Corpusfishing.com

Whitecap · Joined: 23 Oct 2007 Posts: 9 Location: Austin

I've read different reports as to what is recommended for jellyfish stings - especially for Man of War stings.

Which is better? Meat Tenderizer or Vinegar?

One said vinegar is the worst for a man of war sting and another said it's the best thing for it.

Sort of curious since the park recording earlier in the week said there were many man of wars.

landlocked beachbum · Posted: Wed Oct 24, 2007 8:44 pm Post subject:

When I lived and surfed in Hawaii the best and quickest remedy for most folks was to piss on it! The ammonia in the urine was a [mild] antidote for the toxin. It never really worked that well for me but some swore by it. There ain't a whole lot that eases the excruciating agony of a good Man O War sting except time, and I've had my share. Vinegar is acid, ammonia is base [alkaline] . The two usually do different things but I ain't a chemist so I won't guess at it. Papain is the major ingredient in meat tenderizer. Check this out.

Uses

Its utility is in breaking down the tough meat fibers and has been utilized for thousands of years in its native South America. It is sold as a component in powdered meat tenderizer available in most supermarkets. Papain, in the form of a meat tenderizer such as Adolph's, made into a paste with water, is also a home remedy treatment for jellyfish, bee, yellow jacket (wasps) stings and possibly stingray wounds, breaking down the protein toxins in the venom. It is also the main ingredient in Stop Itch and Stop Itch Plus, a DermaTech Laboratories first aid cream popular in Australia.

Papain is used to dissociate cells in the first step of cell culture preparations. A 10 minute treatment of small tissue pieces (less than 1 mm cubed) will allow papain to begin breaking down the extracellular matrix molecules holding the cells together. After 10 minutes, the tissue should be treated with a protease inhibitor solution to stop the protease action (if left untreated papain's activity will lead to complete lysis of the cells). The tissue must then be triturated (passed quickly up and down through a Pasteur pipette) in order to break up the pieces of tissue into a single cell suspension.

It is also used as an ingredient in various enzymatic debriding preparations, notably Accuzyme. These are used in the care of some chronic wounds to clean up dead tissue.

It can also be found as ingredient in some toothpastes or mints as teeth-whitener. Its whitening effect in toothpastes and mints however is minimal, because the papain is present in low concentrations, and will be quickly diluted by saliva. It would take several months of using the whitening product to have noticeable whiter teeth.
_________________
Dave

"The difference between genius and stupidity is that genius has it's limits". Albert Einstein

surfdragon · Posted: Wed Oct 24, 2007 9:59 pm Post subject:

meat tenderizer mixed with alcohol into a paste.Then applied on sting waiting a few minutes then scraping the dry paste off, It works,I used to life gaurd on the island and used it several times and peole were amazed on how fast the pain would go away. Cool

_________________
''ONE LAST CAST''

''TERMINATOR''

ironmanstan · Posted: Thu Oct 25, 2007 3:42 am Post subject:

If you stung on the face close your eyes and mouth real tight. Very Happy

If you use the natural antidote.
_________________
I LIKE MINE FRIED.

Eightball Express · Posted: Thu Oct 25, 2007 6:39 am Post subject:

I second what surfdragon said....Meat tenderizer and alcohol in a paste. Pat it on the skin, not RUB. Leave it on for a few minutes and rinse off. This works unless you are allergic to bees, wasps, and ants. Then you are in for some serious issues.
_________________
Looking for a River Pickle sunrise

landlocked beachbum · Posted: Thu Oct 25, 2007 8:42 am Post subject:

I had to drive a surfing buddy to Kaneohe Bay air station once because he wasn't do well, Man O War. We were in my old junker surf wagon with no officer sticker on the front [thanks dad !]. the sentry on duty was rightly giving me a hard time about entering the base and finally I told him to look in the back seat. My buddy was basically white with blue lips and having tremors. The guard let us in! I think they gave him a shot of something. He was up and feeling fine in a half hour or so. Pretty scary stuff.

The Man O Wars in Hawaii are small. The whole sail is maybe 2" long, but as with all Man O War, their tentacles flow WAY behind them when relaxed and buddy, they pack a SERIOUS punch!
_________________
Dave

"The difference between genius and stupidity is that genius has it's limits". Albert Einstein

surffan · Horse Mullet Joined: 07 Jun 2006 Posts: 109

Don't know about vinegar but for the last couple of years I've been mixing the meat tenderizer with Benadryl lotion to make a paste. Keeps the tenderizer on the sting better and I think the Benadryl helps some.

