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Heart problems after snake bite... Help?
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by twister on May 25, 2005
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On March 26th I was gardening at my home south of Ft. Worth Texas(Our area has 4 pit vipers, commonly). I felt a bite(similar to a fire ant)on my right ring finger knuckle, while weeding in tall grass. I brushed my hand off, didn't see an ant & kept working. About 2 hours later while cleaning my grill, I hit my right hand on the side of the metal grill. It immediately bruised badly(like a 'car wreck' bruise). Weird to me, but I kept doing my chores. About an hour after that, my right knuckle area of my hand became red, swollen & hurt like my hand was broken. Remembering nothing about a bite while gardening, I took 2 advil & put ice on it. My nurse- neighbor took a look at it. I told her my hand must be broken, but I had no idea how that would've happened. Hurt all night, hand swollen, red, fingers curled down...unusable. Morning, I decide to go get x-rays, I put Arnica Gel(herb that reduces swelling & bruising by sending blood away from area) to reduce the swelling so that doctors would be able to x-ray hand. Immediately as (now I know) toxins left hand site & raced through body, I was sick. Nausea, racing heart, sweating, SICK. Took adult dose Benadryl. Better. Went to doctor. Doctor, determined a bite(could easily be seen now that not swollen)not a spider, maybe snake or bee(only one hole in my hand at edge of knuckle). I felt much better, went home. Took about 30 days for hand to stop hurting & regain full use of it(lost muscle, lexibilty, strength). I'd say it's now(@55 days later) about 95% back to normal.
That night(march 27th), my heart did funny stuff. Next night more. Next night more. Next day more & so on. 10 days later at hospital because heart won't go back to normal rhythm. EKG, X-rays, etc I'm having PVC's(pre ventricular contractions). Pretty intense ones(sometimes they are gentler... most times i feel like my heart will jump out of my chest). 24 hour heart monitor says almost 5,000 PVC's every 24 hours. Echocardiogram shows nothing 'wrong' with my heart. I'm no caffeine, now no strenous exercise, etc. I'm only 38, female. Doctor doesn't think it's related to snake bite. Has anyone had similar experiences? Can your heart be hurt? Any ideas as to cure?
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RE: Heart problems after snake bite... Help?
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by walterD on May 25, 2005
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I don't think there's a connection. It sounds like a common irregular heart beat which hits most of us at some point or another. It could also be W.P.W wolfe parkinson white, which is another cond't that can be treated with medication. Look it up on the net and you can get more info.
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RE: Heart problems after snake bite... Help?
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by Cro on May 25, 2005
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Tracy: I would have to disagree with Walter when he said he does not see any connection to your bite and the heart rhythm problems.
You stated that you started having problems with your heart rhythm the day after you were bitten by something, and that the problem got worse the next day, and worse still the following day. This was at the same time you had other sympoms like swelling and pain at the site of the bite. That sure seems conneted to me.
There are a lot of different animals that could have nailed you when you were gardning, including spiders, scorpions, centepedes, wasps, and snakes. Your symptoms do not sound much like any kind of snake bite, but more like a venomous sting or bite from a wasp or spider or scorpion. It is quite possible some of these venoms could cause cardio toxic symptoms. Chances are the sympoms will stop as soon as the venom is broken down and disposed of by your body.
As far as something like wolfe parkinson white, it just does not make since to me that you would suddenly develope that the day after some kind of venomous bite or sting. JohnZ
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RE: Heart problems after snake bite... Help?
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by emtnurse on May 25, 2005
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Hi Twister. My name is Bryan and I am an RN in a cardic intensive care unit. So, I am going to toot my own horn for a little while. To be 38 or any age and have 5,000 PVC's in 24 hrs is a problem. Do I think it was related to your bite/ sting?? It is possible. Everyone's body reacts differently to a foreign substance rather it be inhaled, ingested, or in your case injected. I am a Physician by no means, but from my experience it sounds like you may have an underlying heart condition. You could have had this for a while but been asymptonatic, which means you feel no symptons. The palpations you feel in your back sounds like runs of Ventricular Tachycardia, which are frequent runs of PVC's. This can be a dangerous rhythm if it sustains. This is classified as beats of PVC's that are 4 beats or greater. When you have ventricular beats, the atrium of the heart kind of quivers while the ventricle part of the heart is still conducting. When you feel the palpations, then you are symptonatic, which means you feel or have symptons. You can have runs of V-Tach or multifocal PVC's and not feel them. There are a number of reasons why you can have PVC's. Smokers have them alot, could be fluid depletion, an old MI or heart attack, Ischemia ( o2 not getting to the tissue of the heart), also could be Magnesium or potassium levels are high or low. If you have a run of V-Tach and it sustains, it can turn to Ventricular Fibrillation. In V-Fib, this is a deadly rhythm. I am not trying to scare you, but this is what happens with PVC's. I would see a cardiologist if you already havent. And if you dont like his/her diagnosis, then see another. 5,000 pvc's in 24hrs is something not normal. Like I said, I take care of fresh open hearts everyday, and I see this stuff. What you are having is not normal and i would try my best to stay ahead of it and take care of yourself. Bryan
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RE: Heart problems after snake bite... Help?
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by Chris_Harper on May 26, 2005
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A couple of problems. Organ damage is not uncommon with pitviper envenomations. As a matter of fact, in an untreated pitviper envenomation, it's just about guaranteed. To wait 24 hours after a bite is to allow it to run it's course. The problem is that any damage caused by snake venom is essentially irreversible. emtnurse is right. It sounds like runs of either ventricular tachycardia, or supraventricular tachycarida. (V-Tach and SVT for short). I have heard of lots of odd symptoms that occur following snakebites over the years, including things like limb paralysis that lasted 9 months following an eastern diamondback bite, loss of secondary sexual characteristics (pubes fall out, genitals atrophy) following Russell's viper envenomation, etc. It isn't impossible to have cardiac muscle damage following a pitviper envenomation. Blood returning to the heart from the body goes directly into the right atrium and right ventricle. Perfusion directly through the heart muscle itself though, is a little bit more difficult if one considers the path that it must take prior to entering the coronary arteries. There are a lot of possible outcomes when dealing with snakebite scenarios. I wouldn't rule anything out. But it's definitely time for our 38 yo female to seek a cardiologist.
Chris Harper, NREMT-P
webmaster of this site
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RE: Heart problems after snake bite... Help?
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by CAISSACA on May 26, 2005
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No need for it to hit any special area. Burmese Russell's vipers cause hemorrhage of the pituitary, a small gland in the brain that secretes various hormones that keep your mature sexual characteristics and sex drive active. When that gets knocked out by the venom, you loose those hormones, and in effect return to a state of youth by loosing facial and body hair and suffering reduced genitals and other secondary sexual characteristics. Not the sort of Fountain of Youth most people would appreciate, though.
Cheers,
Wolfgang
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RE: Heart problems after snake bite... Help?
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by elapidking81 on June 2, 2005
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Man that just sucks! That did it for me no russell's viper for me I dont need any more srinkage or any thang fallin out :-).
shane
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