| Pages:
1
2
3 |
Santiago
Ultra Nomad
Posts: 3531
Registered: 8-27-2003
Member Is Offline
|
|
Finally got nailed in Baja
Last week while at our cabin in Baja I finally got tagged by a scorpion.
Went something like this:
Got up at 5:00am, pulled on my shorts and went to the WC for my morning constitutional. After doing my bidness, I rise from the throne, pull up my
shorts, turn to the lav to wash up and bingo, my outer right thigh starts hurting like a bad bee sting. I realize that something small is in my
shorts and it's biting me so I slap my thigh hard. Out drops a small scorpion which I quickly dispatch.
(Note to jeans: maybe you can just ignore the 'something small in my shorts' retort that surely is coming, OK?  )
I had always heard that the little guys were way worse than the big ones but this was really no big deal: The sting location was just a small red
spot, no swelling. About 30 minutes later my right groin was a little sore. About an hour later my tongue had a metallic taste and maybe a little
swollen. This lasted most of the day and by the evening it was gone. One thing I noticed was that if I sat down to rest, my leg would hurt much more
than if I was walking around.
Some people in camp said the little ones were mild and some said the big ones were mild, anyone know the facts?
|
|
|
Skipjack Joe
Elite Nomad
Posts: 8088
Registered: 7-12-2004
Location: Bahia Asuncion
Member Is Offline
|
|
I believe the smaller ones are more venomous.
|
|
|
David K
Honored Nomad
Posts: 65282
Registered: 8-30-2002
Location: San Diego County
Member Is Offline
Mood: Have Baja Fever
|
|
Read Graham's first book ('Into a Desert Place') where after a couple of stings, he was getting to look forward to more  ... and that was after thinking it was Death calling from what he read before
starting his trip.
Glad you survived Santiago!
|
|
|
shari
Select Nomad
Posts: 13049
Registered: 3-10-2006
Location: bahia asuncion, baja sur
Member Is Offline
Mood: there is no reality except the one contained within us "Herman Hesse"
|
|
coulda been worse amigo...a little up and to the left!!! jejejee
|
|
|
SteveD
Nomad
Posts: 106
Registered: 11-29-2007
Member Is Offline
|
|
During my first trip to Baja I was nailed twice. The first night one had crawled into my sleeping bag. A few days later I was nailed again by one
that had got into our fishing tackel box. That was in 1958 and I'm still here to talk about it.
|
|
|
Sweetwater
Senior Nomad
Posts: 915
Registered: 11-26-2010
Member Is Offline
Mood: chilly today hot tomale
|
|
When I was a kiddo in Wyo........a buddy got stung..........said he never grew taller after that day......we were 16 years old and he was stuck at
5'8".......
Everbody\'s preachin\' at me that we all wanna git to heaven, trouble is, nobody wants to die to git there.-BB King
Reality is what does not go away when you stop believing in it. -Philip K Dick
Nothing is worse than active ignorance. Johann Wolfgang von Goethe(1749-1832, German writer, artist and politician)
When choosing between two evils, I always like to try the one I\'ve never tried before. - Mae West
Experience is what keeps a man who makes the same mistake twice from admitting it the third time around.
|
|
|
DENNIS
Platinum Nomad
Posts: 29510
Registered: 9-2-2006
Location: Punta Banda
Member Is Offline
|
|
| Quote: | Originally posted by Skipjack Joe
I believe the smaller ones are more venomous. |
I think that varies with the type. The small grayish brown guys are common here and pose no real threat. I had one in my shoe once and he got me
good. Then.....I got him good.
Point is, the sting was more hot than painful and only lasted for no more than an hour.
It did, however, call for mass quantities of Pacifico Pain Killer.
|
|
|
Skipjack Joe
Elite Nomad
Posts: 8088
Registered: 7-12-2004
Location: Bahia Asuncion
Member Is Offline
|
|
"Internal and external applications of alcohol."
|
|
|
fishabductor
Senior Nomad
Posts: 800
Registered: 5-29-2010
Member Is Offline
|
|
| Quote: | Originally posted by shari
coulda been worse amigo...a little up and to the left!!! jejejee |
I got nailed by a centipede in that location once while digging out a stuck truck outside GN...it was not fun!
