Author Topic: "Quik Clot" for your survival supply kit? (Read 5351 times)

teddy12b · « **on:** August 11, 2009, 06:09:07 AM »

I'm starting to narrow down my list of things to keep on hand in case I need ever needed it. I was thinking about bandades & neosporin, when I remembered the stuff called quik clot. Do any of you all have any on hand? I'm thinking it'd be nice to keep around in case I or someone else accidentally cut themself to the put of needing stiches. I also plan on picking up one of the cabelas disposable staple kits for just such a mishap.

I attached a video of how well this stuff works, but it may be too much for people to view.

This is a video of quik clot and it does show blood and might not be like by some people. If you don't want to see an open wound created & fixed don't watch this video. If you have a weak stomach don't watch this.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e9xvIbKBJn4

moxgrove · « **Reply #1 on:** August 11, 2009, 07:01:01 AM »

potato starch does the same thing

teddy12b · « **Reply #2 on:** August 11, 2009, 07:24:33 AM »

Quote from: moxgrove on August 11, 2009, 07:01:01 AM

potato starch does the same thing

Never heard of it doing that.

moxgrove · « **Reply #3 on:** August 11, 2009, 02:10:30 PM »

the new :super" clot agents are just fine ground pure potato starch. remember corn and potato starch thicken gravy by absorbing liquid and expanding. the high surface area of the fine starch does the same with blood

torpedoman · « **Reply #4 on:** August 11, 2009, 04:53:36 PM »

spider webs work fine, in todays world they are using a lot of superglue.I usually just pour salt on a cut.

don heath · « **Reply #5 on:** August 11, 2009, 09:23:12 PM »

Having lost a friend and a mentor who bled to death becuase I couldn't stop the bleeding...I have an interest in these things.
I Have and have tried A) Quik clot (original) B) Quick clot 1st response, c) CELOX d) TraumaDEX

Due to the generocity of an American Doctor John Noak, I have been able to distribute over 100 pakages to working professional hunters in Africa and about the same no to our under equiped ambulance crews.

I have learned the following - A,B; & C work. Used in conjunction with a pressure bandage they will stop most arterial bleeding. Used in conjunction with a torniquet they will stop even the femoral artery from bleeding.

2) There are 'side effects'- they often 'burn' the wound making healing ALOT slower. On the pluss side this sterilises the wound which is important when you are a long way from medical attention and a leopard has given you a face lift and tummy tuck...

3) They should only be used for emergencies...when tissue damage from the burning is an acceptable alternative to death. They should not be used for even a deep cut that is leaking venous blood. A properly applied pressure bandage will serve the patient better.
4) TraumaDEX is for smaller cuts and I see no point- superglue/ pressure bandage or a stich in time will work better with less complications.

teddy12b · « **Reply #6 on:** August 12, 2009, 03:47:56 AM »

Are you talking about the bandage glue that's out these days or are you talking about actual super glue? I appologize if that's a dumb quesition.

moxgrove · « **Reply #7 on:** August 12, 2009, 04:44:29 AM »

Dermabond and some of the other wound glues are indeed cyanoacrylate=super glue for wound closure. They work well for some wounds and just fall off as the body sheds the skin cells they are stuck to. They are broken down by exposure to oils though. Direct pressure is always a factor to bleeding control in my book.

gstewart44 · « **Reply #8 on:** August 12, 2009, 08:29:42 AM »

Quote from: moxgrove on August 12, 2009, 04:44:29 AM

Dermabond and some of the other wound glues are indeed cyanoacrylate=super glue for wound closure. They work well for some wounds and just fall off as the body sheds the skin cells they are stuck to. They are broken down by exposure to oils though. Direct pressure is always a factor to bleeding control in my book.

