Warm water and the sandy beaches of Blue Lagoon make a safe and beautiful place to play on the ocean and hang out with friends.

We do occosionally get jellyfish here. Not the massive infestations that the surfers of Hua Hin have learnt to deal with, but we do get the odd case of a sting. (If we lived in Hau Hin we would still surf!, they have a great windy season)

Most people in Pattaya usually surf in just board shorts and a lycra, because the threat is not too bad. However if you do get stung, we have used the following treatment and found it to be very effective.

Disclaimer: We are not qualified to offer medical advice, please consult your doctor also.

Below are the guidelines for the jellyfish treatment. Should you or anyone you know be unlucky enough to be stung!

Here is a list of items that you can have on hand to immediately treat a jellyfish sting, as well as several items that can be taken after the initial pain has subsided. I have also added some don’ts:

Initial Treatment:

Clean the area with normal saline
Cover the area in gauze pads

Soak the gauze pads with ammonia and/or vinegar. Leave soaking for awhile (at least 30 minutes); keep wetting the gauze pads as necessary. This will NOT help in pain relief for the initial sting, it is only to inactivate remaining nematocysts. Nematocyst's are the tiny stinging cells that can remain on your skin and continue to fire poison through the skin.

Put an ice pack on the area – if you use an ice pack you have to be careful not to get the fresh water condensation from the ice pack onto the wound – the nematocyst remaining will fire if fresh water gets on them.

After soaking the area in vinegar/ammonia for a while and the pain has subsided a bit, cover the area in shaving cream and scrap the area with dull blade (i.e. butter knife) to remove any remaining tentacles – if the tentacles are visible, you can use tweezers to remove.

Secondary Treatment

Friends who apply this cream,(see BETA-DIPO picture) have found it to relieve pain and help to prevent the skin from blistering. This is readily available in pharmacies in Thailand.

Take an antihistamine 2 times a day for 5 days - I like Allegra (called Telfast in Thailand, active ingredient is Fexofenadine), other common ones include Clarityne and Benadryl
Take anti-inflammatory – Ibuprofen (800 to 1000 mg every 4 hours) or other N-said like Feldene or Celebrex (as prescribed by pharmacist)

If the wound starts to bubble up and become open, an anti-biotic cream should also be applied to try and avoid infection. Keep the area clean with normal saline after shower, surfing, etc.

Do Not:
Put fresh water (hot or cold) on the area
Rub the area with sand

Do Seek medical treatment if:
The sting is really bad or you are really allergic to jellyfish (like me!) and you feel you might need oral steroids to cut down on your body’s reaction to the toxin
The wound is not healing or is becoming infected
The breathing is affected
It was a box jelly that stung you (better hurry)

NOTE: Jellyfish stings and Portuguese Man o’ War stings are different and require different treatments. Please see the below web references from Wiki.

In general, your body’s immune response and the type of jelly that stings you will determine how long you will suffer with the sting. Before I followed the above directions, the wound took several months to heal, after I started following the above (especially the initial treatment), my wounds only bubbled and itched for several weeks before going away. I think that the more I get stung though the worse my secondary reaction gets.

Interesting web info:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jellyfish

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Portuguese_man_o_war

http://www.emedicinehealth.com/jellyfish_stings/article_em.htm

http://www.emedicine.com/emerg/topic104.htm

http://www.theage.com.au/news/National/Row-erupts-over-marine-sting-treatment/2006/07/06/1152158274843.html

This information was compiled from information suppled by a very kind friend of ours, (Lady surfer from Hua Hin).