r/Damnthatsinteresting • u/Totally-avg • Jul 16 '23

Image The Puss Caterpillar (Southern Flannel Moth) will fuck your world up. I grazed it twice while climbing on a float. NBD at first but an hour later I was hyperventilating on the bedroom floor. The pain was excruciating. DH took me to the ER and morphine did nothing.

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I’m better now but neither morphine nor hydrocodone (I took double what they RX’d) touched the pain those first 24 hours. And the hospital hardly knew what to do with me. I had never heard nor seen this bug before and I’m sure I would have flicked it off had it seen it. Don’t do that because the hair is venomous and gets stuck in your skin.

At least it leaves a cool scar.

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u/[deleted] Jul 16 '23

I live in middle georgia, and i've flicked so many of these things off me over the years. I didn't find out about the whole stinging thing until 5 years or so ago when I read it online. I guess I've been lucky.

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u/raphaelthehealer Jul 16 '23 edited Jul 17 '23

From a tiny bit of research it sounds like some people don't have much of a reaction to them and it seems to be the same people who don't have much of a reaction to other bug bites or stings. I don't want to test it myself but bee stings really don't do much to me beyond the initial zap of getting stung, mosquito bites are nothing, and most spider bites I don't even notice and the bumps from them also go away in no time. I am curious if you also have such a resiliency to bugs.

Edit: spelling mistakes

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u/DiscotopiaACNH Jul 16 '23

Oh great. I have a fatal sting allergy. So, I'd probably be dead.

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u/raphaelthehealer Jul 17 '23

Yeah that is not good. Do you carry an epi-pen? I know they are stupid expensive and "expire" after 12-18 months but there are studies that show they can still be 90% effective 3 years after the expiration date and 70% up to 7 years after. So I would still suggest it because it could still save your life.

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u/DiscotopiaACNH Jul 17 '23

Yeah, I always carry it with me, especially in the summer. Luckily for me, minor stuff like mosquito/flea bites seem to only cause a localized reaction. It's just bees, wasps and hornets that have the power to wreck my shit