HELP!!! i have a spine stuck in my fingerand it wont come out.

[SirLSD]

seriously! the cacti spines are barbed or hooked and extremely sharp. i had to cut the spine off the cacti to get away and now i canot pull it out of my finger. i have pulled really quite hard and it just wont come out. and bloody hurts! does anyone know if there is a trick to getting these ones out? is it barbed or just a single hook? it has gone through the skin and seems to be hooking into something below the skin.

Edited March 24, 2006 by SirLSD

[apothecary]

That is a freaky mean looking cactus! Holy shit!

What's the bullet for? Retribution on the cactus if you can't remove the spine?

My guess is it's probably lodged in you the way evolution designed it to. Seek medical assistance!

[Agamemnon]

seriously! the cacti spines are barbed or hooked and extremely sharp. i had to cut the spine off the cacti to get away and now i canot pull it out of my finger. i have pulled really quite hard and it just wont come out. and bloody hurts! does anyone know if there is a trick to getting these ones out? is it barbed or just a single hook? it has gone through the skin and seems to be hooking into something below the skin.

Hmm, I take it the .22 bullet is a last resort! But seriously, you should consider a trip to the casualty section of your local public hospital. Take a specimen of another barb so they can see what the end embedded in you is like. Good luck!

[blangschpeer]

Hmmm.... It's going to hurt, but one way of fixing it is to dig in alongside it with a pin and try to pry it out. If that doesn't work make a very small cut with a razor as close to the spine as possible prefferably dissecting where it entered and then wriggle it out.

If all else fails there's always hospital, but i doubt you'd want to waste 6 hours waiting for someone who's probably just going to attack you with pliers anyway.

Good luck and heal well

-Blangschpeer!

[Guest Mexicali]

Hmmm.... It's going to hurt, but one way of fixing it is to dig in alongside it with a pin and try to pry it out. If that doesn't work make a very small cut with a razor as close to the spine as possible prefferably dissecting where it entered and then wriggle it out.

If all else fails there's always hospital, but i doubt you'd want to waste 6 hours waiting for someone who's probably just going to attack you with pliers anyway.

Good luck and heal well

-Blangschpeer!

Screw the hospital and doctors...if you were in Mexico you'd HAVE to pull it out yourself!

Grab it and pull it...sure, it may tear your skin...it'll only be a little tear and not as big were you to dig your way around it.

One HARD YANK!!!!

Pour Alcohol.

Bob's your mother's brother ^_^

Edited March 24, 2006 by Mexicali

[Anton]

yep your gonna have to just clench your fist, grin and bear it. Id do it before it gets really tender

ps.. nice dint in the .22

Edited March 24, 2006 by Anton

[Tripitaka]

The Cacti looks like Ouchus amputatus to me!

There is one way to remove the spines of this particular species and that is to amputate at the neck!

Or maybe I am just feeling a tad cheeky!

Goodluck SirLSD!

[AndyAmine.]

Ahhh, you poor fucker, I have one of those cacti and the spines are unlike any other I have seen or felt, they have minute barbs all along the spine and once it goes in it rarely comes out in one piece, they are also very light and woody, kind of like Balsa wood and seem to be hollow.. I can sympathise with you bro, I have been there before but not so bad.

Roughly how far in is it?

Incidently the lady I bought it off said it was called a "Fish Hook Cactus" because of the ability your experinacing right now. Im pretty sure they were used on the end of fishing spears in the passed.

[Rev]

ROTFLMAO

i feel for u mate really i do

i know this very cactus!

what a bastard of a thing isnt it

it has razor sharp straw like spines with backward facing corrugations

you'll have to tear out flesh

its opuntia species

maybe fulgida?

a kind of Cholla cactus

hard to say when small. they grow into small trees

like so..

http://www.blueplanetbiomes.org/chainfruit_cholla.htm

deadly

i like collecting deadly things ad i still gave this one the axe!!

too hardcore for me

it seems to jump up at you

Edited March 24, 2006 by Rev

[SirLSD]

thanks for the replies. i made a small incision with a razor then pulled it out sideways out the slit. i didnt have to put myself down with the .22

the origional owner of the cacti warned me that the cacti have an uncanny ability to latch onto anything that comes close to it, but i didnt realise just how much so. he had a heap of broken off pups that he got off his dogs coat, which is where mine came from. the spines are very very sharp and have heaps of very fine barbs along it. im going to have to be really careful when it come time to repot it.

take this as a warning for anyone else that comes across this species of cacti!

ps thanks for the link rev. the mother looks a lot like this pic of fulgida on the link.

