aftercare

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in so much pain mew might take ibuprofen

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mew is hungry for yummy food but verity will get mad at hir for eating unhealthy,,

[dawn-in-asphodel]

Doing evil alter things, like showering because our host was too tired to. But evilly

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good news I did a bunch of work and im still fronting

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in-depth guide

surface cuts/cat scratches, dermis cuts/styros, fat cuts/beans, infection symptoms, bandages, tools, tips, veins arteries etc, going deeper, validation/jealousy

this is not orgininally mine, I edited it to be more friendly and easy to read

Heres the original link

^^^ very slight trigger warning

Please give me tips on how to improve this guide!! I want to to be accessible

list of sources they used:

https://www.mayoclinic.org/first-aid/first-aid-cuts/basics/art-20056711

https://www.healthline.com/health/signs-of-infection

https://www.mottchildren.org/health-library/sid232375

https://www.webmd.com/first-aid/bleeding-cuts-wounds

https://www.allsafetyproducts.com/medical-bandages.html

https://share.upmc.com/2017/02/do-i-need-stitches/

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Arterial_blood

https://www.healthline.com/health/what-is-antiseptic

https://www.verywellhealth.com/allergy-to-bandages-and-adhesives-82752

https://www.google.com/amp/s/www.hopkinsmedicine.org/health/conditions-and-diseases/latex-allergy%3Famp%3Dtrue

https://advancedtissue.com/2014/10/understanding-wound-healing-itching-dilemma/

This blog isnt meant to glorify or encourage any of the problems and issues listed here, reporting will only cause problems and wont fix anything. I have all the html codes in a note so I can recreate this blog as many times as I please.

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validation/jealousy

very slight trigger warning?? May cause bad feelings

There’s no such thing as being weak for not harming yourself severely. Are you trying to display just how bad your mental state is by going deep? Is it because you’re jealous that other people are “brave” for cutting deep? Is it because you want your self harm to be “severe enough” to be validated as a serious problem; in return people take you seriously?

Any reason, with any method to self harm is valid, meaning your mental suffering is real, and you deserve professional treament no matter how deep or how severe the injuries you inflict.

This is the thing with self-harm and eating disorders, they are highly competitive once you realize how much damage the human body can take. Your mental illness thrives andnchallenges you to that degree; To see how much you can mess up your body and stay alive.

You’re only going downhill from here, the people who you may consider “brave” for going deep also have had the same feelings of “not good enough” ”not bad enough” ”not valid enough” , just because you are doing cat scratches/surface cuts doesn’t mean you’re less deserving of treatment!

This is a good place to start treatment before it becomes much harder to solve, or may be too late to be fixed, don’t go “i’ll get treatment once i reach my full potentional” you’re testing the waters everytime, accidental suicides are a thing commonly known in self-harm, sometimes you may end up passing out while bleeding and there may not be someone who could help.

It’s not as glamorous as you think, the aftermath of going deep is not talked about more, that’s another wall of text i’d have to write just so you know how messed up it is, self-harmers don’t realize how much they normalize this very wrong behaviour, it’s just your brain trying to not make you feel “wrong” or “odd”, when it’s messed up.

Bottom line, your feelings of “not good enough” are not uncommon, you are valid for feeling this way, it’s the mental illness wanting to push you deep into this rabbit hole. you have a serious problem that deserves professionals treatment, cutting deep is not pretty nor is it an achievment or something to “prove” your "sickness.”

links to other guides

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consequences of going deep

Going deep is not glamouris as you think, you risk cutting veins, causing nerve damage, paralayising your limbs, losing sensation &. function. The deeper you go, the worse the chances and measures taken on the infections. Even after it fully heals, you’re bound to cut through nerve endings, causing irreversible nerve damage. you’ll get constant, life-lasting pins & needles pain, or sharp shocking stabbing pain in the raised, hard, tight scar of the cut, it messes with your movements and the tightness pulls you skin. (Which is painful)

Applying pressure on it hurts and stops you from working, moving it hurts, stretching it hurts worse. sometimes you get this pain for absolutely no reason at random times, in a middle of conversations, making weird faces, flinching and all.

1. You’ll lose alot of blood if you cut everyday

If you lose more than 20% of your blood/fluid supply it’ll cause alot of complications. You can sometimes still bleed underneath skin, causing a bruise around the cut. Bloodloss can cause organ damage, light-headedness, weakness/fatigue, nausea, dizziness, weak breathing and feeling cold along with low blood pressure and disturbing heart rhythm, electrolyte imbalances, anemia, etc.

