Snake Bite

[Peanut]

If you are bitten by a venomous snake or spider and you can’t get to a doctor, what do you do? It’s a subject barely touched by survival manuals simply because they don’t have real answers. When someone does mention it in a book… It’s like someone running barefoot over hot coals, they can’t wait until it’s over.

There is one book that’s different… “The Herbal Medic” by Sam Coffman. He goes into to detail on snake bites and broken bones. Sam is unique in the world of herbal medicine. He was a special forces medic during the 80’s. Being ex-military myself I can see his training in the way he writes.

His herbal training is also very unique. The military teaches something called “Ditch Medicine” to special forces medics. In case medical supplies and equipment are lost on a mission they are taught suitable herbal replacements for each mission/location.

Medics, for the most part, only deal with severe illnesses and injuries, gunshot wounds, broken bones, infections. They are also trained to set up and maintain field hospitals. Sam’s book “The Herbal Medic” reflects this training. Every prepper should own a copy. He has an excellent herbal medicine school out in Texas. Home - The Human Path

Back to snake bites… Several years ago I was supposed to attend a wilderness emergency medicine class taught by Sam up in NC. I knew snake bites were supposed to be covered in the class.

I also had recently read an account of a woman who was allergic to anti-venom. She had been bitten by a rattlesnake during a Sun Dance on the Rosebud reservation in South Dakota. Two of the plants used to save her life were Sweet Leaf and Elderberry. This account is written in “The Book of Herbal Wisdom” by Matthew Wood.

Two days before leaving on my trip I was up before sun rise, cleaning the kitchen in fact. I looked out in the yard and saw that my german sheppard was moving oddly. I checked, his left rear leg was just starting to swell. I examined him and found the fang marks. I knew he’d been most likely been bitten by a copperhead or a cottonmouth (Agkistrodon contortrix or Agkistrodon piscivorus). A dog rarely dies from a pit viper bite but will swell badly and be sick for a few days. I didn’t want to leave home and leave a sick dog for someone else to worry about soooo…

I messaged Sam that morning and he emailed me a list of herbs traditionally used to treat snake bites. I had a few on hand in tincture form. I had Turmeric, Self-Heal, Yarrow and Sweet Leaf. I also had Sida. It wasn’t on the list but for some reason I felt I should use it (a year later I was re-reading “Herbal Antibiotics” by Stephen Buhner which includes a description of sida being a hemotoxin neutralizer, ahhh! That’s why I felt I should use sida that morning). I also had on hand and had read many times “The Complete Herbal Handbook for Farm & Stable” by Juliette Levy. I had often used herbs on livestock and pets in the past and did not hesitate this time.

Sam also mentioned a charcoal slurry. During the first hour after a bite a charcoal slurry would absorb some of the venom from the bite. Plantain and mullein would also be useful for this. To use plant leaves I’d have to trim the fur from the bite area. It was easier to hold the dog’s paw in a slurry so I did.

I put my mixture of tinctures on bread which absorbed it, then fed it to the dog. I didn’t know then but now know dogs are really sensitive to alcohol. It would have been easy enough to quickly heat the tincture mix to evaporate the alcohol.

I also knew a glob of bacon grease stimulates the liver causing it to flush out toxins rapidly. Feeding a dog bacon grease is an old country remedy for a snake bite.

My dog had just been bitten when I realized there was a problem that morning. I finished the slurry treatment, fed him bacon grease and was ready for the first round of tinctures by 7am.

He got a round of tinctures at 7am, 10am and 1pm and another around supper time. He continued to swell to about 10am then it leveled out. About 2pm I noticed the swelling was going down. By 8pm the swelling was completely gone. The next morning, he had completely forgotten about being bitten. He brought me his tennis ball wanting to play fetch. He wasn’t walking gingerly on that leg at all.

The herbs and why…

Turmeric - Curcuma longa. I used it for the anti-inflammatory properties. Turmeric also has and affinity for the liver. It promotes “blood purifying”.

