In light of the bajillions (that’s an approximate number) of Portuguese Man-O-Wars that have washed ashore here on the east coast of Florida of the last few days, I thought I would share my personal experience with this devil creature from back in 2011. Here, is how to treat a Portuguese Man-O-War Sting, and exactly what it feels like!
*This post was originally written on January 7th of 2012, when I was a smidge less toddler-friendly with my language and much more carefree with my punctuation. I’ve cleaned it up as much as possible, but wanted to keep some of the original flavor so you know just exactly how bad this hurt!
It was a typical end of the summer Wednesday for us. Our one day off together during the week and the weather was amazing, so fishing we went! On this particular day we went to Amelia Island State Park because our favorite (Hugenot) was closed for some bird mating season or something. We’d been out on the beach a while and the fish had just started to bite. I remember that specifically because Lane had just caught some bait fish and I was stepping into the water to fill up the bucket for them when it happened.
To anyone that has been stung by a jellyfish… don’t even start. I’ve been stung by jellyfish. Like a million times, in fact. This is NOT a jellyfish sting. A jellyfish sting is a pleasant tickle compared to the horror of a man of war sting. In fact, I would have PAID to have a jellyfish sting me over this insanely gut wrenching, make-me-cry-so-hard-I’m-going-to-vomit type of pain. And the real b*tch of it is that I was in water as deep as the sting goes up on my ankle. Out of how many BAJILLIONS of miles of shoreline, I stepped directly into this entangling trail of man of war tentacles.
The pain was so intense and so instant, that the second my ankle hit the water, my vision went black and I fell to the ground. I screamed a blood curdling scream and immediately began to cry hysterically. It is such an insane feeling and it is very difficult to explain, but I’ll give it my best shot…
It feels like a combination of an electric shock (because it literally does jolt your entire body), a milllion needles dipped in lava, annnnnd maybe acid? And it feels like a net. Like whatever is hurting you may be all over your entire body and you don’t know what to do to get it off. And it’s instant. It’s not like when you cut yourself or something and it takes a few seconds for the pain to really set in. My foot hit the water, and my ass hit the ground. Instant. Yeah. I think that’s as accurate as I can get.
So as I’m sitting on the beach (still unable to see) grabbing my ankle, Lane is beyond confused because he can’t see anything on me, and I’d literally only had one foot in the water. I think between sobs I managed to say something about “sting” and he looked down at my ankle and furiously started pulling off long, stringy, clear tentacles that had completely swallowed my ankle, and in places had wrapped all the way up my calf. Is it calf? Calve? Neither one look right. My leg.
I was crying so hard and the pain wouldn’t stop and we were in a panic. Lane thought that I was about to go into shock, because I literally was sobbing so much that I was close to throwing up. My whole leg was throbbing (and itching!) and burning and the only thing I could think to do was to rub sand all over it. And I mean I buffed that sucka down like I was getting ready to apply a new coat of stain. Word to the wise should you find yourself in this position: DO NOT RUB SAND ON IT. We’ll get to the exact reason why in just a bit, but long story short, it makes the sting much worse and it is highly unadvisable.
Lane was feverishly Googling remedies… anything basic (meat tenderizer – which wouldn’t you know it, we just didn’t happen to have in our beach bag!) or anything acidic (pee, coffee – we had both) is supposed to be the ticket to reducing the pain.
*Editor’s note… the most recent articles on the Man-O-Wars in Jacksonville in the last few days say that urine does not help, so I wouldn’t recommend it… unless you enjoy getting a golden shower while writhing in pain.
This is the disgusting concoction that I soaked my leg in for about 2 hours.
Well, I let it soak long enough to let the pain subside enough to where I could even entertain the idea of moving/standing again. It is a mixture of melted ice (“they” also do not recommend putting ice on the sting – it’s the only thing that really made mine feel better, so whatever), coffee, salt water, and tobacco.
We didn’t know what else to do. Sidenote: we now have meat tenderizer in the toolbox of Lane’s truck. SO, after an hour or so, I finally stopped crying and could locomote enough to get back in the truck and head home. That night SUCKED. My whole leg throbbed and was itchy and just uncomfortable.
Over the next few days as it started to heal (or so I thought), whenever I’d stand for more than a minute or two in the same place, my foot, ankle, and leg all would start to tingle and go numb. Sometimes I would even get jolts of what felt like electric shock in my toes.
And just for reference of how serious this actually is, this happened just over six months ago and my foot and ankle STILL tingle and go numb from time to time. Apparently – thanks to Google – I now know that the nematocytes in the tentacles can do nerve damage. Man of wars can even kill people. I know that most everyone who knows me thinks that I’m a major over-reactor (my parents call me “Bette Davis”), but this one was legit!
A few days later I thought that I was in the clear. My leg appeared to be healing up nicely, and although I had a newfound respect (and petrifying fear) of the ocean, I was going to be just fine.
Cut to exactly one week later. The freakin’ ITCHINNNNNNNNNNNG started. And it wouldn’t stop. I tried Benadryl, Benadryl cream, I tried giving in and just clawing the crap out of my leg. Nothing would make the itching stop.
It felt like it wasn’t even my skin that itched. It felt like it was about the 2 layer of muscle that was itching and no matter what I did I couldn’t get to it. After several hours of being tortured by poison ivy of the muscle, I concluded that we had a problem. This is what my leg looked like. A WEEK later…
Slightly less than ideal. All of those grody little bumps are where the nematocytes had embedded into my skin – because of the SAND that I had fiercely scrubbed all over it – and as they started to “heal” and come out of my skin, they all fired off their handy little stinging/itching/nerve damaging things again. Perfect. To the urgent care we go.
Suprisingly, the urgent care place was awesome. We were in and out in 40 minutes and for less than $100. The diagonosis? “Infected Man of War Sting”. Really? I mean is this even a THING? Has this even happened to anyone else ever in the history of LIFE, or is this my amazing knack for ridiculous injuries rearing it’s ugly tentacles again? For cryin’ out loud. They gave me two prescriptions – one for the itching, and one antibiotic horse pill – and I had to take them both for ten days.
Felt like swallowing a canned ham.
As it started to heal more and more, I wondered, “is this bad boy going to SCAR?” Well, here we are 6 months later…
Yikes. From now on, this electric shock leg will be staying on shore and enjoying a good book!
Ahh happier days…
So that’s it my friends! To recap, if you’re stung by a Man-O-War:
- No sand!
- No pee.
- Meat Tenderizer or Vinegar.
I’m happy to report that six years later, I’ve recovered nicely. You can still see a bit of the scarring if you look really hard, but no more electric jolts.
Still though, even after years, the reports of all of the beaches being full of these spawns of Satan are definitely enough to make me stay away!
If you brave the ocean and see one of these blue blobs floating on top of the water, remember that their tentacles can be up to forty feet long, and swim as fast as you can back to the comfort of your beach chair… and when you pack your beach bag, don’t forget the sunscreen, a hat, and your favorite meat tenderizer!
Great description! I was also “stung” (electrocuted??) by a man o war in Miami in 2005, across the bottom of my fingertips of both hands. It was so instantaneous and extreme, I didn’t even have time to assess what was happening. And like you, my reaction was to immediately rub sand all over it as hard as I could. Later I investigated the water and found the telltale purple “bag” of the man of war. My left arm completely paralyzed within hours. I drank a few beers and slept it off (dumb 25 year old). Thanks for the great story and reassurance that sand was not an unusual choice under the circumstances.
I think I was stung by one two weeks ago, your blog came up when I was looking up what to expect. It hurt like hell for a couple hours but calmed down and minimal pain, left only a tiny mark up until the 10th day! It erupted into blisters where I didn’t even know I was hit…omg… it still looks disgusting and its been 14 days!!! how long did it take for yours to calm down? …do they release their venom into you still after this long when they start to come out? ;S
so little info out there…:(
thanks so much for this post. i was stung in july and this was the most accurate description of what it’s like i could find. i was stung in about 4 feet deep water so i ended up being stung 3 times as i was wading out of the water and screaming hysterically. I treated mine with vinegar and a hot shower which made the pain go away almost completely. everyone thought i was so dramatic! i agreed with them until i found out there had been an outbreak of man of wars at the time i was at the beach and this wasn’t a normal jellyfish sting. mine became infected AND a week afterwards i had an allergic reaction of some sort to the stings. it was definitely rough but thanks for describing the feeling so perfectly, i had started to think i was just over reacting!
A few years ago when I was maybe 11? I was wearing one of those swimsuits that basically covers your full body. One of those suckers got IN my swimsuit, wrapped all around my body, and stung the crap outta me. It takes a lot (pain-wise) to make me cry and this shit had me SCREAMING in pain. My mother tried rubbing sand on it, hot water, pee, all the common stuff. Nothing worked and I was nearing the point of blacking out (Keep in mind I was a small child and had tenticals trapped in my swimsuit wrapped around my ENTIRE body) Mother called 911 but they couldn’t get down to the beach. A few too many Benadryl later I was out like a light and slept for a good nine hours and woke up with angry red marks all over me. Not a fun experience. (the second time this happened was more minor and I was a bit older, got stung on the foot and my entire foot was paralyzed for DAYS) ((Dad didn’t think there was anything wrong and that I was acting, okay dad sure))
Thank you for posting this. There is so little info and this really helped. I was stung two days who in Hawaii on my right armpit. I’m in so much pain. Anyway, your description was spot on and is very comforting to know what I’m experiencing is expected. I just wish I could find the right concoction of drugs to help the pain AND the itching!!
I had the same exact experience! Down to every detail! I walked two steps into the water and got stung immediately. Rubbed sand into it because that’s all I could think to do to stop the pain. Vinegar was the correct thing to do, took the pain away immediately. And then about a week later my leg was so intensely itchy that I couldn’t sleep at night. Finally I got into a tub of scalding hot water and scrubbed pretty much the entire top layer of the skin on my ankle off, and that did the trick. Now my ankle is much less itchy, but I still put burn/itch ointment on it and keep it wrapped in gauze.
I was stung by one when I was chest deep and it wasn’t as bad as you described at first. I was able to successfully get out of the water and walk back to beach house I was staying at, pausing to let my friends know what happened on the way, in under ten minutes. It was very sudden though, just like you said and it felt like someone had dipped my legs in lava. It took an hour to extract all the stinging cells. But a week later- oof. It ITCHED. nonstop misery and nothing helps. Thirty minutes after I was stung looked like your first pic but all over both of my legs. A week later was dark red lines similar to your second just more pronounced and raised. I’m 17 and I live by the beach and I have never been stung before so I have nothing To compare it to. My uncle had been stung by a man of war twice before tho and was able to help some. Use vinager and hot water to extract stingers. DONT SCRATCH!!
I was on spring break in Ft.Lauderdale 1987… what I thought was trash floating in the ocean much to my horror as I picked it up … it was a freaking man-o-war .. I squeezed it and it popped .. it was like acid all over my hands, I was lucky it only stung my fingers before it died.. the life guard ignored me.. when I got back to my hotel I was starting to really feel it… the hotel called an ambulance and all I know is for about 24-hours I was tripping out of my mind
Wow, Katie! THANK YOU THANK YOU THANK YOU for Sharing your experience of being stung by a Portuguese man-of-war jellyfish! I just got stung by one a few days ago in the golf of Mexico on the beaches of Destin Florida. I was only in about 3 feet deep maybe 30 feet from shore and just about to get out of the water when all of a sudden I felt instantaneous excruciating burning pain on my right ankle. I started screaming & thrashing my arms, running, stumbling, tripping screaming, crying and hyperventilating as I raced to get out of the water. Once I reached the shore, I could see a thin clear purplish gelatinous mucous like string wrapped around my ankle. It was stinging & throbbing like crazy, sending painful electric shocks up my leg! My immediate reaction was to pull as much of that clear purple string off as possible then I race to the beach’s cold water showers and poured cold water on it. Didn’t help-in fact I was told later that cold water pushes the venom from the nematocysts in more! We tried peeing on it and pouring vinegar on it. I was screaming in pain and hyperventilating so much that I got dizzy and almost passed out! I Findlay called urgent care and was told to soak it in hot (as hot as I could tolerate) water and salt for 20-45 mins. And I just say the Hot water soaks are the only thing that provided me any semblance of relief. And if I lifted my ankle out of the hot water, instant pain & throbbing returned. It went on like this for 5 hours straight until I began to feel some relief, I rigged up a trick where I microwaved hot water in a large bowl with a washcloth, and I wrapped the washcloth around my ankle & secured it with 2 elastic hair ties until the washcloth cooled and I would go through the whole process again. We are now back home in Wi and has been 4 days . The pain has mostly subsided and the swelling has gone down, but My ankle looks like I have a strange dark purple tattoo around it, and when I touch the area, there is no sensation! I now know that a Portuguese Man o War’s tentacles carry nematocysts with powerful toxins that can cause nerve damage, yikes! Hopefully I will it get the residual itching/irritation that I am reading that some victims report they experience days and weeks later, but I will be vigilant. Thank you again Katie for sharing, b/c it made me realize that I WASN’T going crazy or being overly “extra”, as my kids accused me of being after I got stung!
