Allergic reactions to Anemones and Bee Stings

[minfinger]

I mentioned this at our meeting, but I wanted everyone to get the update.
This is not intended to advise anyone to get rid of their anemone, but to inform you of the possible dangers you may face.

Here's the original thread Link

A breif synopsis of what happened as posted by Pyxis:

Hello everyone, and thank you for your thoughts and prayers. I am home from a very long night in the er. here is the breakdown:

I was stung by my LTA last night and within moments i was feeling as if my hand was in a pit of fire. a few minutes after that I had complete numbness is my forearm and it carried up to my shoulder, where it felt as if i were being stabbed.

I called Poision Control of NC and ended up going to the Emergency Room. Come to find out I am allergic to their stings. I was informed by my ER and PC that the anemonies are a family member to Jelly Fish. Which there in is the "same" type of sting as that of a wasp. Well, with my wonderful life I just so happen to be allergic to bee's. During this process I had gone into anaflactic shock. or so i was told.

To sum this up. I spent the night in the ER. and my wife bought me some Full sleve gloves. I am a bit tired and will be on and off line for the next couple of days.

Playa I thank you for this thread and for staying with me on the phone last night.

Some other General information about Anemones

"Sea anemones (an-NEM-on-ees) are relatives of jellyfish, Portuguese men-of-war and corals. Each anemone is a single animal with a soft, vaselike body topped with short tentacles, like a bouquet of fleshy flowers. Beneath the tentacles is the creature's mouth. "

Pxyis is doing fine, but he now owns a pair of Full Arm Gloves and is taking it easy for a few days.

[Nerite]

Wasn't there an episode of "Friends" with a jellyfish where Joey....

um..

Nevermind.

Guess that guy's never been to Myrtle Beach during jellyfish migrating season. I wonder if hitting the antihistamines would help if you suddenly found out you were allergic to something.

[skipm]

The usual treatment for anaphalactic reactions is an injection of 0.3-0.5mg of epinepherine 1:1,000 (adreanalin) followed by a shot of 25-50mg of diphenhydramine (benadryl). Anaphalactic shock is a true medical emergency and you can die within minutes of exposure to whatever you are allergic to. Some people with severe reactions carry an epi-pen ( a device to give the epinepherine shot to themselves) to be used if they have a reaction. Taking a large dose of antihistmaines may help for a minor reaction but not for a full blown anaphalactic reaction. Skip

[Simbo18]

I am not highly alergic to my carpet but it sure hurt like a b*tch. My arm swelled for a few days...... not too bad compared to a night at the hospital but still, watch out.
I think Jessa had the same thing happen with a carpet too...??

Jellysfish breeding season can be crazy!! I have many, many scars on my arms from them. I don't have too many on my body since they don't seem to jump up on my surf board when I'm paddling.... One thing is, if you are swimming in the surf zone they are pretty common near the surface/middle. But if you swim out past the surf, about 200 yards DO NOT swim near the bottom. They seem to like it down there and all you need to do is dive head first and get a mouth full of them. Also, just becuase you get stung dose not mean there is a jelly fish near. I remember one time the waves must have been over head and the jelly fish were being torn apart by the waves (there is about 500-100 psi with waves like that). What was happening is that the tenticles were being riped off and floating around so it felt like you were getting whipped every 20 seconds or so.... not fun.

Just watch for people screaming at the beach when your swimming. That means the jellies are about.

Um, I think I can relate to Joey's situation......

Luke

[Aquarius Lady]