Heal All or Selfheal - Prunella vulgaris. An ancient woundwort that been used for millennia in Europe and Asia. I used it to repair damage done by hemotoxic venom. To quote a famous herbalists book “Primarily Selfheal reduces inflammation and increases tissue perfusion and angiogenesis around damaged tissue, whether open or closed wounds. Selfheal stimulates the balanced production of nitric oxide (NO) and the enzymes responsible for this production (endothelia nitric oxide synthase eNOS) This has an effect of balancing and reducing inflammation while stimulation vasodilation and protecting blood vessels from platelet aggregation and adhesion. This has another effect of increased microcirculation to injured tissue which equals a decrease in the opportunity for infectious pathogens as well as increased perfusion of damaged and healing tissue.”

Yarrow - Achillea millefolium. It’s named after the ancient Greek warrior Achilles. Even though yarrow will stop bleeding it’s not a coagulant. Yarrow is, for lack of a better term, is a blood balancer. It makes sure blood flows as it is supposed to at all times. If blood pressure is unnaturally high in part of the body, it lowers it. If blood is having trouble flowing, say through a badly swollen limb from a snake bite, yarrow will make the blood flow. Blood flowing properly through the limb speed up healing.

Yarrow is also well known for reducing fevers. It removes heat from the body through capillary action. A very good plant for a swollen limb.

Sweet Leaf or Lavender Beebalm - Monarda fistulosa is native to the US. It was used by all native tribes and still is. It’s a spiritual plant to them. It’s classified as a “Nervine”, it’ll calm overstimulated nerves or stimulate sluggish nerves. It is also excellent at lowering fever from an injury.

The last plant I used was Wireweed - Sida rhombifolia. As stated above I used it for its ability to neutralize hemotoxic venom.

A bit about venom… The 2 most common venom types in the US are hemotoxic and neurotoxic. For instance, rattlesnake and cottonmouth venom is classified as neurotoxic. Copperhead venom is classified as hemotoxic. This is only because higher percent of the venom is either hemotoxic or neurotoxic. The venom of all 3 snakes are a combination of both types. So Sida is also good for a rattlesnake or cottonmouth bite.

I’m a bit more experienced with herbs now. These days I would also add a really good liver stimulant, Poke come to mind. I would also add something to kick start the kidneys, something to help them work more efficiently like Goldenrod.

The most important herb I would add is Echinacea, yes, echinacea, it’s not just for colds. It’s a very powerful medicine with many uses. The Sioux used it for rattlesnake bites as did many tribes. It has an incredible ability to clear toxic heat and cleanse the blood. It greatly decreases inflammation and cellular permeability. It actually helps a cell block out venom.

A side note… Blackeyed Susans, a common roadside flower with many of the same characteristics as Echinacea because they are cousins. However, it’s a lot less potent than echinacea. It would be necessary to use a lot more of it. I know the Cherokee used blackeyed susans in a pinch when they couldn’t find echinacea.

All this said… if I’m bitten by a pit viper I will go to the ER. However, I will stop on the way and gather all the Sida, Yarrow and Selfheal I can eat along with Echinacea.

If there were no ER to go to… I wouldn’t hesitate to use plants because I’ve seen them work.

Also, all the books I’ve mentioned are listed here along with many other great herbal medicine books…

Herbal Medicine Books - Peanut recommends

Here is a split photo I took the day my dog was bitten. One was taken about 7am, the swelling was just starting. The other about 7pm before dark when the swelling was almost all gone.

 

[Bacpacker]

Great write up Peanut. Wish I had half the herbal knowledge you do. It's a wonderful thing.

 

[phideaux]

Great info ...like BP , I wish I had half your knowledge on plants.

It always fascinates me.

Jim

 

[Weedygarden]

Thank you, Peanut. Great information.

 

[Haertig]

Back in college when I took a paramedic class, we had a guest instructor teach snakebites. I forgot his name, but he was a well respected physician/surgeon/researcher/expert in the treatment of snakebites. He was from Texas.

We were taught that the pit vipers we have in the US have primarily hemotoxic venom. There is one variety of rattlesnake that has a lot of neurotoxic venom but I can't remember which one it was. It was one of the smaller sub-species. Maybe a mojave rattler or a timber rattler? Outside of that oddball rattler, the only other snake in the US that is primarily neurotoxic is the coral snake.

