Worst injury

[Tony]

I was wondering what the worst thing is that you've dealt with on yourself, obviously some of you have dealt with some awful stuff but most of us have just dealt with cuts, breaks, burns etc. The worst thing i've had to deal with really has been dislocating my knees, some cuts, being pierced by nails etc, all of it quite straight forward really if you can reach them.

Anyone been caught out and had to patch themselves up? What was it and how did you handle it and were there any longer term affects that you had to prepare for such as say hypothermia....

[resnikov]

not a very exciting one this.

Lopped a big bit off the end of my finger with a hatchett whilst messing around when I was in the scouts. For some reason we didn't have a first aid kit on the site so i improvised with tissues and electrical tape to hold then end of my finger on. There was no panic just a strong thought I really need to stop the bleeding. That seemed to do the trick. Just changed the tissues and tape for a better dressing that evening. Didn't go and see a doctor as it seemed to be healing on its own. The only long term affect was to teach me dont mess around with sharp objects.

[SimonM]

I was once waiting in traffic when the small truck in front mounted the kerb to get round a bend. The wing mirror hit a young lad of 18 or so in the face and peeled his flesh away...

His flesh was just left hanging, intact, but not attached. I had a FFD in the car kit and calmly placed it over the injury and asked him to hold it in place whilst I called an ambulance.

The lad was a star, just sat on the kerb until the ambulance arrived. They asked him to remove his hand so they could see what the problem was, but quickly asked him to put it back again until they had time to unpack all their gear!

Never did find out what happened to him as I had to get to a job so didn't hang around once the ambulance arrived!

Simon

[John Fenna]

Aged 20 I leapt across a single strand electric fence and landed badly (slid in cow muck) and bent my rt knee 90 degrees the wrong way.
I straightened it out but had to strap it tight to stop it flopping around as I finished the 15 miles of the Pennine Way I was doing that day. Strangely enough it did not hurt much. The next morning I saw a GP who said I had pulled a muscle... in fact on later examination I had torn the Lateral, Median and Cruxiate ligaments, dislocated the fibia (not reduced for about 15 years - thanks for the attention to detail NHS) partially torn the cartalidge and torn lots of muscles.
I still managed to do all in all 40 miles after the accident before I called it a day - this was when I left the nice limestone turf for peathags again!
Long term effects - severely twisted up back that lead to me almost losing the use of my right arm as the nerves were crushed between the displaced 1st rib and collar bone (sorted by my chiro after the NHS said "here are some pain killers - watch more TV and dont be so active!"), worn out left knee from over-compensation - and I still have a rt knee that dislocates now and then, plus a bad back!
I still enjoyed a career in outdoor persuits!
It is all catching up on me these days though.......

[markie*mark0]

My worst injury was a result of a motorcycle crash, someone in a 4x4 pulled out on me and i did not have time to stop.

Among the large list of other injuries the most serious was this....... ( i must say it is graphic so if your a little squeemish or just about to have your dinner i wouldn't look)






It took the paramedic and ambulance over an hour to reach me, I basically had to lash my leg together with my belt but was very lucky that the femoral artery was not damaged


Long term problems with my legs are, damaged nerves = no feeling down the front of my leg, damaged knee caps = struggle to walk far or carry much weight.

[JAG009]

Not life threatening but boy did it sting !

At work one day and managed to nail my finger to the floor with a nail gun !!! Dont ask how It was a stupid mistake on my part!!! after a lot of swearing got the nail out and patch up the fnger !

Long term affects of this ( boy do i have more respect for nail guns )

Jason

[Robbi]

putting back dislocated knees and shoulders by myself, done it a couple of times now and oh boy does that hurt !

[John Fenna]

My worst injury was a result of a motorcycle crash, someone in a 4x4 pulled out on me and i did not have time to stop.

Among the large list of other injuries the most serious was this....... ( i must say it is graphic so if your a little squeemish or just about to have your dinner i wouldn't look)






It took the paramedic and ambulance over an hour to reach me, I basically had to lash my leg together with my belt but was very lucky that the femoral artery was not damaged


Long term problems with my legs are, damaged nerves = no feeling down the front of my leg, damaged knee caps = struggle to walk far or carry much weight.

Sweet!
nice sewing!

