Poisonous Gympie-Gympie Plant Takes Mother Down with the Worst Pain

The pain of her stings, according to a mother of four who accidentally fell on a poisonous gympie-gympie plant, was significantly worse than the pain of giving birth.

The Australian woman, Naomi Lewis, 42, was on her mountain bike when she slipped and landed in a stinging plant known as the gympie-gympie plant.

The plant stung her on both of her legs, and the pain was unquestionably the worst she had ever felt.

The mother of four claimed that the pain was simply intolerable.

The body reaches a pain threshold, at which point she started throwing up.

The pain of childbirth, she continued, did not even compare to being stung by the poisonous plant.

Gympie-Gympie Plant

Gympie-gympie plants are indigenous to rainforests in Malaysia, Indonesia, and Australia.

Its other names are suicide plants, stinging trees, and in some areas, they are known as Queensland Stingers.

These plants resemble nettles on steroids because they have poisonous hairs covering every part of them, including the stem, leaves, and flowers.

These tiny, hollow hairs, which are thought to be more painful to touch compared to any other plant in the world, produce neurotoxins similar to those found in a spider, spider web, and cone snail venom.

The hairs of the plant break off, embed in the skin, and can cling there for up to a year.

Gympietides are the toxins that cause prolonged pain, which lasts for several days or even several weeks after the sting, preventing some pain receptors from being turned off.

Worst Pain

The pain typically starts as soon as the skin makes contact with the stinging hairs, builds to a peak 20 to 30 minutes later, and then gradually subsides.

Lewis' husband tried to remove the plant's hypodermic hairs from her legs after she collided with it by taking her to a nearby pharmacy to purchase leg wax.

Lewis claimed that while she was waiting for the ambulance, she had everyone wax her legs, but the pain caused her to throw up.

Others who were unfortunate enough to come in contact with this unsuspecting stinger have expressed their pain in comparable terms.

The worst kind of pain anybody can experience is being stung, according to ecologist and entomologist Marina Hurley, who wrote about it in a Conversation article.

She compared it to being electrocuted and burned with hot acid.

In her postgraduate studies at James Cook University, Hurley came across the tree, an encounter from which she drew her insights.

Also Read: 5 Dangerous Flowering Plants Found in Texas

First Aid

Lewis stayed in Cairns Private Hospital for seven days receiving pain relief from hot blankets and medication.

Doctors from Cairns Hospital discussed and observed how many people, including Lewis, try waxing and other treatments before going to the hospital in a study that was published in the journal Emergency Medicine Australasia.

Other attempts included consuming alcohol, using a tourniquet, and treating the painful area with mud, urine, bicarbonate, ice, and hot or cold water.

The Cape Tribulation Tropical Research Station advises soaking the area in 3% diluted hydrochloric acid for 30 minutes before waxing to get rid of as many hairs as you can.

Lewis continued to experience pain when her legs are exposed to an air-conditioned environment for months after the accident, according to Newsweek.