Naomi Lewis gave birth to four children, but none were as excruciatingly painful as her fall in the Australian nettles.
It was a careless moment that Naomi Lewis, from Cairns (Queensland), Australia, will probably never forget: getting off her bike after her mountain bike ride, she slipped on a ravine and landed on a plant known colloquially as a Gympie – called Gympie . But the friendly name is deceiving: the Australian nettle (Dendrocnide moroides), as the plant is officially called, causes terrible pain.
The reason for this is the tiny hairs that burn. They contain the substance moroidin, a poison. When touched, it causes severe itching to intense burning pain in people, which can last for a few days, and in extreme cases, up to several months.
In the Australian state of Queensland, large signs warn against approaching Australian nettles too close.20 minutes / Queensland Government
Australian ecologist Marina Hurley, who has tried touching the plant herself, wrote on Theconversation.com that the reaction was “the worst pain imaginable – like being burned with hot acid and electrocuted at the same time”.
Hot wax strips as a first aid measure
Lewis also describes the aftermath of their encounter just as drastic: “The pain was unbearable. At some point, it was so bad I started vomiting,” Lewis told ABC News.
Along with her husband, the 42-year-old woman went to a pharmacy to buy strips of wax to try to remove the first Gympie-Gympie hairs from her legs.
Lewis’s need was so great that they heated strips of wax on the hood of the car. “I remember saying to my husband, ‘I can’t take this’”.
“No birth has been so painful”
The ambulance took Lewis straight to the hospital, where she had to stay for a week. Doctors couldn’t do much more than ease the pain with painkillers, warm blankets, and Band-Aids.
A difficult moment: “I had four children – three cesarean sections and a natural birth,” said the portal, quoting the 42-year-old man. “And no birth was remotely as painful.” And after no birth the pain was as lasting as that caused by Gympie-Gympie.
The pain lasts for months
After seven days, Lewis was allowed to return home. In the luggage, many more painkillers and more thermal compresses. It was only after several months that she was able to stop taking them. But the ghost is far from over.
Nine months after the unfortunate encounter with the Australian nettle, it is still in pain. When the cool air from the air conditioner touches her legs, it feels like “rubber bands snap” in her legs.
While that feeling should fade with time, she doesn’t want to experience it all over again. She also wants to protect others from this and warns, “Don’t get too close to them. Don’t touch them. It’s dangerous!”
Researchers know this about Australian nettle
How often do people and Gympie-Gympies meet? What problems does it cause? What helps those affected? Doctors at Cairns Hospital in the city of Cairns compiled the answers to these questions for the first time. The study was published in the journal Emergency Medicine Australasia (paid content). The researchers evaluated 48 cases who were admitted to the hospital’s emergency department over a three-year period. These are the results:
Many of those affected were unaware of the Australian nettle’s existence before encountering it.
The main venue for Gympie-Gympie related injuries turned out to be the Crystal Cascades, popular in the Cairne suburb of Redlynch. 42 percent of all cases occurred there.
Most injuries (62.5%) occurred during the dry season, between April and September. Generally (96 percent) members are affected.
87 percent of those affected report moderate to severe pain.
Most of those affected (75 percent) were male and between 16 and 35 years old.
There are many reports on the best methods of treating stings, from bush medicine to applying diluted hydrochloric acid to the affected areas of the skin, all with varying degrees of success. But without proper scientific or medical analysis of these treatments, it is dangerous for people to try them without clinical supervision. The best thing anyone can do when bitten is to see a doctor.
Navigation count 20 minutes, time rcp02/04/2023, 19:43| Act: 02/04/2023, 19:43