[Ivan Owen]

This is going to ba an interesting thread i think.

My two pence;

I was about 14/15 and one of my mates passed out from heat exhaustion and i had to carry him as best i could over about a mile or so of rough moorland to a stream and some shade. Probably wasn't life threatening but i did it anyway. Probably did more damage to myself really.

Does anyone else get that ringing in their ears during a serious/life threatening situation?

[markie*mark0]

Sweet!
nice sewing!

lol only if i could sow like that !

[JAG009]

This is going to ba an interesting thread i think.

My two pence;

I was about 14/15 and one of my mates passed out from heat exhaustion and i had to carry him as best i could over about a mile or so of rough moorland to a stream and some shade. Probably wasn't life threatening but i did it anyway. Probably did more damage to myself really.

Does anyone else get that ringing in their ears during a serious/life threatening situation?

The ringing in your ears is your blood pressure going up so am told

Jason

[ex member mick sturbs]

My mate and i were gathering firewood for a camp last summer, we were about 50 metres apart , it was a lovely summers day so shirts off, i just happened to look around and i did not recognise him his facial features were like that of a neanderthal man, isaid you ok Keith and he said he was struggling to see and breath , i could tell by the very look of him it was serious. Fortunately i had my 4wd in the next field, raced over and by the time i got back he was sat down talking jibberish, i managed to bundle him into the pickup ,some how keeping a cool head but my heart was pounding and mind racing as what best to do ,as we pulled out of the field into the track he was making the most strange noises and was obviously unconcious.I drove as fast as i dare to Ashburton cottage hospital about 5 miles away ,screeched up outside the entrance ran in shouting for help.2 nurses came running and helped get him out of the truck ,1 ran in and phoned a paramedic who was at home in Liverton about 10 mins away thank god. Any way long story short filled him with drugs ambulance to Torbay loads more drugs , turned out he had been bitten by wait for it .. a horsefly and had gone into anaphalactic shock. Felt pretty pleased with myself when the paramedic told me i had saved his life by my actions.All a bit surreal and the maddest thing of all was he came back and camped that night!! but now has to carry a pen thing where ever he goes. one very scary and wierd day.

[southey]

everything seems to happen to my right side, stuck axe in right ankle(who hasn't) caught right index finger in blender, but the best was whilst our on a walk round the ridge line to the south east of Lochnidorb(sp), slipped and fell onto my Right leg, felt a dig of something on my thigh, stood up to find no puncture in my trouser leg just a twig of burnt heather or gorse sticking up out the ground, carried on feeling a bit silly, got back to the car parked near the lodge and my right sock felt squidgy, lifted trouser leg to find blood had covered the inside of my trouser and soaked my sock, dropped trough, found a five inch gouge in the side of my thigh about an inch deep and oosing life. sat on drivers seat and wrapped me thigh in a bandage with a bit of packing in the gouge, and then drove to Kinloss where a very nice duty medic agreed to treat me before sending me to Elgin for some stitches. Wifey was more angry that I hadn't just nipped into the lodge by the Loch instead of driving back to camp, than the fact that I had been away for five days instead of the two I had said I would be!

[markie*mark0]

My mate and i were gathering firewood for a camp last summer, we were about 50 metres apart , it was a lovely summers day so shirts off, i just happened to look around and i did not recognise him his facial features were like that of a neanderthal man, isaid you ok Keith and he said he was struggling to see and breath , i could tell by the very look of him it was serious. Fortunately i had my 4wd in the next field, raced over and by the time i got back he was sat down talking jibberish, i managed to bundle him into the pickup ,some how keeping a cool head but my heart was pounding and mind racing as what best to do ,as we pulled out of the field into the track he was making the most strange noises and was obviously unconcious.I drove as fast as i dare to Ashburton cottage hospital about 5 miles away ,screeched up outside the entrance ran in shouting for help.2 nurses came running and helped get him out of the truck ,1 ran in and phoned a paramedic who was at home in Liverton about 10 mins away thank god. Any way long story short filled him with drugs ambulance to Torbay loads more drugs , turned out he had been bitten by wait for it .. a horsefly and had gone into anaphalactic shock. Felt pretty pleased with myself when the paramedic told me i had saved his life by my actions.All a bit surreal and the maddest thing of all was he came back and camped that night!! but now has to carry a pen thing where ever he goes. one very scary and wierd day.

