Speaking of Rattlesnakes

Kind of foreign to me . If we have any, they would be very rare. What is the procedure if bitten ? The old X cut and suction still used ? I suppose the severity depends on where bitten? Anyone that has been bitten,like to share your experience? TIA,bob

My EMT training from the past says no cutting. Here is what I found on treatment:

What is appropriate first aid for poisonous snake bites?

If someone is bitten by a poisonous snake, the bitten area should be immobilized and the victim transported to a hospital as quickly as possible. The bitten area should be washed with soap and water. A wide constriction bandage (tourniquet) may be applied two to four inches upstream of the bitten area (if on an extremity) so long as the pressure is not too tight (one or two fingers should be able to slide under the band). Overly tight tourniquets should never be used as these can block arterial blood flow to the affected area and worsen tissue damage.

Incising (cutting) and suctioning the bite area has not been shown to be beneficial, but a venom extractor (found in commercial snake bite kits) may be helpful if it is applied to the area within five minutes of the bite and left in place for 30 minutes. A 2004 study of mock venom extraction using a suction device, however, questioned the validity of venom extractors and suggested that their use is unlikely to be effective.

Ice or cooling packs should never be applied to the area as these may result in greater harm, and incisions of the bitten area are also potentially harmful and have no benefit.

We have a variety of different Rattlesnakes here in Arizona where I live but the most common is the Desert Diamond Back.They aree very active right now and occasionally a report of a person or a dog being bitten is heard.I just Thursday saw a 3' Diamond Back laying beside a gate in a fence I was opening,Dead.looked like an animal had chewed its head off,but, its dead presence signaled to me too stop,look and listen,In 11 years of living here I have yet to meet some one who has been bitten,why?Because people who frequent the Desert this time of year whether on horse back ,Quads or foot are mostly cognizant of the fact that they are in the Snakes territory all the time and are wary of being careless and getting bit.The tourists who descend on the state come mostly in the dormant season for the snakes ,so no bites to them.Reports of small snakes getting into peoples houses?last one around here was 2 years ago.Bit the womans toe,snake was a rattler about 12" long,the procedure she used ,tie a tournequet around the toe and call 911.It worked very well.Other parts of the body? Isolate the bite area,stay calm and immoble if possible .cry out for help via voice or cell phone or radio if available. I have not heard any medical advise that says to slash the bite and suck out the venom.Old wives tale? I don't know. For us here the rules of stop when you here a buzz, stay still and if possible locate the source,wait till the source goes away,works to avoid getting bit.911 is a good number to know on your cell.

Just lost a basset hound to what the vet said was probably a rattlesnake bite.
Years ago we had a german shepherd bit on the leg. Ran to my grandmother"s house and asked her what to do. She handed me a small bottle of turpentine and said to hold it on the bite marks upside down. The poison shot out of the bites up into the bottle. The dog was fine by the end of the day.
Richard

The latest treatment is to get into the hospital and get anti-venom. I"d only try the old X and suction if I was unable to get to a hospital be cause I was incapacitated with no way to get to a medical facility.

Years ago, an indian man was telling me about the time he was bitten by a rattle snake when he was a kid. He claims it won't kill you, but will make you very sick. HEY!, I'm simply repeating what was told to me by someone who has been bitten by a rattle snake. I'm not going to run around looking for a rattle snake.

While I have never been bitten, I have talked to several that have. Both went to the hospital just as fast as they could get there, within an hour. The snakes I am writing about are those of western Wyoming, they are supposed to not kill healthy adults. But even with hospital treatment experience was very painful, and affected area had massive swelling. One man still had badly,redish-brown, discolored patch on his arm a year after being bitten. And he told me it felt at times a bit numb, like it was asleep.
The one had been bitten while working an irrigation ditch, and the other bailing hay. Biggest problem is that often the snake is injured in some way by the tractor, or hay bailer, thus angered and very nasty. The operator has to be especially careful when stopping to clear any obstruction wherein a snake may be mixed up in the hay. I was told that the others, in the area that I did not meet, were struck in the upper body because of kneeling down and reaching into the hay. Such a snake bite is supposed to be much more serious than on the lower leg.