Stinging Nettle don't sting me no more...no sirrrreeee....

[IluvABbeef]

Nope, they sure don't. Not anymore, anyway. They used to, but not after this happened:

I think they have some sort of anti-histimine compound that's supposed to be relief for pain, and yet if you ain't hurting somewhere, grabbing with your bare hands a nettle stung worse than a hornet's stinger.

I was out pulling weeds out of the rock garden and around the yard, and grabbed a little nettle plant by accident with my bare hands. YOUCH!! But I don't know why I did this, but I took a leaf of the plant that I pulled out and rubbed it on the sore, painful, stinging spot. Well, I'll be jiggered if that didn't relieve the pain. The spot was numb for a few hours, but all was well after that.

Now I get to tell the fun (and neat) part. :shock:

;-)

After that, I did it again: pull a stinging nettle plant, with my bare hands, out of the ground. And here's the weird part: I didn't get stung. No pain, nuthin'. And my hands weren't numb, they still had their touch sensors on red alert. This was a day or so after the little run in with that 2" tall monster. I pulled out over a dozen, and still nothing. :shock:

And I'm not lying either. No, seriously, I'm not!

Today, about oh, I dunno, six months later? I was pullin out a lot of little stinging nettles out of the edge of the barley feild (I was bored, okay?), and I didn't get stung once.

So maybe someone with more brains than me can maybe explain this phenomenon to me and the rest of the folks who read this here on CT. :help: :?:

 

[Beefy]

you are either tough or not all there or a combination of the two.

 

[Jogeephus]

I don't know how nettle causes pain but if it is similar to poison ivy you can become hyper or is it hypo sensitized to it. This is how I am with poison ivy, oak or sumac. I can eat it, roll in it or do whatever and it won't bother me. Reason being, I got such a massive dose of it some years back that I could barely see. Now my body does not react to it at all. Might be the same reason with the nettle.

 

[IluvABbeef]

you are either tough or not all there or a combination of the two.

Mom said I was crazy/dumb when I told here about that. :lol:

 

[msscamp]

Aside from Beefy's explanation, the only other thing I could suggest is, that by rubbing the bruised leaf on the spots that you got stuck, you somehow became immune to the plant's defense system?

 

[IluvABbeef]

Aside from Beefy's explanation, the only other thing I could suggest is, that by rubbing the bruised leaf on the spots that you got stuck, you somehow became immune to the plant's defense system?

That's what I was thinking....and the hypo-sensitizing thing too that Jogeephus mentioned... :idea:

 

[Lammie]

I don't know how nettle causes pain but if it is similar to poison ivy you can become hyper or is it hypo sensitized to it. This is how I am with poison ivy, oak or sumac. I can eat it, roll in it or do whatever and it won't bother me. Reason being, I got such a massive dose of it some years back that I could barely see. Now my body does not react to it at all. Might be the same reason with the nettle.

Same with me. I can get all into the poison ivy and nothing happens. It itches for maybe a few seconds but never like what happens to my siblings. If my sister got into the bull nettles, she would swell like a balloon. It has just never bothered me. I am careful about washing my hands afterward though.

I husband got poison ivy in an embarrassing place before we married. Yep, he touched it with his hands and then peed on the side of the barn. I felt real bad for him, but it was pretty funny, especially with he had to go to the doctor! I didn't take any chances with it, though! :shock:

 

[mnmtranching]

Those stinging nettles Are some bad things. They're different than other poison plants. They have little thorns to inject the poison.

Please don't try that if you encounter a Rattle Snake. :shock:

 

[3MR]

I dont think rattlesnakes have leaves.

 

[IluvABbeef]

No rattlers up an' around here, thank goodness. And no, I won't DARE try the same thing with them! :shock: :shock:

Nettles I don't have a problem with. Not anymore, anyway.

Thistles....now THAT's something totally different. I've tried pulling them out without gloves on and all the result I get is a bunch of swearing and a handful of thorns. Same with the rose bushes. :x ;-)

 

[Keren]

OMG I am definitely trying that some time soon (when I get time away from exams and exam studying and worrying about exam results and more exams and more exam studying . . . )

Where I am building the new kidding sheds is chock full of stinging nettle and bindies. Not a nice combination.

 

[Beefy]

Alberta, try pigweed next.

 

[IluvABbeef]

Alberta, try pigweed next.

:lol: Been there done that. ;-)