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truckinbutch said:
Has anyone been bitten by a snake???
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thrillathahunt
Silver Member
have never been bitten by a snake, but was bitten by a black widow once.......seriously, i thought i was going to die!
While on a training exercise as a young Marine at Camp Pendleton, California in the spring of 1963 I was bitten on my right hand by a young prairie rattler about 18 inches long. We were located at a remote area and it took two hours before I was medivaced. My hand swelled to the point I thought the skin was going to split. After the anti-venom shots & a week in the hospital I returned to duty and never had any other problems. I was raised in Northwest Oklahoma(Waynoka) and since they have a annual rattlesnake hunt every year I knew what to do if bitten as I had participated in hunts. If interested, go to yahoo, search for annual rattlesnake hunt, Waynoka, Okla. Have seen as many as 11000 thousand pounds of rattlesnakes caught in the hills around Waynoka during one hunt(first Sunday after Easter).
Waynokan
Waynokan
SnakeEater
Full Member
greydigger said:
That would have been a drone which all hives posses once spring hits. Although they will help to regulate the temperature of the hive and buzz an intruder, they lack a stinger and their main function is to mate with the queens, predominately from other hives. Like the stinger, the p*enis of the drone experiences tearing along with abdominal parts which kill the drone after mating. In all but the warmest climates, the last of the drones are killed just before winter as the hive has no use for them to expand the brood population until food supplies reappear again in the spring. You have probably seen less of them because bee populations in urban/suburban centers have dropped off markedly in the last twenty years.
As a beekeeper, I am in the process of building resistance to multiple bee stings. I read about early, American Indian beekeepers requiring resistance to 100 simultaneous stings before joining the community of working beekeepers. Sounds crazy but I am up to 25 stings and climbing. The only one that bothered me last time around (2 weeks ago) was a sting on my eyebrow. I think I'll keep my headgear on from here forward but the idea of being immune to something that the rest of the population cowers/dies from has the strangest appeal to me.
One too many episodes of Heroes? LOL
Born2Dtect
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I get bitten by a "SNAKE!" everytime I by a car!
Ed D.
Ed D.
bradyboy
Silver Member
Texas
Re: Bee Sting Therapy
If you've ever been stung by a bee, you already have firsthand experience of the basics of bee-venom therapy (also called apitherapy). The only technical difference between the sting you got and the therapeutic kind is that yours was probably accidental.
People who use bee venom for medicinal purposes don't wait around for random insect attacks. Using long tweezers, they pick up live honey bees (which they've usually raised themselves), put the insects next to their skin, and let them do what comes naturally. You might have thought that your single encounter with a bee was enough, but people undergoing apitherapy may get stung 80 times a day or more.
Why would anyone subject himself to such pain? Because bee stings are thought to help ease the symptoms of a wide variety of diseases, including arthritis, multiple sclerosis, tendonitis, and fibromyalgia; they're also thought to promote desensitization to bee stings. These claims don't come from beekeepers looking for a profit; they're made by patients whose experience with bee venom has turned them into believers. One woman says that 80 stings every other day helped reverse her rheumatoid arthritis. A woman with multiple sclerosis found that the leg spasms she'd been having calmed down after she started using bees to sting herself a few times each day.
Some doctors, particularly in Eastern Europe, have reported using injections of bee venom to successfully treat rheumatoid arthritis.
Does bee-venom therapy really work?
Personal testimonials are one thing, but careful scientific studies are the real test. And so far, studies conducted on animals and in test tubes suggest that bee venom may have some ability to lessen the pain and inflammation of arthritis. In 1988, researchers at the Aristotelian University of Thessaloniki in Greece reported that bee stings greatly slowed the progress of an arthritis-like disease in rats. The Greek scientists, along with researchers at Montreal General Hospital, have also reported that venom slows the production of interleukin-1, a compound that helps fuel arthritic pain and inflammation. More recent studies in South Korea have revealed how melittin – an important compound in bee venom – blocks inflammation. Their study showed significant anti-arthritic effects in mice.
