Jellyfish sting - delayed reaction?

[glbirch]

Two weeks ago in Cozumel, I took a hit from a jellyfish or something across the back of my hand. Immediate reaction, swelling, redness, pain, etc, lasted a couple of hours then faded away. But a week later back home the back of my hand erupted again in the same place with red welts that are taking days to fade away. Some research suggests that this is not unheard of. What I'm wondering is; first, is this a common occurence? And second, why does it happen? What would cause a reaction days after the initial sting?

[H2Andy]

i have read that symptom re-occurrance within the first month is not unheard of.
in some species, break outs happen for up to a year after the sting

it must be some property in the toxin that makes it "flare up" again. no idea what,
though, sorry

[Maya]

I have heard of this as well...happens with spider bites too, sometimes. Hope you get relief soon!

[COLDREDNECK]

My wife had the same thing happen in San Pedro , Belize last Feb . got her on the top lip. She had some swelling for a day or so then it went away. Came back a week after we were back. Doc told us that its the sting tips working themselves back out. I guess fire coral would be the same.

[MikeFerrara]

you might want to get it looked at cuz it might just be a plain old fashioned infection.

I just got back from the emergency room (I'm traveling) because of a wasp sting I got last Teusday. 2 hours after my battle with the enraged little bug and you couldn't tell I was ever stung. Yesterday it started itching and puffing up a little and this morning I woke with my eye swolled shut...the sting was in the eyebrow. Here I sit in a hotrel reading with one eye and eating antibiotics. LOL

[vladimir]

Some research suggests that this is not unheard of. What I'm wondering is; first, is this a common occurence?

From Dangerous Marine Creatures by Carl Edmonds M.D. re jellyfish stings:

"The skin reactions may be local, a mild prickly sensation developing immediately on contact, a severe burning or throbbing pain, local sweating, keloids, atrophy of underlying fat tissue, with delayed (5-30 days), recurrent, generalised or satellite (distal) lesions."

You are correct, this is not unheard of. The book (my copy is 10 years old) recommends hydrocortisone.

[PairofMedics]

This is only from personal experience but I've found hydrocortisone or meat tenderizer works for the local skin erruptions and benadryl works good for the swelling and Ibuprophen eases out the pain and some of the swelling. I've been stung by several types of local reef jellyfish and have suffered from several outbreaks/stings from sea lice or "seabather's eruption." Its been terribly painful for days, very itchy and the symptoms usually take about 2-3 weeks to subside. As mentioned before, reoccurance isn't uncommon at all and we see it alot down here in florida. If the pain or discomfort becomes too much to bear or the area looks unusually inflammed and hot to the touch or you start running a fever, have flu-like symptoms or are just worried, it wouldn't hurt to have a doctor take a look at you. It can develop an infection. Good luck and keep in mind that people who have bad reactions to sea-stings may only get worse with time (stings/exposures will result in worse reactions) or you may develop a resistance to them and notice the effects are less severe each time u'r exsposed

[katestewart26]

Interesting, I just did a search on google to try and find out what was wrong with my hand and if coincidentally I had something else wrong exactly where I had been stung by a jellyfish. What you described is exactly what happened to me. Sting on the back of the hand just before I got out of the water, turned a bit red, stung for a few hours, then seemed to go away. Now a week later at home, it has flared up and i now have welts covering the back of my hand where I was stung. Glad to know this is likely from the jellyfish and not something else.

[cesium62]

you might want to get it looked at cuz it might just be a plain old fashioned infection.

I just got back from the emergency room (I'm traveling) because of a wasp sting I got last Teusday. 2 hours after my battle with the enraged little bug and you couldn't tell I was ever stung. Yesterday it started itching and puffing up a little and this morning I woke with my eye swolled shut...the sting was in the eyebrow. Here I sit in a hotrel reading with one eye and eating antibiotics. LOL

Mike: It is normal for bee and wasp stings to get worse overnight. I recommend you: (1) stop eating antibiotics when no bacteria are involved, and (2) learn to read and get back to us when the wasp sting flares up after a week, a month, or a year which is what this particular thread is about.

[Duke Dive Medicine]

Mike: It is normal for bee and wasp stings to get worse overnight. I recommend you: (1) stop eating antibiotics when no bacteria are involved, and (2) learn to read and get back to us when the wasp sting flares up after a week, a month, or a year which is what this particular thread is about.

Cesium,

Welcome to Scubaboard. A couple of notes: first, your comment is insulting, and those types of posts typically get deleted by a moderator. If you're looking for a bit more edge, might I suggest you go to the forum entitled "The Pub"?

Second, if you'd have looked more carefully, you'd have seen that Mike was eating those antibiotics back in 2005. The post date is at the extreme left of the blue bar. I'm reminded of a saying about a pot and a kettle.

Third, and probably most importantly, unless you (a) have the appropriate medical credentials and (b) have personally examined a patient, it's imprudent at best to recommend that anyone discontinue a prescribed medication.

Regards,
DDM