Edited March 24, 2006 by SirLSD

[Torsten]

do not underestimate the risk from cactus spine injuries!! The spine can carry nasties with it that are now embedded deep in your tissue. I would have definitely gone to a medic to get this sorted, if only to sterilies the wound properly on the inside.

Keep an eye out for symptoms such as weakness, shortness of breath or aches in certain organs. These are signs of septecemia (blood poisoning) which can kill you in a matter of days (and are hard to detect because there is no medical record of your injury). Septecemia rarely causes major problems at the site of origin, so your finger might be fine, but your liver or heart might be failing.

I nearly lost a dear friend to a silly thing like this. It took 3 biopsies before the problems was discovered and he spent 6 months in hospital. 10 years later he is still unwell and partially incapacitated.

I too had sepetecemia 5 years ago and it took me over 2 years to recover.

[Jack]

Definately seek medical advice, I have had spines stuck at least 3 times in the last 12 months, every time i think i have removed it and a tiny piece is still stuck, which becomes infected. then i needed to go on antibiotics to fix infection befor having it cut open by the doc.

Good luck.

[whiterasta]

I guess I have leather hands because I can handle any spines and the worst I end up with is a feeling of nettles. Stetsonia coryne and opuntia have given me the worst sticks of them all though. Give me spines over glochids any day though, some cactus glochids take days of chewing between my fingers to remove The ones on my opuntias especially. I can say that some of the sticks are a bit poison. I rolled down a steep hill covered in Yucca,the pointy tips peirced me all over and got infected. I needed to open each wound (over 100) and squirt providone into them till the redness reteated and my fever subsided. But that was a MAJOR encounter if you are a healthy guy and just wash it well after you pull it will heal up A-OK

Cactus can be real pricks

WR

[Gunter]

Some of those opuntia's have sheaths on the spine that stay behind when the spine is removed. Cutting it out might be one of the best options.

White glue, like elmers, can be used to revove glochids before they set in.

[Torsten]

if you are a healthy guy and just wash it well after you pull it will heal up A-OK

??? tell that to the people who end up with septecemia or permanently frozen joints. Washing a cactus spine prick will do bugger all because the soap/water won't penetrate anywhere near the deepest part of the puncture. The most problematic bugs would be on the spine and not on your skin, and hence they will be at the very base of the puncture.

The septecemia thing obviously has fallen on deaf ears, so let me elaborate about my friend's brush with death. he was walking home one night and tripped over a rock in bushland. He got a minor cut from a sharp stone so when he got home he washed it and put some iodine on it. Like most minor cust it healed overnight and he thought nothing more about it.

After 3 days he started feeling weak as if he was coming down with a flu. On the 4th day things got a bit more serious so he went to the doc who ordered blood tests for infections. Nothing. By the end of the week he was in hospital as his organs were starting to shut down. A couple of days later they opened him up and did biopsies on several organs. Within another two days they opened him up again to try and relieve some of the problems he was having from failing organs, to clean up infections that were popping up everywhere, and to do more biopsies.

In that last set of biopsies they found he had septecemia which had settled in his liver, pancreas and lungs. He was put on a special set of antibiotics (the ones his GP had prescribed were not effective for septecemia) and the infection slowly went away. He was in hospital for almost 6 months and spent another 18 months being cared for at home.

Even years later he is still weak, and the reduced size of his liver and pancreas probably don't give him a very long life expectancy. He would have never dreamed of ending up like this from a tiny cut that healed over before the problems even started. Anti biotic resistance means that unless the doc knows what to look for and how to test it the general antibiotics won't do shit.

I am sure my friend would not assume washing a wound to be sufficient anymore, but he did before this happened. A smart person will learn from his mistake rather than from their own.

[Gunter]

Makes me wish I could afford medical care.

[AndyAmine.]

thats an awful story Torsten, sorry to hear about it.

So if washing a wound wiht iodine/h202 isnt enough, what do you suggest?

[whiterasta]

??? tell that to the people who end up with septecemia or permanently frozen joints.> I have had septicemia and have a ruined ring finger from a fish spine< Washing a cactus spine prick will do bugger all because the soap/water won't penetrate anywhere near the deepest part of the puncture.>I needed to open each wound (over 100) and squirt providone into them till the redness reteated and my fever subsided. < The most problematic bugs would be on the spine and not on your skin, and hence they will be at the very base of the puncture.

