It’s my husband’s fault because we were tossing a football in the surf and he overthrew it so that I would have to dive. I stepped down, twisted my foot to
move to the left and then felt a sharp stab in the fleshy part of the arch in my left foot. I thought I had cut it on glass or something and immediately hobbled out of the water to inspect my foot. (My husband, who is not one to coddle injuries, immediately called for me to be put on IR and called in a 2nd string receiver.)
When I went to inspect the wound, my foot started shaking so badly that I couldn’t see it. The point of entry throbbed like a dozen bee stings and was not letting up. I suspected that I was having an allergic reaction to whatever I had stepped on, but still had no idea what it was.
The pain started traveling up my leg and into my groin and I was just about to have my clueless husband (who was still galavanting around in the water) call an ambulance when the Beach Patrol cruised by. The lifeguard took one look at it and said, “Oh yeah. That’s a stingray. Is the wound burning and traveling up your leg?”
Well duh.
Hey, I’m from Cincinnati. We don’t have stingrays in Cincinnati. (I was in Hilton Head, SC)
After a really difficult drive home where I would have literally bitten on a bullet if I had one, I finally found some relief, as prescribed by the Beach Patrol, by immersing my foot in nearly scalding water. (Who knew?) Mr. Pundit fixed me a double vodka and lemonade, which I took with Advil, and kept the water boiling.
3 hours later, all I had to show for my trauma is an odd wound on my left foot.
Pain scale: 6, which is the highest I’ve ever scored something, including childbirth
You boiled your foot for 3 hours? How did you handle that without burning your skin to the point of needing medical care? Glad you are feeling better though!
This is why you have to do some kind of shuffle in stingray country. The Stingray Shuffle is the most common, but as seeing as how you were playing football, you probably could have gotten away with doing the Ickey Shuffle.
Ouch! My friends make fun of me for wearing beach shoes, but they have kept me from injuring my feet for many years. I usually wear something like this when I go in the water.
It’s a perrenial event down here. There are signs everywhere on the beaches saying to do the stingray shuffle. But folks don’t know any better. I stepped on one once, but didn’t get stung. I felt bad for the ray, getting stepped on by a 180-pound guy has to suck for a little fish.
Yeah–I think I stepped on one at Carrot Island last year. We were at a beautiful almost empty beach, and we saw things moving below water, and I think I felt something moveunder my foot, but thankfully it didn’t sting me.
Getting stung is rare. Do the stingray shuffle and you’ll be fine. The OP admits to not shuffling at the time of the sting. Just don’t play football, apparently they hate football.
No, I added the boiling water to regular tap water until it was as hot as I could stand it. It sounds like an odd remedy, but it was highly effective. As soon as the temperature dropped the pain returned so constantly changing part of the water with boiling water was essential.
The stingray shuffle? I have honestly never heard of that. Now it all makes sense!
IIRC, the hot water cure exhausts the available supply of histamine, which causes tender bits to swell and itch. Also, it most likely dilates the blood supply in the area, diluting any toxin from the sting.
Poor Lisa! Poor stingray! Hope it gets better soon.
Here in SoCal there is a folk remedy that is supposedly effective. (Serious face now) Supposedly, peeing :eek: on the wound will take away the sting. Not that it is the best solution, but urine is readily available at the beach.
I doubt any MD would recommend this though.
