Jan. 2, and 60.7 degrees

Cyli wrote:
snip
I'd prefer to rely on my Sawyer Snakebite kit and then conventional
medical treatment as soon as possible, but I'm wussy. ...

Whoa ! If that's the cut an X with a razor blade and attach
a suction cup kit you're *WAY* behind the times. Medical
folks now agree that "treatment" does more harm than good.
Recommended treatment nowadays is just a constriction band
(*NOT* a tourniquet) between the bite and the chest, an ice
pack and as quick a trip as you can manage to the ER.

--
Ken Fortenberry

I've used the Extractor with good results in two cases of snakebite. One
required follow up anti-venom treatment. The other patient did not require
anti-venom, was admitted overnight for observation, and discharged with
antibiotics to prevent infection.

To be fair, the second may not have been envenomated or may have only
received a low dose.

In both cases, the Extractor did no harm. In all cases, a trip to ER is the
best plan.

side note: I've lost track of how many times I've been called to ER to ID
snakes and found that the patient brought the snake, or its severed head,
with them in a sandwich bag or other plastic bag.

--
Stev Lenon 91B20 '68-'69
When the dawn came up like thunder

http://web.tampabay.rr.com/stevglo/i...age92kword.htm

"Cyli" wrote in message
...
On Tue, 4 Jan 2005 21:17:23 -0600, "Wolfgang"
wrote:


"Cyli" wrote in message
.. .
...If he uses any of the stupid methods
of treating a rattlesnake bite, it may take care of the husband,
too...

Not if he's laid in a good supply of turmeric.

Wolfgang

That was a whole weird thing, wasn't it? I'd bet this guy couldn't
find the spice rack in an emergency, not that she sounds as if she
uses much but salt and pepper anyway. (Yes, I make generalized
pejorative statements about people I've never known. Why not?)

I was thinking more of the car battery hookup one. Seems it's still
popular in some places. Or the too tight tourniquet.

I'd prefer to rely on my Sawyer Snakebite kit and then conventional
medical treatment as soon as possible, but I'm wussy. Might not be
any harm in swallowing some turmeric. A mouthful of the stuff might
well put one's mind on a different kind of feeling for a while.
Unless it has to be IV'ed. I'd skip that as a do it yourself thing.

Well, I'm no medical expert, but:

"The one drug no apothecary prepared on his own behalf was theriac
[the word derives from the Greek theriake and is the root of the
English treacle], the main antidote to venoms of all sorts. It was
used to treat snakebite and rabies and taken as a cure for poison,
though it was most commonly prescribed to strengthen a patient who had
been bled, sweated, and purged and whose condition was, nevertheless,
deteriorating. Theriacs--there were several of them in
existence--were particularly complex and potent medicines, and so
difficult to make that only the senior apothecaries of the largest
cities [in the 17th century United Provinces.....essentially, today's
Netherlands] were trusted to prepare them. They contained up to 70
different ingredients and were unusual in that their single most
important constituent was animal: viper's flesh. The best theriac
came from Venice and was known as 'Venice treacle.' Venetian
pharmacists bred their own vipers and mixed their theriac in bulk once
a year. The concoction was exported by the Italian city-state
throughout the rest of Europe , and no apothecary of the time would
have been without it."*

However, for those who couldn't find a theriac, all hope was not
necessarily lost:

"To modern eyes, at least, the most unusual ingredient in any
apothecary's store was 'mummy.' ground human flesh taken (at least in
theory) directly from plundered Egyptian tombs. It was a popular
cure-all, supposedly effective against almost every ailment from
headaches to bubonic plague. The best mummy had a 'resinous,
harden'd, black shining surface,' an acrid taste, and a fragrant
smell. When supplies from Egypt were hard to get, which they usually
were, European bodies might be substituted, but it was important that
the corpse from which the flesh was taken had not succumbed to
disease. Although the very finest mummy was supposed to come from the
remains of men suffocated in a Saharan sandstorm, therefore, in
practice the principal source was the bodies of executed criminals."*

Seems to me that any medicine that will cure anything should be good
enough for anybody.

Wolfgang
"Batavia's Graveyard", Mike Dash, Crown Publishers, 2002, pp.21-22.

On Wed, 05 Jan 2005 13:18:47 GMT, Ken Fortenberry
wrote:

Cyli wrote:
snip
I'd prefer to rely on my Sawyer Snakebite kit and then conventional
medical treatment as soon as possible, but I'm wussy. ...

Whoa ! If that's the cut an X with a razor blade and attach
a suction cup kit you're *WAY* behind the times. Medical
folks now agree that "treatment" does more harm than good.
Recommended treatment nowadays is just a constriction band
(*NOT* a tourniquet) between the bite and the chest, an ice
pack and as quick a trip as you can manage to the ER.


