Smashed My Finger

kbmbillups1
kbmbillups1 Posts: 1,390 ✭✭✭✭✭
edited October 2020 in General Health

I did something really stupid. Instead of using a spatula I used my finger to push dough down in my mixer and it smashed my finger good. It hurt terribly. I've been baking & cooking for a long time so I have no idea why I did such a stupid thing.

I've been taking Arnica every 15 or 30 minutes - when I remember to take it. It doesn't hurt so much anymore but I have a nice bruise.

What do you guys think? Just keep taking Arnica or something else along with it or instead of?

Comments

  • shllnzl
    shllnzl Posts: 1,820 ✭✭✭✭✭

    I hurt myself in amazing ways too.

    Hopefully you are using arnica externally only. Only homeopathic arnica treatments may be taken internally.

  • kbmbillups1
    kbmbillups1 Posts: 1,390 ✭✭✭✭✭

    @shllnzl I have homeopathic Arnica that I've been taking.

  • shllnzl
    shllnzl Posts: 1,820 ✭✭✭✭✭

    @kbmbillups1 Good, you never know what other people know.

  • Linda Bittle
    Linda Bittle Posts: 1,518 ✭✭✭✭✭

    If you have comfrey, I'd make a poultice. I have even used dried comfrey leaf, and hydrated it for external use. I do not use it internally.

  • Torey
    Torey Posts: 5,679 admin

    In addition to the homeopathic Arnica, you could apply Arnica oil as long as the skin is not broken. Or Cottonwood Bud oil. I know I mention it a lot but it is such a multi-purpose oil. A comfrey poultice is a good idea as well. One of the presentations on TGN's Home Grown Summit is about Marjorie having her arm poulticed with comfrey. Powerful Wild Weeds.

  • herbantherapy
    herbantherapy Posts: 453 ✭✭✭✭

    I second comfrey.

  • kbmbillups1
    kbmbillups1 Posts: 1,390 ✭✭✭✭✭

    Thanks everyone. I wish I had comfrey. You know how everything gets worse at night when you're sick? Well my hand was feeling fine but the later it gets the more the bruise hurts. Hopefully it will feel better tomorrow.

    No broken skin just a nice bruise. My husband thought it was bleeding right after I did it and tried to pour hydrogen peroxide over it. 😍

  • seeker.nancy - Central Texas
    seeker.nancy - Central Texas Posts: 795 ✭✭✭✭

    For the first 24 hours applying ice for 15 minutes on, 15 minutes off can do wonders with the pain and swelling.

  • LaurieLovesLearning
    LaurieLovesLearning Posts: 7,574 admin

    This is true, but I have read (I think Rosemary Gladstar? Don't quote me on that though) that this slows down the body's natural healing process and can actually cause damage. You are better off using herbs.

    I might forget the source, but not the information. When being in an active sports family, these are important things to remember, as ice is the first thing medics will do.

  • seeker.nancy - Central Texas
    seeker.nancy - Central Texas Posts: 795 ✭✭✭✭

    @LaurieLovesLearning that can certainly be the case, depending on the injury. I've used it with smashed fingers/hands before with great success but the key is not leaving it on too long or too much and make sure the ice is wrapped in a towel (I use dishtowels). I've seen it do damage as well but that was when the person overdid it. People sometimes think that if a little is good, more would be better lol. That aside, arnica homeopathic formulas and arnica gels are fantastic as well as the comfrey compress. It always amazes me that there are multiple herbs/treatments for the same thing, giving the chooser many options.

  • f
    f Posts: 2 ✭✭✭

    @kbmbillups1 I've found castor oil to be amazing for all kinds of bruises and sprains when applied to injuries with unbroken skin. I cover the area with a cloth (or an old sock or white paper towels) & plastic to keep the mess contained, & refresh it once or more per day, or as needed. I could tell all kinds of stories, but the proof is in the doing and it's cheap & easy. Of course, the sooner it's applied, the better, but better late than never.

