Featured Image Credit: Mike Johnston via Wikipedia
One of the biggest things to worry about while at the beach is the possibility of getting stung by a jellyfish. No one wants a day to be ruined by that!
And while there are ways that you can avoid it, in the case that it does happen, as recently published in a research paper, they’ve tested the popular “old wives tales” on how to cure stings, and found some truths and some falsehoods to them.
TRUE. Salt water works to relieve pain!
Jellyfish live in salt water, and so the nematocysts (or, stinging cells) contain a lot of it, so the salt water is capable of deactivating rather than triggering them.
FALSE. Using fresh water works, too!
Just like using salt water can help the pain, fresh water can and will do the opposite. That’s because the nematocysts rely on a certain chemical makeup including salt water, and any change to this makeup will cause the nematocysts to activate and ouch! Painful!
FALSE. Peeing on the sting works to relieve pain!
Urine is useless! Which is probably a good thing, because ew.
Despite what Joey might have once told his friends as well as the audience of the hit TV show “Friends”, there is no evidence to support urinating on jellyfish stings to help heal or relieve pain.
In fact, it could cause more pain to someone who has been stung, rather than lessening the pain. “Urine doesn’t have a consistent chemical makeup, says Dr. Christie Wilcox, a co-author of the paper and venom scientist at the University of Hawai‘i. “Depending on various factors, such as whether a person is dehydrated and what they’ve eaten that day, urine might actually contain chemical compounds that trigger stinging cells to fire.”
TRUE. Vinegar is a helpful solution!
Well, kind of true. It’s a little less effective than other immediate treatments, but it can do the trick.
FALSE. Scrape the leftover tentacles off with a credit card, or like item.
This is a bad idea!
Pressure (like even pressing to scrape a credit card) can and most likely will trigger the cells into stinging you even more, and it also has the ability to spread the cells, causing the pain to move from just the single area.
FALSE. Use seawater/vinegar to rinse the tentacles off!
While saltwater can help relieve immediate pain from the wound, it shouldn’t necessarily be used to clear the sting location of tentacles.
The scientists tried using ethanol, vinegar, and even sea water to rinse the tentacles from the wounds and found that, “rather than being rinsed away, massive cnidae discharge occurred and the tentacles became even more adherent and had to be manually pulled off.”
TRUE. Tweezers are a good pick to remove tentacles!
Instead of using a credit card or rinsing, they found that using tweezers caused less to fire. Also, use gloves (if possible) to protect yourself from any accidental stings.
FALSE. Apply an ice pack!
Ice may be useful to numb the pain away for a brief period, but it will only end up preserving the venom that’s been injected, and causing more pain in the long run.
TRUE. Soak in hot water!
After removing the excess tentacles, a good way to further reduce pain and help the healing process is a nice soak. The scientists call for water that is about “45 °C hot” or 113ºF, and not any hotter! “for 45 min.” We get it, that’s really hot; but it should do the trick.