I am not into S&M, especially with a critter w/100 legs
|
|
|
sanquintinsince73
Super Nomad
Posts: 1495
Registered: 6-8-2010
Location: Los Angeles, CA
Member Is Offline
|
|
My wife is from Sinaloa and she's been bit several times by "alacranes" and she's even had dengue fever, but she refuses to die. Still here causing me
grief.
The bad scorpions are the black ones from Durango.
[Edited on 3-29-2011 by sanquintinsince73]
|
|
|
baronvonbob
Nomad
Posts: 196
Registered: 1-5-2010
Member Is Offline
|
|
Reminds me of the Time I got stung, when my Ex caught me at the Hotel Serindad.
|
|
|
fishabductor
Senior Nomad
Posts: 800
Registered: 5-29-2010
Member Is Offline
|
|
The first time I got hit by a scorpion, I got hit 3x in the right arm. My whole arm went numb with the effects lingering for 3 days.
I thought I was going to die when it happened, I was a newby from the NW and didn't have a clue about Scorpions. Thank god I had internet access, so I
could put away the fear of dying and concentrate on drinking tequilla to ease the pain.
We now collect all the scorpions we find and put them in a jar of alcohol and guaco branches. When you get stung by anything, you rub this coctail on
the sting location and it eases the pain.
|
|
|
mulegemichael
Super Nomad
Posts: 2310
Registered: 12-24-2007
Location: sequim,wa. and mulege
Member Is Offline
Mood: up on step
|
|
so what's a guaco bush look like?...in 25 years down here, i haven't been stung yet but i might as well be ready when the time comes...our palm
trimmer, chuy, has been stung dozens of times and i think those palm alacrans are the bad ones.
dyslexia is never having to say you\'re yrros.
|
|
|
fishabductor
Senior Nomad
Posts: 800
Registered: 5-29-2010
Member Is Offline
|
|
| Quote: | Originally posted by mulegemichael
so what's a guaco bush look like?...in 25 years down here, i haven't been stung yet but i might as well be ready when the time comes...our palm
trimmer, chuy, has been stung dozens of times and i think those palm alacrans are the bad ones. |
good question...I got it dried in stick form from my mother-in-law. I'll se what I can find out.
|
|
|
elbeau
Nomad
Posts: 256
Registered: 3-2-2011
Location: Austin, TX
Member Is Offline
|
|
| Quote: | Originally posted by Skipjack Joe
I believe the smaller ones are more venomous. |
My understanding is that young scorpions do not have control to meter how much venom they inject so you basically get everything it's got, while the
larger ones technically have more venom, but they sting you in doses that are smaller than the young ones. The venom itself is exactly the same in
the juveniles and adults.
|
|
|
sanquintinsince73
Super Nomad
Posts: 1495
Registered: 6-8-2010
Location: Los Angeles, CA
Member Is Offline
|
|
Chlorine
Another thing to do when you get hammered by a scorpion is to pour chlorine over the wound. This will lessen, if not eliminate the effect of the
venom.
|
|
|
DENNIS
Platinum Nomad
Posts: 29510
Registered: 9-2-2006
Location: Punta Banda
Member Is Offline
|
|
| Quote: | Originally posted by elbeau
My understanding is that young scorpions do not have control to meter how much venom they inject so you basically get everything it's got, while the
larger ones technically have more venom, but they sting you in doses that are smaller than the young ones. |
I've heard that about Rattlers as well. Don't know if it's true, but I've heard it.
