6. Questions & Answers
I'm confused. First you say that first aid may be the last aid a person needs. Then you say that sometimes emergency surgery could be necessary. What I want to know is when do you go to the hospital and when can you stay at home and treat an injury yourself?
A visit to a hospital or any type of surgery could be in itself a life-threatening episode. If you sincerely feel that your life is in danger, that your condition is deteriorating, and that your own efforts are not enough, then by all means seek additional help! There are some things that the medical profession is helpful for such as setting broken bones and stitching ruptured arteries.
As a general rule, seek additional help when the mechanical injuries done to your body are so great that the body (itself cannot effect a repair without some aid. In other words, you must get the condition of the body stable and whole to start the healing process. If the body is stable, sound, and suffers no major mechanical injury, then do not worry about additional help or aid.
You say no drugs. But when I broke my leg, I wanted a pain killer! Aren't anesthetics okay at times like that?
We have to be practical about this sort of thing. Sometimes it would be impossible to set a bone or repair a major injury without some type of pain killer. If the anesthetic is only given initially while the repair is being made, then it would seem that the advantage would outweigh the disadvantage. If, however, you take pain pills after the operation as a regular course of action, or continue to receive injections to deaden you, then that is drug abuse.
Anesthetics are not given to speed up healing or to "cure" anything. They are used (or should be used) as a temporary, one-time measure during a crisis.
A normal, healthy, and whole body would never need injections or drugs of any kind. An injured broken body is not normal, and while the repair is being made a mild anesthetic may be a practical necessity.
I would also strongly suggest investigating acupuncture as an alternative for anesthetic drugs during surgery or repair. A properly-trained acupuncturist (and there are many more nowadays) can deaden nerve paths more safely than drugs for emergency surgery and repair. Acupuncture and acupressure are techniques for distressing a nerve center to induce brain secretion of its endorphins (endogenous morphine).