Sea Urchin treatment (got stung)

[miketsp]

Impressive post miketsp! Great information.

Now hold on; here was I about to send a link to DAN's article about Sea-urchins (http://diversalertnetwork.org/medical/faq/faq.asp?faqid=93)
but seeing it I realise that miketsp has just lifted the entire page and is parading it around as his own work. I don't know about you, mike, but where I come from that's called plagiarism. You should be ashamed of yourself. Cite your references.

My ankle took a couple of spines once in Thailand and it swelled up to twice normal size yet other times when I took them elsewhere nothing happened....

First, I said I wasn't a doctor so obviously was not claiming that this was any professional opinion.
Second, I did not just lift this off one source.
When there is a single source for material it is my custom just to publish a link as you will see in many of my other posts.

Very little of what is on the Internet is original.
What I published is a collection from more than 4 different sources including some course notes from some time ago.
The DAN page itself is also an extraction from another article which in turn has paragraphs from other pages, some of which are identical, others aren't.

Some of the paragraphs you will find on multiple web sites - I just checked using Google. Others you will not.

PS: I was not aware of the DAN page until your post, nor the name of the original author of the article - Paul S. Auerbach, M.D., M.S.
Pieces of this article appear with small variations on many other sites without reference to the author.

 

[The Kraken]

Stueyindeep,

WHO CARES !?!?!?!?

Hopefully he helped someone solve a minor medical problem.

 

[CuriousMe]

Stueyindeep,

Another method is to apply melted wax to your injury (use caution), allow the wax to set, and then peel it off to remove the tiny spines. .

Another way to accomplish this without the heat is use the cold wax kits that women use to wax their legs.

No muss, no fuss, no scalding yourself with wax

Peace,
Cathie

 

[StueyinDeep]

Another way to accomplish this without the heat is use the cold wax kits that women use to wax their legs.

Now that's golden. Another reason to take the wife on my dive trips!!

(Just kidding; she's a dive pro too! )

 

[Foo]

Impressive post miketsp! Great information.

Now hold on; here was I about to send a link to DAN's article about Sea-urchins (http://diversalertnetwork.org/medical/faq/faq.asp?faqid=93)
but seeing it I realise that miketsp has just lifted the entire page and is parading it around as his own work. I don't know about you, mike, but where I come from that's called plagiarism. You should be ashamed of yourself. Cite your references.

QUOTE]

Not once while I was reading miketsp's post, did I think that he had created all that technical info by himself, nor did it seem as if he were trying to pass it off as such. It was obvious medical information derived from another source, some of it fairly common knowledge, and some of it new to me. My point is, that I don't feel that he was attempting to fool anyone into thinking that this was his original work. I, on the other hand, appreciated the fact that someone took the time to compile/copy the info and share it with us. Most of us occasionally do a Google search to find info to support a post, there's really not that much new under the sun, is there?

Foo

 

[StueyinDeep]

miketsp said:
First, I said I wasn't a doctor blah blah

Foo said:
Not once blah blah blah

Before miketsp's defence gets out of hand; my apologies. As you can see from my stats on the left there I am relatively new to the SB forums and, apparently, unwise to the intricacies of the posting system here. I shall make sure that I read a lot more before I hasten to make another post.
In my defense I can only say that during my education I was taught that sources needed to be referenced and that the author of any piece of work that contradicted this rule was guilty of plagirism; that the author was passing off the work as his own.

Next time I shall ask where the information came from before I flame and will be grateful when posters cite it.

Apologies again.

Stuey

 

[Rick Murchison]

That's enough discussion on plagiarism...
Here is the DAN article. Everyone can now decide on their own.
Rick
---------------
DAN says:
"Some sea urchins are covered with sharp venom-filled spines that can easily penetrate and break off into the skin. Others (found in the South Pacific) may have small pincerlike appendages that grasp their victims and inoculate them with venom from a sac within each pincer.
Sea urchin punctures or stings are painful wounds, most often of the hands or feet. If a person receives many wounds simultaneously, the reaction may be so severe as to cause extreme muscle spasm, difficulty in breathing, weakness and collapse.

The Treatment

Immerse the wound in non-scalding hot water to tolerance (110 to 113 F / 43.3 to 45 C). This frequently provides pain relief. Other field remedies, such as application of vinegar or urine, are less likely to diminish the pain. If necessary, administer pain medication appropriate to control the pain.

