Cactus Injury

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ichjwood
Posts: 4
Joined: Mon Jun 27, 2016 11:36 am

Cactus Injury

Post by ichjwood »

In lat April, I accidentally thrust my three primary fingers of my primary hand into an Old Man of the Desert Cactus (Oreocereus trollii) that I’ve had for twenty-five years. In my ignorance, I grabbed my hand, thighs, any place one might grab when he’s just encountered sticking and in serious pain. At eleven days, I went to the emergency room–they made me feel as if I was conjuring the entire event. I saw one of the most renowned doctors on Madison Avenue in Manhattan. He saw well enough to prescribe a topical numbing cream and put me on Neurontin for nerve ending pain. Of course, nothing really works, and now areas of my body are severely itching. Am I imagining all of the information I’ve found about glochids and spines of various lengths and levels? Everyone, professionals included, seem to think I’m embellishing, being overly histrionic, or having a bad reaction to medication. I need answers. Desperately. If you know anything that can help alleviate the physical and psychological toll this injury has caused me. cactus injury. I've provided a close-up of the cactus at the following link.


/Users/johnwoodworth/Desktop/close-up (1).jpg
DaveW
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Joined: Thu Dec 20, 2012 2:36 pm
Location: Nottingham, England/UK

Re: Cactus Injury

Post by DaveW »

You could be allergic to cacti, but presumably you would have found that out long ago. Of course if you have used contact insecticides the spines could be like sticking dirty hypodermic needles into you. But as you say such reactions are usually caused by Opuntia glochids rather than normal spines:-

https://escholarship.org/uc/item/87v8v850/cholla2.html" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

However I also found this one caused by being punctured by dirty cactus spines:-

"I found out that I had a rapidly progressing Staph infection...the terms MRSA(!) and Compartment syndrome(!!) floated around in hushed tones. Thankfully I had neither. Just a bunch of Staph Germs that took the Cactus Needle Expressway Deep inside my left arm. Deep Tissue Inflammation, Systemic Infection...Ah yes, cellulitis!! And the staph germs contiued their twisted party up my forearm and into my elbow."

"The next day not only was my arm red, it now had a blotchy marbling effect and it's irritation had now awakened the previously dormant patch of eczema in my elbow. I also experienced the most INTENSE sensation of itching I had ever known."


http://www.experienceproject.com/storie ... tus/615111" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

"Long term problems associated with cactus puncture wounds include inflammation, infection, cellulitis, and retained portions of the cactus spine. Cactus spine wounds are highly inflammatory due to fungal coatings on the cactus spine or hypersensitive reactions. Common signs of a retained cactus spine include: sharp pain as pressure is applied to the site, discoloration of the skin, the wound fails to heal, a mass under the skin, and a cyst or abscess at the site. All of these problems require the care of a health care professional. It may be necessary to locate the hidden spine using CT scans, MRI, or ultrasound scans. The health care professional then can locate the spine for surgical removal. A tetanus booster is given for deep wounds if the last tetanus booster has been five years prior to the injury. A tetanus booster is given for any puncture wound if the person’s prior booster is ten years or longer prior to the injury."

You could print out some of the above links and show it to your doctors since they may have overlooked the possibility of fungal or other infection from the spines causing your itching problems because probably they get few of these type of injuries. Also if you had recently used insecticides on the plant tell them which you used.

Anyway hope your problem soon improves.
ichjwood
Posts: 4
Joined: Mon Jun 27, 2016 11:36 am

Re: Cactus Injury

Post by ichjwood »

Thank you. Yesterday, I cut my little finger on a piece of glass. There was pain, but there was also release because it exposed some spines that would have taken forever to push out, which is what it's doing. Think a bruise you get just above the moon of your finger. It's taking about that long. At a month and a half, it was clear to see the trajectory of the spines, as they literally pierced the tips of my fingers and lodged into my nails and cuticles.

I will do what you say and copy the links and send them to doctor. MRSA, other infections I'm closely monitoring. I soak every evening, wear rubber gloves constantly for I often poke myself if I don't. It's really out of this world. And it's doubly difficult finding anyone that knows about the injury from this particular cactus which I've read was the worst to encounter. One blogger said he'd brushed up next to one in Mexico with bare legs and dealt with spines for nine months, as he thought he'd brush the spines off and thus spread them, as did I, all over his body.
DaveW
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Joined: Thu Dec 20, 2012 2:36 pm
Location: Nottingham, England/UK

Re: Cactus Injury

Post by DaveW »

He certainly did not brush up against an Oreocereus in Mexico since it is a South American plant, sometimes known as the "Old Man of the Andes". Over 50+ years of growing cacti I have stuck myself countless times without any lasting problems, but you could be alergic to them, or poisened by something on the dirty spines. It may simply be an infection though. Spines down the nail are not the best place to get them.
ichjwood
Posts: 4
Joined: Mon Jun 27, 2016 11:36 am

Re: Cactus Injury

Post by ichjwood »

Perhaps it was Argentina. I noted that they grow there. Cacti should come with a warning when you purchase them. Incidentally, I purchased this at an A@P in my early twenties. It was one of those miniature cactuses that they often have for sail in their plant department. It was tiny, and I liked it because it was unique with it's hair. Of course, over the years it's gotten quite large--this nerf football. Have you slammed into one, knocked it over in a heavy pot and then clinched in pain without knowledge that you were spreading spines?
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Vipassana
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Location: Mesa, AZ - Zone 9b

Re: Cactus Injury

Post by Vipassana »

Wild story. I hope you get well and figure out what is going on with the whole body itching.

I've had two bad injuries involving cactus in the past year or so.

1) In May 2015, I was mountain biking and trying to break my previous course record. I rounded a corner and accidently struck a Cylindropuntia versicolor with my knuckles on my right hand. I didn't stop until after the ride. Upon inspection, there were several thick spines in my fingers and knuckles, many broken off below the skin. My wife helped me get all of them out (or so we thought). After a few days my ring finger started to swell and hurt. Then it traveled up my hand. Then my wrist and forearm. I went to the emergency room and was put on heavy antibiotics. The doctor was very worried. Thankfully the medicine worked and the infection died off. I still have a hard bump on mu knuckle. I assume a thorn is still in there.

2) In May 2016, I was planting a Browningia hertlingiana in my front yard (~3 ft tall). I got stuck in my thumb but didn't think much about it. Over the next few days my thumb swelled and an abscess started to form under my thumb nail. I could see it through the nail. I kept releasing the pressure and cleaning the wound with antibiotic ointment. After about 2 weeks, I was cleaning it and out came a 3/8 inch thorn! It healed up in a day or two after that!
ichjwood
Posts: 4
Joined: Mon Jun 27, 2016 11:36 am

Re: Cactus Injury

Post by ichjwood »

It's so reassuring to hear stories of people who've had these accidents. I hit my Old Man of the Desert hard hard hard. Yesterday, the first--at least of what I know--three-qaurters of an inch tiger colored spine glochid began surfacing. Of course, to find one, means to find many--glochids. It is impossible for me to cut them out--it's like performing surgery on myself. On top of that, mentally, it's about ready to drive me insane. Finger-tips saturated. Outer thighs. Forearms. Feet (thankfully they are calloused, however, the longer spines are starting to expose in center of right foot, and fourth toe on left. It's amazing how the body adapts. From your experience, Vipassana, I'm a bit concerned because, in truth, I don't think I've even reached the half-way point. The long ones that I tried to cut, are bleeders, and that is a concern because that means infection could set in, so I'm keeping a close eye. Thank you for your commiseration.
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