whipped petroleum base.

answered Dec 11 2010 at 18:18

Katiemae
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Bag balm is great for cyclists too. Cheaper than Chamois Butt'r and also helps heal saddle sores. – Shebeeste Dec 11 2010 at 18:36

Vrimj · Answer 9 · 2010-12-13 16:10:18Z UTC

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I also use comfry for wounds. Not for paleo reasons but because triple antibiotic ointment makes ulcerates my skin, a bad reaction to one of the antibiotics.
I use vitamin e oil for scrapes, dry skin and the like.

edited Dec 13 2010 at 16:10

answered Dec 11 2010 at 14:11

Vrimj
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syrahna · Answer 10 · 2012-01-02 01:35:08Z UTC

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Manuka honey. I try to keep it moist with some oil based ointment (lately, using homemade calendula/sea buckthorn berry oil salve).

answered Jan 2 2012 at 1:35

syrahna
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frankifries · Answer 11 · 2010-12-11 13:51:31Z UTC

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Im going to try green wonder salve for my husband and 4 year old since they are more rough and tumble than me, but when i was younger, i used lavender oil for cuts and scrapes and it burned but it worked.

answered Dec 11 2010 at 13:51

frankifries
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Dan · Answer 12 · 2010-12-11 19:48:06Z UTC

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There's a commercial skin product called Egyptian Magic (avail from Amazon) that's made from olive oil, beeswax, honey, bee pollen, royal jelly and bee propolis. Works great.

answered Dec 11 2010 at 19:48

Dan
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Paleolady · Answer 13 · 2010-12-11 20:28:22Z UTC

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Honey! It has natural antibiotic properties. There is even a medical product that hospitals can buy that are basically bandages with honey.

Although, to be honest, I don't put anything on my wounds, because I have a healthy immune system. I just wash it out and expose it to air, unless it is bleeding and needs a band-aid.

answered Dec 11 2010 at 20:28

Paleolady
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I am not worried about lack of healing. I always heal. But when the wound is in the way of what I want to do that day, then if I can do a simple thing to make it heal much faster, I will do it. Also, being a female, I hate it when I gouge up my legs hiking and it takes 6 months for the scars to finally go away, so that is another time when I use salve, so the scars will disappear quickly. Otherwise, since I manage to get scratched often, the end result is I will constantly have tons of scars on my legs in various stages of disappearing. – Eva Dec 12 2010 at 5:23

Wound treatment?

13 Answers