Tigerstripe said:
they used to sell "blood ctot" for $5 a pack of 2. then it went to $15, then they quit carrying it.
glad to see you found it.
I hadn't opened the box to see how big the packets were but I will while I type this. My experience with clotting agents are threevfold, which I will detail in a sec. In my trauma bag, I've got pressure dressings (Israeli bandages), CAT tourniquets, and quick clot powder and combat gauze. The quick clot and combat gauze are great when you have a serious wound you can't apply a tourniquet to. Shrapnel to the gut? Pack it with combat gauze (impregnated with clotting powder) or use the powder itself. When we were training to use it prior to employment in Iraq they cut a femoral artery in a pigs groin and had it stopped as soon as the last of the combat gauze was packed in the wound.
1) The first Quick Clot I was issued was in a packet about the height and width of a playing card and was nothing but powder. I don't know about the Celox brand like I initially posted but I know Quick clot would damage your eyes if they were exposed, so use caution. Pour enough packets into wound til bleeding stops, apply bandage dressing and seek immediate first aid.
2) Combat gauze is a long 3-4 YARD piece of Kerlix gauze with quick clot impregnated into it so it stopped arterial bleeds and helped absorb the blood along with increasing the amount of material in the wound you are applying pressure with. Same as above, layer the wound and I mean really pack it with the gauze, dress it and seek help.
3) my least experience was with HemCon dressings, a 4x4" square pad to place directly onto the wound. These were good for extremity surface bleeders because you couldn't pack them inside anything.
I opened the box I got today. There are two 2 gram packets in there. The stuff is very effective but the quantity you use definitely depends on the nature of the wound. Like you said, I'm not dumping this on a cut finger but they don't want to advertise a severed thumb while cutting the Thanksgiving turkey. This is one of those items you may never need, but if you do need it you want as many as you can get. I think having two of the boxes per person is a good start. Especially if you are possibly providing your own medical care for an unknown period of time. I have seen these Celox packets in 15g and 35g sizes, but both are larger than the powdered quick clot packs we got in the Army. Hard to say what size exactly you need, but two boxes (8gr) per person for one anticipated event is probably a good start.
At a gun range, a couple packets of this stuff and a pressure dressing could very well save someone's life. Even if its a gusher and the two packets only slows the bleed but a total clot can't establish, it will give EMTs more time em route. I ALWAYS have a first aid kit with an Israeli bandage, a tourniquet, and combat gauze in case someone gets shot or shoots me.
Because of the long term aspect, I am accumulating all the first aid stuff I can get my hands on. I've got spare bottles of rubbing alcohol and hydrogen peroxide, lots of hand sanitizer, bandages, my trauma bag including IV starting equipment, gloves, masks, bandage shears, hemostats, etc. On routine visits to the doctors office, ask them if you can have some latex gloves. I asked for gloves and my doctor gave me a whole box along with several one time use suture removal trays that include surgical steel tweezers and scissors.
I've scoured the net and printed out Special Forces medical journals for people and dogs ( green berets have to maintain themselves and their dogs when they're cut off, so their enlisted medic knows more than most doctors) because I may have to work on my dogs, my family, or myself one day.
Article on Celox and the pigs
http://www.aana.com/newsandjournal/Docu ... 30-236.pdf