Back then - and this was several decades ago - the treatments that paramedics were taught (all short term treatments) were either: (1) confine the venom to the immediate area around the bite using constricting bands, ice, etc. or (2) allow the venom to spread throughout the body and deal with the systemic effects rather than the tissue destruction you'd have by confining the venom to the bite area. For hemotoxic venom, the physician who taught our class was definitely on the "do not localize, let is spread systemically" side of the debate. I remember him showing us picture after picture of surgeries he had done where hemotoxic venom had been confined to a small area. What a mess - the local tissue destruction was horrible. And the tissue destruction was quite bad even when the venom was not confined. He did not talk too much in class about neurotoxic venoms. For one, coral snake bites are quite rare. You almost have to try your darnedest to get yourself bitten, coral snakes are pretty docile. They have little mouths, small fixed fangs, and they chew to dispense venom - there's not too many places they'll be able to get a bite on you except around your fingers or maybe a bare toe. Two, the doc was a surgeon and you don't have local tissue destruction with neurotoxic venoms, thus no surgery required. Neurotoxic venoms affect your nervous system (duh ... "neuro"toxic!) And the neuro problems affect your respiratory system, cardiac system, etc. Honestly, I don't remember the physician recommending to localize neurotoxic venom - I don't remember any recommendations at all for neurotoxic venom - but based on its bad systemic effects, I would think that localizing it might be a reasonable thing to do. But I'm not an expert on that.

It's interesting to learn of newer treatments and herbal treatments for snakebites. Snakes have always fascinated me. I don't fear them, but I hate them. My heart stops for a few seconds when I see one (or hear a rattler that I haven't seen yet!) But once my heart starts to beating again, I'm OK. But I'm wary - a quart of adrenaline dumped into your bloodstream tends to do that to you. I'll let them be on their way, unless they're venomous and up near a human habitation area - then it's bye, bye snake if that's the case.

 

[Meerkat]

Good to know Peanut. We had a wolf when I was a kid and he was always getting hurt, shot with buckshot in the face blinded him in one eye. Then he got bit by a snake in the nose,he was rushed to vet mama driving I tried to hold up his head but he was huge and leaning over about to pass out,vet said he did all he could and Wolfy made it.
But out here we have lots of snakes and dogs getting bit.Pigmy rattler almost bit our dog years ago.
I'll take notes on hat you wrote for sure.

 

[Peanut]

When I think "rattlesnake" the eastern diamond back is what's in my mind because it's the only one I see (and a couple of sub-species). They, along with coral snakes, get lumped into the neurotoxin camp. In reality pit viper venom in north america has a host of different toxins with a wide range of effects. If a species has 4 hemotoxic components and 5 neurotoxic components it's said to have neurotoxic venom. The opposite... it has hemotoxic venom.

Personally I'm going to treat them the same because in reality you're fighting all the components, not someone's scorecard.

In the southeastern US the majority of bites by far come from copperheads, a fairly small snake. If you are in range and scare them, they strike! Period. A rattlesnake will warn you, a cottonmouth will bluff but not actually strike...

I wear snakegaiters when out in the brush. I've been struck several times in the last 20 years but never bitten because of the gaiters. Every time it was a copperhead. I see 10 or so cottonmouths for every rattlesnake I see and about the same number of copperheads for every cottonmouth I see. Copperheads are far and away the most common pit viper in my area.

 

[Meerkat]

When I think "rattlesnake" the eastern diamond back is what's in my mind because it's the only one I see (and a couple of sub-species). They, along with coral snakes, get lumped into the neurotoxin camp. In reality pit viper venom in north america has a host of different toxins with a wide range of effects. If a species has 4 hemotoxic components and 5 neurotoxic components it's said to have neurotoxic venom. The opposite... it has hemotoxic venom.

Personally I'm going to treat them the same because in reality you're fighting all the components, not someone's scorecard.

In the southeastern US the majority of bites by far come from copperheads, a fairly small snake. If you are in range and scare them, they strike! Period. A rattlesnake will warn you, a cottonmouth will bluff but not actually strike...