    When a friend accidentally whacked my 4-year old with a hard, back-handed tennis racket swing just under the eyebrow ridge (thankfully, it didn't hit the eyeball), I just applied as much castor oil as I could without it dripping into his eye & left it uncovered. The only other thing I did was supplement him with vitamin C w/bioflavonoids and MSM to help promote healing of blood vessels, since he wouldn't let me touch him with the package of frozen peas which I initially tried to put on it. (Which, it seems, more current information indicates actually prolongs recovery time, anyway.) It seems to help relieve the pain, as well as accelerate the healing. He never had any swelling or even much discoloration. The area turned slightly greenish-yellow before fading away into memory.

  • frogvalley
    frogvalley Posts: 675 ✭✭✭✭
    edited July 2020

    Hypericum for smashed fingers/toes/nerve endings.

    My mechanic (let's call him Ron) brought back my car (I live in a small town where they still do that sort of neighborly thing) and I noticed the Michael Jackson type glove thing going on - one hand with a glove and one without. I remarked about it and he said that he just dropped a transmission on it, split the finger down the middle and was now on his way to the urgent care facility. The big lug! Ron should have gone to get help and not bothered with returning my car.

    Be that as it may, I got Hypericum from my stash of homeopathic remedies and told him to take it every 15 min for 3 doses and then every 3 hours for 3 days and to stop taking it if it got better or take it again if it still hurt. He left.

    About a month later, I stopped by Ron's shop and asked him how his hand was. The urgent care place said it was too damaged for them to do anything, so he had to go to the hospital. He arrived at the hospital and they started to stitch it up, at which time he said "wait a minute, how about something to numb it?" The emergency room crew looked at each other and looked back at him before someone said "we thought they gave you something for the pain at the urgent care facility since your not screaming in pain." Nope, nobody gave him nothing - except for the Hypericum. They gave him a shot to numb him while they sewed it back together and sent him on his way. The physicians at the hospital told him that he would lose the feeling in his finger and would probably never be able to move it again.

    And? I had to know. What happened?

    Ron held his hand up and it was pretty normal looking. He never lost feeling in it nor did he lose any movement. There hadn't been any pain. He said all he did was take the Hypericum according to the directions.

    Child's hand caught in a car door? Close a door on your toe? Hammer your finger instead of the nail? Fall on your tailbone? Hypericum.

  • Torey
    Torey Posts: 5,679 admin

    I wholeheartedly agree with Hypericum for nerve damage to the extremities. I have used it for smashed fingers and toes several times.

  • Vicky M.
    Vicky M. Posts: 74 ✭✭✭

    I keep arnica gel at the ready as I am often stubbing my toes. The faster you can slather on arnica gel the less bruising, the greater the pain relief & the faster the healing. This is the only way I use arnica.

    I've read to never use arnica on broken skin, however, I had to try this anyway and now I repeat never use arnica on broken skin. Just in case you are the type to learn from others mistakes, unlike me, when I did use arnica on broken skin, blood pooled under the skin all around the broken area and took quite some time to go away.

  • smik123
    smik123 Posts: 60 ✭✭✭

    There is a whole community of women and some men who follow Ashley Black Fasciablasting and as a result of fasciablasting there are huge amounts of bruises--they even post them online. So many of them use arnica and swear by it. It would be nice to try the comfrey but you have the arnica and the pictures and testimonials I have seen attest to the effectiveness of arnica.

  • annbeck62
    annbeck62 Posts: 1,028 ✭✭✭✭

    I've used arnica with great results but haven't tried Hypericum. Great to know it works so well.

  • Jannajo
    Jannajo Posts: 173 ✭✭✭

    Hypericum? Why, yes, my thumb,u know, burnt it quite bad, some nerve damage it seems, tingling daily, going to sleep-not me, the thumb

  • karen
    karen Posts: 80 ✭✭

    wow so sorry for the accident. I pulled something or other in my left calf and couldnt walk. My local massage/herbal therapist went and collected a couple of plantain leaves from her yard (very highly regarded here for pain), ironed them to warm and release the oils, laid them on my leg and wrapped it up. Just told me to come back tomorrow for a deep massage and more plantain then to start walking - with a support of some kind. I was putting weight on my leg in three days and walking slowly in four and except for residual weakness it all cleared up. look it up. Plantain is not your ordinary weed.