But although some research suggests that bee venom given by injection may be effective in treating tendonitis, fibromyositis, and rheumatoid arthritis, among other conditions, the results are not conclusive. Human trials on bee venom and arthritis, for example, have been few and far between, and the results haven't been encouraging. Back in 1941 (did we mention the investigations were few and far between?), a study published in the American Journal of Medical Sciences found that arthritis patients who got infections of bee venom didn't improve any faster than other patients. The lead researcher called the results "very discouraging," and no human trial since has led to a different conclusion. With the recent arrival of several effective drugs for both osteoarthritis and rheumatoid arthritis, research on bee venom as an arthritis remedy has slowed to a trickle, and we may never be sure whether many stings are better than no stings at all.
When it comes to multiple sclerosis, the picture is still hazier. Nobody knows how bee venom affects the disease in humans, and studies on laboratory animals have only just begun. One very small human study was published in 2005 in the journal Neurology, but scientists concluded that bee sting therapy “did not reduce disease activity, disability, or fatigue and did not improve quality of life.” Researchers at M.C.P. Hahnemann University in Philadelphia recently started giving bee venom to mice with a disease similar to MS. The preliminary results suggest that the venom doesn't diminish any MS symptoms in mice; in fact, some of the mice treated with bee venom displayed symptoms more severe than those of mice that got no treatment at all.
Claims that bee venom can ameliorate other diseases, including fibromyalgia, irritable bowel syndrome, and depression, are based entirely on personal observation and not on science.
Is bee-venom therapy dangerous?
The benefits of this therapy are still uncertain, but the dangers are clear. Approximately 2 percent of people have allergic reactions to stings from bees and wasps. A severe reaction after just only three or four bee stings is extremely rare, but the danger grows with the number of stings. (Beekeepers and their families in particular are likely to be highly sensitive to bee venom). A person who's having a severe reaction to a bee sting may develop hives on the skin and swelling around the eyes, lips, throat, and tongue. He or she may vomit, slur spoken words, show signs of mental confusion, and even struggle to breathe. Soon the person may lose consciousness. These are signs of anaphylactic shock, a condition that can be fatal if not treated quickly. If you notice these signs, call 911 right away.
Anyone undergoing bee-venom therapy should have a bee sting kit handy. The kit includes a syringe and a dose of epinephrine (also known as adrenaline), a drug that can save your life if you go into anaphylactic shock. It's also a good idea for a beginner get a single "test sting" on the knee or forearm before undergoing a full bee barrage. But remember, the fact that your body tolerated the first 49 stings doesn't automatically mean it can handle the 50th.
Brady
Re: Bee Sting Therapy
If you've ever been stung by a bee, you already have firsthand experience of the basics of bee-venom therapy (also called apitherapy). The only technical difference between the sting you got and the therapeutic kind is that yours was probably accidental.
People who use bee venom for medicinal purposes don't wait around for random insect attacks. Using long tweezers, they pick up live honey bees (which they've usually raised themselves), put the insects next to their skin, and let them do what comes naturally. You might have thought that your single encounter with a bee was enough, but people undergoing apitherapy may get stung 80 times a day or more.
Why would anyone subject himself to such pain? Because bee stings are thought to help ease the symptoms of a wide variety of diseases, including arthritis, multiple sclerosis, tendonitis, and fibromyalgia; they're also thought to promote desensitization to bee stings. These claims don't come from beekeepers looking for a profit; they're made by patients whose experience with bee venom has turned them into believers. One woman says that 80 stings every other day helped reverse her rheumatoid arthritis. A woman with multiple sclerosis found that the leg spasms she'd been having calmed down after she started using bees to sting herself a few times each day.
Some doctors, particularly in Eastern Europe, have reported using injections of bee venom to successfully treat rheumatoid arthritis.
Does bee-venom therapy really work?
Personal testimonials are one thing, but careful scientific studies are the real test. And so far, studies conducted on animals and in test tubes suggest that bee venom may have some ability to lessen the pain and inflammation of arthritis. In 1988, researchers at the Aristotelian University of Thessaloniki in Greece reported that bee stings greatly slowed the progress of an arthritis-like disease in rats. The Greek scientists, along with researchers at Montreal General Hospital, have also reported that venom slows the production of interleukin-1, a compound that helps fuel arthritic pain and inflammation. More recent studies in South Korea have revealed how melittin – an important compound in bee venom – blocks inflammation. Their study showed significant anti-arthritic effects in mice.
