Stinging jellyfish - best to pee on it?
Summer is upon us, and the holidays are approaching. A fun article in the Sun Journal
Stinging jellyfish. How best to treat yourself?And also find out if :
Myth: Peeing on the wound soothes a jellyfish sting.
Verdict: Sometimes. Sometimes, pee makes it worse.
Most of the authorities say it doesn't help, it might hurt, but there's no evidence it will end the pain. The best treatment is vinegar, an acid that deactivates stingers that haven't released toxin yet. Depending on the type of jellyfish, alkaline (like baking soda or urine) can deactivate stingers, too.
The downside: Sometimes alkaline activates toxin. Good chance of making your situation worse.
- You can outrun a black bear by taking repeated right turns
- You need to wait an hour after eating before you go swimming
- Smoking cigars wards of mosquitoes
- Bees really die after stinging you
- Earwigs really like to crawl into your ears
- It is good to treat sunburn with butter
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Stinging Jellyfish – some serious medical advice can be found here.
Labels: stinging jellyfish
6 Comments:
Very sound on "You need to wait an hour after eating before swimming". As for jellyfish, I like the Queensland advice: don't swim in the ocean during the "stinger" season. Swim in a water hole. But not one so close to a river that it might have crocs in it.
Dr Crippen, I think they are correct that simply peeing on a jellyfish sting may be ineffective (depending on the circumstances). There are other potential therapeutic mechanisms involving urine which may be more effective. It has been suggested that during a UTI, urine (which normally contains nitrate), may contain significant nitrite due to nitrate reducing bacteria. When acidified, particularly with a reducing agent such as ascorbate, nitrite produces NO. Skin normally has a pH of about 4, so nitrite would decompose releasing NO. This release of NO by application of urine to human skin may be the mechanism by which the folk remedy for impotence, the golden shower, is effective. However, it may require the donor to have a UTI, which may be impractical.
There is another mechanism by which topical urine can produce NO. Urine plus dirt would form mud. Depending on the source of the dirt, it may contain the common soil bacteria, autotrophic ammonia oxidizing bacteria which oxidize ammonia into nitrite. Dirt would likely contain bacteria expressing urease. Urine soaked dirt would then be a source of nitrite and NO. NO is known to be a potent antimicrobial agent, and inhibits inflammation by inhibiting NFkB. The Clostridia are particularly sensitive to inhibition by NO. NO does inhibit many enzymes by a variety of mechanisms, and the instinct for the licking of wounds has been attributed to the healing properties of the nitrite that saliva contains.
Bucket
Spade
Drinks
Snacks
Sunscreen
First Aid Kit
Umbrella etc.
New additions:
protective gloves
tweezers for tentacle removal restoratives for husband who could not bear seeing this level of medical-like activity.
I'll bear this advice in mind during my elective ;)
Doc - totally OT but have you seen this? http://www.thesun.co.uk/article/0,,2-2007280654,00.html
The world's gone mad. People kicking off because a miscarriage wasn't given ife support.
Google it and you'll find mindnumbing "But ir's a baybeeee" comments from stay at home mothers everywhere. Ugh.
I'll bear this advice in mind during my elective ;) nakış nakış şapka promosyon şapka
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