One thing I have long wondered about as an emergency treatment for snakebite.

Sugar and salt both have absorbing effects on certain things, esp moisture.

I believe salt is used for curing meats (I've never done it, my knowledge of the how-tos are very vague).

An older method of dealing with a uterine prolapse (inside out) of dairy cattle after/during giving birth was to cover the exposed uterus with quite a large amount of sugar, to shrink the organ enough so it could be put back into the cow.

It has occurred to me that if I were snake-bitten, with no help coming anytime soon, and I had a goodly amount of either salt or sugar at hand, I would try it: pile some on, wait a bit, scrape off any salt/sugar that had absorbed any moisture, then add more salt or sugar, and repeat.

I don't know how much good it would do, but I don't think it would do much harm, either.

This is just my own idea, I have never seen such a thing advocated online or anywhere else. I've seen quite a few snakebites, and the idea of just sitting there watching my leg or arm swell and turn red and then black as the skin dies just doesn't appeal very much.

Any thought on this idea from medical personnel? Good, bad, ineffective idea?

Sue