Is rubbing alcohol and anticoagulant

[hxtasy]

Question as stated. Just wondering because when i get cuts i put rubbing alcohol on it, but i have come to believe that that does not help the bleeding to stop.

 

[Moonbear]

You put alcohol on a cut to disinfect it, not to stop the bleeding. While you're cleaning a wound, you're physically washing away the clot, so it will continue bleeding until you stop messing with it (but in some cases, letting it bleed for a little while is beneficial for helping flush out any contaminants, as long as it's not so much that you're risking your health with blood loss).

 

[Danger]

I don't know about direct application to a wound, but I can tell you as an alcoholic that drinking alcohol (not the rubbing variety) thins the blood and will thus prolong bleeding.

 

[biophysics]

danger,

Do you know why drinking alcohol thins the blood, What is the mechanism? thanks

 

[hxtasy]

I also wondered why people say to drink alcohol when you are cold, i thought that was a myth and that you may feel warmer but because of the thinner blood it's actually bad for you. anyone know about this?

 

[DaveC426913]

Alcohol is a vasodilator. It causes your arteries to relax, increasing blood to your extremities and other non-survival-critical organs such as your stomach, making them flush with warmth.

This may make you feel better short-term, but it is actually a bad idea in principle. The reason your extremities are cold is because your body is shutting down blood-supply to non-core organs in an attempt to keep your core temperature stable. Losing core temp. is what will kill you, not frozen limbs.

Alcohol completely defeats this natural life-saving defense.

The upshot is that alocohol will only help you warm up if you are not in danger of suffering from hypothermia.