But although some research suggests that bee venom given by injection may be effective in treating tendonitis, fibromyositis, and rheumatoid arthritis, among other conditions, the results are not conclusive. Human trials on bee venom and arthritis, for example, have been few and far between, and the results haven't been encouraging. Back in 1941 (did we mention the investigations were few and far between?), a study published in the American Journal of Medical Sciences found that arthritis patients who got infections of bee venom didn't improve any faster than other patients. The lead researcher called the results "very discouraging," and no human trial since has led to a different conclusion. With the recent arrival of several effective drugs for both osteoarthritis and rheumatoid arthritis, research on bee venom as an arthritis remedy has slowed to a trickle, and we may never be sure whether many stings are better than no stings at all.
When it comes to multiple sclerosis, the picture is still hazier. Nobody knows how bee venom affects the disease in humans, and studies on laboratory animals have only just begun. One very small human study was published in 2005 in the journal Neurology, but scientists concluded that bee sting therapy “did not reduce disease activity, disability, or fatigue and did not improve quality of life.” Researchers at M.C.P. Hahnemann University in Philadelphia recently started giving bee venom to mice with a disease similar to MS. The preliminary results suggest that the venom doesn't diminish any MS symptoms in mice; in fact, some of the mice treated with bee venom displayed symptoms more severe than those of mice that got no treatment at all.
Claims that bee venom can ameliorate other diseases, including fibromyalgia, irritable bowel syndrome, and depression, are based entirely on personal observation and not on science.
Is bee-venom therapy dangerous?
The benefits of this therapy are still uncertain, but the dangers are clear. Approximately 2 percent of people have allergic reactions to stings from bees and wasps. A severe reaction after just only three or four bee stings is extremely rare, but the danger grows with the number of stings. (Beekeepers and their families in particular are likely to be highly sensitive to bee venom). A person who's having a severe reaction to a bee sting may develop hives on the skin and swelling around the eyes, lips, throat, and tongue. He or she may vomit, slur spoken words, show signs of mental confusion, and even struggle to breathe. Soon the person may lose consciousness. These are signs of anaphylactic shock, a condition that can be fatal if not treated quickly. If you notice these signs, call 911 right away.
Anyone undergoing bee-venom therapy should have a bee sting kit handy. The kit includes a syringe and a dose of epinephrine (also known as adrenaline), a drug that can save your life if you go into anaphylactic shock. It's also a good idea for a beginner get a single "test sting" on the knee or forearm before undergoing a full bee barrage. But remember, the fact that your body tolerated the first 49 stings doesn't automatically mean it can handle the 50th.
Brady
Produce Guy
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When I was about 13 years old I got bit in the butt by a hognose snake and it left a really nice scare.
packerbacker
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I answered Trish's question in a email but, for anyone else that may be curious about how rattlesnake tastes, I'd have to say kinda like frog, not chicken.
txkickergirl
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I would say it doesn't taste like chicken either its kinda bland, very bony like sardines, and has a flaky texture like fish. Now armadillo.......thats some good eating, they are outlawed now I think.
I have been bit by a grass snake...little (bad word) nothing serious although at the time I was a kid and swore it was a deadly but it did leave a horseshoe mark on my arm for a few days.
I have been bit by a grass snake...little (bad word) nothing serious although at the time I was a kid and swore it was a deadly but it did leave a horseshoe mark on my arm for a few days.
pookie-princess of rust
Hero Member
my dads allergic to bees or is it wasps?
greydigger
Bronze Member
Buddy was real alergic to bees. He would die if stung so carried an antivenon kit.
Could not even be near honey.
I am not alergic to poison oak as my Cherokee ancestry. Never saw ivy or sumac as not growing here.
Some bad kids put poison oak into my sleeping bag at a scout camp and I just chased them with it.