Mad Dog · Posted: Thu Oct 25, 2007 12:22 pm Post subject:

IMHO, the best first thing to so is fine dry sand and use it soak up the excess venome. Then Benedryl cream to stay the reaction. Then be thankfull we don't have those little box jellies.
_________________
Ego piscor, ergo sum

http://s175.photobucket.com/albums/w150/cstockton/Aquasport/

Eightball Express · Posted: Thu Oct 25, 2007 1:29 pm Post subject:

We actually do have a box jellyfish in this area. They have four tentacles, one on each corner. Not extremely dangerous, but stronger than a Man-of-war. I got popped by one years ago at PA jetties while snorkeling. Made my right arm go numb for about 10 minutes and I wanted to throw up badly. Heinous little devil about the size of a large comb jelly or small sea nettle.
_________________
Looking for a River Pickle sunrise

Bigdaddy1 · Posted: Thu Oct 25, 2007 2:34 pm Post subject: Vineger for me

I have personnally used Vinager on my kids and a friend of mine. My friend Big Bill decided to take off his shirt after I told him not to because I had seen jellies in the water, got stung all the way around his torso! It was a big Man0 war. When he came out of the water he looked like he had been whipped with a horse whip. Big Bill is a big guy, 6-2" 300+ pounds and I thought he was going to cry from the pain. I had never seen a sting that bad.
We poured vinager on him about half a gallon of the light vinager and he said there was instant relief.
Of course the rest of the guys in the camp wanted to pee on him to help him feel better, but I told them no! 30 minutes later he was fine. Not sure if it was cause he didn't want to get pissed on cause the vinager did or didn't work. Bill said he was fine after 30 minutes.
_________________
Paul S Perez
aka BigDaddy

landlocked beachbum · Posted: Thu Oct 25, 2007 4:02 pm Post subject:

Man, I wish that y'all had gone ahead. You could have pissed on half of him and used vinegar on the other and had a REALLY great test as to which was better!

Sand to soak up extra venom? There's nothing to "soak up", it's in your tissue. The only way to stop more venom from being injected is by getting the tentacles off, QUICK! I've had to do some seriously quick tentacle unwrapping on myself. Even when I was 17 and could see like an eagle they weren't always readily apparent. When you have one or more wrapped around your arms, legs, torso and or neck it can take some time. It wasn't anything to laugh at I can tell you that!
_________________
Dave

"The difference between genius and stupidity is that genius has it's limits". Albert Einstein

OsoBent · Finger Mullet Joined: 22 May 2006 Posts: 14

Bleach works great! Put some on a rag and dab it on..give it about 20 seconds and then rub a piece of ice on it. Almost instant relief. Works on bees, fireants and scorpions too.

medic6 · Posted: Sat Oct 27, 2007 6:06 am Post subject:

Meat tenderizer works for me, I got nailed simular to landlocked when I was a teen. A wave landed it over my shoulder and in the panicked process of getting it off, I manage to wrap it around my arm. OUCH!!!!
But with that being said, my daughter decided to play with one that was lying on the beach a few years back (against my stern advise) and had it drop on her leg. Niether tenderizer nor vinegar worked on her. Had to pack up, get her benedryl to take oraly to make her sleepy, tylenol for the pain, and applied sting-ease to the area to get her any relief. She had a mark on her leg for a week that looked like someone had punched her. But now she has her own way off dealing with them. Attract a few gulls, sprinkle some chips on the man o war and let them deal with it.
_________________
"I know that you believe that you understood what you think I said, but I am not sure you realize what you heard is not what I mean."

landlocked beachbum · Posted: Sat Oct 27, 2007 7:31 am Post subject:

Let me warn those who are uninitiated to a Man O War. One or a few tentacles on a body part will swell the closest lymph nodes to the point that they feel like your nads after a a good hard kick. That's just the icing on the cake that comes AFTER the searing pain, semi blackouts/blackouts, cold sweats and lots of other fun stuff that comes along with it. A had the whole sail wash up on the back of my leg while paddling. the beach was 20 yards away and by the time I got to it I could barely walk for the pain and light headedness. The back of my knee looked like someone had opened the skin and planted a golf ball underneath. It last for a good while too. You DON"T want to get stung, especially baddly, by a Man O War. I'm glad that the continental USA doesn't have the Box Jellies that the south pacific does!
_________________
Dave

"The difference between genius and stupidity is that genius has it's limits". Albert Einstein

Tropical Dillusion · Pony Mullet Joined: 02 Oct 2007 Posts: 65

[quote="landlocked beachbum"]When I lived and surfed in Hawaii the best and quickest remedy for most folks was to piss on it! /quote]

This is all I do when I get hit.
_________________
_____________
Got catch and release?
Visit us on the web at http://www.wadeextremetexas.com/board