I wear snakegaiters when out in the brush. I've been struck several times in the last 20 years but never bitten because of the gaiters. Every time it was a copperhead. I see 10 or so cottonmouths for every rattlesnake I see and about the same number of copperheads for every cottonmouth I see. Copperheads are far and away the most common pit viper in my area.

I read somewhere about 10 years ago that for some reason rattle snakes are dying all over the world. Didn't pay much attention to it at the time.Said they are important to the environment.
We try not to kill anything that isn't am immediate treat to us have taken many a snakes into the woods with the trusted snake grabber. Lots better than the sticks and tools we use to use. grab snake put it in bag and discard into the wild.

 

[Peanut]

Here are 4 more plants that grow in the US. They have shown benefit when treating snake bites. I have never used these plants at all so you might want to do your own research.

Japanese Knotweed Polygonum cuspidatom
Prickly Pear Opuntia sp
Bilberry Vaccinium myrtillus
Lovage Levisticum sp

 

[Weedygarden]

I read something and maybe even shared it hear a couple years ago that Benadryl will slow down the venom if you are bitten by a rattler or scorpion, and probably other vipers.

I think a good snake bite kit would be great to have in an everyday backpack or bag.

 

[angie_nrs]

Wow, that book is pricey on Amazon. I don't see it listed on his site. Do you know if he sells it at a cheaper price?

Those alchemist bundles look interesting. Have you purchased any of those bundles Peanut? Those seem pricey too, but it seems like a perfect place to start for a person like me.

 

[Peanut]

@angie_nrs I have two copies of his book. A first edition private release copy and then a copy of the public release. The public release was a quick edit of the private release, house keeping errors, grammar and such. Nothing substantive was changed.

I haven't been on FB in a couple of years. Thats where he makes public announcements.

When last I spoke to him, he was thinking of doing a second printing because the book had sold out.

Beware... there is a version out there earlier than the two I mentioned. There was some kind of problem with his first publishing company. They hosed the book, none of the plant photos were in color, lots of problems... I'm not sure of all the details other than there were only a few copies . I saw someone trying to sell them on the net a few years ago... The advertisement said "not in color".

The private release says "1st ed." right above the ISBN number.
The public release looks identical but doesn't say "1st ed."

Thats all the details I know. Maybe you can find a used copy at a reasonable price. I know nothing about the alchemy bundle advertised on this site or when there may be another printing.

 

[backlash]

This might interest some of you.

 

[Peanut]

@backlash The pdf you posted is a formula booklet by Micheal Moore, a great man in the herb world. Unfortunately is doesn't cover snake bites.

I have a number of these short pdf herb booklets on a wide range of medicinal topics myself. They aren't really books, just short booklets.

Maybe I can start a thread in the library where we can put short pdf herb booklets. What do you think?

 

[viking]

Out here in the Pacific Northwest, Washington, Oregon and California we have timber rattlers, the largest I've seen was just over four feet, the story we always hear is that the ones you need to be careful of are the young ones as they haven't learned to regulate the venom they put into things they bite. Years ago I had a friend that would go out hunting rattlesnakes for the skins, for hat bands, he hunted using lead bullets and shot the pavement near the snakes head the flattened bullet would cut the snakes head off. One time his daughter picked up a headless snake and the "dead" snake wrapped around hear arm, she did scream, she didn't expect that to happen. A number of years back we had a neighbor that had taken his family up the mountain behind us to watch a fire going on just north of us, he shot a rattlesnake, not being too smart, picked it up and the so called dead snake bitt him in the thumb, I heard he almost died from that. Thanks for the info as we have most all of the herbs mentioned, a lot of them here on our property.

 

[Peanut]

Here is snippet of Sam’s book in pdf format. It’s the section on Snake Bites. It includes an overview of methods that do not work. Plants that have been used historically used for treatment. It also includes practical first aid methods.

I believe Sam emailed me this file the day my dog was bitten. He’d forgotten I already had a copy if his book. So please give him credit for his copyright material. I renamed the pdf to reflect this.

 

[Weedygarden]

Here is snippet of Sam’s book in pdf format. It’s the section on Snake Bites. It includes an overview of methods that do not work. Plants that have been used historically used for treatment. It also includes practical first aid methods.