The "superglue" family of adhesives actually saw use in the medical surgical hospitals back in Viet Nam. When I was in school 30 yrs ago Canadian dental surgeons were using a "superglue" instead of sutures to close up incisions in the gum. Much easier to apply and indeed sheds off with time.

plowboy84 · « **Reply #9 on:** August 12, 2009, 04:45:34 PM »

Go to your local farm supply store and get in the vet supply area and pick up a bottle of BLOOD STOP POWDER. I use it on horses and other livestock and it works. Yes I have used it on myself. I buy 4 pack tubes of Super Glue and keep in the frig. this stuff will burn alittle bit but will take the place of stitches and will disolve away after about 5 days. While you are in the Vet supply isle pick up a bottle of DSMO this is good for alot of things but I like it for a swollen joint of sprain.

don heath · « **Reply #10 on:** August 12, 2009, 07:44:51 PM »

All depends on what bleeding you wish to stop. I took an ak bullet through the leg, and yes, some super glue would have worked fine. doc actually put one stich in the entry wound, two in the exit and I drove 5 hrs back to the station imediately after. There was initially alot of venous blood running from both entry and exit wounds - boot litteraly had blood sloshing out the top by the time I had a chance to stop and call the sergent over to help. Stuffed a tampon in the exit hole and wraped a US military 'wound dressing' on to cover the entry and exit- then drove myself to hospital.

Intimidating, upsetting to see so much blood (especially your own) but not critical. Super glue will not work on arterial wound. The blood will simply continue to pump out internally causing massive bruising and probably still death. Ideally you need to cut down into the wound and tie the artery off or, as plan B) a good blood clotting agent (like quik clot).

Unless you have done considerable medical training, cutting down into a wound isn't a plan- so the clotting agent is the way forward. It is light and simple to use- just need to be aware that it causes secondary dammage- so don't use it unless really necessary.

BIGDAVE54 · « **Reply #11 on:** August 12, 2009, 09:57:25 PM »

About 20 years ago I was cutting grass around a pump station for the city of Columbia utilities dept. here. I was letting the lawn mower pull itself down over a bank and then pulled it back up. I did not notice a little pile of crushed rock on the bank and ran the mower over top of it. Dust flew up and the mower stalled out slinging rocks everywhere. One of them shot trough my lower pants leg and stuck up about an inch deep into my rt. calf.It was in the summer time and about a hundred degrees in the shade.I was pumping blood out of my leg like a stuck pig. I called my boss on the radio and told him I needed to go see the doctor. He started cussing and told me he was on the other side of the city and would be there in about a half hour. I told him I would just go to the hospital ER room.I looked in the first aid kit and all I had was some band aids and a couple of alcohol preps I found a rain coat behind the front seat and cut the arm off of it. I turned it inside out because the inside looked cleaner. I then just tied the whole thing right over top of the hole as tight as I could get it. By this time my boss and his boss were calling me on the truck radio telling me to go to the city doctor instead of the ER room. Their cost control mechanisms were already kicking in. I went to the city doctors office about ten minutes from where I was at when I got hurt. When I got out of the truck I could feel a lot of blood in my boot. I thought I had bled a half gallon or so. I went in to see the doc.
When I got in the doctors office the very young nurse was waiting and took me straight back to a room. She said I could drop my pants or she could just cut the leg open. I already had a big hole in my blue jeans so I just told her to cut them. The doctor came in and he looked abourt 80 years old. I soon found out though you can't judge a book by it's cover. He had a needle already loaded in his pocket I guess. It just came out of no where and he started shooting novicaine in and around this hole in my leg. As he was waiting for it to set up he put gloves on and put a sterile towel over the hole. It could not have been more than 10 seconds and I heard this rock "Thump" into the pan. He sewed me up in about 5 minutes and gave me a tetnus shot. I told him he was the quickest doctor I had ever seen. He said he had retired out of the army at Ft. Jackson. He went on to say after cutting bullets out of soldiers in WW2,Korea,and Viet Nam a piece of rock was a piece of cake.He did send me home for the rest of the day because in about ten minutes out in the heat he thought I had probably lost about a pint of blood.My boss looked at the lawn mower,the bank,and my leg and called me a GD liar and said there was no way I could have got my leg hurt like that. He was thinking I was going to file workman's comp. on him. A few days later I walked in his office and handed him an envelope. He looked and said I was expecting this .Have you already got a lawyer? I smiled and told him I didn't need one. It was my letter of resignation. I heard about a month after I left...he left,but under a little bit different circumstances.

