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Please read our Golden Rules of self help before considering the information on this page.
Nasty Creatures
What do you do if you get bitten by a seriously poisonous creature?
For many of the really serious foes such as brown snake, Funnel web or
Blue ring octopus you MUST seek medical attention as soon as possible.
But that is exactly the problem, many of us love to get away from it
all and from civilisation on their holidays and this is precisely where
a lot of dangerous nasties reside. So what do you do? Do you stay home?
Have no fear, Granny is here to help with those dangerous foes until
you can get to a medical practitioner.
SNAKES
Snakes always had a bad profile until recently when they have had better P.R. Unfortunately that means that a lot of people are becoming a little too much “oh! Snakes are a creature of Mother Nature, aren't they beautiful” and they get a little too close. Sure snakes are creatures of Mother Nature as much as koalas and honey gliders, you just need to respect them a hell of a lot more! Some of the most poisonous snakes in the world are found in Australia. It is worthwhile learning about them at your library or on the net and it is very important to dispel a lot of myths that can get you killed.
So what do you do if you have a close encounter with one of those beautiful slimy creatures of Mother Nature?
What Not To Do:
You cut the bite and you suck the poison out and you apply a
tourniquet and then you leg it to the nearest poison centre, like they
do in the movies right? WRONG! You do not do any of those things .
Cutting not only gives more entry points for the poison but damaging
the tissue will make the wound harder to heal as well as inflict more
trauma to the victim. Applying a tourniquet will atop blood circulation
and cause more trauma to the area, moving about will cause the venom to
spread faster and sucking the poison, well that's just Hollywood
nonsense.
What To Do:
Don't wash the poison. They will need traces of it for identification –and the right anti-venom- once you get the victim to a hospital.
Apply pressure on the wound and bandage it. People don't exactly walk around the bush with a pocketful of bandages so make of whatever you have no hand: fold a hankie on top of the wound and a scarf to bandage it up. Cut the sleeve off a shirt if you have nothing else. Bandage as tight as possible but not too tight; here is the secret: you need to stop the venom from travelling through the lymphatic system (ie the glands) but you want the circulation to keep working.
Do NOT remove the bandage. This can only be done by professionals in a hospital who are going to apply the right treatment. Taking off the bandage will cause the venom to rush into the body FASTER. So, what happens if you are at the back of woop-woop in the middle of the bush, hours from the nearest hospital and on foot? Leave the bandage on, the longer the bandage stays on, the more the poison will break down and do it locally.
Next put a splint on to immobilise the leg or arm. STAY PUT. Send some one to get help, lie in the shade (not on a bull ants nest, please!) and try not to panic. Easier said than done? Think about it, the more you panic, the more adrenaline gets pumped into your body, and this will give the venom a great ‘lift' right through you. In order to stay calm go limp, don't move and concentrate on your breathing.
The hospital will treat you with anti-venom and other drugs and if you have followed the above procedure it is unlikely that you will die. However! What no one is aware of is that you can suffer from anti-venom and serum sickness. This happens all the time and is the side effect of all nasty poisonings. To recover from both the sickness and the cure please check out the “Get Well Soon” section on this page.
SPIDERS
The protocol for spider bites is very much the same as per snake bites:
- Apply pressure
- Bandage
- Immobilise
- Keep patient calm
In the case of a bite from a Red Back spider, do not apply too much pressure because the pain from the bite will be exacerbated. In the case of a Whitetail spider you will need to really concentrate on recovery because it is the aftermath of the bite that causes problems with this spider. (again check get well soon)
TICKED OFF!
These horrible creatures are definitely a mistake of Mother Nature's. What was she thinking? Pussy and Rover can die from a paralysis tick bite but you can get VERY sick from ANY tick bites and the symptoms are not only physical, such as pain, fever, listlessness as if you are victim to a weird disease but you also get emotional problems such as depression and anxiety.
The first thing to do when you find a tick is to NOT pull it out. Pulling it out makes it inject more venom thus worsening the results. Try and prize it out with a pair of tweezers as close as possible to your skin, hold and wiggle out. Another good thing to do is to lather it with metho, oil or Vaseline. Because insects breathe with their skins covering them with something greasy suffocates them, so they have to let go.
Once they are gone the problem starts. Aloe vera is always good to stop the itch also apply cold packs as soon as possible. Follow the direction in the Naturopath First Aid table and if you are really sensitive to them, you will also need to get into the ‘Get Well ‘ programme.
BEES, WASPS, ANTS AND OTHER CREEPY CRAWLIES
If a bee stings you, scrape the sting off the skin rather than pulling it out, again to avoid more poison getting in. If you are severely allergic to bee sting and you are going faraway from a chemist or an hospital, you should carry an Epipen ™ with you. This is an injection to prevent anaphylactic shock. Otherwise follow the instructions on the Naturopathic First Aid section.
