I just want to thank to the guys who helped me yesterday arvo at Melville beach, and specially the guy who dropped me to the doctor. I can't remember his name and I don't have his phone number neither. I was windsurfing on the sand bank where the sticks are in the shallows and I stood on a cobbler fish, stingray or similar. I was stung in my ankle. I didn't know what the hell was but I couldn't believe how much pain I was in!!! I put the foot in hot water but the pain didn't relieve until mid night! (after tetanus vaccine, antibiotic and paracetamol/codeine). Cheers!!!
Xavier
Sorry to hear about your misfortune, but glad you were well looked after.
Don't let it put you off sailing in the river. Stings there are very uncommon.
Saw a 3 foot across stingray there yesterday. I landed right next to it in one of my failed attempts at a gybe.
Have you determined if it was a stingray or cobbler,have not experienced cobbler but believe it is more painfull than stingray,with less long term issues,stingray on the other hand I have experienced ,still very painfull with some long term consquences if not treated properly upfront,not many medical professionals have had any experience with them and will send you home with a single course of antibiotics,as happened to me ,when the antibiotics finished my foot turned into a watermelon and I ended up in hospital under general anesthetic having the putrid flesh cut from the wound,cost me about 6 weeks of sailing.I assume cobbler wounds would generally be on the bottom of the foot and fairly small punctures maybe several depending on how many spines got you,stingray is a single larger jaggered puncture on the side or top of the foot or ankle .If ever I get stung by one again i will insist on a surgical clean out up front, as infection seems inevitable if the necrotic cocktail is left in the wound! .Good luck
Managed to meet cobblers twice in a month a while back. They seem to have venomous spines on their pectoral fins as well as dorsal so stings to the side of the foot and ankle are likely.
My experience was keep the foot in water as hot as you can bear for 4-6 hours defeats the pain. I believe it works by stimulating the nerves in the skin so much the pain signal is overwhelmed. CHECK water temp with other foot each time hot is topped up as lowered sensitivity in the cobblered foot could lead to insensitivity to heat allowing a burn. Had no symptoms beyond 12 hours.
Local anaesthetic has been posted before as the option if you are more than 30 minutes from home.
^ +1 super hot water and keep your foot in as long as you can. I stood on one at Coro and had a giant foot and really painful in the immediate area of the wound. It was fine the next day (although my foot was still pretty huge). Funny thing was I didn't notice it immediately and it only caught my attention when I couldn't get my foot out of the strap (due to swelling) about half an hour later. If you start to feel any other symptoms don't mess around, see a doctor ![]()