19 replies to this topic

[pito]

Hallo all,

today I saw a rather strange story about old tricks and herbal medicine and one of them really got my attention: if you hold your breath and touch a nettle you will not feel the sting..

I can hardly believe this, but a lot of people seem to believe it and post in on the internet..
However I am sure I'll try it out myself later today..

How about you people? Any others hints and tricks? Or maybe some feedback on the nettle story? Have you every heard of it?

cheers

[Xeera]

I've never heard of this and also find it hard to believe. I have no nettle nearby otherwise I'd be keen to test it out.

I wonder if you feel the effects of the sting once you resume breathing...

[pito]

Xeera, on 07 September 2010 - 03:50 PM, said:

I've never heard of this and also find it hard to believe. I have no nettle nearby otherwise I'd be keen to test it out.

I wonder if you feel the effects of the sting once you resume breathing...

Well I wasnt able to test it yesterday.. so I'll try to check it today or ..

I also find it hard to believe.. but many people seem to believe it and even tested it.. lol

Oh yes, and I also found out that this trick only seems to work with the "bigg" nettle, not the small ones..

[hobglobin]

Don't try it out with a box jellyfish....

[pito]

Quote

Don't try it out with a box jellyfish

Really? I might work...


haha   

[hobglobin]

Here in the North Sea we have the lion's mane jellyfish..perhaps better for a first attempt  
anyway IMO every injection of formic acid and histamine will result in pain soon, perhaps not immediately with the sting if you hold the breath...but then some seconds later...

[Xeera]

hobglobin, on 08 September 2010 - 08:23 AM, said:

anyway IMO every injection of formic acid and histamine will result in pain soon, perhaps not immediately with the sting if you hold the breath...but then some seconds later...

This is what I reckon too...

If this is found to be true, it would be interesting to rate the level of pain that the sting causes. Is it beneficial to hold your breath whilst being stung or does it make the pain perceptively worse?

[pito]

Well I found a rather strange explenation on this subject.

I found somewhere that keeping your breath would alter the surface tension of the skin and due to this the tension of the skin would be a little bit higher then that of the nettle and thus the nettle wouldnt be able anymore to sting you..

(the term might be wrong choosen, fysics isnt my thing.. but I hope you get the point)

To be honest I find this a strange answer to the question.. and I still havent been able to test it. I didnt found any nettles yesterday lol.

[Xeera]

Ahh, so this may mean that the nettle cannot penetrate the skin.
I guess that makes sense... still would love to have it tested though

[hobglobin]

If you look at the nettles itself it should be difficult to avoid the sting by holding your breath...they are hairs with a reservoir at the base and a needle-like top that is brittle like thin glass, because of silica deposits in the cell wall. At the end of the top is a small sidewards directed head that is connected via a predetermined breaking point to the rest. If you touch it, the head breaks off and leaves an inclined and sharp cone end, like an injection needle....
And the mixture in the reservoir is quite nasty...read yourself in wikipedia...small amounts are enough to feel pain.
Anyway, if you have lots of horny skin on your fingers it might work, as the skin is thick enough. Or if you hold your breath until unconsciousness...

[casandra]

hmmm.... have you been this up close and personal with a stinging nettle, dr H? ...The cocktail really looks painful (like an S-M brew)...some species even have oxalic acid...so how do the caterpillars avoid being stung? by holding their breath....SCNR

Edited by casandra, 10 September 2010 - 10:21 AM.

[hobglobin]

casandra, on 10 September 2010 - 10:19 AM, said:

hmmm.... have you been this up close and personal with a stinging nettle, dr H? ...The cocktail really looks painful (like an S-M brew)...some species even have oxalic acid...so how do the caterpillars avoid being stung? by holding their breath....SCNR

Sure... they crawl along the leaf veins and there are no hairs and they feed around the hairs. But with their size they're under the sharp tops of the hairs mostly I guess.  

[pito]

casandra, on 10 September 2010 - 10:19 AM, said:

hmmm.... have you been this up close and personal with a stinging nettle, dr H? ...The cocktail really looks painful (like an S-M brew)...some species even have oxalic acid...so how do the caterpillars avoid being stung? by holding their breath....SCNR

You now whats even more amazing: turtles just like nettles... they eat it like its nothing..

And still didnt find any nettles to test it.. but to be honest, I do not really believe in this theory.

[hobglobin]

pito, on 12 September 2010 - 08:17 AM, said:

You now whats even more amazing: turtles just like nettles... they eat it like its nothing..

And still didnt find any nettles to test it.. but to be honest, I do not really believe in this theory.

And I'd still avoid it   ...anyway you can eat nettles as salad without problems, you cook the plants before using them, but some recipes are even without boiling the leaves...I guess the washing, mixing also removes a lot of the hairs...
Try out

[toejam]

so for how long do you have to hold your breath exactly? maybe if you do it until you pass out you won't feel the pain anymore

almost everytime i go running i get nettle stings on my legs, i just try to avoid thinking about it when it happens, then the pain becomes mild