WD45 · « **Reply #12 on:** August 13, 2009, 03:14:11 AM »

So will any type of off the shelf super glue work. There is more than one type and what about brands. Will crazy glue work or one of the other brands similar to super glue ? Is the blood clot powder we buy at the farm co-op the same stuff as the people stuff. There are things that animals can take and in much larger doses than us pidily humans

don heath · « **Reply #13 on:** August 13, 2009, 07:46:22 PM »

WD45- With the wound damage caused by 'burning' from such products as quik clot I would never use the vet equivalent- if the patient looses a leg and it can be traced to improper materials....also, quik clot, Celox etc come pre packed in very handy sized units. You only need to carry one (if you need two somebody is going to die without a drip on hand and somebody who knows how to administer it etc). pakage is sealed and you don't have to bother reading the instructions until you need it.

Re super Glue- Am blessed comming from a country with only one brand- sold in the stores and used in identical tubes in hospitals country wide. Can't go wrong with Trinepon' is the advertising line - and pretty much true!

Big 'HOWEVER' on superglue- blood flow from the wound may interfere with sticking...Also in Africa, 80+% of the people I need to stich up are HIV+. Even with gloves on, I want to get wound closed asap. So- I carry a suture gun- puts in surgical metal staples and works just like a regular staple gun. Press over cut, pull trigger- stich in. Hurts alot less than regular needle and thread and very, very quick to apply. Getting stapes out hurts like hell if you don't have the right tool- tried it on myself and used it often since on my staff

BIGDAVE54 · « **Reply #14 on:** August 13, 2009, 09:20:53 PM »

One of the things I have heard about some of the quick clots is that they are a steralized clay like material. Some doctors have speculated that if the grains were picked up just right it could cause a blood clot. I have to believe with the hundreds of applications(possibly thousands) this would have shown up by now if it were a problem. When I was in the USAF on the fencelines at night we would carry tampons and 4x4s. In the first aid kits we carried gauze pads impregnated with vaseline. If someone got a sucking chest wound it would seal to the chest area and allow them to breath easier.

snapcrackpop · « **Reply #15 on:** August 14, 2009, 03:41:55 AM »

from what I remember Quick Clot is made of an inert, porus substance. Because it's inert (sterile and impossible to be allergic to it) and porus (absorbs mositure) it concentrates the cells & clotting factors, forming the clot.

Here is the website:
http://www.z-medica.com/

And Cabela's has one version of it online:
http://www.cabelas.com/cabelas/en/templates/product/standard-item.jsp?id=0048462517925a&navCount=1&podId=0048462&parentId=cat20132&masterpathid=&navAction=jump&cmCat=MainCatcat20712-cat20083-cat20132&catalogCode=IK&rid=&parentType=index&indexId=cat20132&hasJS=true

Cornbelt · « **Reply #16 on:** September 04, 2009, 03:45:54 AM »

Another idea for clotting is vitamin K. Different medications (like aspirin, voltarin, cumadin, etc.) are anti-coagulants. One aspirin can thin the blood for a couple weeks. Sometimes elective surgery will be postponed if the patient in on such. But when it is an emergency situation, they will often give you a shot of vitamin K in your belly fat. Peanuts are rich in vitamin K. I've heard the indians used buzzard down to pack wounds and promote clotting. And for a ready source of antiseptic, you can always pee on it.

teddy12b · « **Reply #17 on:** September 04, 2009, 04:04:33 AM »

Quote from: Cornbelt on September 04, 2009, 03:45:54 AM

And for a ready source of antiseptic, you can always pee on it.

Never heard of this before. Is this one of those things where you want to know, but you really don't want to know about it too?

gstewart44 · « **Reply #18 on:** September 04, 2009, 05:49:45 PM »

Quote from: teddy12b on September 04, 2009, 04:04:33 AM

Quote from: Cornbelt on September 04, 2009, 03:45:54 AM
And for a ready source of antiseptic, you can always pee on it.

Never heard of this before. Is this one of those things where you want to know, but you really don't want to know about it too?

