Palythoa Toxica poisoning
Dec 30, 2015 14:47:57 GMT -5
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Post by gabor129 on Dec 30, 2015 14:47:57 GMT -5
Well ladies and gents I must say button polyp poisoning is not fun. I just spent the last two days in ICU!!!
Well let's go back to the beginning.
On Monday I decided to do a well deserved cleaning on my saltwater tank. There were some Texas Trash Zoas that we're getting out of hand, some rocks that I wanted to replace, and of course a good scrubbing of the front glass. Mind you I am a 10 year veteran in the saltwater hobby, so there are some things I started cutting corners on, such as wearing gloves when doing maintenance on the tank. I started with removing the rocks that I wanted to replace, cleaning the glass, and H2O2 bombing some of the places where algae started to get its hold. Then I noticed that some of the Texas Trash Zoas started to grow on my overflow box, so thinking nothing of it I got a scraper and peeled some of it off. In the process the tool slipped, and I cut myself on a coral skeleton I keep in there for decoration. I went and washed up, making sure there was nothing in this tiny cut I got from the coral. Thinking nothing of it I went back doing the maintenance on the tank. In cleaning up I picked up the peeled off zoa frag to see if it worthy saving. Of course in the process of removing it I butchered the whole thing so it was garbage.
However some slime must have gotten into the cut, since after about an hour I got really tired. I was thinking I must have pushed myself a bit to get things finished before my wife got home from work. Not the case at all, it was the beginning of a rapidly growing symptoms that somethings is gone horribly wrong. Two hours later I started not being able to fill my lungs to their capacity with out having a horrid cough attack. Two hours after that I was coughing like I had the worst cold in my life. Anyway I went to bed, hoping by the morning I'll be fine. No such luck! At 2:30 am I woke up that I am very cold, I mean I was majorly shaking under a blanket. I went to check my core temperature, it was 36.7 Celsius, which is not right, I should be having a major fever! This is when I decided to call poison control, and tell them that I think I am experiencing palytoxin poisoning. By this time I did not have enough air to finish a couple of wolds, so the person just told me to go to the emergency and tell them to call. So at 3:30 am I am siting in the emergency waiting room for someone to come to the triage desk, when my joints start to ache like I am 80 years old (no offence Les), and my leg starting to cramp up. So I start to pace in the room, this cought a passing nurses attention and she called the triage nurse. I'm sure it was only a few minutes, but this seemed like few hours to me. Anyways, they take my info, and what seems to be the problem, and when I say " palytoxin poisoning" I get the blank what the hell is that stare.... So I tell the nurse to google it and call poison control they expecting the call, at this she kick it into high gear. In to triage two, get hooked up to EKG, and the "this can't be right" comment. So I explained to her that with this type of poisoning the EKG will be all over the place, and once again call poison control.... So she gets on the horn with them and after a lot of uhm, right, uhm, and that sort of thing, I get a bed in emergency. The doctor is of course busy with all other people in there, but luckily she worked toxicology before, so as soon as she hears about my case I have her, a very pretty student doc?, and two nurses working on my case. Of course had a bunch of blood drawn, EKG monitor on the whole time, still no iv drip to wash the poison out, so I question this. The answer is that they have to wait until poison controls toxicologist gives them a protocol to follow. Oh brother.... Well I was thinking a bit more colourful than that, since by this time my kidneys ache, and my lover back is cramping up.
Well it was about two hours from admitting me to the first four iv drips. All at the same time..... Ouch, stomach cramp galore.... The things I remember getting are magnesium, potassium, Benadryl, antibiotics and saline. I did ended up with fever as well so got Tylenol for that, gravol for stomach cramps, and something to calm me down, my hearth rate was through the roof, even thought they kept asking me if I feel my hearth skipping a beat... Kind of creepy, every half an hour a nurse would ask me this... After 6 am I past out for awhile since when I woke up it was an ICU doctor checking my monitors, and charts. He asked me how I knew what had happened to me I told him that I surf the aquarium forums often, and that there are a lot of good information on them. He started laughing and told me he was surfing them for the past two hours to get ready for my treatment. Kind of cool if you think about it....
So I got transferred to ICU around 7:30 am where I was in and out until about 4 pm when I had to go to the bathroom. Boy, it was interesting with iv lines in both hands, EKG leads, O2 monitor...... So let's just say it was a close call to the bathroom. By this time I had approximately 4-5 saline bags and other meds through iv, so it was a race! LOL
I stayed through the night, and got discharged around 9:30 in the morning.
As I'm writing this my hand where the initial wound is still red and a bit swollen, a bit lightheaded since I was in bed for nearly two days, and got to pee every few minutes.... Other than that I would say 90% back to normal, and of course Les will remark here I was never normal.....?
My wife is adamant that I get rid of the saltwater tank, however I'll sleep on it for a while. There are reasons for everything, maybe this was the way to wake me up to reality, take precautions and things will be okay, cut corners and you might not be around to learn from your mistake!
I would like to thank all the nurses, and doctors at the hospital for undertaking a very unusual case, which they never saw before, listening to my description, and diagnosis of the ailment, and doing their best to give me the time to learn from my mistake! Thank you!
As for you all who think this is way blown out of proportion, I would like to remind you that Palythoa Toxica poison is the second deadliest poison known to men.
