galleon":ec6dncsv said:
"fellow reefer (mulberry) told me that if you pour vinegar on where you get stung, it will relieve the pain."
This is not my experience.
He he, I gues I should reply!
Somehow, I don't remember what I was doing, but I got a good dose of bristles in each thumb. Yes I should have been wearing gloves.
I thought this would be a good opportunity to test to methods of removing the spines, letting super
glue dry on the area and then peeling it off (something I read on RC), or soaking it in vinegar.
On my left thumb I spread a layer of super glue on the spines, then I filled up a shot glass of vinegar and stuck my right thumb in while I watched tv and waited for the glue to dry.
Well before the glue was dry, I pulled out the vineger soaked thumb and all the bristle were disolved, you would never have known that thumb had previously had a velvety patch of bristleworm spines.
When the glue dried I peeled it of and was left with a bunch of spines broken off in my thumb. I later soaked that one too and it was later good as new!
I now only use vinegar as treatment, although this is more for the bristle removal and less for the pain, but I find it helps with the long term pain too.
FWIW, I never thought they were very painful when I was first stung, it was usually the next day, my finger would feel like I had burned it on the stove the day before, and I may have got a callous there. (Although none of that since I started the soaking routine).