Carefully remove any readily visible spines. Do not dig around in the skin to try to fish them out - this risks crushing the spines and making them more difficult to remove. Do not intentionally crush the spines. Purple or black markings in the skin immediately after a sea urchin encounter do not necessarily indicate the presence of a retained spine fragment. The discoloration more likely is dye leached from the surface of a spine, commonly from a black urchin (Diadema species). The dye will be absorbed over 24 to 48 hours, and the discoloration will disappear. If there are still black markings after 48 to 72 hours, then a spine fragment is likely present.

If the sting is caused by a species with pincer organs, use hot water immersion, then apply shaving cream or a soap paste and shave the area.

Seek the care of a physician if spines are retained in the hand or foot, or near a joint. They may need to be removed surgically, to minimize infection, inflammation and damage to nerves or important blood vessels.

If the wound shows any sign of infection (extreme redness, pus, swollen regional lymph glands) or if a spine has penetrated deeply into a joint, the injured person (particularly one with impairment of his or her immune system) should be started by a qualified health professional on an antibiotic, taking into consideration the possibility of a Vibrio infection (see #4 under "Coral Scrapes).

If a spine puncture in the palm of the hand results in a persistent swollen finger(s) without any sign of infection (fever, redness, swollen lymph glands in the elbow or armpit), then it may become necessary to treat the injured person with a seven- to 14-day course of a non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drug (e.g., ibuprofen) or, in a more severe case, oral prednisone, a corticosteroid medication.
For more information on marine life injuries, see the complete article by Paul S. Auerbach, M.D., M.S. on Marine Life Trauma from the Jan/Feb 1998 issue of Alert Diver."

 

[Technodynamic]

Hereis an update for all of you, and thank you for all your input.

After 6 days of mild improvment, I decided to see the doc. The spines were still there as big as ever after 6 days, so I didn't see any end in sight in the near future Also, the are began to itch a little, which I feared may be the beginning of an infection.

I went to my primary care doc who quickly said I should see a podietrist. So very luckiy I got an appointment to a podietrist an hour and a half later. When there he looked and got a medical tweezer and a scalpal and starrting trying to take them out. Having trouble he took me to his surgery room where I could be elevated so my foot was at his head level. Oe by one he scraped and then poked with the tweezer to try and get them out. At times it was excrutiating and was very painful. He said a shot in the localized areas to numb it would be more painful than the procedure, so I just took his word for it and went throgh the 30 minute procedure.

He was able to get them all out (I think), but the areas still feel bruised. While I am able to walk on it on cushy carpet, it is still easier to want to go on a tippy toe and avoid weight on it (3 days later). All in all the removal through the doctor was WORSE than receiveing them from the urchin, but I guess it had to be done since I could not get them out myself and they were not healing or going away. Ugg.

 

[aquaoren]

Hereis an update for all of you, and thank you for all your input.

After 6 days of mild improvment, I decided to see the doc. The spines were still there as big as ever after 6 days, so I didn't see any end in sight in the near future Also, the are began to itch a little, which I feared may be the beginning of an infection.

I went to my primary care doc who quickly said I should see a podietrist. So very luckiy I got an appointment to a podietrist an hour and a half later. When there he looked and got a medical tweezer and a scalpal and starrting trying to take them out. Having trouble he took me to his surgery room where I could be elevated so my foot was at his head level. Oe by one he scraped and then poked with the tweezer to try and get them out. At times it was excrutiating and was very painful. He said a shot in the localized areas to numb it would be more painful than the procedure, so I just took his word for it and went throgh the 30 minute procedure.

He was able to get them all out (I think), but the areas still feel bruised. While I am able to walk on it on cushy carpet, it is still easier to want to go on a tippy toe and avoid weight on it (3 days later). All in all the removal through the doctor was WORSE than receiveing them from the urchin, but I guess it had to be done since I could not get them out myself and they were not healing or going away. Ugg.

Smart choice,
Without being taken out, the body would have needed many weeks to deal with the foreign bodies(spines). Now in about a week or two, everything will be over and only a bad memory. Did you get antibiotics to prevent a further infection or did the doc consider it to be unneccessary?

 

[StueyinDeep]

I have to agree with Oren; I seem to recall my ankle taking a good week for just the swelling to start to go down. I was dry for well over a week much to my boss' displeasure..

I do recall taking some antibiotics tho..