Australian falls into monster nettle: “Worse than anything I’ve ever experienced”

In Australia, a woman fell into a poisonous nettle plant and suffered serious injuries. The 42-year-old was hospitalized for seven days and is still in pain nine months after the accident. This is reported by the Australian broadcaster ABC.

Accordingly, Naomi Lewis was on her mountain bike near her home in Cairns when she got lost, fell down an embankment and landed in the poisonous plant.

The 42-year-old said the feeling in both legs – where her shorts ended – was worse than anything she’d ever experienced. It felt like she had been set on fire. Not even the pain of the birth of her four children could have prepared her for the suffering caused by the stinging nettles.

After the fall, Lewis and her husband drove to a pharmacy to buy wax strips, which are usually used for hair removal. They would have tried to remove the fine hairs from the growths of their skin, which injected the venom like tiny needles. “I remember waiting for the ambulance and telling my husband, ‘I can’t handle this,'” says Lewis.

At the hospital, the doctors couldn’t have done much for her except give her painkillers and warm blankets for her legs. After the hospital stay, she stayed at home trying to warm up the parts of her legs. Months after the accident, it still felt like someone was tapping her legs with rubber bands when the affected skin came into contact with cold air.

Australian Cairns Hospital toxicologist Ruth Young investigated the Dendrocnide moroides plant that burned Lewis. Young called for more awareness of the dangers of the Australian stinging nettle, also known as gympie-gympie. The nettle can grow up to 35 meters high and act like hypodermic needles when it comes into contact with the skin. Lewis warned after her contact with the plant, “Don’t go near her. Don’t touch them. This is dangerous.” (t online)