Failing to perceive an insect (or centipede) bite, misinterpreting my initial symptoms, finally noticing the signs of lymphangitis. A case study of centipede bite induced cellulitis.
Certainly happy to hear you finally figured out what was happening John. Whew,,,, that could have been a bad experience. Blessings and thanks for all you do for us.
Don't you keep DMSO handy? I live in the high desert of New Mexico where big black biting ants ha e become extremely aggressive and last year had to slather my neck with DMSO after I got two bites-- one on my thyroid and one on the back of.my neck. They had climbed my pants leg and ran up a loose shirt. The pain was almost unbearable and instantaneous. We have a lot of biting insects here -- often in spring I have come across giant red headed centipedes -- as ling as five inches hiding under rocks in the garden or slithering in a hallway near the garqge door. I am in a rural area, about an hour from a real hospital.the closest clinic is about 22 miles away but not well very staffed -- so I depend upon my firstvaid supplies for emergencies. Also have a big supply of horse aspirin.
With these ant bites which swell, become red, hard and burn -- one could easily go into shock. They have stung my dogs as well resulting in painful swollen paws.
I usually do a follow up with castor oil packs and use essential oils like tea tree. Turpentine ( the medicinal ones available via Amazon also work.) I think insects have been made into bioweapons as I have noticed very bad reactions from mosequito bites as well.
I agree...we've heard that Gates put things in mosquitoes.
The Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation has funded projects that involve releasing mosquitoes with two distinct biological/genetic modifications designed to combat diseases like malaria, dengue, and Zika:
Wolbachia Bacteria: The foundation supports the World Mosquito Program, which breeds mosquitoes infected with Wolbachia, a naturally occurring bacteria. These bacteria block the transmission of viruses such as Zika, dengue, and yellow fever.
Genetic Modification (Gene Drives): The foundation has supported Oxitec to develop genetically modified (GM) mosquitoes. These male mosquitoes are engineered to carry a gene that causes female offspring to die before reaching maturity, reducing the overall population.
I got a couple of mosquito bites in 2024 which swelled up like bee or hornet bites. Very hard and nodule. Unlike any mosquito bites I have ever experienced. They reminded of being bitten by some strange insect in Israel while riding my bike through a swap. My entire thigh turned hot and red and fortunately I was able to quell the swelling and pain with a chorophyll plaster-- I crushed fresh green weeds with peppermint leaves and tied the pulp to my leg. I think it is very important to be aware of simple remedies to deal with these sudden biological injuries --- we can't always get to an emergency room ASAP.
I don't know how effective dry powders would be -- as long as you want to have a powder handy bentonite or Healing Aztec Clay will do the job of drawing and soothing.Powdered comfrey will work, but pasturized liquid chorophyll is probably not very effective. It has some min erals, but no enzymes. Essential oils like tea tree can be added to clay. Very good for bites, boils and drawing out pus---you only need to use a few drops. Works well on animals as well.
Oof! Doesn’t DMSO just drive the poison deeper? I’ve used MMS for bites and stings. But DMSO is definitely the winner for burns of any kind and muscle pain/injury.
You can add aspirin to any lotion or oil ( like coconut) then mix in some DMSO. The DMSO acts like a cariier and will take whatever is a formula deep inside with it.I prefer to use horse aspirin from the feed store-- an entire pound costs about $20 and will last forever
It is 100 % pure aspirin no fillers,preservatives etc Helps with swelling & paini much prefer to use aspirin externally, no tummy upset and it is more effective going extactly where you want it.
Good you survived this, John. They could have forced you to take a Convid "test", declared you "positive" and put you on Remdesivir...and that would have been the end of you.
