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Electric Shock
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by Gabino on December 26, 2007
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I remember reading once that some kind of electric shock treatment has helped a few individuals in saving their lives when they got bit by a venomous snake. Just out of curiosity, is the electric shock treatment ever recommended in the event of a snake bite? Also, are there in dangers in using it?
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RE: Electric Shock
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by LarryDFishel on December 26, 2007
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All kinds of intersting things have been used quite successfully to save people from snake bite.
Or, worded another way, most people survive snake bite without any effective treatment (or with no treatment whatsoever). Especially when bitten by nonvenomous snakes or receiving dry bites.
At one time, electric shock was taken seriously enough to warrant actual study and was found to range from worthless to harmful. Venom molecules don't have nervous sytems, hearts or brains after all. What would you expect electric shock to do? Sure, if you were bitten on the hand and immediately applied enough amperage to denature every protein in the entire hand, it would probably take the venom out with it... Might as well lop it off with a machete.
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RE: Electric Shock
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by Buzztail1 on December 26, 2007
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Some things I have heard talked about as possible treatments lately and their affects:
Electric shock - causes burns at application site = hospital treatment for envenomation and electrical burn (possible heart arrhythmia depending on amt of electricity used).
Ice pack - causes frostbite at application site = hospital treatment for envenomation and frostbite (possible advanced necrosis and amputation).
Cut and Suck - causes extreme tissue/tendon/muscle damage and bleeding = hospital treatment for envenomation and lacerations (cut tendons tend to not grow back together).
Alcohol (orally) - causes the blood to thin and depresses the nervous system = hospital treatment for envenomation and also possible coagulopathy issues.
Modern medicine has evolved to the best first aid treatment for snakebite = call for medical attention (cell phone usage), splint the bite area (if possible - to reduce movement of afflicted area), apply antivenom as soon as possible to neutralize the deliterious affects of the venom. Anything else is just cosmetic and may be more harmful than useful.
There are plenty of people here who have much more medical experience than I who will probably wiegh-in with a little more weight on this topic than I.
Just some food for thought,
Karl
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RE: Electric Shock
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by Chris_Harper on December 26, 2007
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Bottom line: Electric shock treatments for snakebite ARE DETRIMENTAL and have no beneficial effect whatsoever. It has been studied and it simply does not have the intended effect.
webmaster
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RE: Electric Shock
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by soberwolf on December 26, 2007
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Why take the chance??? Nothing is better than prevention and responsibility.. But, if bitten , coomon sense says seek immediate medical attneion..
Shelby
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RE: Electric Shock
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by Cro on December 29, 2007
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Just for fun, and to stir things up a bit !
Ok, we know elcetrical current does destroy snake venom in a test tube, in a lab.
So do many chemicals, like bleach, ammonia, pottasium permagnate, hydrogen peroxide, etc, etc.
Now, if we use electrical current on the human body, we might fry the surrounding tissues in an attempt to de-activate the active components of snake venom.
Could be sort of like cooking an egg, by de-naturing the protiens. Obviously, not the best treatment for a snake bite, but we also might consider that with the high water content of a human body, that some the ancidotal reports of folks using say a spark plug wire, or a house electrical outlet, to nuturlize snake venom in a bite, just might have worked.
But that is not why I started this thread.
I am more interested in getting folks to think about other possible treatments for venomous snake bite other than antivenom.
Doctors are now using High Intensity Focused Ultrasound to treat prostrate cancer. What they are doing is sending a beam of focused sound energy directly to the cancer. What this does is heat up the cancerous tissue to 90 degrees C in just a matter of seconds. This causes local selective tissue necrosis in a very well defined volume. The distance from the transducer determines how far the ultrasound waves penetrate the tissue, and the point of focus. This energy kills the cancerous tissue. It could also de-nature the protiens and enzymes in snake venom.
So, lets say we design a portable device, not all that different from a tasar, that uses a battery to charge a transducer that is tuned to produce Ultrasound at a High Intensity. And lets say that the charge would penetrate into an area of say 1/2 to 3/4 inch. What if immediatly following a snake bite, while the venom was concentrated in a very limited area, we used this divice to bombard the localized tissues and venom with this ultrasound. Well, the venom would be heated within seconds to 90 degrees C and would be nuturlized. Some surrounding tissues would also suffer necrosis. However, that might be the end of the snake bite damage, and the person might have nothing worse than a bad burn. It is possible that the burn would be no worse than that caused by an iron or hot stove. Not fun, but not nearly as bad as a snake bite.
Please understand that this is just theory, and something that I think might have potential in "immediate" localized first aid for a snake bite.
I have been reading about the use of HIUS in treating cancers, and it just seems that it might have applications that might be usefull for us. The device would have to be designed and tested. The transducers are available, and the power supply and focus issues would have to be taken into account. Then it could be tested in a lab setting. Remember, I am talking about a device that would be used within say one minute following a bite, before the venom spread to a larger area.
Anyway, just an idea to kick about. New innovations come along from folks thinking outside of the box, and finding new uses for known technologies. Some day, our antivenom treatment might be considered as primitive as witchcraft. And some day, doctors might heal folks with the use of something similar to old Dr. "Bones" TriCorder on the Star Trek shows.
Read "The Body Electric."
Best Regards and Happy New Year ! JohnZ
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