In a healthy human body urine is sterile, and has a significant ammonia content. The Spaniards coming to the New World observed the Aztecs, and Incas urinating on wounds to cleanse them. The very nature of the urine is antiseptic. It will cleanse a wound if needed. Just have to get past the smell and that warm feeling......

spikehorn · « **Reply #19 on:** October 06, 2009, 04:56:47 PM »

I'm a nurse and our hunting camp is pretty remote. There is only a couple spots that have 2 bars of cell service and the nearest voluntier fire company is 40 minutes away and then you need to add in the voluntiers response time so help could be an hour away at best. I keep quik clot with me when we are at camp. I also have convinced all the main hunting partners to be CPR certified.

rickt300 · « **Reply #20 on:** October 24, 2009, 08:55:01 AM »

Napoleon Bonaparte had his doctors use sugar to clot wounds, considered it indispensible and would not start a battle without plenty on hand.

spikehorn · « **Reply #21 on:** October 24, 2009, 09:11:41 AM »

I have also heard stories that medics during WWII in the south pacific used coconut milk when plasma suplies ran low.

rickt300 · « **Reply #22 on:** March 18, 2010, 06:33:50 AM »

Having hemostats, fine upholstery needles and thread on hand are often the only way to go.

LabRat2k3 · « **Reply #23 on:** March 22, 2010, 01:10:34 PM »

I am a medical lab tech and look at urine under a microscope all day, and have to say I would NOT recommend using urine on a wound. While urine in the bladder should be sterile the path it takes to get out is far from sterile. I have never seen a urine that was not a catheter specimen that was free of bacteria. Peeing on a wound is not going to clean it out, it is only going to add more bacteria to the wound.

mcwoodduck · « **Reply #24 on:** March 22, 2010, 01:17:50 PM »

I keep some in my first aid kit.
Along with stuff to fix or fill fillings, ace bandages, peroxide and enough guase to wrap king tut back up.
Having had a bullet hole through me. keeping the puncture would clean is the primary goal. Soaking bandages in Peroxide and allowing the blood to exit and draw out any bad items is key.
Sewing should only e done if an artery is knicked and then to safe the life. Sewing adds more bacteria and will seal in bacteria.
For most cuts I keep super glue on hand.

Yak Angler · « **Reply #25 on:** March 30, 2010, 04:38:31 PM »

Superglue has saved me a few trips to the ER and if you fold the skin back the way it should be before applying it scaring is significantly reduced. Should be in everyones survival/first aid kit IMHO

yukondog · « **Reply #26 on:** August 19, 2010, 11:44:47 AM »

Dont forget duct tape.

teamnelson · « **Reply #27 on:** August 19, 2010, 12:33:58 PM »

My experience with Quick Clot in Iraq leads me to caution folks to be careful ... don't put the package in your mouth and tear it with your teeth. Don't rip it open as hard as you can, and spray it into eyes, nose, throat, etc. Use your EMT shears - be quick, but purposeful. It will work in conjunction with direct pressure, tourniquets, etc. I keep it in my trauma kit.

Can I say too, make sure you are treating the bleeder, and not the leaker. Alot of folks leap to the first sight of blood, and fail to do a full body check. No point dumping QC on the seeping entry wound, if its spraying out the other side.

Re: urine for cleaning a wound, and while I'm at it, tourniquets. What goes for trauma care in suburban America is based on the strong likelihood of an ambulance and an ER visit within hours. Survival/Combat trauma care plays by different rules, and there are often long term effects (like secondary infections) that an EMT or ER Tech would try to prevent. Settle in your mind that you're going to save a life first, then treat for infection later if necessary, and you'll be okay.

Pat/Rick · « **Reply #28 on:** August 19, 2010, 12:47:57 PM »

About urine; I was taught in the Army that, YOUR wound,YOUR urine. NOT somebody elses! AND instantly fresh from your bladder, not stored for later.

Lloyd Smale · « **Reply #29 on:** August 20, 2010, 03:09:57 AM »

heres my take on it. Sure they may be some home remendys for stopping bleading but if your going to include them in your first aid kit get lots of liablity insurance. For the few bucks it cost to buy the proper thing its kind of silly to make your own and id like to see you in court when the guy that lost his leg has his lawyer asking you why you pissed on his wound.