Before I tell my story, I want to make it clear that I don’t want to cause panic. What I’ve seen is relatively rare. So you don’t have to be afraid. There are about 50 bites per year in Switzerland, and about half of these are so-called “dry” bites, where the viper injects little or no venom. So you can assume that I am one of the privileged.
The accident happened on a Saturday. That day I was out with my friend in the climbing area of Saint-Loup. The campsite in the municipality of Pompaples is very popular with mountaineers.
I started with a wall warming route with no problem. As I was climbing I put my hand on a ledge and immediately felt a small sting. I didn’t worry too much, thinking I might have pricked myself with a pine needle or something. But when I reached the threshold, I saw a drop of blood between my thumb and wrist. Most importantly, I discovered that a small viper lay calmly in the sun. She lay there with her mouth wide open and looked at me as if to say, “Get out!”
Since the snake was coiled, it was difficult to estimate its size, but it had a small head, about 2 cm long and 1 cm wide. The bite hurt less than a wasp sting and it was probably a young snake.
After the bite, I immediately notified my friend. He couldn’t believe his eyes. Knowing that such an accident could be followed by an allergic reaction, I sat down and waited about ten minutes. However, not much happened and I wasn’t in much pain. It was only after half an hour that my hand started to swell and the pain started. So I called the poison control center. When I arrived at the clinic in Saint-Loup about 45 minutes after the bite, the swelling was already reaching my wrist.
Since the edema had quickly spread to two joints, the question arose whether they should give me an antidote. But my arm didn’t swell alarmingly fast, the doctors assured me, and decided not to. Besides the pain, I also felt physically fit: I didn’t feel sick, didn’t vomit and didn’t have low blood pressure.
Because the poison could still do damage six to eight hours after the injection, I spent the night in the hospital and was constantly monitored. Three blood samples were taken between my arrival around 4pm and my discharge at 2pm the next day. When I came out of my room I was swollen up to the ribs on my right side. One breast was bigger than the other, that was impressive! I also had severe pain in the crook of my arm and in my armpit where the lymph nodes were. It felt like my arm ended up under a truck.
Because I’m a real estate agent and photographer, I couldn’t work for a week. During this time, my forearm and tricep muscles felt strange, like some sort of incipient cramp. This took about ten days.
It took almost three weeks for the edema to completely disappear and everything to return to normal. The healing process was accelerated thanks to massages of the lymphatic vessels. You’re not supposed to do them right after a bite, so I had to wait five days. The compression bandage also helped a lot.
Everything is fine now, I am fully recovered. Worst of all, however, was the fear. I was afraid I would have to take the antidote anyway. The drug is administered under close supervision in the intensive care unit, which allowed me to imagine many scenarios, each more terrifying than the next, in which I struggled to survive.
It is said that after a viper bite you are more susceptible to the venom on a second bite, as the likelihood of allergies increases. I’ve been unlucky enough to get bitten once, I’m sure it won’t happen a second time, right?
source: watson
I’m Maxine Reitz, a journalist and news writer at 24 Instant News. I specialize in health-related topics and have written hundreds of articles on the subject. My work has been featured in leading publications such as The New York Times, The Guardian, and Healthline. As an experienced professional in the industry, I have consistently demonstrated an ability to develop compelling stories that engage readers.
