Clinical notes--skip it if you're squeamish
Used yarrow tincture (achillea millefolium) tincture to help a friend recover from major dental surgery--extraction of all four wisdom teeth under general anaesthesia. The bleeding hadn't stopped about an hour post-surgery, and it was the typical mouth/head wound Super Gory Funtime mess of bright red arterial blood in copious amounts. The aftercare information we'd gotten from the oral surgeon was that if bleeding didn't stop, fold up some gauze, shove it in there, and bite down. We did that, but we liberally doused each gauze pad with yarrow tincture. I would have preferred a very strong decoction of yarrow instead of the tincture, but it was what we had and I wasn't about to take the time to decoct something.
Worked like a freakin' charm. Even with the gauze packs being spit out twice and the whole "bite down hard for an hour" advice being pretty much utterly disregarded (individual was still extremely groggy from surgery and did not quite get "BITE DOWN, DAMMIT!", and just kept spitting the packs out as soon as they got bloody), the bleeding was curtailed entirely in minutes, after two sets of yarrow-soaked gauze packs were inserted and then spit out. The spitting out wasn't part of the plan, but in a groggy, boggy post-surgical haze I can't really blame anybody for not following instructions. Yarrow, of course, is THE wound herb of choice in many cases. It's a good styptic, as well as being anti-inflammatory and antiseptic. So, yeah. Good shit for this sort of situation.
Of course, we also pre-loaded before surgery with homeopathic arnica, and HELLS YEAH we loaded up on the ibuprofen and amoxicillin the doc prescribed--one of the roots had pierced the upper sinus, so the ABX were needed, but I'll be sure to check back in over the next couple of days to see if the swelling remains minimal and to ensure that the dreaded dry socket hasn't set in. 24 hours post-surgery, no added pain management had been necessary except for the ibuprofen (there is a vicodin script if needed), and there was no visible swelling or bruising. Of course, it's common for pain and swelling to get worse 48 hours after the surgery, so we'll see. I left with instructions to add yarrow tincture to the salt water rinses the doc had recommended, and the person I'm dealing with is typically very compliant, so I think there's a good shot of having a pretty unremarkable recovery.
Moral of the story: Herbs rock, and it's called "complementary medicine" for a reason.
Worked like a freakin' charm. Even with the gauze packs being spit out twice and the whole "bite down hard for an hour" advice being pretty much utterly disregarded (individual was still extremely groggy from surgery and did not quite get "BITE DOWN, DAMMIT!", and just kept spitting the packs out as soon as they got bloody), the bleeding was curtailed entirely in minutes, after two sets of yarrow-soaked gauze packs were inserted and then spit out. The spitting out wasn't part of the plan, but in a groggy, boggy post-surgical haze I can't really blame anybody for not following instructions. Yarrow, of course, is THE wound herb of choice in many cases. It's a good styptic, as well as being anti-inflammatory and antiseptic. So, yeah. Good shit for this sort of situation.
Of course, we also pre-loaded before surgery with homeopathic arnica, and HELLS YEAH we loaded up on the ibuprofen and amoxicillin the doc prescribed--one of the roots had pierced the upper sinus, so the ABX were needed, but I'll be sure to check back in over the next couple of days to see if the swelling remains minimal and to ensure that the dreaded dry socket hasn't set in. 24 hours post-surgery, no added pain management had been necessary except for the ibuprofen (there is a vicodin script if needed), and there was no visible swelling or bruising. Of course, it's common for pain and swelling to get worse 48 hours after the surgery, so we'll see. I left with instructions to add yarrow tincture to the salt water rinses the doc had recommended, and the person I'm dealing with is typically very compliant, so I think there's a good shot of having a pretty unremarkable recovery.
Moral of the story: Herbs rock, and it's called "complementary medicine" for a reason.