# Remedies for that GI Bleed/Rotting Flesh Scent on calls



## 74restore (May 23, 2013)

So I am curious to hear what others have to say about this topic regarding scents on calls, and how to avoid losing your lunch over them. 

I have heard of people putting a little bit of Vicks under their nose, or chewing mints/gum. 

Anyone think they have the ultimate solution to avoiding that particular smell on calls?

and what's the worst you have smelled on a call and why?


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## shfd739 (May 23, 2013)

Mint gum helps me a little. 

No way to avoid it so you have to deal with it.


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## NomadicMedic (May 23, 2013)

A little Vicks spread inside your N95 mask works pretty well.

And I don't think I need to talk about what the worst smell was…  it was pretty horrible.  'Nuff said.


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## CritterNurse (May 23, 2013)

We keep a tin of vicks on our ambulance for calls like that. I've never experienced it since I completely lost my sense of smell when I was little. There have been a few times where I missed a rather ripe call, and got asked by other responders where I was, since they could have used my ability to get close to the patient without gagging.


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## Av8or007 (May 23, 2013)

Nebulized bicarb?


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## Ecgg (May 23, 2013)

You are not a true EMT if you don't embrace the aroma of a melanotic stool. N95? Vics? May I see that card?


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## NomadicMedic (May 23, 2013)

Oh, this was much worse than a GI bleed. Much, much worse. 

Let me just say this... It was summer and over 100 degrees. Removing the body took a crew of 10, on air, with a backhoe. Then the house was demolished.


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## chaz90 (May 23, 2013)

Ewwww...My worst has been a DOA in a hot tub and a case of Fournier's Gangrene. I often have mints or gum ready for anticipated nasty calls (GI Bleeds, some nursing homes, DOAs dependent on the dispatch), but they weren't even close to cutting it on those two.


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## lightsandsirens5 (May 23, 2013)

I have tried that vics, and gum, and all kinds of stuff. The best thing is an SCBA.....

And yea, my worst was similar to DE's call. After a tornado under the debris, during the summer. Tyvek suits and SCBAs work wonders.


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## jgreenemtp (May 31, 2013)

Something that works for me and is a little more soothing than cramming Vicks up your nostril....Single use coffee packs, the kind you get in the hotel rooms work well for most smells that make me want to lose my lunch. If you like coffee, they're pleasant and don't require you to shove globby stuff up your nose or in a mask. 
For those of you who work either FW or RW air ambulance it's nice also because you can hand the coffee filter up to the pilots so they can get a whiff of the good stuff.


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## Wheel (May 31, 2013)

jgreenemtp said:


> Something that works for me and is a little more soothing than cramming Vicks up your nostril....Single use coffee packs, the kind you get in the hotel rooms work well for most smells that make me want to lose my lunch. If you like coffee, they're pleasant and don't require you to shove globby stuff up your nose or in a mask.
> For those of you who work either FW or RW air ambulance it's nice also because you can hand the coffee filter up to the pilots so they can get a whiff of the good stuff.



Coffee smell also clears your palette, allowing you to get rid of the residual smells in your nose. That's why they often keep coffee grounds around perfume counters in department stores, so you can smell one, clear the smell, and be able to smell another.


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## NomadicMedic (May 31, 2013)

And why there are often a couple of coffee packs hanging in airplane lavs. A trick told to me by a FA friend.


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## Handsome Robb (May 31, 2013)

My nose sucks. FD and partners base how bad something smells but if I can smell it or not. 

Coffee grounds work. 

I don't like the smell of Vicks plus its designed to open up your nasopharynx....kinda counterproductive of you're tying to keep a smell out.

We have the nosebleed nose pincher thingys...they could work pretty well, never seen someone use them though


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## Handsome Robb (May 31, 2013)

DEmedic said:


> Oh, this was much worse than a GI bleed. Much, much worse.
> 
> Let me just say this... It was summer and over 100 degrees. Removing the body took a crew of 10, on air, with a backhoe. Then the house was demolished.



No thanks.

That's where firemedics shine


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## Fire51 (May 31, 2013)

There's not to much you can do to get rid of the smells completely but all these trick iam sure helps. I still remember walking into a house and smelling my first real bad GI bleed, it was pretty shocking at first. But bodies that are not found till weeks later can be even worse. I have a lot of family in emergency work and have heared lot of stories about this.


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## mrg86 (Jun 2, 2013)

When I was doing OR airway time this year we had a kid with a lower GI obstruction, apparently you need to shuck sunflower seeds before you eat them. Anyway, the anesthesiologist handed me a bottle of wintergreen flavoring to put in my mask, the stuff worked great and left me craving some gum.


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## Dan216 (Jun 13, 2013)

I haven't had a really nasty call yet, just a mild GI bleed. 

I always thought rubbing a little deoderant under your nose would be good though..


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## hogwiley (Jun 13, 2013)

I agree with the coffee grounds.

Working a few years as a hospital PCT on different units have left me almost immune to bad smells though. Ever taken care of a morbidly obese continuously incontinent bed ridden patient with a GI bleed AND C diff for 12 straight hours? 

How about when you have a patient with a GI bleed in one room, another with an SBO and NG tube draining the backed up contents(I always feel so bad for those people, especially when its like a teenage girl who is almost hysterical over their situation), a patient or two with an ostomy you have to continually empty, a diabetic with gangrenous feet, and a couple new admits right off the streets who haven't bathed in months, and a couple surgicals with JP drains all in the same shift....Welcome to Med/Surg, where your olfactory bulbs go to die. Although a bad GI bleed can sometimes cancel out all the other smells.

But I agree a decomposing human body can be in a different category altogether, that can be a smell you can never get used to. It doesn't take long for them to start smelling either. In the hospital there have been occasions where a body was left in a room for a while because some family wanted to come and see it, and by the time the funeral home comes or you bring it down to the morgue its already getting pretty bad.


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