JELLYFISH STINGS
Waves on the East Coast are starting to get cracking. I’m in the Garden State—New Jersey that is (hands down best corn and tomatoes you’ll ever taste)—and the water’s warm, not a cloud in the blue, hot sky and swell from Hana is just starting to pump through our little sandbars, past our steadfast jetties. If all goes well (which it will), we’re gonna start seeing some real perfection.
But wait. Just like good ol’ Bret Michaels sang, back in the days of Social Studies and Earth Science, every rose has its thorn and ours has arrived in the form of free-swimming, non-aggressive, gelatinous marine animals surrounded by tentacles. Yup, the jellyfish have become so bad this week that I’ve been stung on my face, my body and every place the sun don’t shine more times than I can count on all of my digits put together. In short, the itch factor is redunkulous. My entire body looks like the chicken pox. Luckily for us, the red jellyfish here aren’t too detrimental—You just have to try not to stick your hands and feet in them and really watch where you’re duckdiving. But there seem to be hordes of jellyfish everywhere (Zoe thinks it’s a sign of unhealthy oceans. Yikes! Are they like locusts before an apocalypse?), and not all of them are so mild.
Just take this story by Jenna Goldberg. It’s an account of her own horrific experience—and make sure to take note of all her tips.—CS
I was swimming towards the shore on a postcard-perfect day on the North Shore when I was shell-shocked. An ocean demon clung to my face and sent waves of burn and pain to my left temple, across my eye and down my cheek. It felt as if I were getting punched in the head repeatedly while simultaneously getting my eyelid tattooed. I would enjoy the rest of my Hawaiian vacation from a one-eyed pirate’s perspective.
The Portuguese man-of-war had a death grip on my face. After an unsuccessful attempt of wiping off the jellyfish tentacles underwater, my friend Sean used a towel to pull them off my face and untangle the toxic tentacles from my eyelashes. He then offered to “R Kelly it,” by pissing on the sting to relieve the burn. I may have been half blind and swelling like a blowfish but I still had my dignity—I told the girls to make sure he kept it in his boardshorts.
Darlina handed me a Corona to take the edge off while Kelsey, the Kauai-native, nurtured my burn with berries and Aloe she picked from the bushes. Two of my girlfriends sprinted down the stretch of beach to the lifeguard stand.
Expecting the sexy North Shore lifeguards to come to my rescue like a scene out of Bay Watch, (where’s Jimmy Slade?) I was disappointed when they didn’t bother to come over because there was “nothing they could do.”
So I waited in vain, kicking the dashboard of the Jeep, as we inched in stop-and-go traffic down Kamehameha Highway to my friend’s house in Wailalua where I immediately took several shots of Tequila.
My nurses in bikinis poured water and vinegar over my eye that was now swollen shut, (I resembled Yoda at that point). I held a towel of ice to my eye and temple as the recognition of pain weakened with the Tequila and Advil. (I would later learn that fresh water and ice actually spread the toxins and increase the burn.)
The left side of my face was swollen from my eyebrow to my nose, lip and cheek. My temple was cut and scabbed and blisters covered my eyelid and bagged underneath my eye.
Every so often someone would say, “Let me see!” followed by “Ohh! Shit!” when I removed the towel. My nurses then fabricated a Rasta eye patch to hide my hideousness from the general public. I opted not to spend my last vacation hours in the hospital, boarding the plane to LAX with an eye patch.
It was three days before the swelling decreased enough to peel my eyelid open to find out if I still had sight in my left eye. It was crusty with puss, horrifying and disgusting, but my eye was clear and I could see.
I went to the health clinic at Long Beach State to get medication for the swelling. All the ladies at the office were horrified at the sight of my eye and didn’t know exactly how to treat it. I left with steroids that made me jittery plus a phone number to an ophthalmologist just in case I went blind. At least I had a good story at the office.
Note: This is a photo of Claire Bevilacqua dipping her toe in a jar of her own pee. Although she was trying to remedy the urchin spines stuck in her foot and not a jellyfish sting, it’s a surefire tactic to relieve the pain of both. You gotta do what you gotta do so go ahead, get freaky.
Some facts about jellyfish
-Free-swimming, non-aggressive, gelatinous marine animals surrounded by tentacles.
