The babble of a middle-aged lunatic.
Poison and limbs
Published on October 5, 2006 By Xythe In Current Events

Mike Edwards, 46, was bitten by a timber rattlesnake Saturday while working on his Rockvale farm.

It seems as this bit was bad enough that Mr. Edwards whas held overnight in the hospital for observation.

What strikes me about this artical is how people use various medias and use them as education.

It turns out Edwards and his wife had used a tourniquet on his arm to "slow the venom". Why? Because they say its a common way to handle snake bites according to western movies we see on the TV.

Its no different than the internet. You need to sift through the trash to find the facts.

Anyway, I tended to believe as the Edwards couple did, so I found this crazy article a bit educational.

Tourniquet: Bad Advice for a Snake Bite

By Associated Press

MURFREESBORO, Tenn. - A Rockvale man discovered that Western films aren't a good source of emergency medical advice for a snakebite. Mike Edwards, 46, was bitten by a timber rattlesnake Saturday while working on his Rockvale farm. The bite was so severe that Edwards was kept at Vanderbilt University Medical Center until Monday.

The standard snakebite scene in many movies shows the victim applying a tourniquet to the limb and then cutting the wound and sucking out the venom.

As Edwards and his wife, Andrea, waited for the ambulance to arrive, a good Samaritan tried to help using advice gleaned from Hollywood.

"She put a tourniquet on his arm," Andrea Edwards said. "We were on the phone with the EMT who was on his way to us, and he said to take it off."

As the Edwards learned when they arrived at Vanderbilt, the tourniquet could have cost him his hand or arm.

"The toxicologist at Vanderbilt said the tourniquet just kept all of the venom in one place, and it swelled, which made it harder for the antivenin to get to it," Mike Edwards said.

Edwards' condition was critical by the time they arrived at the hospital and his blood pressure was dangerously low, his wife said. Mike said he lost vision at one point and was convulsively twitching.

"They told me another 10 minutes, and we could have lost him," she said.

Middle Tennessee Medical Center's Dr. Kevin Beier, who specializes in emergency treatment, said venom is used by snakes to break down the tissue of prey to make them easier to digest.

"When you trap the venom, it causes tissue damage and necrosis (tissue death)," Beier said.

Beier said there are rare circumstances when using a tourniquet would have helped, such as in the cases of the victim going into shock and to slow the spread of the venom.

But Beier said the method of cutting a wound and sucking out the venom is never recommended.

"Do not do this," he said. "That's been shown not to have been of any benefit and it can increase the effect of infection or damage."

___

Information from: The Daily News Journal, http://www.dnj.com


Comments
on Oct 05, 2006
Tourniquets in westerns and other stories (I had to read a short story in a textbook in grade school that included a young boy being bitten by a snake) are used as life saving devices; it's generally assumed that any time you use a tourniquet, you're going to lose that limb (in an attempt to save your life, it may be a trade you'd make).

Military standards on tourniquet use is as an absolute last resort (after bandaging, direct pressure, elevating the wound, applying a pressure bandage, etc.), and victims are to be clearly marked with a 'T' on their forehead so that medics can deal with it immediately upon receipt. Other guidelines include placing the tourniquet within a short distance of the wound, and below joints (elbows/knees) if at all possible. That way, there's more of the arm left after the amputation to provide support for prosthetics.

Seriously, I think anyone in the know will assume that amputation follows tourniquet use.
on Oct 05, 2006

Seriously, I think anyone in the know will assume that amputation follows tourniquet use.

Well, count me as not one in the know.  But thanks for the short lesson.

on Oct 05, 2006
Seriously, I think anyone in the know will assume that amputation follows tourniquet use.


I,m with the doc on this one. There are many floks that have used touniquets that still have all their limbs.
on Oct 05, 2006
There are many floks that have used touniquets that still have all their limbs.


I'm sure there are. Perhaps a rephrasing, then: "Those in the know will be cognizant of the very real risk of amputation following the application of a tourniquet." Contrast this against the seeming surprise expressed in the article that "the tourniquet could have cost him his hand or arm."
on Oct 05, 2006
Well, my advice is to not get bitten by a snake in the first place...if you're in an area where there are snakes...you should check. If you startle the snake with some besides your hand then you're going to hear this particular species rattle...big clue to back the hell off.

~Zoo