Wasp stings

[Porkbrick]

There is an herb called plantain (plantago major) that grows all over the place down here. If you break off a leaf and chew it up, then plaster it on the sting, it helps to reduce the swelling and pain. One of my daughters was stung last year on the arm and swelled up something awful. A few months later she was stung on the finger/hand. Her sister grabbed a leaf or two of plantain, chewed it up and put it on the sting, then covered it with a bandage. By the time I got home from work, she couldn't even find where it had stung her. It might not work for everyone, but I use it whenever I'm stung. The plantain looks sort of like turnip greens and they grow everywhere it seems. They pop up in my wife's flower beds regularly.

i was taught to use the same method for stinging nettles. it works great. yellow dock seems to work as well.

 

[treesmith]

i was taught to use the same method for stinging nettles. it works great. yellow dock seems to work as well.

You chew up part of the stinging nettle? Yeesh! Seems that would be nearly as bad as the sting itself.

 

[Porkbrick]

ha ha, no, i use the plantain for the nettle stings. i DO eat nettles tho, if you boil them it takes the sting out. you really know if they aren't cooked enough!

 

[treesmith]

Ah, gotcha. I knew stinging nettle had several uses, just thought you meant it was like plantain in relieving stings.

 

[Porkbrick]

i have read that roman soldiers used to flog themselves with it to keep warm. i cant imagine.

 

[treesmith]

I'd rather flog someone else with it to stay warm. If you flogged the right guy, you'd stay fairly warm running from him.

 

[CurSedVoyce]

no chit !

 

[Paul B]

I have one of these in the glovebox, didnt bother to try to use it for the wasp sting though, more of an attempt for minimizing reaction to bee stings.

I have one of these in the first aid kit in the truck, you never know if it will be useful!At the very least it will give you a hella welt. lol

 

[gf beranek]

Would hate to have to use it, but....

 

[woodworkingboy]

I carry one of these. Used it once so far but still got swelling. You have to be quick before the poison spreads out. Maybe it was ineffective, or kept me from dying, there is no way to tell.

 

[Burnham]

Paul, I think the current thinking by ER physicians is that that type of treatment for snake bite does more harm than good.

 

[MasterBlaster]

I'm thinking it's the application of the tourniquet that concerns them. Most people tighten too much and cut off blood circulation; all you need is too stop the lymphatic system, which lies right under the skin. Just a slight tightening with a shoestring is enough.

Most people don't know that...

 

[Paul B]

Burnham, I didnt know that, is it the suction deal or the tourniquet deal as MB suggests that is the treatment in question? We dont have any snakes where I live but if I head to the interior of the province there are areas with rattlers.

 

[MasterBlaster]

The suction's harmless.

 

[Burnham]

But the cutting isn't.

 

[MasterBlaster]

Yea, I wasn't on about the cutting. I've never like that plan.

 

[stig]

If you want to start cutting, cut the whole affected limb off, fast.
That'll save you.

 

[gf beranek]

And apply tourniquet.

 

[Burnham]

Yea, I wasn't on about the cutting. I've never like that plan.

Since that's an integral part of the technique that Paul's kit advocates, I figure it's all of a single piece. But you are right, if you ignore the instructions included, leave out the cutting, don't bother with the suction, then it's not gonna make things worse.

But at that point I can't see any value to having the kit, myself.

 

[treesmith]

What about the shock treatments for snakebite? Anyone have any experience with that? (Or know someone who has?) I first read about it back in the mid-eighties. I've read pro and con, though. Might be worth a shot, if the situation was dire enough.

 

[gf beranek]

I remember seeing those snake bite kits when I was a kid. You could get them at any sporting retailer or mail order, out of a field and stream magazine. By the 80's the word was that the cutting and sucking of a snake bite wound didn't amount to any benefit for the victim at all.

I never been snake bite, but I can tell stories of some real close encounters.

 

[wiley_p]

What about the shock treatments for snakebite? Anyone have any experience with that? (Or know someone who has?) I first read about it back in the mid-eighties. I've read pro and con, though. Might be worth a shot, if the situation was dire enough.

It can work on the enzymes in some venom. I saw my old man do it after getting tagged by a rattler. Funny, I was hoping we were going to go home early that day, instead he holds the damn coil wire off the crummy on his leg and has one of the guys cranking the ignition. What do we do? back at it for another 6 or 7 hours of grinding.

 

[treesmith]

My dad was bitten by a copperhead when he was young. He was barefoot down in the pasture. It bit him behind the ankle and he ran all the way home. He was the local doctor's first snakebite victim.

 

[Porkbrick]

If you want to start cutting, cut the whole affected limb off, fast.
That'll save you.

i watched a show about werner herzog a while back. one of his movies, Fitzcarraldo, was filmed in the amazon. they hired locals to clear a swath of timber through the jungle. these guys work in shorts, and no shoes. one guy got bit by a snake he knew to be fatally venomous, and that he had only minutes. so, he put a tourniquet on the leg, fired up his chainsaw and cut it off. he survived.

 

[Rborist1]

When I was down in Texas many moons ago, I accidentally whipped a rattler while trimming the lawn around the house I was staying at with a line trimmer. Nothing like getting a rattler angry at you. I was very fortunate not to get tagged by that snake. The next time that I used the line trimmer I made sure to wear shin guards and heavy boots. Venomous snakes are nothing to mess around with.