I was bitten by a very sick cat I was trying to save. I knew within an hour I needed the Dr and went to after hours emergency clinic. They sent me straight to ED at the nearest hospital then at midnight after starting IV antibiotics they transferred me by ambulance to our major hospital for specialist treatment. Sepsis built up quickly but I can’t take anaesthetics, so 2 days later, at my suggestion, the doctor gave me a local and cut my hand open. The pus shot out so far it hit the wall. I started to recover after he cleansed the wound. I am super reactive to just about all medications which is red flagged 🚩 all over my chart and can only be administered IV medication by slow drip and fully diluted. An ignorant nurse grabbed my arm and was about to shoot the full measure of undiluted antibiotics straight into my IV line but I realised she was about to harm me and yanked my arm away and yelled at her very loudly “NO - you can’t do that to me”! She literally grabbed my arm back saying aggressively - “yes I can, I always do it this way”!! I managed to yell “NO NO”! at the top of my voice but then I went straight into anaphylaxis! I was on the phone to my sister at the time and she heard the nurse saying to me “stop being a drama queen”!!! I was already unconscious and not breathing. Lucky for me the doctor was in the next room and heard all the commotion. The nurse did not press the code blue button until the dr rushed inside the room asking the nurse “what’s wrong”? My sister heard everything, but could see nothing. The nurse had no idea my sister was a listening witness to all that happened! She said if that doctor had not acted immediately by administering epinephrine, I would have been dead! My sister rang the hospital and asked to speak to the Doctor who saved me and described what happened right down to the nurse telling me to ‘stop being a drama queen’ and that nurse was fired on the spot. I had enough red flags 🚩 on my chart to sink a battle ship, but that nurse never even read my chart! This has happened to me one more time since then, from administering under trial conditions, less than 1 mil of morphine. I am now so afraid of anything medical I am putting off needed treatment. Nothing like a careless nurse to put you off ever seeking medical help again.
So glad you are here. I have had similar experiences. I can’t believe the nurse was fired. That in and of itself was a victory. Usually hospitals function with impunity.
Fantastic diagnostic detective work here. The detail about not checking the back of your calf initially really illustrates how our attentional biases work when we're trying to solve physical symptoms. We naturally look where we expect problems, not where arthropods can actually reach. I had a simlar experience with a spider bite on my shoulder blade that I kept attributing to muscle strain til someone else spotted the actual bite mark. The lymphangitis streak progression is the key teaching moment tho, that visual cue is literally life-saving info for anyone in tropical climates.
Yes, attention (and how it is distorted and misdirected) is such a fascinating mental state, mine was a bit distorted because I felt lousy. I kept thinking front of legs because they are leading area walking through high grass.
I’ve had a couple of serious diagnoses in my life that, actually, never really happened!
I was diagnosed with Herpes Zoster, home for two weeks, when a second opinion by a very good doctor who doesn’t just focus on the painful area, he looks at the patient and his surroundings. It was single digit weather and he asked if I drive with the kick vent open. I replied yes, all the time. He said close it. I did and the pain was gone a few days later, no herpes, just very chilly leg parts.
Another time, I was diagnosed with sciatica on my left side and told there was nothing that could be done except painkillers. Months later, I read in the Reader’s Digest about how American men’s wallets were causing sciatica like pain because they were so fat. I performed a walletectomy on myself, moving it to my front pocket and the pain disappeared within days.
Choose your doctor wisely, and sometimes, the best doctor is yourself!
I wear the Oura ring, it gives great oversight into my sleep patterns. I’ve already improved my sleep after analyzing how my dinners and caffeine were affecting it.
Yes. Mr Doofus. I figure that you prefer pharmaceuticals. There are home remedies that you can use for first aid endeavors until you get to the antibiotics. Believe it or not, mud is fantastic for drawing out toxins from a bee sting, bug bite, etc. Mud is always available in your immediate environment unless you’re in alpine tundra elevation. And you should always carry vitamin C when traveling. Liposomal vitamin C, one gram three times a day is helpful or you can take one gram tablets or crystals every 4 hours. Check out Fred Klenner MD sometime and his use of vitamin C in the ER in North Carolina from the 1940-70’s. He often used IV or IM with his ER patients and had success even with snake bites. Liposomal vitamin C offers 100% bioavailability, so it’s as close as you can get to injectable absorption. Thomas Levy MD is carrying on the work of Klenner today via Linus Pauling.
I was so engrossed in your tale of woe! Glad you are okay! My grandson had cellulitis from a small scrape on his knee when he was two! Pediatrician mis-diagnosed it. Thankfully his parents decided to take him to the ER where he was admitted and given intravenous antibiotics. In the hospital for 3 days! Very scary! Obviously they changed pediatricians!
Thanks everyone for their well wishes!
Glad you're okay, you are part of our recurring reading schedule, so be careful...we need you.
Thank you!
Next time, just drink you own urine, all antibiotic are already included by your own body !!!!!
Certainly happy to hear you finally figured out what was happening John. Whew,,,, that could have been a bad experience. Blessings and thanks for all you do for us.