I believe Sam emailed me this file the day my dog was bitten. He’d forgotten I already had a copy if his book. So please give him credit for his copyright material. I renamed the pdf to reflect this.

Thank you! I was just going to comment that things like this are great, but if we were out and about, on a hike, fishing, or something, having this information in print with us in a kit would be so important. Reading it once is not enough and there are other people who will need to see it in the event of a snake bite.

Wouldn't it be great to have an area on the forum where things like this could be filed and people could search the files and print what they want or need. I appreciate the new PDF post you made. Thank you!

 

[backlash]

I have several Giga bites of files I would like to share somehow. It would take me hours to upload them because of my slow internet speed.
If someone is looking for a specific topic let me know and I'll see if I have it.

 

[Magus]

Out here in the Pacific Northwest, Washington, Oregon and California we have timber rattlers, the largest I've seen was just over four feet, the story we always hear is that the ones you need to be careful of are the young ones as they haven't learned to regulate the venom they put into things they bite. Years ago I had a friend that would go out hunting rattlesnakes for the skins, for hat bands, he hunted using lead bullets and shot the pavement near the snakes head the flattened bullet would cut the snakes head off. One time his daughter picked up a headless snake and the "dead" snake wrapped around hear arm, she did scream, she didn't expect that to happen. A number of years back we had a neighbor that had taken his family up the mountain behind us to watch a fire going on just north of us, he shot a rattlesnake, not being too smart, picked it up and the so called dead snake bitt him in the thumb, I heard he almost died from that. Thanks for the info as we have most all of the herbs mentioned, a lot of them here on our property.

We used to harvest rattlers once or twice a year when I was a kid, we'd sell the hides and eat the meat. it always tasted more like fish than chicken to me, but Meh. I have a bit to add on the mechanical end of a snake bite. two things you might not know. those rubber cups in a snake bite kit are next to useless! the rest is OK. second, DO NOT suck the venom out if you have bad teeth! you're just putting venom directly into your nervous system. What you need to do is go to a Veterinarian or pharmacy and get the biggest syringe you can buy and entirely remove the end with a needle in it with a saw, that will remove 10X the venom 10X as fast as one of those silly cups! Just put it in a sterile bag and keep it with your snake bite kit!, you might consider a proper tourniquet as well, the ones with the kit are janky at best. and always remember, the more afraid you are and the more you move, the faster the venom spreads!

 

[ssonb]

A copperhead is mostly small.... BUT I have seen one that was a tad over six feet long!! Short story long A friend was over visiting at my home in western Ga, he had just left when he came back to my house hollerin out of his car window that I had to follow him and see what was just down the road. We lived on a short dirt road and almost at the beginning there was a snake stretched across the dirt road which was 8' wide and the runned over Copperhead was almost a foot shy of either side of the road and he ,she , it was fat also. What turned out that happened was there until recently before this event was a Rabbit farm at the intersection of the road and this person raised hundreds of rabbits at a time. We guessed that the snake had found him a place to live and an easy meal for years when the farm closed down he got hungry and started looking for a new food source but quickly got run over.

 

[Magus]

5-6 feet on a copperhead isn't uncommon here. they are some foul tempered cuss' too!
Fun fact, the smaller they are, the more potent their bite!

Hello West GA!

 

[Weedygarden]

 

[shanrose]

If you are bitten by a venomous snake or spider and you can’t get to a doctor, what do you do? It’s a subject barely touched by survival manuals simply because they don’t have real answers. When someone does mention it in a book… It’s like someone running barefoot over hot coals, they can’t wait until it’s over.

There is one book that’s different… “The Herbal Medic” by Sam Coffman. He goes into to detail on snake bites and broken bones. Sam is unique in the world of herbal medicine. He was a special forces medic during the 80’s. Being ex-military myself I can see his training in the way he writes.

His herbal training is also very unique. The military teaches something called “Ditch Medicine” to special forces medics. In case medical supplies and equipment are lost on a mission they are taught suitable herbal replacements for each mission/location.

