how can you get rid of blisters... fast?

[RatDog]

a note about the Friar's Balsam - this item is a liquid, and marketed as an expectorant (it's added to humidifiers for people with sinus/chest congestion). It was never designed to treat blisters. What Psycho came up with the idea of injecting it into blisters, I'll never know. And yes, all the stories about the intense pain are true, and then some. When injected into the skin, it fries the nerve endings, deadening them. Often this deadening is temporary, however there are people who have suffered permanent nerve damage to their feet. It's actually quite tricky walking on feet that can't feel the ground beneath them. This usually means a medical release. In past years, if a CF medic did the injecting then this qualified for a medical pension. However, due to a better understanding of the effects of Friar's Balsam, and the cases of permanent nerve damage, there was a Medical Services message put out about a year ago. It specifically stated that Friar's Balsam for blisters is not authorized in the CF. If a medic does do it, then they are going to wind up in a deep pile of fecal matter. Doing unsafe, unauthorized treatments is a real career stopper. As well as the legal ramifications that will come with it. If the treatment is not authorized by the CF then no medical pension, the soldier will have no other choice but to sue the medic that did the injecting.
SD

 

[Armymedic]

Thanks for replying to the topic 11 months late...Atleast I see you read part of the thread before you responded.

Notice my reply was prior to that direction, and this thread was dead in May, until you popped it up.

Again, I wouldn't wish friars balsam on skin thats not intact, on my worst enemy. It does however work well in sticking the ends of steri strips down. As for us as an expectorant, I have never heard of that, nor would I recommend it in that way...but now that warrents a bit of research on my part.

 

[RatDog]

My reply is 11 months late because I just registered yesterday, and this is the first time I saw the thread.  I read the entire thread before responding.  I am not trying to start an argument, simply pass on an important safety point. Most of the replies were good standard footcare suggestions.  However, the replies involving Friar's Balsam had me concerned enough to want to post a warning. They mentioned that injecting the Friars Balsam was painful but it works, and did not address the nerve damage aspect.
Reply #1 "used by many troops on Nijmegen marches" and "works faster when injected".
Reply #7 (supported reply #1) "when injected into a blister ... it will help".
Reply #11&12 (suggested availabilty through Pharmacy) "wouldn't recommend it unless ... going to be marching a LONG time without stopping, without much rest and without the possibility of seeing medical help. Something like Nijmegen or Cambrian or SAS selection comes to mind".
Reply #14 "good for immediate relief and recovery" and "wouldn't give friars balsam to my worst enemy unless they specifically request it because it is painful".
Friar's Balsam may have been used in the past as stated in the quotes above. However now a days, it is considered an unsafe and unauthorized treatment for blisters, and should be discouraged. Any medic that does it, is putting their patient at risk for something worse. Most people do not fully understand the risk of permanent nerve damage to their feet. The "quick-fix" might have career ending complications with long lasting health concerns. It can still be used to secure steri-strips on INTACT skin (not painful), but should not be injected (short of a life or death situation - the following are not life or death: Nijmegen, Cambrian Patrol try-outs, SAS/JTF selection).  I just called Shopper's Drug Mart and confirmed that they still carry this item as an OTC expectorant for humidifers. Many medics do not realize that this was it's primary function. Plus due to it stickiness, it is also used as an adhesive for things such as steri-strips. There are unfortunately people out there that think that Friar's Balsam is actually for injecting into blisters - but it was never meant for that.
Well this brings me to the end of my "soap-box" sermon. Again, I wasn't trying to start any problems, just trying to get the warning out.
Cheers

 

[from darkness lite]

Although not a how to get rid of blisters idea, I got this idea out of a backpacking magazine seven years ago and have no blisters since (just hotspots).  I coat my feet with roll-on anti-perspirent before the march, etc.

Has worked like a charm for me.  Also I use the black liner socks with the winter wool socks (I find my feet slip around in the boot with the green ones).  Do not use white cotten socks, they do not wisk sweat away (at least they don't work for me).

cheers 

 

[Island Ryhno]

You can buy Runners Stick (I think that's what it's called) at The Running Room, it's much like underarm antipersperant but without any of the non essential junk. As a bonus you can put it on the insides of your quads to stop chafing ( I have very big legs  ) So that's what I use, anti persperant for the foot, poly prop socks then woolys, seems to work.

 

[I_am_John_Galt]

You can buy Runners Stick (I think that's what it's called) at The Running Room,

"Bodyglide" ... it's the cat's a$$ ... also won't damage neoprene (if you have a problem with wearing a wetsuit).

 

[old medic]

I'm going to post this here, and probably have it moved out somewhere more visable later on.

I'd like to explain some of my thoughts for asking Mike to create this medical sub-board.
Before we had a spot to concentrate the medical threads, one could find postings on medical subjects
in every board.  In fact, run a search on the word "medic"  outside of this sub-board, and you'll find
73 pages worth of hits. 
Before the medical board, you'd have infantry asking questions about their med cats in the infantry
board, divers asking medical questions in the navy board, medics discussing their units in the CSS board,
recruits asking questions in recruiting, etc etc.

I thought that bringing them all together into a common sub-board would first accomplish two things.

1 - make it easier for serving members and visitors to come to army.ca and quickly locate information regarding CFMS, CFDS, CFMG
and answer medical questions.

2 - Bring questions from Serving members, visitors and from other members of CFMG in a easy to locate area, so that we in the medical
trades could easily answer questions and discuss topics without having to search all the other boards.

My third reason was currency and quality of information. Some of the threads I looked at were very old, contained dated
information, or worse... contained only replies to medical questions from non medical trades or contained bad advice.
I thought that bringing them together and indexing them by topic would allow all the medical types to go over these old
posts as new questions were asked. It would then bring them up to date with current and/or factual information. I saw this as helping
visitors to army.ca find good advice when searching threads. 

That all said, the point of this post seems to be: Just because a thread is old, doesn't mean we should ignore what's in it.