Duct Tape Suture in a Straw

Disclaimer.  I am not a licensed health practitioner.  This is just another post on knowledge and understanding you might wish to acquire in advance of a disaster in case no higher care is available.  As long as our society is functioning, you should leave anything more substantial than applying a Band-Aid to the professionals.  No medication, including those available over the counter, should be taken without consulting a physician.  Information shared here is for educational and entertainment purposes only.  It is not medical advice nor a substitute for licensed medical care. 

Can I just say I think this is my favorite suture?  What's not to love?  The price is right, you only need supplies you should already have on hand, and most anyone should be able to use it. Rather than starting off by showing how you put together the duct tape suture in a straw, I think it would be better to show how it works first.

So here we have what looks like a red Sharpie marker on QOTPE's leg, but it is actually a gaping wound.

Fortunately, bleeding was kept to a minimum. 

The needle and thread simply weave in and out on each side through the duct tape.  The skin is never touched, or it's never supposed to be, at any rate. After the "suturing" is done, this is how it looks.

The duct tape holds incredibly well.  QOTPE is still wearing this suture five hours later as she shoots at the archery range today.  (She had to keep it on so I would take her to the range today.)  Unfortunately, I did not "suture" this wound exactly as I should have.  There should actually be some space between the edges of the duct tape so that the wound below can be monitored visually.  Also, as the laceration was a couple of inches long, I should have used two sutures to close it completely.  And ideally, the wound would then be covered with Tegaderm so that it can be visually monitored while at the same time protected from contamination.  So it wasn't perfect.  But she's still alive and healed well, so it all worked out in the end.

When you're having to DIY a suture, you do the best you can with what you have. So how exactly do you put one of these together before an emergency presents itself? Begin with two strips of duct tape, about 4-5" long (they can always be trimmed later if necessary), two 2" lengths of yarn, and one smallish needle (you're not sewing up a cow) threaded with about 24" of thread, doubled over, and knotted at the end.

Not sure why I have two threaded needles in the picture.  Pretend one of them isn't there.

Lay the yarn across the ends of the strips of duct tape.The yarn stabilizes the duct tape and prevents the thread from tearing through.  You could also use toothpicks or twigs, but that doesn't seem like it would be very comfortable.

Then fold the end over the yarn and press down.  And fold down 1/16-1/8" of the opposite end for ease in handling.  Now roll (or fold) from the end with the yarn to the end of the strip of tape.  Repeat for the other yarn and strip of tape.

For the "in the straw" portion:

Fold each folded section of duct tape in half lengthwise and sandwich the threaded needle between them.  Wrap the thread around the duct tape sections.  Carefully insert them into a jumbo straw (1/2" diameter).  If necessary, use the eraser end of a pencil to aid placement.  Seal both ends of the straw with pliers and a candle flame or lighter.

We keep these in our IFAKs and emergency medical kit that we take with us traveling.  There's no point to making them for home use; it will be easier to just get the supplies out if and when we need them.  Because you're not actually suturing somebody up with a needle, you're not practicing medicine without a license.  Because no needle is going in, you don't need anesthetic to prevent inflicting pain.  There is less risk of introducing bacteria into a wound than with a proper suture needle, assuming you have irrigated the wound well, cleaned around the site well, and aren't dragging the thread through dirty areas and contaminating it.  And you won't be further damaging tissue and risking more scarring due to a needle penetrating the skin, unlike what may happen with a suture needle.  The greatest risk is that the individual getting "sutured" will be allergic to the duct tape adhesive, which contains latex.  If that's the case, or may be the case, you can also try this using heavy duty medical tape. 

This Youtube shows the general idea of the duct tape suture.

Remember, you saw it here first.

Links to related posts:
Wound Closure Supply Options
Tapes and Wraps
Lacerations
All About Sutures
Basics of Suturing
Plastic Straw Mini Packages
Mini Sewing Kit in a Straw  

06.25.24

Alternative Medicine: Usnea--Part 2

Disclaimer.  I am not a licensed health practitioner.  This is just another post on an item you might wish to have available if needed so that a physician can treat you and your family as best as possible.  No medication, including those available over the counter, should be taken without consulting a physician.  Information shared here is for educational and entertainment purposes only.  It is not medical advice nor a substitute for licensed medical care.  A qualified, licensed physician or other medical provider should be consulted before beginning any herbal or conventional treatment.

In Part 1 of the Usnea series, we discussed gathering this fine herb and powdering it for use in wound management.  In Part 2 today we'll cover the preparation of an Usnea tincture and why you are really going to want to have some of this DIY wonder drug herb in your preps.

First off, let's discuss what a tincture actually is.  Herbalists have their own language and in the educational process it's kinda important to understand what they're talking about.  So here we go:

A tincture is a liquid herbal extract--you know, like the vanilla extract you use for making cookies and other tasty things.  In the herbal world, tincture generally refers to concentrated liquid herbals extracted by alcohol.  Alcohol is most often the solvent of choice because it is food grade and because (this is the important part) it can extract the herbal constituents that are poorly soluble in water (if you want your herbal medicine to do its job, you have to get the active compounds from the plant to your body).  The specific alcohol used to make tinctures varies by herb.  Some herbs have more water soluble compounds in them as well, so a lower-proof alcohol (i.e., one that has more water in it) is used to make those tinctures.