Never a problem. I have heard of folks burning out poison plants and the smoke really hurting those allergic to it.
Grey
Could not even be near honey.
I am not alergic to poison oak as my Cherokee ancestry. Never saw ivy or sumac as not growing here.
Some bad kids put poison oak into my sleeping bag at a scout camp and I just chased them with it.
Never a problem. I have heard of folks burning out poison plants and the smoke really hurting those allergic to it.
Grey
I was bitten by a rather large garter snake when I was a kid. It did break off some teeth in my finger, my mom freaked out and took me to the doctor, where, he pulled out four broken teeth out of my finger.
then he gave me a shot of penicillin and told me that if the teeth hadn't been removed it could cause a infection from the bacteria in the snakes mouth
then he gave me a shot of penicillin and told me that if the teeth hadn't been removed it could cause a infection from the bacteria in the snakes mouth
Bridge End Farm
Gold Member
use to get rattlers out of gopher holes to eat when I was younger but never bitten by a poisonous snake.
hmmmmmm wonder if we taste like chicken to them as well
hmmmmmm wonder if we taste like chicken to them as well
jpitt1970
Sr. Member
Too many times to count..I catch snakes all the time. Been bitten twice by Copperheads as a kid. 1st one was a hatchling, luckilly his little fang got my finger nail instead of the finger. 2nd was a pretty big one. He got me in the web between thumb & pointer. That was lucky too...I thought it was just an Eastern Water snake cus he was in the pond with a frog in his mouth (I was fishing). I reached in to grab him & he went under, I came up with a handfull of mud & muck along with a big friggin Copperhead. My hand swelled a little, but I kept fishing...it was too good of a day to quit. If that snake hadn't had the frog in his mouth before I caught him, I think I would have been headed straight to the emergency room. I've gotten alot fatter & slower in my old age, so I don't mess with them too much any more..The wife gets pissed too when I pick up Pygmy Rattlers while relic hunting
O
ohannos
Guest
Only been bit by nonpoisonous snake. Catched a few poisonus ones as well but handled them more carefully.
Seamuss
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I use to pick up garter snakes all the time when I was a kid. After my first tour of Vietnam I decided to leave well enough alone. All snakes over there are poison except the pythons and asian boas. Cobras, Vipers...
The first time I see a garter snake each year I jumpthree feet laterely and turn a pretty shade of red (I'm a redhead) for what I was jumping for. I still use the catch and release system for garter snakes after the first snake of the year.
When I'm in areas that have rattlers or other snakes that I assume have poison, I use extreme precaution. I have not been bite yet and hope I don't. Most people that use percaution don't get bite but there is still that one time that you(or I) won't see the snake and get bite. Use the buddy system when detecting at all times in snake country. If bite stay calm and seek medical treatment immediatly.
Snake bites are a good reason for everyone to consider taking a first aid course. Remeber, if YOU know first aid the life you save may be YOUR OWN LIFE. Please consider taking up a fist aid course. Don't think of it as someone elses responsibility. They might be thinking it yours.
Jim-Combat Medic, first aid is a responible knowledge of using precaution and knowing how to treat injury and seek medical attention. First aid-the first person on the seen to render treatment for injury and call for help.
The first time I see a garter snake each year I jumpthree feet laterely and turn a pretty shade of red (I'm a redhead) for what I was jumping for. I still use the catch and release system for garter snakes after the first snake of the year.
When I'm in areas that have rattlers or other snakes that I assume have poison, I use extreme precaution. I have not been bite yet and hope I don't. Most people that use percaution don't get bite but there is still that one time that you(or I) won't see the snake and get bite. Use the buddy system when detecting at all times in snake country. If bite stay calm and seek medical treatment immediatly.
Snake bites are a good reason for everyone to consider taking a first aid course. Remeber, if YOU know first aid the life you save may be YOUR OWN LIFE. Please consider taking up a fist aid course. Don't think of it as someone elses responsibility. They might be thinking it yours.
Jim-Combat Medic, first aid is a responible knowledge of using precaution and knowing how to treat injury and seek medical attention. First aid-the first person on the seen to render treatment for injury and call for help.
