It’s the end of summer break and your child has been stung by a jellyfish! What should you do? There are numerous jellyfish sting treatments available, including some home remedies that you may have never heard of like using meat tenderizer or shaving cream. Below, we examine some popular jellyfish sting treatments to help you decide which method is best for your little one.
3 At-Home Jellyfish Sting Treatments
Although jellyfish stings are rarely life-threatening, they can cause severe pain and discomfort, especially in children. Other symptoms of jellyfish stings include rash, itching, swelling, or numbness at the site of the sting.
To help relieve the pain caused by a jellyfish sting, try one of these remedies.
- Meat tenderizer — The papain enzyme found in most meat tenderizers helps break down the protein found in jellyfish venom to reduce swelling, pain, and itching.
- Shaving cream — It is important to remove the tentacle if it is still lodged in the skin, and applying shaving cream to the affected area will prevent nematocysts from releasing toxins during the removal. Make sure you do not touch the tentacle with your bare skin, as it still has the ability to sting you. If you do not have gloves or tweezers, try scraping at the tentacle with a credit card, stick, razor, or other hard object to dislodge it from your child’s skin.
- Vinegar — The acidity of vinegar helps deactivate the stingers of some types of jellyfish. When using vinegar, be sure to rinse the affected area for at least 30 seconds.
Note: If your child experiences any of the symptoms below, get him or her to a doctor immediately, as these are signs of a severe jellyfish sting and could be life-threatening.
- Nausea and vomiting
- Muscle and joint pain
- Fever
- Loss of consciousness
- Difficulty breathing
- Headache
- Weakness and dizziness
- Heart problems
FastMed Is There When You Need Us
Even if you use a home remedy to help relieve itching and burning of your child’s jellyfish sting, it can be beneficial to take him or her to the doctor to ensure all pieces of the jellyfish tentacle have been removed and to avoid future complications.
FastMed is open seven days a week and never requires an appointment. In addition to flexible hours, we accept most major insurance plans — including Medicare and Medicaid — and even have a discount program for qualifying patients.
Find a FastMed near you today!
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Sources:
EMedicineHealth: http://www.emedicinehealth.com/jellyfish_stings
People’s Pharmacy: http://www.peoplespharmacy.com/meat-tenderizer-for-stings
Mayo Clinic: https://www.mayoclinic.org/diseases-conditions/jellyfish-stings/basics/symptoms