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Recently we took advantage of a bright sunny day to goto the beach with some friends. They had already been down there surfing and body boarding so I ordered the troops to get their togs and boards and down we went. I took the opportunity to get some really great shots of the boys playing and Hayden’s first real experience at the beach.

After a bit Nevan and Liam joined their mate Hugo in the water for some body boarding, Jenifer played with Hayden at the water’s edge and I continued taking pics of the boys getting smashed by waves (that were big to them). And shortly thereafter we heard a piercing scream and saw Liam come out of the water screaming, clutching his leg.

He was in shock, managing to blurt, “Something bit me, something bit me” over and over again. The initial reaction and feelings are pretty terrifying, a quick look at his leg and finding a blue bottle washing up onto the beach right where he was confirmed he had been stung by a blue bottle.

Now, I’ve been too far removed having been overseas for so long that I forgot if a blue bottle was poisoness, if it was potentially harmful or fatal or what. Quick clarification from our surfing mate who was a local confirmed that he would be okay while Jenifer raced Liam to the Surf Lifesaving club. There they performed the typical application of salt water, followed by warm water and intructions to get some sting ointment and follow that up with a warm bath.

We were to expect Liam to calm down and be right after a couple hours. He was brave and had resumed normal Liam behaviour and activity after 45 minutes. Crisis averted, nice welts all over his leg as proof!

Some information according to Wikipedia:

Stings usually cause severe pain to humans, leaving whip-like, red welts on the skin which normally last about forty-five minutes after which it should subside. However, the venom can travel to the lymph nodes and may cause, depending on the amount of venom, more intense pain. A sting may lead to an allergic reaction. There can also be serious effects, including fever, shock, and interference with heart and lung action. There have even been deaths, although this is rare. Medical attention may be necessary, especially where pain is intense or there is an extreme reaction.

Note: A blue bottle is not a jellyfish, though likened to one I decided to leave it there as we stereotypically thought it is as most people do.

Technorati tags: blue bubble, blue bottle, man-of-war, Portuguese man of war, jelly fish

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2 Responses to “Liam stung by a Jellyfish”

Capn John
Jan 3rd, 2009
1:42 am

Hmm, I thought the first thing you were supposed to do was pee on a Jellyfish sting, but then seeing Blue Bottles aren’t technically Jellyfish, maybe that’s not the correct treatment

Glad everything worked out in the end, because I’m sure that was a terrifying experience all around.

Mike250
Jan 6th, 2009
2:41 am

Author Comment

Well yeah being a Bluebottle sting it appears they followed the textbook. And I can say it worked, though we were warned he’d be in such pain for a good couple hours he was right in less than one. All in all a good learning experience, though he is a bit gun shy wanting to goto the beach right now and rightly so!

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