I think Mike and Skip bring up good points, for the majority of folks, a jellyfish/anemone sting can be a literal "pain in the arse, arm, whereever" BUT, if you have a history of being allergic to Bees, wasps, scorpions, etc (and MOST people know who they are, as they carry a "bee sting kit") than this is an eye opener, as the original post said, the fella KNEW he was allergic to bees/wasps, but thought that Anemones would be different.
(example, I am HIGHLY sensitive/allergic to ANY spider venom, even the common house spider, but bees/wasps don't cause any more severe reaction than most people get...An itchy, firery 'knot' under the skin).
But with recent articles on Palyothas, Zoo's and now the anemones, I guess the "common sense" is this. If you KNOW you are sensitive to certain venoms (sensitive meaning life threatening reactions) than always use the long armed gloves when working in your aquarium. For most people who are not "life threatening sensitve" it is probably a good idea to use common sense, and if stung use a baking soda paste, and watch for any unusual reactions (shortness of breath, closing of throat, a feeling of not being able to breath, loss of consciousness) all these are severe reactions. For most people who DON'T have sensitivity, there really ISN'T a need for Benedryl or panic, just some tylenol for pain, and baking soda or one of the various "bug bite" creams that are on the market. (IF you need it).
I think another GOOD reason for ANYONE to wear gloves in the tank, is this:
We all often sometimes forget to wash our hands in plain water before sticking our hands in a tank. A co-worker of my husband just LOST his entire mini-reef, he had been handling jet fuel earlier in the day (he's Air Force) forgotten to wash his hands, came home 5 hours later, stuck hands in tank, killed everything within a few hours. The gloves can work both ways, to protect our expensive tank inhabitants as well. Just a thought.
Warmly,

[Aquarius Lady]

Originally posted by Simbo18
[B]Also, just becuase you get stung dose not mean there is a jelly fish near. I remember one time the waves must have been over head and the jelly fish were being torn apart by the waves (there is about 500-100 psi with waves like that). What was happening is that the tenticles were being riped off and floating around so it felt like you were getting whipped every 20 seconds or so.... not fun.

I had to LOL at this, Luke. That was MY introduction to Chas. area beaches when we first moved in. I was swimming around in the sea and got a few really nice "stripes" where some jelly tenticles (without the jellyfish) had brushed up against my neck, and head. LOL! I looked like a zebra for a few days!
ALSO, this summer when you go out and see clumps of the "Sargasso" type seaweed.....GO TO IT!!!!!!!!!!!! Go to it and gently examine it while it's till IN THE WATER!!!!
My son and I had found one year, 3 types of sargasso seahorses, several sargasso shrimps, some NEAT tassled sargasso tile/file fish and these adorable little sargasso crabs.....ALL these fish and creatures LOOK like the yellow/brownish sargasso seaweed!
You don't NOTICE them at first and they will NOT stray from their clump of seaweed! If you can get in there, with a container you can get you some REALLY, really, cool critters! AND if you can't keep them in your own tank, you might be able to pick up a few $$ from the LFS or Ebay.....REMEMBER to keep some of the seaweed they are floating along with, or they really feel panicky!
(This was back in like 98/99 when we found all this, way before I had set up a tank!)
Ya gotta go IN the water tho, maybe a good 10-15 feet from shore, BEFORE the sargasso seaweed gets all chopped up in the waves, when it's still floating in, in clumps. If you move SLOWLY and gently the critters offer NO resistance and you can snag them all, (just gently manuver the seaweed, and your jar/net and collect)
If there are ANY tropical storms/hurricanes or disturbances out in the carribean area that stir up the sea, a few days later you will find TONS of sargasso seaweed washing up around the area!
You can also catch your own live Sand dollars, small Horseshoe crabs, and I've seen a bunch of live Atlantic Cucumbers and starfish on the beach as well (Still alive) or get them RIGHT at the tide is going in or out.
Warmly,

[Simbo18]

This is off topic...
But I THINK that you get the little, little horse shoe crabs when they are about .75 inches small from about April to May. But I'm not really sure if those are the months.

Luke

[Nerite]

I guess the scariest part is, what if you never showed signs of any allergins at all yet were still allergic to jellystings?

I can remember parasailing a few years back @ the beach during jelly migration time. You could literally count them by the hundreds from 100 feet up in the air. Then, to my luck, I got splashed (they do that to you three or four times) right in a group of about eight or nine jellies. I was ate up with stings all over my legs and my arms and back. The first thing I did when I got home was to rub household ammonia over the stings with a paper towel. It took the sting out, thank god.

But, like an idiot, i've handled just about every coral and anemone in my tank bare handed. I just try to remember to rinse my hands off between handling different corals.