Medics, for the most part, only deal with severe illnesses and injuries, gunshot wounds, broken bones, infections. They are also trained to set up and maintain field hospitals. Sam’s book “The Herbal Medic” reflects this training. Every prepper should own a copy. He has an excellent herbal medicine school out in Texas. Home - The Human Path

Back to snake bites… Several years ago I was supposed to attend a wilderness emergency medicine class taught by Sam up in NC. I knew snake bites were supposed to be covered in the class.

I also had recently read an account of a woman who was allergic to anti-venom. She had been bitten by a rattlesnake during a Sun Dance on the Rosebud reservation in South Dakota. Two of the plants used to save her life were Sweet Leaf and Elderberry. This account is written in “The Book of Herbal Wisdom” by Matthew Wood.

Two days before leaving on my trip I was up before sun rise, cleaning the kitchen in fact. I looked out in the yard and saw that my german sheppard was moving oddly. I checked, his left rear leg was just starting to swell. I examined him and found the fang marks. I knew he’d been most likely been bitten by a copperhead or a cottonmouth (Agkistrodon contortrix or Agkistrodon piscivorus). A dog rarely dies from a pit viper bite but will swell badly and be sick for a few days. I didn’t want to leave home and leave a sick dog for someone else to worry about soooo…

I messaged Sam that morning and he emailed me a list of herbs traditionally used to treat snake bites. I had a few on hand in tincture form. I had Turmeric, Self-Heal, Yarrow and Sweet Leaf. I also had Sida. It wasn’t on the list but for some reason I felt I should use it (a year later I was re-reading “Herbal Antibiotics” by Stephen Buhner which includes a description of sida being a hemotoxin neutralizer, ahhh! That’s why I felt I should use sida that morning). I also had on hand and had read many times “The Complete Herbal Handbook for Farm & Stable” by Juliette Levy. I had often used herbs on livestock and pets in the past and did not hesitate this time.

Sam also mentioned a charcoal slurry. During the first hour after a bite a charcoal slurry would absorb some of the venom from the bite. Plantain and mullein would also be useful for this. To use plant leaves I’d have to trim the fur from the bite area. It was easier to hold the dog’s paw in a slurry so I did.

I put my mixture of tinctures on bread which absorbed it, then fed it to the dog. I didn’t know then but now know dogs are really sensitive to alcohol. It would have been easy enough to quickly heat the tincture mix to evaporate the alcohol.

I also knew a glob of bacon grease stimulates the liver causing it to flush out toxins rapidly. Feeding a dog bacon grease is an old country remedy for a snake bite.

My dog had just been bitten when I realized there was a problem that morning. I finished the slurry treatment, fed him bacon grease and was ready for the first round of tinctures by 7am.

He got a round of tinctures at 7am, 10am and 1pm and another around supper time. He continued to swell to about 10am then it leveled out. About 2pm I noticed the swelling was going down. By 8pm the swelling was completely gone. The next morning, he had completely forgotten about being bitten. He brought me his tennis ball wanting to play fetch. He wasn’t walking gingerly on that leg at all.

The herbs and why…

Turmeric - Curcuma longa. I used it for the anti-inflammatory properties. Turmeric also has and affinity for the liver. It promotes “blood purifying”.

Heal All or Selfheal - Prunella vulgaris. An ancient woundwort that been used for millennia in Europe and Asia. I used it to repair damage done by hemotoxic venom. To quote a famous herbalists book “Primarily Selfheal reduces inflammation and increases tissue perfusion and angiogenesis around damaged tissue, whether open or closed wounds. Selfheal stimulates the balanced production of nitric oxide (NO) and the enzymes responsible for this production (endothelia nitric oxide synthase eNOS) This has an effect of balancing and reducing inflammation while stimulation vasodilation and protecting blood vessels from platelet aggregation and adhesion. This has another effect of increased microcirculation to injured tissue which equals a decrease in the opportunity for infectious pathogens as well as increased perfusion of damaged and healing tissue.”

Yarrow - Achillea millefolium. It’s named after the ancient Greek warrior Achilles. Even though yarrow will stop bleeding it’s not a coagulant. Yarrow is, for lack of a better term, is a blood balancer. It makes sure blood flows as it is supposed to at all times. If blood pressure is unnaturally high in part of the body, it lowers it. If blood is having trouble flowing, say through a badly swollen limb from a snake bite, yarrow will make the blood flow. Blood flowing properly through the limb speed up healing.