Don't you keep DMSO handy? I live in the high desert of New Mexico where big black biting ants ha e become extremely aggressive and last year had to slather my neck with DMSO after I got two bites-- one on my thyroid and one on the back of.my neck. They had climbed my pants leg and ran up a loose shirt. The pain was almost unbearable and instantaneous. We have a lot of biting insects here -- often in spring I have come across giant red headed centipedes -- as ling as five inches hiding under rocks in the garden or slithering in a hallway near the garqge door. I am in a rural area, about an hour from a real hospital.the closest clinic is about 22 miles away but not well very staffed -- so I depend upon my firstvaid supplies for emergencies. Also have a big supply of horse aspirin.
With these ant bites which swell, become red, hard and burn -- one could easily go into shock. They have stung my dogs as well resulting in painful swollen paws.
I usually do a follow up with castor oil packs and use essential oils like tea tree. Turpentine ( the medicinal ones available via Amazon also work.) I think insects have been made into bioweapons as I have noticed very bad reactions from mosequito bites as well.
I agree...we've heard that Gates put things in mosquitoes.
The Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation has funded projects that involve releasing mosquitoes with two distinct biological/genetic modifications designed to combat diseases like malaria, dengue, and Zika:
Wolbachia Bacteria: The foundation supports the World Mosquito Program, which breeds mosquitoes infected with Wolbachia, a naturally occurring bacteria. These bacteria block the transmission of viruses such as Zika, dengue, and yellow fever.
Genetic Modification (Gene Drives): The foundation has supported Oxitec to develop genetically modified (GM) mosquitoes. These male mosquitoes are engineered to carry a gene that causes female offspring to die before reaching maturity, reducing the overall population.
I got a couple of mosquito bites in 2024 which swelled up like bee or hornet bites. Very hard and nodule. Unlike any mosquito bites I have ever experienced. They reminded of being bitten by some strange insect in Israel while riding my bike through a swap. My entire thigh turned hot and red and fortunately I was able to quell the swelling and pain with a chorophyll plaster-- I crushed fresh green weeds with peppermint leaves and tied the pulp to my leg. I think it is very important to be aware of simple remedies to deal with these sudden biological injuries --- we can't always get to an emergency room ASAP.
I keep liquid chlorophyll and a container of powdered chlorophyll at home. I will try these as a topical application in future. Thank you.
I don't know how effective dry powders would be -- as long as you want to have a powder handy bentonite or Healing Aztec Clay will do the job of drawing and soothing.Powdered comfrey will work, but pasturized liquid chorophyll is probably not very effective. It has some min erals, but no enzymes. Essential oils like tea tree can be added to clay. Very good for bites, boils and drawing out pus---you only need to use a few drops. Works well on animals as well.
Was going to put some liquid chlorophyll to the powder and turn it into a paste???
true!
Oof! Doesn’t DMSO just drive the poison deeper? I’ve used MMS for bites and stings. But DMSO is definitely the winner for burns of any kind and muscle pain/injury.
You can add aspirin to any lotion or oil ( like coconut) then mix in some DMSO. The DMSO acts like a cariier and will take whatever is a formula deep inside with it.I prefer to use horse aspirin from the feed store-- an entire pound costs about $20 and will last forever
It is 100 % pure aspirin no fillers,preservatives etc Helps with swelling & paini much prefer to use aspirin externally, no tummy upset and it is more effective going extactly where you want it.
Thanks for the tip and explanation!
Good you survived this, John. They could have forced you to take a Convid "test", declared you "positive" and put you on Remdesivir...and that would have been the end of you.
Almost downed by a bug. What a fate you escaped. As a regular reader I'm so thankful for Highland Park ER.
I was bitten by a very sick cat I was trying to save. I knew within an hour I needed the Dr and went to after hours emergency clinic. They sent me straight to ED at the nearest hospital then at midnight after starting IV antibiotics they transferred me by ambulance to our major hospital for specialist treatment. Sepsis built up quickly but I can’t take anaesthetics, so 2 days later, at my suggestion, the doctor gave me a local and cut my hand open. The pus shot out so far it hit the wall. I started to recover after he cleansed the wound. I am super reactive to just about all medications which is red flagged 🚩 all over my chart and can only be administered IV medication by slow drip and fully diluted. An ignorant nurse grabbed my arm and was about to shoot the full measure of undiluted antibiotics straight into my IV line but I realised she was about to harm me and yanked my arm away and yelled at her very loudly “NO - you can’t do that to me”! She literally grabbed my arm back saying aggressively - “yes I can, I always do it this way”!! I managed to yell “NO NO”! at the top of my voice but then I went straight into anaphylaxis! I was on the phone to my sister at the time and she heard the nurse saying to me “stop being a drama queen”!!! I was already unconscious and not breathing. Lucky for me the doctor was in the next room and heard all the commotion. The nurse did not press the code blue button until the dr rushed inside the room asking the nurse “what’s wrong”? My sister heard everything, but could see nothing. The nurse had no idea my sister was a listening witness to all that happened! She said if that doctor had not acted immediately by administering epinephrine, I would have been dead! My sister rang the hospital and asked to speak to the Doctor who saved me and described what happened right down to the nurse telling me to ‘stop being a drama queen’ and that nurse was fired on the spot. I had enough red flags 🚩 on my chart to sink a battle ship, but that nurse never even read my chart! This has happened to me one more time since then, from administering under trial conditions, less than 1 mil of morphine. I am now so afraid of anything medical I am putting off needed treatment. Nothing like a careless nurse to put you off ever seeking medical help again.
