A first aid question regarding foxglove?
I am a Boy scout and I am in the wilderness alot. I had heard a rumor about the toxic plant called foxglove. I had heard that, while eating part of it will probably stop your heart, eating or swallowing it with a stopped heart will restart your heart. I realize that this is not a common practice, but I wanted to expand my knowledge on the subject so I can Be Prepared if ever a specific situation might require me to preform first aid when no hospital or registered doctor is available. I do not have CPR certification.
Public Comments
1. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Digitalis
http://www.drugs.com/enc/foxglove-poisoning.html
http://www.ehow.com/how_4449897_treat-foxglove-poisoning.html
check these links for information on foxglove
2. As part of the first aid merit badge you should be getting CPR certified. Also as a troop all the scouts should go through the training and I am surprised you haven't. Shame on your scoutmaster.
first aid merit badge requirements
http://www.usscouts.org/usscouts/mb/mb008.asp
Fox glove or Digitalis is a weed plant and is not really a problem unless you eat it. And again with the proper planning you won't be consuming any in your meals. The Scout manual covers edible plants so don't venture into anything that you don't know what it is.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Digitalis#Toxicity
3. Digitalis......I got them in my garden, bumble bees love them and spend their evenings if overloaded with pollen in side of a closed up flower. They are beautiful and grow proficiantly in the pacific north west where I live......Digitalis is used to make heart medicine and is deadly if ingested but under proper conditions given by some one wise in herbology can be used as a homiopathic remedy along with what are known as other poisonous plants...........dont eat it OK?
willow bark especially red willow is what asperine is made from and works like alcohol as a blood thinner ......I guess it helps head aches and fever.......that you can make a tea from but sip sparingly as it will chew your stomach up.....I know !