You betcha. The razor in the Sawyer kit is a regular safety razor
purely to shave the hair around the site of the bite, so that the
proper suction can be achieved. I don't know how it works on snake
bite (the rare places I go that have poisonous snakes around here are
quite protective of them and they're very shy creatures in MN, so I've
never been bitten), but it's a wonder on wasp and bee stings. I'd
also use it on any animal bite, as those creatures can give nasty
infections (and then seek proper medical treatment. Well, okay, when
I was done fishing. if it was sort of minor.). BTW any snake bite can
give you nasty infections, as their fangs are full of germs.

Having played some with the Sawyer, I can assure you it sucks very
strongly. In the good sense.

Cyli
r.bc: vixen. Minnow goddess. Speaker to squirrels.
Often taunted by trout. Almost entirely harmless.

http://www.visi.com/~cyli
email: lid (strip the .invalid to email)

On Wed, 05 Jan 2005 13:18:47 GMT, Ken Fortenberry
wrote:

Cyli wrote:
snip
I'd prefer to rely on my Sawyer Snakebite kit and then conventional
medical treatment as soon as possible, but I'm wussy. ...

Whoa ! If that's the cut an X with a razor blade and attach
a suction cup kit you're *WAY* behind the times. Medical
folks now agree that "treatment" does more harm than good.
Recommended treatment nowadays is just a constriction band
(*NOT* a tourniquet) between the bite and the chest, an ice
pack and as quick a trip as you can manage to the ER.


You betcha. The razor in the Sawyer kit is a regular safety razor
purely to shave the hair around the site of the bite, so that the
proper suction can be achieved. I don't know how it works on snake
bite (the rare places I go that have poisonous snakes around here are
quite protective of them and they're very shy creatures in MN, so I've
never been bitten), but it's a wonder on wasp and bee stings. I'd
also use it on any animal bite, as those creatures can give nasty
infections (and then seek proper medical treatment. Well, okay, when
I was done fishing. if it was sort of minor.). BTW any snake bite can
give you nasty infections, as their fangs are full of germs.

Having played some with the Sawyer, I can assure you it sucks very
strongly. In the good sense.

Cyli
r.bc: vixen. Minnow goddess. Speaker to squirrels.
Often taunted by trout. Almost entirely harmless.

http://www.visi.com/~cyli
email: lid (strip the .invalid to email)

On Wed, 5 Jan 2005 14:46:59 -0600, "Wolfgang"
wrote:

Well, I'm no medical expert, but:

"The one drug no apothecary prepared on his own behalf was theriac
[the word derives from the Greek theriake and is the root of the
English treacle], the main antidote to venoms of all sorts.
(snipped)
However, for those who couldn't find a theriac, all hope was not
necessarily lost:

"To modern eyes, at least, the most unusual ingredient in any
apothecary's store was 'mummy.' ground human flesh taken (at least in
theory) directly from plundered Egyptian tombs. It was a popular
cure-all, supposedly effective against almost every ailment from
headaches to bubonic plague.
(snipped)
Seems to me that any medicine that will cure anything should be good
enough for anybody.

Wolfgang
"Batavia's Graveyard", Mike Dash, Crown Publishers, 2002, pp.21-22.

Pleast pass the turmeric. I think I'd rather rely on that. At least
I _like_ curry, if not in the quantity probably recommended for
snakebite.

Cyli
r.bc: vixen. Minnow goddess. Speaker to squirrels.
Often taunted by trout. Almost entirely harmless.

http://www.visi.com/~cyli
email: lid (strip the .invalid to email)

"Wolfgang" wrote in message
...

"Cyli" wrote in message
...
...If he uses any of the stupid methods
of treating a rattlesnake bite, it may take care of the husband, too...

Not if he's laid in a good supply of turmeric.

Wolfgang


now, that's a visual ;-)

snake

"snakefiddler" wrote in message
...

"Wolfgang" wrote in message
...

"Cyli" wrote in message
...
...If he uses any of the stupid methods
of treating a rattlesnake bite, it may take care of the husband, too...

Not if he's laid in a good supply of turmeric.

Wolfgang


now, that's a visual ;-)

What was it Janis said?......."get it while you can"?.......one suspects
she'd have voiced no objections to "where" as well.

Wolfgang

"Wolfgang" wrote in message
...

"snakefiddler" wrote in message
...

"Wolfgang" wrote in message
...

"Cyli" wrote in message
...
...If he uses any of the stupid methods
of treating a rattlesnake bite, it may take care of the husband, too...

Not if he's laid in a good supply of turmeric.

Wolfgang


now, that's a visual ;-)

What was it Janis said?......."get it while you can"?.......one suspects
she'd have voiced no objections to "where" as well.

Wolfgang


no, i don't suppose she would. in fact, i reckon she wouldn't have had too
many objections to anything even slightly unconventional. she just didn't
give a ****.

snake