Scary thing is anyone can develop a anaphylactic shock to something they were once immune to.... Epi-pen's are a good addition to a first aid kit

[big_swede]

Scaldered hands was kind of messy, skin loosening and everything. A big gashing wound on the thumb muscle was another messy affair, thank god for strips. That's the worst I've encountered in the bush, if we're talking more civilian stuff I had to attend a big burn on my back, sized as three of my palms, that was really bad, needed some medical attention, spent two days in the hospital for that one. I have set my nose once when it got smashed. Numerous cuts in eyebrows, hairlines, under the chin (thaiboxing can be messy at times, luckily I never got cut, but me club mates have). Once scraped the whole side of my thigh when I crashed on my road bike. Hmm, and once I gave cpr to a drunk outside a bar, that was absurd, a crowd formed a ring around the poor fella, but they just stood there, nobody lifted a finger, really infuriating.

[geordienemisis]

Well done mate as ever quick thinking saves lives. All the training in the world goes out the window when dealing with live hands on casualty. One of the hardest things is to stop yourself running around like a Tw@. Again well done.

[ex member mick sturbs]

Thanks big swede, didnt know you could buy them ! one on order as we speak not cheap though 49.99 and only 8-10 month shelf life , but no exageration it could save a life .

Geordienemisis , thanks for kind words , i just went into auto pilot, he kept saying i will be allright in a minute, good job i ignored him . as i said bit wierd but didnt really hit me until paramedics/nurses were doing their brilliant stuff.

[Ivan Owen]

[QUOTE=southey;840040]everything seems to happen to my right side,

I know what you mean, for me its my left hand; it's like a pit stop for sharp saw blades, glass, soldering irons, dog's teeth, other peoples feet one and one time whilst feeding a big chipper my cuff got caught on a big branch and i had to yank it out to stop myself losing it; got nasty scrape form another sticky out bit of the branch but i kept my hand!
I despise those machines; always feels like such a waste some of the nice wood i've had to put through there.

[bojit]

In the early 90s i was staying overnight in a mountain bothy in glen dessary on my way to knoydart.

I decided to go look for some fire wood without my boots on, so down by the river i spotted some on the other side .

Half way back over with a good load of wood in my pack
i slipped of a rock and hit my ankle sending me face down in the river.
I limped back and got the fire going to dry off and put my foot up.

The next morning i just got my boot on and set of towards fort william .
from the bothy to the main road is 23 miles along loch arkaig.
I managed to get a lift from there to the hospital in fort william .

So after an overnight stay and a nice new plaster and a pair of crutches i was off down to the station for a train home . I had broken a bone in my ankle and still manged to walk for a day .

So what did i learn from this , walking with crutches and a 35lb pack is dam hard .

Craig............

[John Fenna]

So what did i learn from this , walking with crutches and a 35lb pack is dam hard .

Craig............

Try coming back from the South of France with a 120 liter rucksack, a 100 liter tote bag, a daysack, 2 canoe paddles, a canoe pole, 2 crutches and a leg encased in a groin to ankle support with ally struts....as I said - my knee still dislocates now and then....

[xairbourne]

Getting married still hurts to his day...lol

[SimonD]

i hit myself in the ankle with an axe. chipped and exposed the bone and was off work for around 6 weeks. didn't hurt as much as my ego did tho, felt like a right t*t

[bojit]

Try coming back from the South of France with a 120 liter rucksack, a 100 liter tote bag, a daysack, 2 canoe paddles, a canoe pole, 2 crutches and a leg encased in a groin to ankle support with ally struts....as I said - my knee still dislocates now and then....

Your ok John i think i will give that one a miss ! Dosn't sound like much fun.

I'm off to take pictures os some scars.

Craig...................

