A few medical things to consider

[AquaGirl]

I keep a travel diary of sorts for our trips and was recently reviewing my notes for our StJ trip in 2012. I meant to post some info that may be helpful to others…well, here it is 2 years later. Perhaps this will be useful to some StJ travelers.

Sea Urchin Injury
My husband accidentally put his hand down on a black sea urchin – yes, the kind with long spines you see nestled in rocky areas. While we were snorkeling at Hansen Bay, he was diving down to take an underwater picture and put his hand out…right onto a sea urchin. In our 25+ years of snorkeling and diving, neither of us has ever had an encounter with a sea urchin. It was extremely painful – many razor sharp needles went into his hand. We could see the needle remnants in multiple places in his hand.

I’m embarrassed to admit, we really weren’t sure how to treat it. (Seems like something one should know after all these years of snorkeling). We were also concerned about infection. We got out of the water, dried off, packed up the gear and headed to the Myra Keating Health Center. After a short wait, a pleasant doctor came out and handed him a sheet of information. She said they don’t treat urchin encounters (except in rare circumstances) because there isn’t much you can do. She said you can’t pull the needles out because they just break off. She said to soak the area in vinegar to dissolve the needles. On our way back to the villa, we stopped at Dolphin Market to buy vinegar and he soaked his hand several times. Little pieces of needles stayed in his hand for several weeks. Thankfully there were no ill effects or infection.

After going to the clinic, we stopped to eat at Spyglass. We love the view from there and had good food too. The server told a story about stepping on an urchin and having a bunch of those needles in her heel. She had to walk on them all day. Yikes! Sounds terribly painful.

Bee Sting
I was sitting on Maho Beach with my hubby and friends having a pleasant time. We were near, but not right under, some sea grape trees. Out of the blue, a bee flew by and stung me on the top of my thigh. Ouch! I hadn't done anything to provoke it - I was just sitting there! I hadn’t been stung by a bee in many years. We keep Benedryl in our gear bag, and my hubby thought I should take two right away, even though in the past, I didn't have an allergic reaction to bee stings. I also put antibiotic cream on it. I felt fine and had no adverse effects. The only worry was a small area around the sting that was a little raw and yucky looking for several weeks after I got home. I finally went to a clinic to see if it was some kind of tropical infection, but it wasn’t. It just took a long time to heal up.

Cold Meds
Unfortunately, one of our dear travel buddies came down with a bad cold on that trip and was feeling terrible for a few days. It hit her hard a few days into the trip, so our hubbies went to Chelsea Drug in the Marketplace. They had everything she needed to treat the symptoms and ease her discomfort. It was more expensive than at home, but it was great that they had everything she needed.

Swimmers Ear
I've come down with ear infections a few times over the years. We buy rubbing alcohol and put a half capful of it in our ears after swimming. In the islands, sometimes its hard to find plain rubbing alcohol without wintergreen (especially in the BVIs). This year, I found a tiny little tube of stuff at CVS that is marketed for swimmers. It has alcohol in it, but such a small amount that I think its ok to take on the plane, but I need to check before I pack it.

[Capn Dan and Ruby]

We use it all the time... Put in in your liquids bag.

[kklay]

Some very helpful information. Thanks for taking the time to post. I am the one person in our group who is the planner and also who has the little first aid kit in my beach bag! I'll have to remember to get the Benedryl spray.

[lazylane]

I also "sat" on sea urchins and also got my palms in them. Quite by accident! It was very painful and the first response from a local was to have someone pee on it....no one volunteered so we went to Lily's for vinegar and I used the potty at Skinny's to pour vinegar on my butt!! Yes, it took the sting out, but the spines are protein and dissolved later, but the ones in my hand stayed for several weeks.

[islandjo2010]

Love these great tips! I will add a couple...

I always pack a small bottle of 1/2 rubbing alcohol and 1/2 vinegar in my liquids bag...that is what we use in our ears after swimming to dry and kill bacteria and prevent swimmers ear.

I also carry a bottle of meat tenderizer in my beach bag. It works like vinegar and helps to take the sting away if you get stung by a bee/insect or jelly fish...might work for sea urchin stings? Hope we never have to test it out!

[nuendelcapecod]

A big DEFINITE on the Benadryl! There's a particular campsite at Cinnamon Bay Campground that is notorious for huge numbers of no-see-ums and mosquitos. We didn't know that ahead of time! I woke up with a puffy face and hand the first full day. After the second night in the tent Ilooked like a Cro Magnon woman! My forehead jutted out over my little piggy eyes, my nose was that of WCFields and cheeks were swollen enough so I could hardly see. Had no Benadryl (bad camper!) so paid $1 PER PILL at the campground store. It was two days before I could go anywhere without my big movie star sunglasses. Altho I wish I had one now, I wouldn't let my husband take a photo. You can imagine the first thing that gets packed in the toiletries kit now!

[PA Girl]

A $1 per pill is almost criminal! My family is plagued by allergies of all sorts and prone to contact reactions and bug bite reactions. I keep several bottles on hand at our cabin? The generic version is a few bucks for a bottle of 100 pills

[david@va.beach]

oddly enough you can speed up the sea urchin healing by smacking the area with your sandal......stay with me.....it breaks up the calcium and will be absorbed..Picking at the spines only makes it worse.