Yarrow is also well known for reducing fevers. It removes heat from the body through capillary action. A very good plant for a swollen limb.

Sweet Leaf or Lavender Beebalm - Monarda fistulosa is native to the US. It was used by all native tribes and still is. It’s a spiritual plant to them. It’s classified as a “Nervine”, it’ll calm overstimulated nerves or stimulate sluggish nerves. It is also excellent at lowering fever from an injury.

The last plant I used was Wireweed - Sida rhombifolia. As stated above I used it for its ability to neutralize hemotoxic venom.

A bit about venom… The 2 most common venom types in the US are hemotoxic and neurotoxic. For instance, rattlesnake and cottonmouth venom is classified as neurotoxic. Copperhead venom is classified as hemotoxic. This is only because higher percent of the venom is either hemotoxic or neurotoxic. The venom of all 3 snakes are a combination of both types. So Sida is also good for a rattlesnake or cottonmouth bite.

I’m a bit more experienced with herbs now. These days I would also add a really good liver stimulant, Poke come to mind. I would also add something to kick start the kidneys, something to help them work more efficiently like Goldenrod.

The most important herb I would add is Echinacea, yes, echinacea, it’s not just for colds. It’s a very powerful medicine with many uses. The Sioux used it for rattlesnake bites as did many tribes. It has an incredible ability to clear toxic heat and cleanse the blood. It greatly decreases inflammation and cellular permeability. It actually helps a cell block out venom.

A side note… Blackeyed Susans, a common roadside flower with many of the same characteristics as Echinacea because they are cousins. However, it’s a lot less potent than echinacea. It would be necessary to use a lot more of it. I know the Cherokee used blackeyed susans in a pinch when they couldn’t find echinacea.

All this said… if I’m bitten by a pit viper I will go to the ER. However, I will stop on the way and gather all the Sida, Yarrow and Selfheal I can eat along with Echinacea.

If there were no ER to go to… I wouldn’t hesitate to use plants because I’ve seen them work.

Also, all the books I’ve mentioned are listed here along with many other great herbal medicine books…

Herbal Medicine Books - Peanut recommends

Here is a split photo I took the day my dog was bitten. One was taken about 7am, the swelling was just starting. The other about 7pm before dark when the swelling was almost all gone.

View attachment 46160

This is really good information.

 

[Lenny]

FYI, Mojave Green Rattlesnakes have BOTH types of toxins; a neurotoxin AND a poison that breaks down flesh. A California state park ranger and a deputy told that to my buddy and me back in the 1970s when we were in the desert off Hwy 395 killing rattlesnakes. He said if you get bit by one, you WILL die in four hours if you don't get help.

It scared us, so we had to go back to our campsite and get drunk before chasing them again.

 

[Caribou]

I have several Giga bites of files I would like to share somehow. It would take me hours to upload them because of my slow internet speed.
If someone is looking for a specific topic let me know and I'll see if I have it.

The next time you are at a hotel with free WIFI please send us a file or three. I also have used the free WIFI at Lowe’s when my WIFI was down, I would go there and download several books at a time, then go home and read them.

I have found that I can download the PDF files to Kindle so they are easy to access.

 

[Caribou]

FYI, Mojave Green Rattlesnakes have BOTH types of toxins; a neurotoxin AND a poison that breaks down flesh. A California state park ranger and a deputy told that to my buddy and me back in the 1970s when we were in the desert off Hwy 395 killing rattlesnakes. He said if you get bit by one, you WILL die in four hours if you don't get help.

It scared us, so we had to go back to our campsite and get drunk before chasing them again.

I have seen exactly one Mohave Greenback. I went out to Ridgecrest, CA to visit family. My cousin took me to an abandoned house in the desert where his band practiced, away from any noise complaints. They had a pet Mohave Greenback Rattlesnake that they had captured. That is where he explained about that snake having both neurotoxins and hemotoxins. His dad took me into the back yard and killed eight black widow spiders.