Help! My fiance won't quit bleeding!

Selection bias. People who can afford to go to the doctor do so, and don’t post here, so you don’t see those folks represented. People with money troubles try the Internet in hopes of saving a buck.

Tampon?

Bleeding is merely a complication from having a heartbeat. Stop that, and the bleeding will dry up really quick.

Seriously, why do people on the SDMB just crucify you if you ask a simple question?

I take it amputation is right out of the question.

Declan

if you apply liquid bandage, works well and can hurt huge, then do so with the finger bent.

Will a pharmacist be able to offer free advice? Sounds like the sort of thing they’d be able to assist with (i.e. instead of random superglue they might have liquid bandage).

Von Willebrand’s is certainly one of my top-three list of coolest disease names.

1.0 Eat a Popsicle
2.0 Keep the stick resulting from step 1.0
3.0 Apply a band aid to the area from whence the bleeding originates
4.0 Extend the now band aided digit and tape it securely to the stick resulting from step 1.0
5.0 Take two aspirins
6.0 Report results ASAP
7.0 Statement is in the mail
8.0 Pay your bills promptly

If the bleeding does in fact result from some miracle, as in goddiit, ignore steps 7.0 and 8.0

Seriously, if the OP’s gf is using aspirin for some reason, it can have an effect on clotting.:wink:

Yes, I know. I’m opposed to clotting.

I come home today and she’s in the kitchen, cooking dinner again, but I notice her lip is trembling a little.

“Honey, what’s wrong?”
“I…I have another hole.”
“What?”
“Like my finger”
“Where is it? Is it bad?”
“It’s in the top of my foot.”
:confused:
“I think it’s…stigmata!”

“… … … I was joking about the fish.”

That’s what I get for leaving this thread up before I went to work. Did I mention she’s a professional actress? :stuck_out_tongue:

I had pretty much the same situation a couple years ago; I got a puncture wound right on the most distal joint of my index finger. It went okay for a bit, then would keep opening up and bleeding. I finally, in a panic, went to the doctors’ who ended up giving me a bandage and heavy duty medical tape, as well as a several hundred dollar bill.

Of course, you should go to the doctor if you’re really worried about it, but I think all that needs to be done with it is to minimize the amount of movement the area experiences, and to just wait it out until it heals. Try getting some bandage pads and putting that over the wound, slapping some gauze on top of that, and wrapping the whole thing in a couple layers of heavy duty medical tape. Change a couple times a day, or as needed, and it should heal up in a week or two (these types of wounds are persistent buggers).

P.S. I’m still the pedantic sort, and your girlfriend should properly be referred to as your fiancée.

Not only do people actually do it (including several people in this thread).
It’s actually (sort of) what it was invented for.

Something interesting I just read (that seems important here) in the wiki article. Apparently, when in contact with cotton (like a bandage) it can get hot enough to cause burns.

Actually, no, superglue and liquid bandage are NOT the same thing, at least not always. The original liquid bandage was a form of nitrocelluose or pyroxylin in an alcohol base, and such is still sold. The other variety is either ethyl cyanoacrylate - which, by the way, breaks down into toxic byproducts in the body - or octyl cyanoacrylates, which do not break down into toxic stuff. Perhaps I should note that the superglue you buy at the hardware store is the ethyl variety, and the “expensive stuff” the doctor uses is the octyl variety that is not prone to becoming poisonous. Which would you prefer to use? Granted, a small amount of the ethyl superglue won’t kill you, but why be mean to your liver if you don’t have to?

OK, if you’re NOT going to the doctor you need to restrict to motion of the finger in question so it stops breaking open. Just don’t bandage so tight you cut off circulation.

If it doesn’t close up within 2 weeks see a doctor. If it show signs of infection see a doctor.

It does seem to be an unusual amount of bleeding, but that might be accounted for by the location of the wound. A doctor could cauterize it to stop the bleeding, but more conservative measures should be tried first. probably.

IANAD, but do note that Band-aid brand liquid bandage uses the more toxic ethyl cyanoacrylates - read the label and use a brand that uses either octyl cyanoacrylates or the nitrocelluose/pyroxylin compounds.

By the way - it IS possible to acquire a bleeding/clotting disorder. Not typical, but if she starts having problems with other minor wounds bleeding a lot that would be reason to see a doctor. Clotting disorders, even minor ones, can have serious ramifications and if present should be noted in a person’s medical information as that can definitely impact treatment.

  1. Give it a squirt of Neosynephrine (or equivalent, NOT saline) nasal spray. It will constrict the blood vessels in the immediate vicinity.

  2. Next, hit it with liquid bandage.

  3. Immobilize the finger.

If none of that works, amputate at the neck.

Neosynephrine is in our drug boxes for treatment of nosebleeds. Works like a charm, too.