Yep....that's what I heard.
|
|
|
fishabductor
Senior Nomad
Posts: 800
Registered: 5-29-2010
Member Is Offline
|
|
| Quote: | Originally posted by mulegemichael
so what's a guaco bush look like?...in 25 years down here, i haven't been stung yet but i might as well be ready when the time comes...our palm
trimmer, chuy, has been stung dozens of times and i think those palm alacrans are the bad ones. |
here is what I found about Guaco. My wife didn't know what it looked like either. my mother-in-law is the one, I asked my wife to spend some time with
her and start writing all the natural medicines down. Her mother knows all the medicinal uses of the local plants of baja. I want a record of this for
the family.
http://www.rain-tree.com/guaco.htm
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Guaco
http://www.yourmedicinalplants.com/mikania/
the 1st link is the best by far, it is very amazing what Guaco does. I am glad we have a bag of dried sticks in the cupboard!
WORLDWIDE ETHNOMEDICAL USES
Brazil for albuminuria, analgesic, appetite stimulation, arthritis, asthma, blood cleansing, bronchitis, bronchial constriction, cancer, cholera,
colds, coughs, fever, gout, infections, influenza, intestinal problems, laryngitis, neuralgia, pain, pleurisy, pruritus, respiratory problems,
rheumatism, snakebite, sore throat, syphilis, tonsillitis, wounds, and as an expectorant
Dominican
Republic for cholera, fever, flu
Guyana for itch, insect bite, snakebite, skin eruptions
Haiti for fever, malaria, syphilis
Mexico for asthma, bites(dog), fever, malaria, menstrual irregularities, rheumatism, scorpion stings, sores, snakebite, spasm, stomach problems,
tetanus, worms
Venezuela for fever, snakebite, tumor
Elsewhere for cholera, snakebite
|
|
|
David K
Honored Nomad
Posts: 65282
Registered: 8-30-2002
Location: San Diego County
Member Is Offline
Mood: Have Baja Fever
|
|
If you have a bottle of Tea Tree Oil (100% Melaleuca alternifolia), do try it... as it has venom neutralizing sucess with poison spiders and other
skin irritants. While never personally tested on scorpion, I have used it for bee stings with success on myself and my kids...
It has been reported to save the life of Australians hit by the funnel web spider, who otherwise would have died before reaching the hospital.
Aboriginies brewed tea from the leaves of this variety of melaleuca, thus the source of the common English name.
|
|
|
Marc
Ultra Nomad
Posts: 2802
Registered: 5-15-2010
Location: San Francisco & Palm Springs
Member Is Offline
Mood: Waiting
|
|
| Quote: | Originally posted by fishabductor
| Quote: | Originally posted by mulegemichael
so what's a guaco bush look like?...in 25 years down here, i haven't been stung yet but i might as well be ready when the time comes...our palm
trimmer, chuy, has been stung dozens of times and i think those palm alacrans are the bad ones. |
here is what I found about Guaco. My wife didn't know what it looked like either. my mother-in-law is the one, I asked my wife to spend some time with
her and start writing all the natural medicines down. Her mother knows all the medicinal uses of the local plants of baja. I want a record of this for
the family.
http://www.rain-tree.com/guaco.htm
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Guaco
http://www.yourmedicinalplants.com/mikania/
the 1st link is the best by far, it is very amazing what Guaco does. I am glad we have a bag of dried sticks in the cupboard!
WORLDWIDE ETHNOMEDICAL USES
Brazil for albuminuria, analgesic, appetite stimulation, arthritis, asthma, blood cleansing, bronchitis, bronchial constriction, cancer, cholera,
colds, coughs, fever, gout, infections, influenza, intestinal problems, laryngitis, neuralgia, pain, pleurisy, pruritus, respiratory problems,
rheumatism, snakebite, sore throat, syphilis, tonsillitis, wounds, and as an expectorant
Dominican
Republic for cholera, fever, flu
Guyana for itch, insect bite, snakebite, skin eruptions
Haiti for fever, malaria, syphilis
Mexico for asthma, bites(dog), fever, malaria, menstrual irregularities, rheumatism, scorpion stings, sores, snakebite, spasm, stomach problems,
tetanus, worms
Venezuela for fever, snakebite, tumor
Elsewhere for cholera, snakebite |
It's taken as a suppository.
|
|
|
| Pages:
1
2
3 |
![[*]](images/xmbforum/default_icon.gif){kind=icon}