The septecemia thing obviously has fallen on deaf ears,> hardly just know the odds of that happening from a splinter< so let me elaborate about my friend's brush with death. he was walking home one night and tripped over a rock in bushland. He got a minor cut from a sharp stone so when he got home he washed it and put some iodine on it.>Did he open it and use Proovidone?< Like most minor cust it healed overnight and he thought nothing more about it.

After 3 days he started feeling weak as if he was coming down with a flu. On the 4th day things got a bit more serious so he went to the doc who ordered blood tests for infections. Nothing.> They did no white blood count? if indeed he had septicemia that would have been made apparent by this common test for infection< By the end of the week he was in hospital as his organs were starting to shut down. A couple of days later they opened him up and did biopsies on several organs. Within another two days they opened him up again to try and relieve some of the problems he was having from failing organs, to clean up infections that were popping up everywhere, and to do more biopsies.

In that last set of biopsies they found he had septecemia which had settled in his liver, pancreas and lungs. He was put on a special set of antibiotics (the ones his GP had prescribed were not effective for septecemia) and the infection slowly went away. He was in hospital for almost 6 months and spent another 18 months being cared for at home.>He had incredibly inept medical care. Septicemia (blood poisoning) from a cut/splinter is most often preceeded by disticnt red lines running up the appendage from the injury and some discharge from the wound or a distinct red inflamation on the injury and is easy to spot...ask a carpenter <

Even years later he is still weak, and the reduced size of his liver> lost over 1/3rd of mine< and pancreas> Developed type2 diabetes< probably don't give him a very long life expectancy. He would have never dreamed of ending up like this from a tiny cut that healed over before the problems even started. Anti biotic resistance means that unless the doc knows what to look for and how to test it the general antibiotics won't do shit.>Sounds like there wasn't much anyone can do but go to a MD for every little scratch and splinter or use common sense and see an MD when you are ill <

I am sure my friend would not assume washing a wound to be sufficient anymore, but he did before this happened. A smart person will learn from his mistake rather than from their own.> What do you recomend to a cactus collector? See an MD for every poke?< I am sad for your friend, I had a misplaced appendix which ruptured and went gangrenous fucked me all up inside roll of the dice,eh?<

Peace bro,

WR

Edited March 28, 2006 by whiterasta

[whiterasta]

Makes me wish I could afford medical care.

It is a largely overated industry. Learn to be your own medic and save the hospital for when ya cut off sumthin' or when the tumor gets to big to fit in the wheelbarrow

WR

[Torsten]

Sounds like there wasn't much anyone can do but go to a MD for every little scratch and splinter or use common sense and see an MD when you are ill smile.gif

Well, he did see an MD when he was ill, but he failed to provide the relevant information (or the GP ignored it).

The point I am trying to make is NOT that you have to see a GP for every little scratch and cut, but rather that anything that penetrates your skin should be recorded diligently and should be brought to the MD's attention if anything goes wrong within a few days.

While my friend's injury would not justify seeing an MD, there are however instances where an MD is advisable. Cactus spines, rusty nails and glass shards are good examples where a GP should be seen. cactus spines if they are deep enough are probably more dangerous than rusty nails or glass shards that cause a lot of bleeding.

My main point is that even if you don't see a GP (and let's face it, most of us won't bother), you should never underestimate the possible consequences and hence you should always record the injury.

What do you recomend to a cactus collector? See an MD for every poke?

No. However, barbed ones and especially those embedded in joints should be looked at. Also, any that do not come out redily by themselves (ie those that require incision) should be treated. other than that it's a roll of the dice as you say, but you can stack your odds by being aware of the possible consequences and not taking ANY injury too lightly.

[Rev]

I dont keep barbed ones anymore, the rest are bad enough

and i couldnt live with myself if my kids got stuck on a cholla

i havent been without cactus spines in some part of my arms and hands for about 3 years now - or mex poppy

The cycle repeats.

Get jabbed

pull out visible spines

Let the rest get infected to build up pressure

squeeze and irriate to enhance inlfammation

leave a day

squeeze again and pop! out she comes. squeeze more to remove pus till it bleeds and wash with disinfectant

worst case i get a clean scalpel and cut myself open to extract it

it takes abitto jab me though as the callus on my hands and esp thumbs is thickened

I can barely imagin life without spines in this progression

Worst was when i had an opuntia go through my thumb - ouch

But listen to T

i seem to have some occupational tolerance but you might not

Edited March 28, 2006 by Rev