For noobs out there, never put any button polyps in hot water, or pour hot water over them, use gloves for everything you do in your tank! Learn from my mistake and don't make your own!
Thanks for reading!
Gabe
Well let's go back to the beginning.
On Monday I decided to do a well deserved cleaning on my saltwater tank. There were some Texas Trash Zoas that we're getting out of hand, some rocks that I wanted to replace, and of course a good scrubbing of the front glass. Mind you I am a 10 year veteran in the saltwater hobby, so there are some things I started cutting corners on, such as wearing gloves when doing maintenance on the tank. I started with removing the rocks that I wanted to replace, cleaning the glass, and H2O2 bombing some of the places where algae started to get its hold. Then I noticed that some of the Texas Trash Zoas started to grow on my overflow box, so thinking nothing of it I got a scraper and peeled some of it off. In the process the tool slipped, and I cut myself on a coral skeleton I keep in there for decoration. I went and washed up, making sure there was nothing in this tiny cut I got from the coral. Thinking nothing of it I went back doing the maintenance on the tank. In cleaning up I picked up the peeled off zoa frag to see if it worthy saving. Of course in the process of removing it I butchered the whole thing so it was garbage.
However some slime must have gotten into the cut, since after about an hour I got really tired. I was thinking I must have pushed myself a bit to get things finished before my wife got home from work. Not the case at all, it was the beginning of a rapidly growing symptoms that somethings is gone horribly wrong. Two hours later I started not being able to fill my lungs to their capacity with out having a horrid cough attack. Two hours after that I was coughing like I had the worst cold in my life. Anyway I went to bed, hoping by the morning I'll be fine. No such luck! At 2:30 am I woke up that I am very cold, I mean I was majorly shaking under a blanket. I went to check my core temperature, it was 36.7 Celsius, which is not right, I should be having a major fever! This is when I decided to call poison control, and tell them that I think I am experiencing palytoxin poisoning. By this time I did not have enough air to finish a couple of wolds, so the person just told me to go to the emergency and tell them to call. So at 3:30 am I am siting in the emergency waiting room for someone to come to the triage desk, when my joints start to ache like I am 80 years old (no offence Les), and my leg starting to cramp up. So I start to pace in the room, this cought a passing nurses attention and she called the triage nurse. I'm sure it was only a few minutes, but this seemed like few hours to me. Anyways, they take my info, and what seems to be the problem, and when I say " palytoxin poisoning" I get the blank what the hell is that stare.... So I tell the nurse to google it and call poison control they expecting the call, at this she kick it into high gear. In to triage two, get hooked up to EKG, and the "this can't be right" comment. So I explained to her that with this type of poisoning the EKG will be all over the place, and once again call poison control.... So she gets on the horn with them and after a lot of uhm, right, uhm, and that sort of thing, I get a bed in emergency. The doctor is of course busy with all other people in there, but luckily she worked toxicology before, so as soon as she hears about my case I have her, a very pretty student doc?, and two nurses working on my case. Of course had a bunch of blood drawn, EKG monitor on the whole time, still no iv drip to wash the poison out, so I question this. The answer is that they have to wait until poison controls toxicologist gives them a protocol to follow. Oh brother.... Well I was thinking a bit more colourful than that, since by this time my kidneys ache, and my lover back is cramping up.
Well it was about two hours from admitting me to the first four iv drips. All at the same time..... Ouch, stomach cramp galore.... The things I remember getting are magnesium, potassium, Benadryl, antibiotics and saline. I did ended up with fever as well so got Tylenol for that, gravol for stomach cramps, and something to calm me down, my hearth rate was through the roof, even thought they kept asking me if I feel my hearth skipping a beat... Kind of creepy, every half an hour a nurse would ask me this... After 6 am I past out for awhile since when I woke up it was an ICU doctor checking my monitors, and charts. He asked me how I knew what had happened to me I told him that I surf the aquarium forums often, and that there are a lot of good information on them. He started laughing and told me he was surfing them for the past two hours to get ready for my treatment. Kind of cool if you think about it....
So I got transferred to ICU around 7:30 am where I was in and out until about 4 pm when I had to go to the bathroom. Boy, it was interesting with iv lines in both hands, EKG leads, O2 monitor...... So let's just say it was a close call to the bathroom. By this time I had approximately 4-5 saline bags and other meds through iv, so it was a race! LOL
I stayed through the night, and got discharged around 9:30 in the morning.
As I'm writing this my hand where the initial wound is still red and a bit swollen, a bit lightheaded since I was in bed for nearly two days, and got to pee every few minutes.... Other than that I would say 90% back to normal, and of course Les will remark here I was never normal.....?
My wife is adamant that I get rid of the saltwater tank, however I'll sleep on it for a while. There are reasons for everything, maybe this was the way to wake me up to reality, take precautions and things will be okay, cut corners and you might not be around to learn from your mistake!
I would like to thank all the nurses, and doctors at the hospital for undertaking a very unusual case, which they never saw before, listening to my description, and diagnosis of the ailment, and doing their best to give me the time to learn from my mistake! Thank you!
As for you all who think this is way blown out of proportion, I would like to remind you that Palythoa Toxica poison is the second deadliest poison known to men.
For noobs out there, never put any button polyps in hot water, or pour hot water over them, use gloves for everything you do in your tank! Learn from my mistake and don't make your own!
Thanks for reading!
Gabe