~Gloria
Hi Gloria, I was also stung badly on a Mexican beach, my left arm, breathing & heart problems, horrible nightmare… 5 days later am much well but sensible and numb sensations at times… HOW are you doing now?… Do u have a visible scar?? Hope u are well… elena 😌
I recently found out I had ended up in a school of these things when I was two in the ocean
this was in the mid 70s
I was stung over 200 times
I am turning 50 this year and have realized it has caused many many health issues for me my whole life becasuse it was not treated properly. I still have lots of barbs under my skin – we didnt know what they were and I kept trying to pick them out of my body — we thought I had a self harm issue – when my Mom suddenly says – Oh maybe it is from all those stings you got ( after I had spent the better part of a decade fighting my urges to dig into my skin and have left over 150 scars on my body
I would love more help if anyone knows anything I could do now
I have learned I have to stay away from all food sources that come from the ocean or are made in ocean water – even rice is a known allergy to me now – but any help I can get moving forward I would welcome greatly
Tired of being “aqua-girl” living with deep deep seeded hydrophobia and NOW I KNOW WHY and all I feel like screaming to my Mother is
DUH?????????????????????
But I have no time for blame – just solutions please she didnt know what she didnt know and unfortunately she didnt care enough to look – it is what it is
Their tentacles can actually be up to 90ft long! Thata 50ft longer than what’s written in your post! Insanity. I can’t imagine being tangled up in 90ft worth of acid flavored razor blades!
I got stung by one when I was 6-8 years old. I saw a brilliant blue wiggly “thread” in front of me while in the water in El Golfo, MX. As soon as my finger tips touched it my whole existence was saturated in intense burning, shocking pain. My mon thought I was overreacting and I never got treatment. I was in pain the whole day. Luckily I hardly touched it but I spent the rest of our beach time writhing in pain under a beach shower.
wow such a captivating story! I myself just got stung by one a few days ago and i just wanted to see what my future would be like for a while. I always got stung by these suckers when i was very young, being in hawaii every year and all. But i never noticed how ITCHY it is. I also got hives up my ankles and i guessed the tentacles got all the way up there. My sting only lasted 10 minutes though, it was a very small one and it was surprising. i really wouldn’t mind the scar, telling everyone i got stung by a jellyfish sounds a little badass right?
i was also once stung by the man-o war in mami Florida in 2019 all over both of my legs I thought i was electrocuted i painfully rush to the lifeguard i wanted to scream on the top of my lungs i safely recovered after 2 months.
i was 6 years old when it happened my mom thought it was a piece of cloth i thought i was dying my mom tried pulling it of but it got stuck on her hand i was also allergic to jellyfish i was screaming in pain at that point i wished that it was another type of jellyfish because it hurt SO much.
Thanks for the story and I’m glad to know there is light at the end of the tunnel. I was stung on the bottom of my foot a month ago. Apparently man of war wash up on the beach and break apart. The tiny nematocytes fall off, mix in with the sand and you can’t see them. Like you, I felt the “electric shock” and went down instantly. It took a while before I was able to stand up and walk (limp) back to where I’d parked. I asked a lifeguard and he said they’d had a lot of man of war wash up on Palm Beach lately. A month later, I’m still getting stabbing sensations, still quite swollen and sore. I finally got a prednisone prescription… fingers crossed…