Copperhead bites

[milspecmark]

So I have noticed alot more copperheads this year. I see at least 1 every time I go down to the Red. Anyway, all summer I have wondered what to do if I got bit. I had a discussion about it with Rick Webber who told me that he was bitten and it wasn't that big of a deal. Well a couple weeks ago, a group of us were camping at Koomer Ridge and my buddy came over and said he stepped on one. He did not know it at the time but he also got bit. He never thought anything of it till the next day. He said he was a little sore but nothing really that bad. Anyway, he had it looked at by someone who knew a bit about snake bites and they confirmed that it was indeed a snake bite. But he still said it was no big deal. Anyway, I was just sharing this with you guys so if you do get bit by a copperhead out there (and they are everywhere), don't stress about it, don't make a turnicate, do go all Bill Murray from caddyshack and make your buddy suck out the poison. Its game on.....Unless you are allergic.

[Jeff]

Sounds like your buddy might have had a dry bite. I've heard many stories that are opposite of yours and I'm sure there are folks on here who might chime in with their experiences. I might be wrong, but I've never heard a venomous bite having anything to do with an allergic reaction.

[climb2core]

Copperhead bites can hospitalize you and require medical attention. However, it apparently would rarely cause significant tissue necrosis, loss of limb, or death. The symptoms also appear to be more gradual in onset and may take up to 4 hours to fully progress.

https://secure.muhealth.org/~ed/student ... 1_p055.pdf

[milspecmark]

Interesting. I would really like to hear from some people who have had worse issues from these bites. I really can not believe how many copperheads I am running into down there in the red.

[milspecmark]

c2c. Very good article. I am glad you shared that. Seems my buddy got lucky. Prob. a differant story if the snake actually grabbed ahold of his ankle.

[krampus]

takes about 4 hours to fully mature. Allergies have nothing to do with it. If its a copper head, you are not likely to die, but it is extremely painful, the only worse pain I have experienced was falling in a fire. I was climbing again after 2 weeks.

The big concern with copperheads is infection and compartment syndrome. Go to the hospital for antibiotics, keep a close eye on the extremities near the bite to make sure they do no uncontrollably swell and cut off circulation to lower extremities. Pushing on finger nails and checking for color changes is a good way to check for this. Otherwise, keep the bite elevated and the pain is controllable, but the swelling did not go down for me until I forced myself to hike up to the crag and climb one footed for a day. My theory was that the extreme use of the limb forced the fluid to dissipate.

[Jeff]

Krampus, besides the pain, did the venom mess with your head?
Only reason I ask is a friend from the ridge said about his copperhead bite "it's the strangest trip you'll ever take without leaving the farm".
And I'm 99.9% sure we were talking about a snakebite

[krampus]

No, copperhead venom is a hemotoxin, meaning it messes with your blood, unless it was causing blood flow issues to his brain it should not have effected him in that way, maybe he was lucky enough to fall in a mushroom patch. Rattle snake venom on the other hand is a neurotoxin and far deadlier, and would likely mess with your head.

I did not feel like I was ever away from reality. If fact I was able to stay calm and collected all the way to the hospital. It wasn't until I left the ER that it really started hurting.

[Toy]

For those purists out there, that be Dan Akroyd and Caddyshack 2

[tbwilsonky]

and for a better pop cultural analogy try: "don't go all Billy Crystal in City Slickers and..."