Anyone ever been to the ER for palytoxin poisoning?
 

Sunday nite, I fragged up my purple death paly and something squirted near my eye. Since then, I've been feeling like I have then worst . flu . ever. T-3s aren't cutting the pain, along with the shakes, hurling and heart flip-flopping in my chest.

In researching, there doesn't seen to be much they can do for you at the hospital. I live in backhillsnowhere and the "hospital" kills more people than it saves. Just wondering if it's worth the effort....

Any experience is greatly appreciated. TIA.

It was something I discussed with my allergist, he looked up everything in his medical literature and said it wasn't anything I needed to worry about.

YMMV...:neutral:

If your looking for advice if id say go. While they may not be able to cure it they can at least help monitor you and hopefully get you better stuff than just t3's.
HTH

Sent from my Galaxy Nexus using Tapatalk 2

March from fragbox has the exact same experience as yours:

http://fragbox.ca/respect-the-zoas/

Maybe contact him? Hope you recover soon.

If you search palytoxin on here, lots of threads including the one on aquarium cautions.

If you need links I will find them.

http://www.canreef.com/vbulletin/sho...t=47571&page=2

I posted 3 links to articles on it in this thread. Very good articles.

I would think heart palpitations should be checked or at least monitored as Nick said. Especially if your allergic to a lot of stuff.

That's the thing.....he is in T.O. and it STILL took them 8 hours to figure out what to do. I'm in the middle of butt####nowhere and I can't even imagine how long it would be. Did I mention it is -36 C outside?

Understandable. I am by no means have any experience in this but since this happened Saturday and you are still reading and writing, I don't think you are in any sort of critical condition. But still you should look into this. Maybe ask someone to drive you to a better hospital to another city? And try to drink as much water as you can (by "as much", I mean drink till you can't anymore); that's gonna help you flush out the toxins. Black tea helps flush out impurities in the body too. Sorry, can't really be of any proper help :(

You know what they say, better safe then sorry

If it was a serious case of palytoxin, you'd already be in a hospital praying for death (a comment heard from someone who ended up in a hospital for several days after a palytoxin incident). If you're still ok and its now Wednesday, I think you are past the worst, immediate danger. It apparently happens quickly and the pain/illness hits within hours, not 5 days later. Good luck. Personally, I would have gone to the hospital, yes even at -36C. You're a Canadian eh. That should be right balmy for you prairie person.

Anthony

Ohhhh, I've been praying for death for since Sunday night when it happened. Like vibrations of noise hurt my skin, pain.

I'm fortunate in the fact that I have a lot of painkillers and seizure meds at my disposal but I haven't been able to find the right cocktail to make my skin, muscles, joints and bones atop hurting. It was like chemo all over again.

I figured living and breathing are good signs. But the heart crap is another ballgame.

But aside from hooking me up to an EKG, the literature didn't give me any indication if there was anything else they could do aside from NaCL wide open. Just looking for anyone who has btdt and could give any advice.

And I'm in BC .......that -36C is humid cold. :razz:

Thanks Doug for the articles and Raied for the advice.

still might be worth going, just to be safe then sorry.. but if you are on the computer and not on the floor.. that's a good sign so far...

You are very welcome :) Hope you get well soon. And thanks for correcting the spelling ;)

I had a mild case told mom I was sick she beloved me but would a killed me had know it was fraging lol



Drink a lot take baths as some cash. Come out thru ur scin

I had exactly the same experience when I started out. Take any medication to bring the fever down, aches and pains along with everything else should subside over time. For anyone reading, this is worse than any cold / flu symptom I can describe. The only time I seriously feared for my life. :sad:

Not sure if it helps... but... http://www.canreef.com/vbulletin/showthread.php?t=74765

Perhaps the name is an indication of what your dealing with....

Hope you feel better soon.

I so 2nd this... haha

Get well soon..

Actually, the "death" part of death paly refers to it's shape akin to a Venus fly trap. Who'd a thunk?!? Things you learn off of Google.

Its sad for me to say that I've been there too.

The heart racing, then slowing ... The hot flashes, then cold sweats, and the hypersensitivity in your skin that prevents you from covering up with a blanket, not to mention the vomiting when there is nothing left in your system to come up.

I ended up in the hospital for IV Fluids because I couldn't keep anything down long enough for it to be used by my body ... but there was no medication or anything they could do for me. Your system needs to beat it on its own they told me.

The doctor had nothing to back it up, but he told me to drink as much milk as I could ... not sure if it was coincidence on the timing, but I was able to keep milk down when I got home from the hospital.

If you've made it a couple days, the worst is over ... it will subside in a bit more time.

Needless to say ... I'll never cut a paly without safety glasses again

I was told to wear surgical type gloves, needless to say when your in the tank and you think oh ya I'll just move this zoe or paly from here to there, I end up with tingling fingers for several hours if I don't have the gloves on. safety glasses for sure if fragging is a must IMO. Living in BC is no advantage you still wait hours in the ER. :sick:
Hope your feeling better soon!

This was very informative for me! Although I feel for your pain and suffering I'm glad you were able to post this as a warning to other reefers that haven't fragged before. Thank You!