Other solvents to make tinctures for internal consumption include vinegar and glycerin, both of which have their advantages and disadvantages.  While alcohol has the benefit of being a premier solvent for both acidic and basic (alkaline) constituents, vinegar is effective really only for obtaining alkaloids.  Because it is acidic, vinegar can't do a good job of extracting acidic components.  Glycerin is similar to alcohol, but it is just not as effective in extracting active components.  But because it is sweet, it's easier for children to take.  Glycerin and vinegar tinctures are not as medicinally powerful as alcohol tinctures, so more of those preparations need to be taken to achieve the desired degree of efficacy.  Those who wish to avoid alcohol may think their problems have been solved.  Not so!  Remember, glycerin and vinegar are just not as effective at extracting the chemical constituents.  While this is fine if you are merely treating common colds and sore throats that are going to resolve on their own anyway, if you're dealing with a serious condition, say tuberculosis, you may be missing something critical.  And glycerin and vinegar tinctures have relatively short shelf lives.  Bummer.

So what to do?  Stay with me here, to the very end.  There are other options, I promise.

First off, let's consider the amount of alcohol actually consumed with a tincture, and the amount of alcohol consumed at other times, you know, when no one is looking.  Like chocolate chip cookie dough.  Tinctures are often administered in numbers of drops.  That's not that much alcohol, and it is definitely not tasty or desirable in any way.  My chocolate chip cookie recipe calls for two teaspoons of vanilla extract per batch of 36 cookies.  Using my dropper (and droppers vary), that works out to five drops per cookie, and I probably eat half my cookies before they're baked.  What about you?

How about smoothies?  In our house, we add a teaspoon or two of vanilla per quart of smoothie.  Going on the conservative side for estimation's sake here, we'll use one teaspoon per quart, and that works out to 1/4 teaspoon per one cup serving of smoothie.  And we never even give a thought to the amount of alcohol we're consuming in these situations.

Now consider that you could be trying to save a life.  Is the amount of alcohol in a few drops or 1/4 teaspoon excessive?  OK, I understand.  Really.  It still makes me uncomfortable.  Not to mention it still tastes really nasty.  So here's one more work-around since the vinegar and glycerin tincture solutions to the alcohol problem failed you.  Add your drops of alcohol-based tincture to very hot water and let sit.  Alcohol boils off/evaporates.  Voila!

TINCTURE

Now back to Usnea.  As stated in Part 1, Usnea is really good stuff for treating wounds.  But it is so much more.  Usnea tincture can be used to treat skin infections and abscesses (you don't even take it internally in this case), vaginal and fungal infections (well, kinda, but at least you didn't ingest it), and upper respiratory infections (well, same).  However, that's not all.  It's effective against MRSA.  Even more remarkable is that it eliminates tuberculosis.  And not just the tuberculosis of 100-140 years ago that every immigrant into this country was screened for at Ellis Island and Angel Island, and that could be easily cured with antibiotics a few decades ago.  It kills the antibiotic-resistant tuberculosis that we apparently no longer screen immigrants for, but seem to be welcoming with open arms.  That tuberculosis.

Are you interested now?  I thought so.

The instructions for making Usnea tincture come from Stephen Harrod Buhner's Herbal Antibiotics book (reviewed here), which I very highly recommend.  His entire chapter on Usnea and producing the tincture are found here, without any mention of his name.  It's just been completely plagiarized, and it's been there for over four years.  I don't understand how people get away with stuff like that.

Of course, I can't guarantee how long it will be there, but for those who want to take a look before committing to purchase, there it is. The following directions come directly from Stephen Buhner's book:

Again, the immune-stimulating polysaccharides are most efficiently extracted with heat. To do this, when you are making your tincture, heat the herb first in the water you are going to use for tincturing. The best way is in a slow cooker (or, failing that, on low heat, covered, overnight in the oven).

Use a tincture ratio of 1:5 (1 part herb to 5 parts liquid). The liquid should be composed of half water and half pure grain alcohol. So if you have 5 ounces of herb, you will use 25 ounces of liquid—12.5 of water, 12.5 of alcohol.

Put the powdered herb in the slow cooker, add the 12.5 ounces of water, and stir well. It will turn into a kind of mush. Cover and then cook on low heat for 48 hours. Let cool enough to work with it without burning yourself, then pour into a heat-tolerant jar (Mason or equivalent), add the alcohol when the mix is still warm but not hot, and then put on the lid and shake well. Let macerate for 2 weeks, then decant and strain out the herb. Bottle and store out of the light.


As indicated above, Usnea is one of the herbs that should be extracted with pure grain alcohol (95% or 190-proof).  That's the truly hard stuff.  It's sold under the name of Everclear or Mohawk.  I'd never bought coffee or Coke in my entire life, let alone anything alcoholic (except vanilla extract and the like), so buying Everclear was going to be a real trip.  I remembered talk from kids in high school about getting Everclear.  I never really paid attention, though I understood from their conversation that it was powerful. (Even the folks at Everclear say it is not to be consumed alone, but should be mixed with something.)  I searched the alcohol aisles of all the local grocery and drug stores for Everclear to no avail.

I was getting ready to make my first trip ever into a dedicated liquor store when I read online that Nevada prohibits the sale of Everclear within the state.  WTH?!  We have legalized gambling, pot, and prostitution, but no Everclear.  And neighboring Utah, which prohibits gambling, pot, and prostitution, does sell Everclear.

Talk about irony.

Usnea, Part 1
Usnea, Part 3

The Medicinal Uses of Usnea 


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