Do the same for other insects. If you have not seen the beast that stung you, you should keep an eye on the condition of the patient, just in case it was a spider of the nasty type. In this case seek medical attention.
THE DEVILS IN THE DEEP BLUE SEA
Stonefish and Stingray
For all fish stings and Stingray stings immerse the limb in hot water, not too hot or you will cause tissue damage. If there is a lot of bleeding (with Stingray) apply a local pressure bandage (as per snake bite) and immerse limb in warm water.
If you have not had a tetanus injection for five years you must get one.
No hot water? Keep the limb and the patient as warm as possible until you can get some.
Blue Ring Octopus
Treat as per snakebites. Make sure the patient's breathing is unimpaired. Seek medical advice as soon as possible.
Box Jelly Fish
This is one for which household vinegar is very good. You must be generous with it and DOUSE the area affected. Soak a face cloth, or small towel and apply it on. If the sting is extensive (more than half a limb) apply the vinegared cloth and a pressure immobilisation bandage as per snakebites. Cold packs are really good.
Blue Bottle
There has been controversy of late about the use of vinegar in blue bottle sting, some authorities say that vinegar actually makes it worse. Presonally, I still use vinegar. Cold packs do help a lot and so does Aloe vera. Good old Calamine lotion, which you can get anywhere, also helps.
THE NATUROPATHIC FIRST AID
The following remedies are excellent to treat non-life threatening bites and sting but they also help considerably while you are waiting for the lift to take you to hospital. REMEMBER THAT MANY OF THESE NEED MEDICAL ATTENTION. However these remedies can really help: for instance this year one of my own bees stung me while we were moving them at night-time. To my horror I started a typical anaphylactic shock. We live three quarters of an hour from a hospital and as I said it was night-time. I immediately took some Ephedra herb, liquorice, homeopathic Apis and soak my hands and feet (which were swelling very rapidly in a bucket of vinegar. Saved!
Natural Remedies
Vinegar
Aloe vera gel
Lavender oil
Chamomile tea bags
Raw honey
Vitamin C powder
Real Liquorice extract
Pseudo-ephedrine (from your chemist)
Vinegar, Aloe vera and Lavender oil cut down the inflammatory process considerably. Use vinegar and Aloe vera, natural or in gel form, very generously. Lavender is also very soothing and calming to the nerves, put it straight on all insect bites and you can also have a couple of drops in sugar or honey or in a warm drink. Chamomile tea is also soothing to the nerves and you can use the wet tea bag as a compress on insect stings. Raw honey applied directly on the wound or sting is a fantastic natural antibiotics. It is particularly good for Whitetail spider wounds and on snakebites wounds AFTER the doctor has attended to them.
Vitamin C is a wonderful antioxidant but you need to take it in huge doses such as one level teaspoon of the powder in water or juice every hour for the first 3 or 4 hours, then cut down to three times a day. Vitamin C injections if you can, Liquorice is an adrenal gland support and will help your body make up natural steroids. But the liquorice of confectioneries is useless; you must get some real extract of liquorice from a herbalist or health food shop. Take 5 mls at the same time as the Vitamin C. Pseudo-ephedrine is not exactly a natural remedy; but until we can get the herb Ephedra again it will have to do. This is a good anti-histamine to cut down the worse reactions.
Homeopathic Remedies
The following remedies are also very good first aid. Again, there are not to substitute for medical treatment but they help and support the system. You can get them from homeopaths, health food shops and some pharmacists. It is very important that you get the potency of these remedies right. You ONLY want to get what is called 30C. Don't accept anything else.
Apis 30C and Arnica 30C are the two most useful remedies and should be easy to get. Apis is for beestings but is good for all insect bites. Take three drops immediately under the tongue and repeat every time it starts itching. Arnica is for trauma and bruises to tissue, good for serious bites and when there is pain. Also take three drops under the tongue and repeat every three hours.
You can also get Crotalus 30C for snake bites and Ledum 30C for spider poison. If you are going to a place where you know there are going to be lots of those creatures it might be a good thing to keep handy. Also use 3 drops under the tongue for the first five hours and then twice or three times a day.
GET WELL SOON
Once the shock has passed and you are out of danger, it is important to support your immune system. Anything that is life threatening or poisonous will be like a bomb thrown into your body; so you need to heal properly.
Rest and Recover
It is important to rest to get over the shock. If you got a bad ankle bite, don't go running for a while so you don't damage the tissue any further.
Build up your immune system
For a week to one month after the trauma (depending on its gravity) avoid junk food and alcohol, have lots of good food and the following supplements:
Vitamins C, E and A to support your immune system and repair tissue damage. You need to take hight dosages such as: 2000mg of C per day, 1000mg of E and 5000I.U. of A. After one month you can stop them or cut them down. You can also take herbs such as Echinacea and/or Withania for your immune system.
If you have any lasting effects make sure you consult with your naturopath and doctor.
For a personalised treatment please contact me here.
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