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+--- Thread: first LFA sting in my eye (/showthread.php?tid=16643)
first LFA sting in my eye - terracore - 11-25-2015
I've waited several days to post this because I wanted the experience to play out before sharing it.
Four days ago I was doing some chores and as a result, some little fire ants rained down on me. I don't know how many but I got one sting on the face, a few on my arm, and about 9 down my shirt. And one in my eye. I don't mean the outside of my eye like on the face. I mean inside the eye. Not sure exactly where, keep reading. I've been stung too many times to count, but feeling the sting in my eye nearly sent me into a panic. We have a dog and chickens that have been stung in or around the eye and they get milky, though they seem to still have good vision, but I have read enough data about LFA stings that repeated stings do lead to partial or complete blindness. I was worried.
My first reaction was to run inside the house and remove my contact lenses. My eye was already beet red in the seconds or minutes it took to get inside. By this time the pain was significant, and my upper and lower eyelids were already swelling up. I looked for but could not find the ant in my eye and asked the wife for help. She irrigated my eye with contact lens solution, and then later used a Q-tip to move my swelling eyelids to try and find a sting, she couldn't find a sting because everything was very red and swollen.
My next thought was, I need to minimize the damage. I took Benadryl. I had never taken this for LFA stings before because it has a SIGNIFICANT drowsiness effect on me. All of my stings (face, eye, arm, chest, etc) had huge red swelling and burning. If you've ever had a lot of LFA stings at once, you already know that the stings seem to feed off each other. The more you have, the worse each sting feels. As soon as the drowsiness of the Benadryl hit me, the stings started feeling much better. The redness of all the stings became more pale and the swelling subsided. My eye was still killing me but the Benadryl was definitely helping.
You are probably wondering, WHY DIDN'T YOU GO TO THE ER? Originally, that is what my first instinct was. But because of our livestock research with LFA stings to the eyes, there isn't any published treatment or first aid, and frankly, I was worried emergency medical care on this island might make the problem worse.
The next day, my upper and lower eye lids were still swollen and my eye hurt. My other LFA stings were pretty big and red as well. The redness of the actual eye ball had greatly decreased and if I was using pain as a guide- my educated guess is that I got stung on the inside of my lower eye lid- not the actual eyeball itself. But honestly, I will never know.
The third day- the eye itched a lot, still swollen, but not much. I felt kind of like my eye got punched by a relatively weak person. It throbbed and it felt like I might get a black eye, but the color never changed. Today the swelling is almost completely gone and the eye itches from time to time, but I am definitely well on my way to the finish line of this bad experience.
This is a non-medical study of 1 with no control group and a lot of uncertainty. I know I was stung somewhere in the orb that is either the actual eye or tissues that touch it. I do think that the Benadryl helped substantially. As long as there are LFA around, I will keep it nearby.
RE: first LFA sting in my eye - Kapoho Joe - 11-25-2015
Holy smokes TC, I sorta feel your pain - I got stung on the outside of the eyelid and that hurt but inside? Yikes. Good thinking with the Bennies!
RE: first LFA sting in my eye - kimo wires - 11-25-2015
Got stung myself, on the neck, yesterday pruning palm fronds.
Hate those buggahs...
I just bought Siesta ant bait last week from Crop Production Services or CPS in Hilo.
And I applied it yesterday. I'm tired of dealing with LFA and getting bit every time I cut something down.
Best to call them to see when its in stock. They sell out of the small packs pretty fast.
Its about 30 bucks for the 1 1/2 LB. And then it jumps up to 15.LB size $200+
RE: first LFA sting in my eye - dmbwest - 11-25-2015
Glad you getting better ... Thanks for the write up.
Unbelievable how much pain can get from eye injury. I think I would have ran and shoved hose into my eye.
Cause of Dengue, wearing hat and L.S. now ... Hope side benefit is avoiding above.
If you get a chance, please let us know how it is in a few days.
Happy Thanksgiving.
aloha,
pog
RE: first LFA sting in my eye - dayna - 11-25-2015
I was terrified he would lose his vision. As I was irrigating his eye I was shaking, I looked as best as I could with the q tip to find a sting. I found a couple of "redder" areas on his eyelids but nothing definite.
We do use siesta, however these LFA's were on some roofing that he was putting up on one of our aviaries. They had nested in between the sheets.
Dayna
www.E-Z-Caps.com
RE: first LFA sting in my eye - Obie - 11-25-2015
My experience has been that over time I have built up a tolerance and it is no longer a big deal.
I get bitten and get the burning,itching sensation but it only lasts about an hour.
No more huge welts and an ant in the eye is just a minor irritation.There is hope that the same will happen with you.
RE: first LFA sting in my eye - Punatic007 - 11-25-2015
An intelligent and very resourceful handyman I hire was convincing when he told me about CVS allergy eye drops have helped clear the milky cover from his dogs eyes. No clinical study clearly, yet I've got a bottle on hand from Longs for just in case.
RE: first LFA sting in my eye - Tink - 11-25-2015
Hooboy, glad your getting better, quite the experience! Glad you were at home to have immediate help and you both knowing what to do in this situation, and many thanks for sharing your unfortunate event for all to learn.
Community begins with Aloha
RE: first LFA sting in my eye - beejee - 11-25-2015
Had to chuckle at Obie...natural selection at work there. Good stuff! [8D]
RE: first LFA sting in my eye - ElysianWort - 11-25-2015
Hose in the eye, medicated eye drops, eye cup or just any cup tilted up to the eye with water or saline solution. Flush the Little F***ing A**hole out of your eye. I'd do the same for my pets if I could. Instead I just combat with Siesta if its dry and Talstar if its wet. My understanding is that Siesta bait granules don't work well after being rained on.