I just read two interesting and short articles (am I ADD? I - um- what was the question?) about keeping wounded soldiers alive when there are no conventional medical resources available. The article is here, on the The World site.
Two points --
If there's massive blood loss, and no facility to transfuse more in, addition of estrogen allows the body to tolerate the blood loss better -- and therefore stay alive longer.
If you need oxygen, and can't get it, perhaps you can reduce the need for oxygen -- it's known as 'oxygen tension', which I believe means 'how much oxygen is in a given quantity of blood'. Some experiments suggest that you can put an animal into a form of hibernation by giving them hydrogen sulfide instead of oxygen -- thus reducing the need, temporarily.
Fascinating stuff.
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