I too have felt palytoxins wrath but its seem like u got it much worst. I actually got my very first zoas from Scott tang and when moving them into my tank I had gloves on but totally forgot n touched the side of my mouth. I immediately washed it but I guess it got in. Felt like total ****. Heart felt like I was gonna race out my Chest n felt some numbing throughout my body. Now I take extra precautions while dealing with any type of corals n mainly always only moving them with my tongs n I wear a doctors mask and goggles n glove while fragging zoas

you are all re-confirming for me why I don't spend much time or money investing in the zoanthid/palythoa clade of corals... The most poisonous thing in my tank is a scribbled rabbit fish, and I don't ever try to pick him up with my hand.

Palytoxin is one of the most poisonous substances on earth, so if you're still alive to type this 5 days later I suspect you will recover. However, if the symptoms are really that terrible a hospital might have better drugs for your symptoms, and I'd deal with -36 if it meant that I might be able to stop feeling like a building had fallen on me. Also, there is always the possibility that the symptoms you are experiencing are being caused by something else, so I'd say it's worth it to just get checked out in general. It would suck if you had an illness whose symptoms just happened to show up at the same time as the eye squirting event and not do anything about it because you thought it was something else.

In the back of my mind, I always think this is what happened with me.

I kept telling myself it wasn't the paly's because I didn't start showing symptons until about 6 hours after the squirt that got me beside the eye (not even in it).

I had also read stories of dogs dying from just drinking the water that zoos and palys had been fragged in. But when I did see a doctor, the symptoms didn't add up, most notably, the extremely acclerated heart rate.

Still ... I tell the wife that it was food poisoning, nothing more ... Can't risk that she'll take my tank away lol

I hope I live to day 5 because it feels like an elephant sat on my chest and it is only day 4. My chest isn't congested it just feels like my sternum is bruised.

Btw, BC poison control was useless as they has never heard of it.

Can't be that bad if you aren't willing to call an ambulance or at least get a ride to the hospital to get checked out.

+1. We in Canada. Free health care!! Call ambulance dude

If I had the luxury of living in Calgary, I would have days ago.

But I live in butt####nowhere where there are a couple of old nurses who triage you and decide IF a doctor is necessary. There is no doctor at the "hospital".

Case in point, Grandpa and cousin were in an accident where the horse trailer jackknifed on icy roads, pulling the dually into the ditch and slamming Grandpa against the window.

As everything was still upright, they called for a tow and went home. That was Thursday. Saturday night, Grandpa starts throwing up and has a headache and goes to the ER, where a nurse practitioner diagnosed him with a TIA (mini stroke) DESPITE being told REPEATEDLY that he was in an accident two days later. She never calls the doctor and states that they will continue to do neuro-exams throughout the night.

Monday, a doctor finally sees him, FOUR days after the accident, two days since he was in the hospital. He orders a catscan and lo and behold, he has profuse bleeding on the brain.

Grandpa died because of those nurses.

Take this story and times it by 1000 that is the competency of medical care here.

So if March from Fragbox is in T.O. and it still takes them 8 hours to figure it out, what are my chances here? Hence my question in my OP.

So then I would ask you how not seeing them is helping? You've posted on an aquarium forum looking for medical advice. How is this helping you? You mention exposure to an extremely toxic substance so wouldn't the supportive services of a nurse at least be better than staying at home and self-medicating?

Hey it's your life, do what you like but not seeking medical attention at all just seems kinda.... Stupid?

Do you not live in Chetwynd? There's a hospital there that was great when I broke my back snowmobiling. I cant see it getting worse since that town is booming with all the coal mines. Plus it's only a 2 1/2hr drive to PG.

And Jason604 where can I sign up for this free health care? Last time I was in an ambulance I got a pretty hefty bill in the mail, but who cares, it saved my life.

<-----from my OP


Just looking for comments from those who have had first hand experiences with this exposure, like Wayne Mah and the links Doug put up. THAT was helpful and greatly appreciated.

I'd probably go in to get seen. If there really is a 4 day delay in them finally figuring out what is wrong with you, I'd rather start that 4 days now rather than wait for a REAL emergency situation…

And from my knowledge, mixing up a cocktail of homemade prescription drugs (codeine and seizure meds) is probably a bad idea. My mom died from a back cocktail of prescription drugs that her doctor gave her by mistake…who knows, some of your symptoms could now be from bad mix of meds…

I am sure the hospital isn't minus 36 inside. And maybe the nurse practitioners may surprise you. Surely you telling them you have chest pain would lead to at minimum a cardiac work up and an IV for dehydration. Dehydration can also cause some of your symptoms.

I'd go in...

Not free health care paid for in taxes lol

What an immense waste of my time!

For the record, the triage nurse "doesn't DO Dr. Google", regardless of the circumstances.

As my temp, hrt and bp, although high for me, but because I am already on bp meds, she figured it wasn't unusual, were within normal ranges, I must have the flu like the rest of the town. Now go home, I'm wasting her time.......shocking. I didn't even get past the waiting room.

I could sputter obscenities until the New Year, but what is the definition of crazy? Doing the same damn thing and expecting different results.

She at least could have at least bought me dinner.......I feel so cheap.....and dirty. *shudder*

Well thats stinks. But not unexpected from our handy dandy health care. I hope you are going to be ok.

Drink lots of water, and take milk thistle.

*shrug*

Usually death occurs within a couple days with subacute poisoning or within minutes if you get a really good dose. Since it's been close to a week I'd say you are probably out of danger but might feel like crap for a bit as your cells recover from having their ion balance disrupted :frown: