#pus tw

[peppsta]

Bad news guys the cut i got yesterday isnt looking too good

[iliveinprocrasti-nation]

Hi! Wanna share your research on cannibalism? I literally know nothing on the subject. So if you have time, I’d love to learn more.

hi!!! i absolutely do want to share my research because this has been fascinating me for days. this is also likely not edited and just comes from my brain, so if something is confusing/incomprehensible/incorrect please tell me and i’ll do my best to fix it

to anyone who might see this: please don’t hesitate to tell me if you want a tag or another trigger warning on this post or the other (although i might end up making a blog for this type of stuff? my friends can only hear so much about epidemiology and cannibalism science and all that so tell me what you think about me making a sideblog for my interests). trigger warning for cannibalism, death, sickness, ulcers, necrosis, pus

The biggest issue with cannibalism come in the form of prions. Prions are made of a protein called PrP, which is found in perfectly healthy people. PrP^C is the normal protein that’s found in cell membranes (we don’t really know what PrP does, but it might have to do with the brain’s cell to cell communication). The infectious form of PrP is PrP^Sc (called a prion). Prions happen when PrP proteins fold over themselves, which messes up how the proteins connect to each other. Usually, your body will use enzymes to break down proteins, which would fix this problem, but prions are very much resistant to them. Prions also don’t have nucleic acid (DNA/RNA). Prion diseases can be hereditary, infectious, or sporadic (so they can run in the family, or you can contract them, or your PrP just decides one day to fold itself into a prion).

Cannibalism has to do more with the infectious prions. Prions, once they happen, start affecting other proteins like some really messed up game of group tag, causing them to fold and become prions as well, causing clumps of misfolded proteins in your brain (remember how I said they might have to do with brain communication? what we do know is that prion diseases really mess up your brain. i think prions can also be found in the nervous system as well so do with that what you will). From what I remember, these prion clumps can also damage and/or kill nerve cells, which leads to your brain getting these small holes, and becomes somewhat akin to a sponge when looked at under a microscope (prion diseases are also known as “spongiform encephalopathies” for a reason). The thing is, spongy brains with holes in them also means majour brain damage, which is seen in the symptoms. 

Speaking of prion disease symptoms, they are very much not fun (i looked these up btw, i haven’t memorised the specific symptoms yet). They progress, starting smaller and creating minor inconveniences, to progressing enough to be debilitating. There are:

Memory issues and dementia

Difficulty walking/balancing

Behaviour/psychological changes

Hallucinations

Muscle stiffness/loss of muscle control

Seizures

Vision problems

Confusion

Fatigue

Insomnia

Difficulty speaking/swallowing

I know what you might be thinking. “I want a specific example of a time cannibalism lead a prion disease enough to be an epidemic like you said in one of your other answers to an ask.” Well, welcome to kuru (which means “to shake” in the Fore language), a disease that ravaged through the Fore people of Papua New Guinea (who had a cultural practice of funerary cannibalism) and their neighbours. This epidemic peaked in the 1950s, when 2% of all Fore deaths were because of kuru (hitting women and children the hardest). At this time, it was the leading cause of death among women in the Fore. The fact it was only 2% of all deaths makes it seem small, but some villages “became almost devoid of women” (this quote is from an article from medical news today that i used to get the kuru symptoms and information, and it’s a really interesting read! https://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/311277#Symptoms-of-kuru). The reason it hit women and children the hardest was because they were the ones who would prepare the bodies; also, men believed that, during conflict, eating human meat could weaken them, so they consumed less than women and children. Kuru has a pretty long asymptomatic period that lasts years, but once symptoms present themselves they progress much faster and can kill in only a couple months (symptoms can be present for up to two years before death, although that’s still less than half the time of the incubation period, if not 1/10 of the time). Once symptoms appear, there are three stages of symptom progression a person goes through. 

1. When symptoms are inconveniences:

Headaches

Joint pain

Shaking

Loss of balance

Speech deterioration

Loss of muscle control

2. When symptoms have bigger effects:

Inability to walk

Loss of muscle coordination

Severe tremors

Emotional instability (depression with outbursts of uncontrollable laughter)

3. When symptoms become severe

Inability to sit without support

Little to no muscle coordination

Inability to speak

Difficulty swallowing

Unresponsive to surroundings

Ulcerations (which will have necrosis, which is tissue death, and pus)

Symptoms lead to death, though the cause of death is usually pneumonia or severely infected pressures. This is no longer an issue for the Fore people, as the the practice was reduced. Kuru is likely extinct, and the last person is thought to have died from it in 2005.

So prion diseases have only had one epidemic, and they’re relatively rare, so why are they an issue? It’s because they can’t be cured, and (at this point in time) will always be fatal. They can be slowed, but symptoms will continue to progress. Remember how prions don’t have nucleic acid? This means they’re also resistant to radiation that would normally destroy/inactivate these types of things when enzymes might not be able to. There are usually about 350 new cases of prion diseases every year, so all things considered, they’re not common. However, cannibalism would almost certainly up the numbers. Cannibalism being a cultural practice is of course a more difficult subject, but I’m more here for the science. 

Note to people who might read this and might want to comment about how “cannibalism would fix overpopulation tho” or “oh cannibalism is so horrible and bad how could someone do that”: personally, the morality behind whether or not cannibalism is “good” or “bad” doesn’t especially matter to me since science has shown negative effects, so please don’t bring any of that onto this post.

[jimmyfissionart]

Goretober!

I’m using @juicy-pretzels prompt list, so here’s day 1: Drugs from outer spaaaaaaacceee

[daily-dose-of-first-aid]

If you or someone else are in an emergency situation, do not consult this post for help. Instead, contact your local emergency number and allow them to instruct you through the process.

28.5.2020

Today’s Question: How do we clean (and bandage) wounds?

TW/CW: If you are uncomfortable reading explicit descriptions of blood, pus, and wounds, please scroll past this post. As always, if you have specific topics you’d like me to tag and put TW/CW for, please send a DM or an ask. Don’t be afraid to ask if yours is a less common trigger, because I want to make people the most comfortable as possible.

It’s worth mentioning here that if you have a wound that has soaked through the bandage you initially put on it, you should always be layering bandages over the first one instead of taking the first one off. This will rip off tissue your body has naturally created (such as scabs) and will be painful. You also want to avoid infection, so it’s better to just keep layering instead of reexposing the wound, which could lead to contact with bacteria. (At least until you’re able to get to a medical facility. This post assumes a situation where a wound is serious enough that you need to treat it immediately.)

Remember that whenever you are cleaning and bandaging wounds, you want to avoid infection (when bacteria comes into contact with the wound). Symptoms of infection include pus, red skin around the wound, and vomiting, and can be treated with antibiotics. However, it’s far better to not become infected in the first place, and your body will build up a resistance to prescription antibiotics the more you use them, so it’s better to avoid the whole situation altogether.

1. Before cleaning a wound, wash your hands. It’s helpful to explain to your patient what you’re doing along the way so that they don’t feel anxious.

2. Apply gentle pressure to the wound or elevate it to stop bleeding. 

3. Clean the wound with water. You can use hydrogen peroxide or rubbing alcohol if fresh, clean water is unavailable, but these are definitely not ideal. Hydrogen peroxide tends to kill not only bacteria, but their helpful counterparts, and rubbing alcohol stings and burns. Rub mild soap around the wound and rinse it off, but don’t put it in the wound, as this can be irritating. Make sure to remove all dirt from the wound as well.

4. If available, use antibiotic ointment. This is over-the-counter, and will help with your body’s natural healing process. 

5. Bandage the wound. Small cuts don’t need a bandage. Make sure to bandage it with a relatively clean fabric. Ideally, you will have a first aid kit with gauze, bandages, and clean cloth, but if this is not available, it’s always okay to tear strips from any clothing you may have at the ready.

6. Check for signs of infection over time and redress the wound when appropriate. 

If a serious wound is what you’re working with, please get to a doctor as soon as possible, and notify emergency services.

Stay tuned for tomorrow’s post, on how to use an AED!

Sources:

https://www.webmd.com/first-aid/relieving-wound-pain#2

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

[serpentariusart]

Finn is going in for surgery tomorrow. It’s not an ultra big deal, I’m more just frustrated at the cause of it.

Our backyard is.... pretty wild, lots of grasses. With that, at certain times of the year, come grassseeds. These particular oens are quite big, long and very pointy. Because Finn is part GR he’s got a thick coat so they got lodged in his fur VERy easily. Every time he comes back inside we have to check that he doesn’t have any stuck in his fur (and he usually does) because if you leave them they can dig into the skin and cause an infection.

And what do you know. We notice a small lump on his side that had blood/pus on it. Cleaned it up but we couldn’t tell if there was anything in that lump, or if it was just more pus/infection related.

it hasn’t gone away though so mum took him to the vet, who couldn’t get anything out so tomorrow morning he’s having surgery to get out whatever is in there. So all things considered, incredibly minor surgery. I’m more worried about how he’ll feel afterwards seeing as we’re going out to riding and he won’t be allowed to run around. I know that’ll leave him heartbroken.

But hey, this could all be avoided if our back yard was in better shape.

[uncarbonatedmilk]

a need as much as a feeling (full below the cut, tws in tags)

[antivan-surana]

Had a bad weekend due to an abscess. I'm tired. I don't have the time or resource to go to urgent care. It's so infected, but I just have to hope my body will fight it on its own now that I've lanced it.

[weirdinternettrash]

me thinking im finally done dealing with stinky pus vs the boil on my back that I thought had drained