Can You Suck Out Snake Venom?
The Myth has busted and Truth Revealed!
No one wants snake bites. These causes injuries, possible death, sickness, and a lot of discomforts.
Snakes bites can be annoying, particular the wild snakes including the kind you will find when you are out trekking, camping or hiking, can be the worst of all.
If a snake bit you, what should you do? Should you consider sucking out the venom like the way you have seen them in movies? Well, the answer is a big NO. The reason behind it is that the venom will spread quickly throughout your system. Based on science, even applying ice or tourniquet to the wound will not be of any help. They could be more likely to bring harm than let you yield some benefits. Not only they delay you from getting the right medical care, but also they could contaminate the injury and would do more damage in your nerves and blood vessels. You should also not do first aid either because it will only delay how long it’d take for you to get medical care. Therefore, what must be done?
Well, first and foremost, before you get bitten, you should know the symptoms of snake bites, and these often include pain and swelling in the area. Then, there’s nausea, throwing up, and you will feel weaker. Signs including these are developed within thirty minutes to an hour, but there might be a delay of a few hours.
You should also stay calm. Let your friends get you out of the way and contact the appropriate authorities. We know that it is impossible to remain calm in such situations like this, but you do not have a choice. Been agitated and distressed will increase your heart rate thus quicken the venom moves in your veins.
What You Should Know about Snake Venom?
There are numerous misconceptions regarding what snake venom is.
Well, it’s merely modified saliva and a combination of various enzymes and proteins. The traditional way of categorizing venom indicated that several snakes have neurotoxin venom that affects one’s nervous system and some have haemotoxic venom, which affects blood and tissue.
There are far more than two kinds of toxins and many combinations of these such as neurotoxins, haemotoxins, cardiotoxins, and myotoxins.
No snake venom contains only one kind of toxin. Majority of snakes have a combination of toxins as well as variable combination, which makes reactions to snake bites so varied from one species to another.
Other Things to Keep in Mind
There are various productive things you could do to help snakebite victims and trying to suck out venom is not one of them. As mentioned above, it has an adverse effect that can further damage the tissue around the snake bite and would just spread the venom. Sucking out the venom is also an act in futility, which delays the appropriate treatment. Take note that venom, once in your body, spreads quickly throughout the lymphatic system and it isn’t possible for people to suck hard and fast enough to eliminate all of them and have positive effects.
Another common misconception is that the snake bites are fatal. As a matter of fact, during the frontier times, only twenty-five percent of the snake bites from the pit vipers resulted to death.
One reason is that some snake bites are dry and this means that no venom was injected. It must also be noted that while bites from rattlesnakes, cottonmouths, and copperheads are painful from the beginning that the victim would ask for help, with the coral snakes, other victims made the mistake that thinking the bite would cause a bit harm.
It’s common for the symptoms from venomous coral snake bites to take a few hours to appear.
While you will be fine, once you have received proper medical care after you’re bitten, there’s a notable exception of black mamba.
You should avoid this kind of snake at all costs. The kill rate of black mamba after a strike would be a hundred percent unless significant amounts of anti-venom were administered shortly after you’re bitten.
The venom of this snake can kill you within ten minutes or sometimes several hours.
What You Should Do If You Are Bitten?
- Stay calm. Death from majority of snake bites isn’t instantaneous.
- Go to the hospital immediately. If needed, the nurses will administer anti-venom immediately. It’s only most effective treatment available to treat snake bites.
- Avoid something that accelerates your heart rate and thins your blood.
- Protect your wound and never do something that would worsen the situation.
What You Should Not Do?
Never attempt the following as these will only cause more harm and would waste your time getting the right snake bite treatment from qualified medical professionals.
- Never electrocute the area that was bitten to neutralize the venom.
- Never apply ice to slow the spread of the snake venom.
- Never cut a letter X over the marks of the fangs and suck out venom. Snake venom quickly spread quickly and efficiently through one’s lymphatic system. It is impossible to cut deep quickly or suck hard to pull the amount of venom to make a difference.
- Never use tourniquet. It is painful and would just cut blood flow to your wounded limb. This can cause your limb to die and might require amputation.
Conclusion
To sum up everything, venom and snake bites are serious business. Never consider sucking the venom out, but instead contact the authorities if possible.
Always have your coordinates on your hand and remember to be always prepared. In addition to that, make sure that you know the things that you should and not do for you to avoid dangerous situations.
Being knowledgeable about the snake venom and other things associated with it will help you determine if you’re doing the right thing or you’re just worsening your condition. Stay safe and stay on your guard.