2. Care

Caring for deep cuts takes a long time, and alot of money on supplies, even worse if you get to a (american) hospital with a huge bill.

3. You risk your social statues. 

People who treat you differently just because of some old scars are horrible, but what can you do? This is how the world works, you must socialize with other people, to get jobs, make relationships/friends, getting your basic needs, you need to deal with people, and those people can ruin your social statues if they see your scars, either by spreading rumors, calling the cops on you (thinking you may hurt others) or an ambulance to get you to a psych ward (thinking they’re heroes) or simply eyeballing you all the time, or approaching you acting all nice (which is fake, they just wanna feel superiorly good) In summary, imagine as many ways as possible people can mess with you because of your scars. They’ll treat you differently than others, they single you out of the group for the hell of it. Average people cannot fathom why someone would ever hurt themselves intentionally, they just can’t relate; so they think you’re an aggressive maniac. So they’ll stop you from getting into jobs interviews, getting disqualified from the military as soon as they see your scars, people being scared of you and isolating you from others by talking about you. Is it worth it? Really? This coping mechanism is worth all of these trouble of bandaging, wasting money, hiding, lying, wearing long sleeves in the heat of the summer, not being able to go swimming, not being able to show your scars without getting in some sort of trouble and avoiding being intimate for this? Scars will take years to go, sometimes decades if you don’t take care of them with scar removal treatments. they’ll soften, flatten, and fade but the pins ‘n’ needles pain will still stay.

So, is it worth it? It’s up to you to decide.

Look after yourselves.

links to other guides

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veins, arteries, etc.

You can accidentally sometimes hit veins or small arterioles, or an artery, if you hit any of them, you must stop the bleeding by applying pressure to it for 15 minutes, no peaking allowed.

If if’s still bleeding then apply pressure again. Still bleeding? Go to the hospital. So what did you hit?

1. Vein: Slow steady pulsating bleeding, dark red blood.

2. Arteriole: squirts when you hit it, pulsating fast bleeding, bright red blood.

3. Artery: Squirting blood all the way through. Bright red blood, pulsating with the heart.

4. Nerves: shockwave of pain as soon as you hit it, long-lasting stabbing pain &. pins’n’needles, you may lose control, sensation or function of your limb.

If you hit an artery or arteriole, those guys need internal stitching and medical care, those are absolutely dangerous.

Please be nice to your body and limbs, they don’t deserve that, they’re just trying to keep you mobile, independently live and care for yourself.

links to other guides

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tips

This one is just general things you should know, you can tie them to the things written in the other guides.

1. Never pick your scabs!

It’s like a mini-shield your blood clots are proudly showing off to you, going “your safe, body!” Only for to pick it off, be nice to your cells! When you pick off a scab you're starting at square one of the healing process, and making it harder to get a better scab back.

2. Keep everything sterilized and clean including your hands before starting a session.

Wash your hands with non-fragrance soap or antiseptic soap, the table you work on/touch should also be cleaned up with rubbing alcohol along with your tools, such as scissors to cut bandages and sh tool. If you dont have a wound dressing, you can use plenty of antibiotic cream/ointment to help stop the scab/blood from sticking to your bandage. If your bandage is stuck inside a cut soak it in warm water or saline solution for 5-10 minutes, gently pull, it should be mostly pain free, if its still stuck, soak again. Or you can shower with the bandage on.

3. You should get a deep cut stitched in under 12 hours

After 12 hours, don’t bother. as the healing already started and you can’t close it, it will take much longer to heal, more prone to infection and will leave a sizable scar.

4. The itch

Itching is a good sign, it means your injury is healing, even scars that itch are essentially still healing till they fade. For surface cuts, after a few days or so, your cuts may get extremely itchy and red around the scabs, but know it’s normal! It’s healing and the itchiness means it’s almost done. You can treat itchiness with itch-relief antibiotic ointment or soothing ointments, such as vicks. If you really gotta itch it, you need to have some sort of fabric or outer bandage on, gently and repeatedly slap the area gently.

5. Bandage not sticking

If your bandage is not sticking good, shave the hair around the area to help adhesive stick to it, you can also spray rubbing alcohol to help get of the oils and give you extra grip.Stay away from high friction, a lot of moving areas , such as the hips, between the thighs, shoulders and joints, it makes it harder to heal and more painful.

6. Stay away from dangerous areas

Stay away from dangerous areas such as the inner thighs, neck, wrists, ankles and feet, those have important arteries, veins and nerves, some also very thin and can easily go “deep” without intending to.

links to other guides

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tools

The tools you use must be fresh new, don’t pick up a tool you found on the ground or any tool you don’t know the history of it, where it came from or what it touched, you never know if some infections are sitting in it; waiting for you, carrying Tetanus, Serious infections, blood poisoning, blood diseases, Hiv, viruses, transmittable disease ect.

