Yesterday I was taking pictures on the Black Bart out of Panama City, FL.
Conditions were *perfect* - calm seas, warm water, great vis, nearly no current.
I was trying to capture the perfect blenny picture, and I reached over and gently grabbed an apparently empty railing with my ungloved left hand to steady myself - I didn't look on the far side of the rail first.
I noticed a tiny sting on the back of my middle finger and assumed a passing jellyfish tentacle had landed, so I ignored it.
About a minute later I noticed that not only was the little sting getting "bigger" but that my index and ring finger were stinging. That's when I took a look at the hand and there were three complete patches of fireworm bristles sticking out of each of the three fingers... nine patches of about 20 hairs each! I quickly picked the hairs out as best I could. I was beginning a grand adventure into the efficacy of the "don't touch" advice.
Within about ten minutes, the fingers were feeling like I'd stuck them into some hot coals. By the time I got back on the boat, they felt like they were both on fire and had been smashed by a healthy hammer blow too!
Vinegar? No help
Meat tenderizer? No help
Ammonia? No help
Heat? AAARRRRRGGGHHHHH! No, no, no....*
Ice! got it down from an 8 to a 4 (on the 1 - 10 scale, where 10 is "pass out immediately" pain - 8 is "I can still talk, but just barely").
Long story short... 8 hours of ice for a minute every 5 minutes until the between ice sessions pain was tolerable enough to let it wear off. Pain got down to the "I can sleep with that and two APAP" about 12 hours after the sting. This morning there's only a mild tingle left, so hopefully I won't have any relapses (though I hear that's possible with fire worms).
Oh, by the way, other than the fire worm the dives were great! Jewfish, octopus, barracuda, baitballs, ocelated frogfish, polkadot batfish, the usual mob, fantastic!
Rick (Dummy of the Day)
*when I got through to DAN they assured me that heat helps lots of folks - but they also told me that if ice worked for me I should keep that routine up as the only real treatment for a fireworm is time.
Conditions were *perfect* - calm seas, warm water, great vis, nearly no current.
I was trying to capture the perfect blenny picture, and I reached over and gently grabbed an apparently empty railing with my ungloved left hand to steady myself - I didn't look on the far side of the rail first.
I noticed a tiny sting on the back of my middle finger and assumed a passing jellyfish tentacle had landed, so I ignored it.
About a minute later I noticed that not only was the little sting getting "bigger" but that my index and ring finger were stinging. That's when I took a look at the hand and there were three complete patches of fireworm bristles sticking out of each of the three fingers... nine patches of about 20 hairs each! I quickly picked the hairs out as best I could. I was beginning a grand adventure into the efficacy of the "don't touch" advice.
Within about ten minutes, the fingers were feeling like I'd stuck them into some hot coals. By the time I got back on the boat, they felt like they were both on fire and had been smashed by a healthy hammer blow too!
Vinegar? No help
Meat tenderizer? No help
Ammonia? No help
Heat? AAARRRRRGGGHHHHH! No, no, no....*
Ice! got it down from an 8 to a 4 (on the 1 - 10 scale, where 10 is "pass out immediately" pain - 8 is "I can still talk, but just barely").
Long story short... 8 hours of ice for a minute every 5 minutes until the between ice sessions pain was tolerable enough to let it wear off. Pain got down to the "I can sleep with that and two APAP" about 12 hours after the sting. This morning there's only a mild tingle left, so hopefully I won't have any relapses (though I hear that's possible with fire worms).
Oh, by the way, other than the fire worm the dives were great! Jewfish, octopus, barracuda, baitballs, ocelated frogfish, polkadot batfish, the usual mob, fantastic!
Rick (Dummy of the Day)
*when I got through to DAN they assured me that heat helps lots of folks - but they also told me that if ice worked for me I should keep that routine up as the only real treatment for a fireworm is time.
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