-Tentacles are covered with sacs (nematocysts) filled with poison (venom) that can cause a painful to sometimes life-threatening sting.
-Usually found near the surface of water or washed up on shore.
-Many can be seen 8 to 10 days after a full moon when jellyfish have reproductive jelly gatherings.
-Over 200 types of jellyfish
-The most deadly are found in the Indo-Pacific and Australian waters.
Stings
-Jellyfish stings cause intense, stinging pain, itching, rash and raised welts.
-People stung may experience nausea, vomiting, diarrhea, lymph node swelling, abdominal pain, numbness/tingling, and muscle spasms.
-Severe reactions can cause difficulty breathing, coma and death.
What to do
1. Removed tentacles with tweezers or gloved hand.
2. Take Benadryl or pain medication to help itching and pain.
3. Soak or rinse the area in vinegar for 15-30 minutes to stop the nematocysts from releasing their toxins.
4. Urinate on sting if vinegar is not readily available.
5. Apply shaving cream or paste of baking soda to area. Shave area with razor or credit card to remove nematocysts that have not release their toxin.
6. Seek medical care if person has difficulty breathing, swallowing, voice changes, or large area of stings.
What not to do
1. Use fresh water. It’ll cause the nematocysts to continue to release their toxin.
2. For the same reason, do not apply ice or hot water.
For more: Emedicinehealth.com
FoamMagazine.com
PiperGirls.com
GirlsLearnToRide.com
The only thing that will actually relieve the pain from a jellyfish sting is a product called Jellyfish Squish. It was created in Savannah, Ga., and two marine biologists were on the team that created it. It comes in an orange and blue spray bottle, and it IMMEDIATELY numbs the pain after you get stung. Ask for it at Walgreens or those kind of places. The people who make Jellyfish Squish actually proved that vinegar and pee and whatever else don’t work at all.
I was stung by a jellyfish at Wrightsville Beach, on September 16, 2008. The burning sensation was so intense I couldn’t stop screaming. A stranger helped us get our things since I was stung all over my left leg, partially my right leg, and my right wrist so I couldn’t walk and my boyfriend had to carry me. Trust me, I was in so much pain I was trying to crawl to my car since I couldn’t walk, to try to get help quicker(while they rushed to collect our things). I started freaking out though because I had sand all over my hands and I didn’t want the rough sand to rub on my skin. We then took my car and folled the man to the firstation. There they applied vinegar, and tried putting me in a hot shower, but the pain wouldn’t stop. EMS then arrived and gave me oxygen while I was in the shower. I was in so much pain that I had started having anxiety problems and couldn’t breathe. They then brought me to Cape Fear Hospital. I was given more oxygen on the way their and at the hospital. When I got to the hospital they finally gave me morphine to stop the pain. I didn’t cry until after the pain was away and reality starting hitting. Damn, I was just stung by a f— jelly fish! I couldn’t believe it. It was the scariest feeling. I was floating on a boogie board in calm waters, when all of a sudden something is wrapped around my legs. I was in shock and froze before the pain started to kick in. It didn’t fully kick in until I was out of the water. I heared later that saltwater is supposed to help ease the pain, so maybe that was why. When I felt something start to get tangled with my legs, I used my right hand to brush it away. I have a perfect line on my right leg and wrist, probaly some sort of whiplash of the tenacle or something. I did find two tenacle peices on me when I came out of the water. It freaked me out to see it on me and when everybody else wasn’t reacting quick enough on how to get it off I used my fingers real quick. Some of the toxins did get on my fingers, but acter applying vinegar to them, my fingers are not even a worry, just a burning sensation. However the hospital said it got 25% of my body. They probally said that because of how swollen my leg was, and two nights later, still is. I had these huge, nasty blisters appear, but after being super grossed out with randomly feeling my legs wet, just to find out a blister popped open, I popped them open myself. My legs are now begining to scab over, but half of it is still opened up. My leg isn’t as swollen as when it first happened, but I still can’t walk without hobbling around. The marks went from being a dark blue, to huge pussy blisters, to white and red spots after being popped, to now crusty, oozing bruised feeling, swollen legs, painful scabs. This shit SUCKS!