Scorpion sting...

I managed to get stung on my index finger about 9am this morning by a small scorpion. Major pain immediately, followed by swellng, stiffness and numbness up the hand into the wrist. Pain continues this evening despite doses of tylenol and ibuprophen. Also other weird symptoms including a strong metallic taste in my mouth but no trouble breathing or swallowing. Not a life threatening problem but really uncomfortable.

My question is.....How long does the severe pain from one of these stings usually last? Hours? Days? Weeks (I sure as hell hope not!)

If anyone has had this experience I´d appreciate your comments. Thanks....

It depends on how much venom was injected. I've been stung numerous times and except for one time the pain faded in a fairly short time. The one time it didn't it lasted for most of a day and two fingers and one side of my hand remained numb for several weeks.

Here's the story of my adventure with a scorpion, and my reaction was like Seisdedos' second sting. http://bigskysouthernsky.wordpress.com/2011/10/08/i-dont-care-if-youre-a-scorpio/

CharlieG:

You might find something in this previous thread to be of use: http://www.insidelakeside.com/t7691-lakeside-scorpions-it-is-that-time-of-year-again

Thanks for the comments seisdos and to you lucky for the story. 10 hours after the sting I'm thinking I got a pretty potent shot of venom. It feels like I'm having a moderate nuerological reaction. Face was kind of numb for most of the day with the numbness now having moved into my knees and feet. Hopefully it will move out altogether during the night. At least the last 1000mg hit of ibuprophen seems to be taking the edge off the pain in the original sting area.

Bet I watch out for those little varmints in the future.

If I were having a "moderate neurological reaction", I'd be heading to my doctor's office. Better safe than sorry.

CharlieG:

Do we have our priorities screwed up? Pain is one thing and you can take any number of pain medications. But the venom is a whole different issue that you might wish to pay more attention to?

Well, I did stop in the Ajijic Clinic a couple hours after the sting and talked to the nurse. She said that unless I had signs of my throat closing up or breathing problems there was not really anything much to do. Said that local alacranes were not that dangerous typically but to come back if those symptoms did appear. So far thay have not. I'll wait and watch a while longer. Thanks for your thoughts, though.

Why did you move from Colombia to Mexico?

Well. to answer my own original question....the intense pain from the sting lasted about 12 hours and finally tapered off during the night. Tylenol and ibuprophen did not seem to have much effect.

24 hours after the sting the finger that was stung is still swollen, stiff and numb but not painful. Stiffness extends up into the hand and wrist a bit. The unpleasant metallic taste in my mouth continues (but is milder) as do some nueralgic symptoms mainly a tingling in my fingetips and toes. Overall much improved.

So...that's a preview of what might be in store for anyone unfortunate enough to get stung by one of these little suckers. Not an experience that I want to repeat.

Dr Sam....Just briefly as it's off topic...I lived for a year and a half in Medellín, CO before I moved up here last September. Medellín is very pleasant city located in a high mountain valley and inhabited by beautiful, friendly people. Climate similar to Lakeside, inexpensive to live and with an interesting and diverse culture. I loved it and if I were even ten years younger I'd still be there.

But, in my mid seventies my priorities have changed somewhat.
The downside of being that far south was that I was basically alone with no support system. There is really no expatriate community as such in Medellín and it was necessary to speak spanish 90% of the time. Rarely saw a gringo and missed social interaction in my own language. Also it was a long expensive flight to the U.S. for any business or medical needs.

All in all I'm finding Lakeside to be a little more appropriate for me at this stage of my life.

Thanks, and nice to have you here.

I am not sure if you read my post yet about the scorpions, but there are two factors. Like polydactyly said, the amount of toxin is a factor, but also the type of toxin. Most scorpions here only produce pain a day to a week. The worst I have ever seen was by a centruroides infamatus species in the Tamazula area (2 hours south of here) with a sting to a thigh causing pain for 22 days and numbness for 3 months. Most scorpions here are not centruroides, but there are a few.

CharlieG wrote:Dr Sam....Just briefly as it's off topic...I lived for a year and a half in Medellín, CO before I moved up here last September. Medellín is very pleasant city located in a high mountain valley and inhabited by beautiful, friendly people. Climate similar to Lakeside, inexpensive to live and with an interesting and diverse culture. I loved it and if I were even ten years younger I'd still be there.

But, in my mid seventies my priorities have changed somewhat.
The downside of being that far south was that I was basically alone with no support system. There is really no expatriate community as such in Medellín and it was necessary to speak spanish 90% of the time. Rarely saw a gringo and missed social interaction in my own language. Also it was a long expensive flight to the U.S. for any business or medical needs.

All in all I'm finding Lakeside to be a little more appropriate for me at this stage of my life.

off topic slightly. we have black widow spiders in our courtyard constantly. granted they are not aggressive and easy to spot and kill.
what are the symptoms if you do get whacked by one-por favor?

It causes massive neural overstimulation. You will have slight pain to even low pain (like a pin prick) at the injection site. A large muscle group, usually the abdomen or a thigh will tense or cramp. It can affect the diaphragm muscle and cause serious problems or death as a result.

As of right now, neither the municipal clinic nor the Cruz Roja has been able to restock the anti-toxin from the SSJ. The only place for now is to go to C.R.I.A.T.
Centro Regional de Información y Atención Toxicológica (C.R.I.A.T.)
Av. Los Angeles, (on the corner of Analco)
Unidad Administrativa Reforma, Col. Las Conchas
C.P. 44460, Guadalajara,
(333) 669.1320, 21, 22, 23, 24, and 25

I will be writing about spiders next month, and will post a copy here.

Pedro wrote:off topic slightly. we have black widow spiders in our courtyard constantly. granted they are not aggressive and easy to spot and kill.
what are the symptoms if you do get whacked by one-por favor?

It would be great to have a run down on insect and snake bites occuring in this areas and know about the antidites and when to see a doctor. Pictures would also help.

My wife hates black widows, every time she sees one she can kill without burning or catching fire she gets hairspray points at the blackwidow sprays and lights the hairspray, Spider crispy done...

the damn things take fer ever ta croak when ya just spray 'em

not when you light the hair spray!!

I have found from experience that stun guns work great on insects. Even better if wet with alcohol first.

that works on me and then i drink the mezcal,but afterwards.