Stings have a severity index

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Stings have a severity index

Postby Kurt » Mon Dec 06, 2010 10:00 pm

Like Tornados and Hurricanes.

I just learned this today by hitting "random article" on Wikipedia.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Schmidt_Sting_Pain_Index
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Re: Stings have a severity index

Postby mapandcompass » Mon Dec 06, 2010 11:49 pm

That's pretty cool. His comparisons ('Someone has fired a staple into your cheek') make you wonder:
a) how masochistic was this guy
b) how extensive was his pain research?

Something tells me he didn't stop at insect stings.
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Re: Stings have a severity index

Postby ktrout » Tue Dec 07, 2010 12:34 am

Light hearted look at things. That bullet ant must hurt like a motherfucker. One of my "pets" is a Peacock Mantis Shrimp. Snaps its claws to create a shock wave which disables its prey. It's said that if it pops you it's like a .22 bullet. I feed it with chopsticks. When I first got it would pop saltwater into my eyes. It's mellowed out since then.
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Re: Stings have a severity index

Postby Woodsman » Tue Dec 07, 2010 12:39 am

Yeah I stumbled across it a few years ago.

The one thing I noted that he has wrong on there is the paper wasp vs. yellow jacket. The yellow jackets sting more painfully.

Also, the assassin bugs don't hurt nearly as bad as even a paper wasp, though you can sure feel them when they jam their sticker into your skin.

I would like to feel a bullet ant sting. Just once. That has got to be a experience worth living for.

Some tribes load a bunch of bullet ants up on pubescent kids as part of a "man" test. NASTY.


Now that I look at that wikipedia link, it's not the same link I saw. Same guy, different website. He's got the honey bee all wrong too - yellowjacket sting is at least 1.2x more severe than a measly honeybee sting.
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Re: Stings have a severity index

Postby mapandcompass » Tue Dec 07, 2010 1:24 am

Woodsman wrote:I would like to feel a bullet ant sting. Just once. That has got to be a experience worth living for.


Me too, oddly enough. Seems a lot better than actually getting shot.
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Re: Stings have a severity index

Postby ktrout » Tue Dec 07, 2010 1:47 am

mapandcompass wrote:
Woodsman wrote:I would like to feel a bullet ant sting. Just once. That has got to be a experience worth living for.


Me too, oddly enough. Seems a lot better than actually getting shot.

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Re: Stings have a severity index

Postby Hitoru » Tue Dec 07, 2010 5:02 am

You had to know all us rednecks had to respond your post kurt.

I think that index is irrelevant as pain intensity differs on many levels such as where and when you got stung. From my experiences most of the paper/yellow jacket wasp stings are too close to call. What your mindset is at the time can make a big difference.
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Re: Stings have a severity index

Postby Kurt » Tue Dec 07, 2010 5:33 am

Hitoru wrote:You had to know all us rednecks had to respond your post kurt.

I think that index is irrelevant as pain intensity differs on many levels such as where and when you got stung. From my experiences most of the paper/yellow jacket wasp stings are too close to call. What your mindset is at the time can make a big difference.


I found the paper wasp to more painful myself but I do not get the heebie jeebies like I do with Yellow Jackets. Paper wasps are more docile and the one time I was stung by one I frankly deserved it because I was messing with it. A paper wasp has never climbed up my pants leg. Plus if there is a paper wasp umbrella near me but not where I will encounter it without effort I will allow it to stay. (plus I hear they defensively kill yellow jackets) A yellow jacket nest will make me conspire to destroy it.
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Re: Stings have a severity index

Postby Chimborazo » Tue Dec 07, 2010 2:56 pm

Woodsman wrote:He's got the honey bee all wrong too - yellowjacket sting is at least 1.2x more severe than a measly honeybee sting.


I was thinking the same thing. Of course, I've never been stung by just one yellow jacket at a time, whereas I have been stung by a lone honey bee before.
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Re: Stings have a severity index

Postby bearanddragon » Wed Dec 08, 2010 4:52 am

Here's an interesting article.

http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/travel/destinations/latin_america/article3131030.ece


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Re: Stings have a severity index

Postby ktrout » Wed Dec 08, 2010 5:38 am

bearanddragon wrote:This post spawned about 30 minutes of non-work related discussion in my office. Awesome!

Go for it, I'll hold the camera.
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Re: Stings have a severity index

Postby Woodsman » Wed Dec 08, 2010 6:53 pm

bearanddragon wrote:Here's an interesting article.

http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/travel/destinations/latin_america/article3131030.ece


This post spawned about 30 minutes of non-work related discussion in my office. Awesome!


The link: That's what I was talking about.

I consider that experience a great wonderful gift of life. If you were dead, you wouldn't be able to experience it. Any pain should be thought of like that, but the common misconception is to complain about pain. Pain doesn't hurt anyone, but it does make you know you're alive.

That being said, I wouldn't do the glove thing unless somebody else paid for it. LOL
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Re: Stings have a severity index

Postby Kurt » Thu Dec 09, 2010 6:25 am

The most painful sting I ever had in my life was from a Bullhead.

I caught two of them when I was a kid and kept them in a bucket in my backyard for about six months (they froze solid in January) .

Anyway, I picket one up once to show it to a friend and it flapped out of my hands and landed spine first on my leg. I found out years later they have pain multiplying venom but that explains why a little fin spine turned me into a rolling mass of pain and screams.
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Re: Stings have a severity index

Postby Woodsman » Thu Dec 09, 2010 2:14 pm

Interesting that you should bring this up. Once as I was a young kid learning how to fish, I picked up this strange small catfish on Muskegon Lake in Michigan. It was just floating on the surface of the water moving around a little, so I decided to pick it up. As soon as I did, it up it stung the bejesus out of me! I actually thought I got electrocuted, as it felt like a shock more than anything else. I still probably wouldn't have known such a thing existed if I wouldn't have experienced this. This little catfish is called a Madtom.

This is the only site that shows a decent picture of it and documents the fish:

http://www.fairfaxcounty.gov/dpwes/stormwater/fish/catfish.htm

Funny thing is I've spent a lot of time on lakes fishing since that time (I think I was about 8 y.o. then) and haven't seen another one since then. I recall the sting pretty clearly even though it was only once and decades ago - it wasn't like a beesting, but more like getting jolted by a lawnmower spark plug. I couldn't believe that tiny little fish could produce that level of pain.

Anyway, I used to catch a lot of yellow bullheads when I was a kid too - I got poked a little by their spines while handling them, but never got one embedded, which I can't believe how nasty that must have been.


Kurt wrote:The most painful sting I ever had in my life was from a Bullhead.

I caught two of them when I was a kid and kept them in a bucket in my backyard for about six months (they froze solid in January) .

Anyway, I picket one up once to show it to a friend and it flapped out of my hands and landed spine first on my leg. I found out years later they have pain multiplying venom but that explains why a little fin spine turned me into a rolling mass of pain and screams.
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Re: Stings have a severity index

Postby Chimborazo » Thu Dec 09, 2010 3:25 pm

I grew up in Fairfax County and used to catch bullheads all the time. I'm thinking that 10% is bullshit, unless snakeheads are running them out.
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