My 16 yr old niece was bit on the foot by a baby copperhead about 8" long about 3 weeks ago in their backyard. She got multiple antibiotics and Benadryl at the ER... No antivenom. She's still having pretty bad neurological problems though and we are starting to get concerned because it's been almost a month. It's like uncontrollable, random, violent twitches and hallucinations. All this started after the bite and has not gone away in fact it may have progressed some. They went to the DR today and she was totally puzzled didn't know what to think and said she'd have to research it. Has anyone that's been bitten experienced anything similar? How long does it take for the nervous system to get back to normal after the bite? I have never given copperheads much thought past wearing snake boots because I didn't think they were near as bad as the other 3 but this seems to be pretty hard on her.
-
Last edited by SolocamShooter; 08-04-2016, 08:09 PM. -
Holy crap this sounds awful. Not trying to throw dirt on the doc but I think y'all need to reach out to someone with more experience.Originally posted by SolocamShooter View Post -
I don't have any experience with the copperhead bite, but I'll send up some prayers for the little one.Comment
-
Yes it looks pretty terrible. And that's what I told my sister. Hopefully they will.Originally posted by 35remington View PostComment
-
Man that's just plain scary. Prayers for the little one...I can't imagine. Yes, I would research another doctor and seek a second opinion.Comment
-
It took close to a month before I could walk without my leg hurting. Even then I was still limping around for a little while. That was from a rattlesnake bite but it was without treatment also. Every time you get bit it does damage to a certain extent. But everyone reacts differently to snake bites too though so it could vary from person to person as far as side effects go. I didn't have any hallucinations or anything like that.Comment
-
Good to know, I was hoping you would chime in. I wandered if it could have been a baby cottonmouth because I know they can look similar but they're convinced it was a copperhead. They know their snakes pretty good too so I guess that's what it was.Originally posted by okrattler View PostComment
-
Is she having hallucinations or just having reoccurring dreams about the incident or snakes in general? The reason I ask is because after being bitten I was having dreams about snakes biting me for quite a while. But I think alot of that was psychological. It's a crazy thing to see a snake get you like that.Comment
-
HallucinationsComment
-
When we moved into our current place, we figured out there are lots of copperheads in our neighborhood. It'd been a while since I'd dealt with any of them. So, I decided to do some reading. Most of the stuff I read, said the most common treatments were without antivenom. Most were just as you described, antibiotics and benadryl, except for certain circumstances. It seems as though I recall that they generally try to treat without it because sometimes the effects of the antivenom can cause evrn more issues for the patient....I'm sure if I'm off on that, we'll have someone chime in to correct me, but that's about as accurately as I can recall what I read.Comment
-
The only thing that seems odd to me are the hallucinations. Generally copperhead bites involving children and the elderly are the most dangerous because they don't have as strong of an immune system. The only thing I can really think of that would be causing those kind of problems would be possible damage to her kidneys. That would be very uncommon for a copperhead bite to do that to someone,especially a young healthy person but I suppose it could be a possibility. She had a really bad reaction from the way it sounds.Comment
-
I was bit when I was 14 by a copperhead, no antivenom but I didn't have any of hallucination, couldn't walk for about 2 weeks and they cut a a lot of dead skin and nerves from my big toe and had to leave the wound open so it could drain. Prayers up for the little girl but if I was in their shoes I would go to another DrComment
-
Prayers Up. Hate to hear about kids getting hurt.Comment
-
I would be going to another Dr ASAP. I've been bit twice and sounds like they treated her the same as me but I never had hallucinations. Something is not rightComment
-
Comment