1. Always use sterilized, fresh new tools.

2. Dispose of said tool after 3-5 uses or if you haven’t used it in a long time.

3. Disinfect tools before & after use.

4. ALWAYS keep tools in dry place away from humid &. water! Don’t store them in the bathroom.

5. Store tools in a Sterile paper package or a clean cloth, then hide in a clean containter.

6. Safely dispose of tools!

When disposing of tools, place them in a strong closed container! You don’t want leave sharp blades in a plastic bag and end up hurting the garbage men!

7. Keep everything sterilized when you’re working on your lesions.

Before starting a session wash your hands with antiseptic soap or non-fragmented soap, wash it good like a hobby-surgeon if available use sterilized gloves, make sure the area/table you’re working on is sterilized with rubbing alcohol along with the tools, use a Q-tip or wooden tongue depressors to apply antibiotic creams/ointments, don’t use your bare fingers, who know’s what’s sitting under your fingernails?

8. Do not use glass as a tool.

Glass can break inside leaving small pieces that can get seriously infected, or you end up healing close with a piece of glass inside you, you know when a splinter in your hand moves? Same thing, it can move with your blood and travel inside, it’s Also extremely painful if you apply pressure to it, you’ll end up need a surgery to remove it.

links to other guides

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bandages

Do not use toilet paper/napkins as bandages, ever this whole point of a bandage is to keep debris away from the wound, the rule of being a useful bandage is to not use any weak easily breakable material, or dissolvable one use napkins &. duct tape as a bandage. It can break &. dry up inside and you need to get a surgery to have it removed. There are many types of bandages for different purposes &. differents kinda injuries, but this is about treatings cuts and gashes, although there many common types of self harm methods, like burning and such, i’m gonna talk about cuts.

There are 4 main types of bandages

1. GauzeCompressionTubularPlasters

Gauze is preferably used as the main bandage to cover your cuts with, since it lets air out and not trap moist inside, micro-guys love a warm, moist spot. But moist is good for healing, however if there was bacteria trapped in, you’re gonna have a goof. But it’s also highly-absorbmemt and great for all that bleeding and shit. Main bandage to use a cover should be gauze, you can use non-stick gauze pads and secure them with adhesive tapes, such as medical tape, paper tape, or surgical tape. But you can use adhesive gauze pads.

2. Compression bandages

Compression bandages are used to apply pressure to the limb, reduce blood flow &. control bleeding, if you cut a vein or a small artery (get a doctor) but if not, get a clean cotton towel, apply pressure to the bleeding for 15 minutes (no peaking!) and check, if it’s still bleeding apply pressure again, if it wont stop bleeding, well, go to the hospital. After applying the main bandage/cosmopor bandage you then apply an outer compression bandage, there are two types: Long stretch: highly compressive and easily adjusted, but the have high resting pressure, must be removed at night or if in a resting position for long. Short stretch: safe &. comfortable for long-term use, even in resting position.There are elastic compression bandages and cotton compression bandages when applying a compression bandage, you must distribute even neat pressure, not one loose roll and the next one super tight to “even it out” Be careful when applying compressions, too much pressure can be very damaging! It can stop blood circulation or if you have prolonged use of compression on the same limb day after day can change the shape of your limb/muscle!

3. Tubular

Tubular is pretty self explanatory, instead of using a roll of bandage you juse use a tube, those are outer bandage, just like compression, usually it’s for folks who are allergic to latex/silicone in most bandages or adhesives.

4. Plaster

Plaster are 2-in-1, they have the bandage and the adhesive ready, those are nice, but also unecessarily expensive for it, composor bandages are nice and soft, Band-aids and many other different shapes, sizes and colors, plasters have it all. They can be use to help blood from sticking to bandage &. keep debris away.

links to other guides

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infection symptoms

Infections are big deal. Do you realize you are essentially opening up your biggest organ (skin) and letting bacteria, viruses, disease get in? You can get serious infections from using non-sterile tools or metal, get tetanus, or get blood poisoning ect. Don’t go "if i get infected then i’ll go to the hospital” you better go before it gets out of control, infections can get extremely bad in mere hours, if you are someone with a weak immune system, malnourished/underweight or have a condition, those can be fatal. If you don’t get it treated quick you may end up developing sepsis and go into septic shock.

symptoms of an infection:

1. Expanding redness around the wound

2. Inflammation or swelling of the wound

3. Wound is warm or hot to touch

4. Cloudy, yellow-ish or green-ish pus drainage with a stinky odor.

5. Pain, tenderness or sensitivity

6. Fever

If you got a fever, no shadow of a doubt you got yourself an infection! And it’s spreading in your body, medical attention here isn’t an option! Get a doctor working on it as soon as possible

You can treat early-stage infections at home, use fusidic acid 2% apply every 18-24 hours. If the infection is still there for a week or progressing, go to the doctor.

links to other guides

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fat cuts/beans

This layer is yellow, bubbly fat tissue, you can sometimes get glimpse of the bubble spilling out in deep styros, basically the dermis leftover holding it together, this one is dangerous. There has been many cases of accidental suicides and bloodloss can make you pass out quick and there may not be someone who could help, please understand that whatever that voice tells you, how you need to “prove” how bad you are mentally, is wrong. Best option here is go to the hospital, get professionally treated and stitched up well, you need to get it stitched. it’s best not to DIY this cut.

1. If medical attention is not possible, flush lesion with lukewarm distilled water or saline solution NaCl 0.9%

2. Stitches are a must here, if not available, you can try to steri-strip it, however it wont be effective, it will leave a hollow inside while only closing the top of the skin. With fat cuts, you can’t put anything directly inside the tissue! 

3. Only apply antiseptic iodine to the edges &. around the wound4. Apply a wound dressing, it can be medicated mesh wound dressing , Mepitel to help stop blood from sticking to the bandage; resulting in it ripping it off.5. Apply antibiotic cream/ointment to the edges of the cut, not inside.6. Preferably cover using gauze pads secured with medical/paper tape on the edges, use an out compression bandage to control bleeding.

4. Apply a wound dressing, it can be medicated mesh wound dressing , Mepitel to help stop blood from sticking to the bandage; resulting in it ripping it off.

5. Apply antibiotic cream/ointment to the edges of the cut, not inside.

6. Preferably cover using gauze pads secured with medical/paper tape on the edges, use an out compression bandage to control bleeding.

Fat cuts heal kinda weird and infected looking, but that is a normal part of the healing process! In the first week you may see your cut looking yellow-ish or cloudy pus, but without an odor! Just keep attention to other symptoms.

Change daily, but remember to pay extremely close attention, fat cuts are extremely prone to infections

links to other guides

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dermis cuts/styros

The second layer of the skin, the Dermis, this layer is white colored and looks like styrofoam (hence the name) This is a dangerous depth, you can cause serious nerve damage, more Prone to infections, nick veins and arterials, and leave long lasting damage. Understand that depth does not make your problems invalid, depth doesn’t mean you are less deserving of treatment or “not good enough”!

1. Flush wound with distilled water or saline solutions.

2. Apply antiseptic iodine solution, you can use clinical cotton pads instead of spraying it right into the wound.

2. If the cut is gaping open but not stitches worthy, use Steri-strips or Butterfly bandages to close them, however, if you don’t have those, you still gotta close that hole, so makeshift a butterfly bandage.

4. Smear that gash with an antibiotic cream/ointment, preferably use a wooden tongue depressor or Q-tips, not your barehands.

5. Apply a wound dressing, to help stop blood from sticking to the bandages and painfully get ripped off.

You must cover that lesion, preferably use sterile gauze pads secured with tape on the edges, rather than plasters; to let them air out.

To control bleeding, you can use an outer cotton/elastic compression bandage to reduce blood flow.

Change daily, or when it’s dirty or soaked. and when i say change i mean go through this cleaning process again, not just the bandage!

This depth is prone to infections.

links to other guides

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surface cuts/cat scratches

Definition of surface cuts: breaking/cut in the first layer of the skin; the epidermis. those are easy to care for, even not caring for it can do, however, you can't neglect it. Especially if you have a weakened body/malnourished or your immune system is worse, you gotta aid your body with protecting itself.

1. Wash area with lukewarm distilled water or a saline solution.

2. Disinfect the area with isopropyl alcohol 70% or povidone-iodine 10%

3. If you wanna be fancy, you can apply antibiotic cream or ointment, although not needed.

4. Bandage them with Band-aid, plasters or any bandage really.

5. Change daily (24 hours), but still keep an eye out for symptoms of infections, even something as small as a scrape can get infected!

Stay away from pools, sea or body of water! Especially in 3rd world countries, there’s a lot of serious bacteria in water surfaces aka flesh eating bacteria and such, it’s best not jump into dirty places with broken skin

links to other guides