    I grow plantain intentionally in one area of my yard and am in the process of collecting a drying the leaves to mix with coconut oil for a soothing skin cream A neighbour 'borrows the leaves for her husband's back pain. People use it in a wonderful local tea called horchata (not the mexican milk tea) that I have grown quite fond of

  • kbmbillups1
    kbmbillups1 Posts: 1,390 ✭✭✭✭✭

    Thanks everyone. Back in May my finger was seriously hurting but I used Arnica- homeopathy for internal use and in a few days I was feeling better.

    In fact, I had forgotten about smashing my finger.

  • rayerodgers
    rayerodgers Posts: 13 ✭✭✭

    @frogvalley thank you for your information regarding hypericum..I'm still quite new to some of this and I'm not familiar with that..gave me something to review over the weekend!

  • Desiree
    Desiree Posts: 255 ✭✭✭

    I started my first batch of hypericum and have it infusing in oil and a tincture. I am looking forward to the day I can decant this lovely red jewel that I am monitoring daily!

  • frogvalley
    frogvalley Posts: 675 ✭✭✭✭
    edited July 2020

    @Jannajo I use the homeopathic remedy Cantharis for burns. The tingling and numbness are something covered in the "remedy picture" (google it). Cantharis is for anytime one feels burning. Great stuff!

    The other thing I use with huge success is MSM Rejuvenator Anti-Aging Skin Cream. My son was in a boat that exploded. His legs were badly burned. I took him a couple of bottles and lathered them all over anything that looked burnt, red, yucky. He's not the most compliant person, but most of his legs were covered for three-five days and he re-applied the cream as he wanted for the next week or so. When I saw him about a month later, the only place that didn't heal TOTALLY was about three square inches were he didn't reapply the cream. I don't know what it is in there that does the healing (the ingredient list is huge) and quite frankly I don't care. I just know that for the past 10 years or more all my family members have it at the ready.

  • Here is another vote for comfrey, or the old herblore name they called it-- BoneKnit. I know you said you don't have any now, but it is a great addition to any homestead, and super easy to propagate from root cuttings. If you can't find some locally for free, then I always recommend Coe's Comfrey online to order, and the Bocking 14 variety. It has all the benefits of wild comfrey but won't ever flower or go to seed, so you don't have to worry about it becoming invasive. Once you start learning about comfrey it is this fantastic rabbit hole that you fall down and keep finding more great things it is good for-- livestock feed, soil building, chop and drop composting, bioaccumulation, and best of all-- for me a cut up leaf will make a wasp sting actually disappear in ten minutes or less. I LOVE COMFREY!

  • Torey
    Torey Posts: 5,679 admin

    Thumbs up on the homeopathic remedy, Cantharis, for burns @frogvalley! I have used it internally but also have dissolved a dose in a small amount of water and sprayed it on the burned area with very good effects. I used it for serious burns from hot antifreeze from a radiator. Worked so well! Have you used it for bladder infections? Works well on that burning sensation, too.

  • frogvalley
    frogvalley Posts: 675 ✭✭✭✭

    @frogvalley Spraying Cantharis is something I'll have to try. Good idea! Yes, I've used it for UTI's. It's good for any burning sensation including things like respiratory or eye issues. Here's a link to George Vithoulkis's page on Cantharis https://www.vithoulkas.com/learning-tools/materia-medica-nash/cantharis-vesicatoria

    George is one of the best!

  • Jannajo
    Jannajo Posts: 173 ✭✭✭

    Thanks for the help, I have advanced, to receive the newsletter (for homeopathy), for a start!

  • KimWilson
    KimWilson Posts: 197 ✭✭✭

    I have my comfrey growing in half wine barrels. It has not become invasive at all in the 3 years that I have been growing it. Would hate to do without my comfrey at this point.