Hi,
I've seen a few references of using alcohol as a medicine, normally used as a disinfectant for wounds and mild pain relief for the patient.
I know alcohol can react to some medicines and should be used with caution, but is there a particular type of alcolhol that should be used (whiskey / vodka etc.), or do they all do the same thing? Perhaps one is more suitable due to being less sticky for wound cleaning or something, I just don't know, so your advise on this would be very appreciate.
Many thanks in advance for your replys
Regards
Paul
Using alcohol in medicine
Re: Using alcohol in medicine
I think there are two separate issues here.
Alcohol to drink as a pain killer. Not much use and you can only use ethanol which is present in whisky at 40% ABV ( well 60% if you use cask strength). How you use it is a personal thing.
Alcohol as a cleaner / antiseptic. Medical alcohol is 70% isopropyl alcohol and is definitely not for drinking! It is not used for wound cleansing but was used for skin prep before putting in a drip or surgical incision. These days the standard cleaner is chlorhexidine in 70% isopropyl alcohol. The alternative was betadine ( which is iodine based) as either an alcohol or water based solution.
For wound cleansing it is the cleaning that is the key not the antiseptic properties. Also alcohol hurts and damages tissues so aqueous solutions of chlorhexidine are used to clean a wound. How useful beyond simple soap and water is open to debate.
Medically alcohol has two uses in an emergency . First it is an antidote to methanol and antifreeze poisoning ( not very effective as you need to get them really drunk for a long time). The other use is if someone gets delirium tremens ( alcohol withdrawal) and there is no alternative then it will help.
By the way methylated spirits is a mix of methanol ( highly toxic) and ethanol.
Regards
Appin
Alcohol to drink as a pain killer. Not much use and you can only use ethanol which is present in whisky at 40% ABV ( well 60% if you use cask strength). How you use it is a personal thing.
Alcohol as a cleaner / antiseptic. Medical alcohol is 70% isopropyl alcohol and is definitely not for drinking! It is not used for wound cleansing but was used for skin prep before putting in a drip or surgical incision. These days the standard cleaner is chlorhexidine in 70% isopropyl alcohol. The alternative was betadine ( which is iodine based) as either an alcohol or water based solution.
For wound cleansing it is the cleaning that is the key not the antiseptic properties. Also alcohol hurts and damages tissues so aqueous solutions of chlorhexidine are used to clean a wound. How useful beyond simple soap and water is open to debate.
Medically alcohol has two uses in an emergency . First it is an antidote to methanol and antifreeze poisoning ( not very effective as you need to get them really drunk for a long time). The other use is if someone gets delirium tremens ( alcohol withdrawal) and there is no alternative then it will help.
By the way methylated spirits is a mix of methanol ( highly toxic) and ethanol.
Regards
Appin