[Man of Tanith]

Think my worst injury was nervous breakdown.
basically everything stressful happened at once
left one job working as a care worker to become a tree surgeons labourer, the safe afternoon i told the agency to shove off i got a call saying dont leave its fallen through, bit late by then!
split up with ex at same time period, tried to start a business doing garden work, stopped eating properly stopped lseeping properly, started self medicating heavily(certain herb)
ended up being taken to the local psych hospital and spent six weeks in there getting treatment and another year and half off work whislt the medication worked on me then a slow return to work at part time hours then increased hours slightly and now been full time for over a year.

long term effects? the medication i was on increased my appetite so i ballooned from 9st to 16 st so weight loss was a nightmare, i am now at a healthy 12.5 stone although if not careful or have an inactive period it creeps up quite fast.
i still sweat like i did when i was 16st which isn't pleasent.
I am more aware of the dangers of stress which is one of the reasons i get out in the woods whenever i can to destress.

I lost a lot of so called friends and had to deal with the negative comments/behaviour of people when the words nervous breakdown are mentioned.

[markie*mark0]

Think my worst injury was nervous breakdown.
basically everything stressful happened at once
left one job working as a care worker to become a tree surgeons labourer, the safe afternoon i told the agency to shove off i got a call saying dont leave its fallen through, bit late by then!
split up with ex at same time period, tried to start a business doing garden work, stopped eating properly stopped lseeping properly, started self medicating heavily(certain herb)
ended up being taken to the local psych hospital and spent six weeks in there getting treatment and another year and half off work whislt the medication worked on me then a slow return to work at part time hours then increased hours slightly and now been full time for over a year.

long term effects? the medication i was on increased my appetite so i ballooned from 9st to 16 st so weight loss was a nightmare, i am now at a healthy 12.5 stone although if not careful or have an inactive period it creeps up quite fast.
i still sweat like i did when i was 16st which isn't pleasent.
I am more aware of the dangers of stress which is one of the reasons i get out in the woods whenever i can to destress.

I lost a lot of so called friends and had to deal with the negative comments/behaviour of people when the words nervous breakdown are mentioned.

What doesn't break you makes you stonger..... you now know who your true friends are, you also know the stress isn't worth the hassle. Afterall you work to live, not live to work...

[Ivan Owen]

Sympathies man of tanith, have had similar experiences myself; i wouldnt be surprised if that medicinal herb has had a hand in sending a lot of us back to the woods to recover.

[Man of Tanith]

i wouldnt either. its not as fun as it seemed i must admit.i was 23/24 when it happended and apparently it is a common age for men to experience mental health issues.
the scariest thing about mental health problems is that insanity seems like a more clear way of thinking.
but my time off did lead me to surfing the net and stumbling on here and getting out and about in the woods more so its not all bad,

[Ivan Owen]

Aye i've considered myself 'out of the woods' (for lack of a better phrase) for about six months now and i'm only 18; seems weird as i feel like an old man by now. Part of my interest in bushcraft still stems from my old conviction that the apocalypse is just round the corner.

As markie says; what doesn't kill you.

[toilet digger]

from the age of 14 i have been a bit clumsy

ulna and radius snapped, jaw dislocated - didn't do the wheel nuts up on the front wheel of my bmx
fractured ulna, snapped scaphiod - playing bulldog
seperated sternum - fell off my bike
3 broken ribs - an armchair was thrown. to be fair i did throw one first.
broken ankle - jumped off a small retaining wall
broken toe - judo
2 snapped tarsals in my hand - trying to punch the lights out of an opposition flanker. (he blew me a kiss and carried on playing)
snapped fibia - rugby
most of my fingers broken - rugby
thumbs dislocate at will - rugby
ended up in hospital with a suspected broken neck - rugby

long term effects, possibly brain damage cos i'm still playing rugby.

[ex member mick sturbs]

Well manoftanith , hats off to you sir , a brave man indeed ,the stigma still attached to mental health issues are appalling , if you or somebody close to you has never suffered from stress/panic attacks/palpitations/ then you are very lucky . it takes weeks/ months to manifest itself and by the time you are at your wits end and either seek help from desperation , or are helped by worried friends /relatives etc, its not an over night recovery and as you have said the self medication of weed or alcohol or both, have to be stopped before the climb begins. it takes a minimum of 8 weeks for prescription drugs to have an effect and they are not a cure only assist. if you are very lucky and the gp you get has an understanding or perhaps strong interest in stress/ depression etc it can take even longer ,anyway i will shut up now glad you are well ,and top marks for raising the issue. When your arm is broken you know where you stand weeks in plaster maybe an op bit of phisio you understand. But when you think you are going mad you struggle to get to grips with it. sorry if i have ranted