So glad you are here. I have had similar experiences. I can’t believe the nurse was fired. That in and of itself was a victory. Usually hospitals function with impunity.
John! You should have asked her if she read your newest book! You never know if it will grow if you don’t plant a seed. 🥰
Glad to know you are alive and well.
Fantastic diagnostic detective work here. The detail about not checking the back of your calf initially really illustrates how our attentional biases work when we're trying to solve physical symptoms. We naturally look where we expect problems, not where arthropods can actually reach. I had a simlar experience with a spider bite on my shoulder blade that I kept attributing to muscle strain til someone else spotted the actual bite mark. The lymphangitis streak progression is the key teaching moment tho, that visual cue is literally life-saving info for anyone in tropical climates.
Yes, attention (and how it is distorted and misdirected) is such a fascinating mental state, mine was a bit distorted because I felt lousy. I kept thinking front of legs because they are leading area walking through high grass.
I’ve had a couple of serious diagnoses in my life that, actually, never really happened!
I was diagnosed with Herpes Zoster, home for two weeks, when a second opinion by a very good doctor who doesn’t just focus on the painful area, he looks at the patient and his surroundings. It was single digit weather and he asked if I drive with the kick vent open. I replied yes, all the time. He said close it. I did and the pain was gone a few days later, no herpes, just very chilly leg parts.
Another time, I was diagnosed with sciatica on my left side and told there was nothing that could be done except painkillers. Months later, I read in the Reader’s Digest about how American men’s wallets were causing sciatica like pain because they were so fat. I performed a walletectomy on myself, moving it to my front pocket and the pain disappeared within days.
Choose your doctor wisely, and sometimes, the best doctor is yourself!
You might consider wearing one of those medical bracelets.
I wear the Oura ring, it gives great oversight into my sleep patterns. I’ve already improved my sleep after analyzing how my dinners and caffeine were affecting it.
Hi!
Happy that things finally worked out for you.
Quite a learning curve for sure.
God love you.
Keep up the good work.
Thank you!
Lise from Maine (former licensed clinician).
Hopefully you're already on 5g of Vitamin C daily. That fends off most pathogens...
Plus some iodine (lugols)
Wow. Good catch! And yes, many of us would be long gone without antibiotics.
Coincidentally, I also developed cellulitis in a forearm over New Year after being bitten by a paper wasp.
I am a doctor living in rural Australia and was able to get onto antibiotics early after recognising the rash.
Not an uncommon condition.
My Dad had this and passed away due to 25 medications at the hospital. Glad you are good.
Yes. Mr Doofus. I figure that you prefer pharmaceuticals. There are home remedies that you can use for first aid endeavors until you get to the antibiotics. Believe it or not, mud is fantastic for drawing out toxins from a bee sting, bug bite, etc. Mud is always available in your immediate environment unless you’re in alpine tundra elevation. And you should always carry vitamin C when traveling. Liposomal vitamin C, one gram three times a day is helpful or you can take one gram tablets or crystals every 4 hours. Check out Fred Klenner MD sometime and his use of vitamin C in the ER in North Carolina from the 1940-70’s. He often used IV or IM with his ER patients and had success even with snake bites. Liposomal vitamin C offers 100% bioavailability, so it’s as close as you can get to injectable absorption. Thomas Levy MD is carrying on the work of Klenner today via Linus Pauling.
I was so engrossed in your tale of woe! Glad you are okay! My grandson had cellulitis from a small scrape on his knee when he was two! Pediatrician mis-diagnosed it. Thankfully his parents decided to take him to the ER where he was admitted and given intravenous antibiotics. In the hospital for 3 days! Very scary! Obviously they changed pediatricians!