Don't Bring a Chainsaw to an Agave Fight.
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| Where the I'm pretty sure the Devil himself resides. Close up of the center of an agave that's been cut and drying, taken before I knew what was to come. Canon R w/24-105L |
Interest in this post will likely be from someone looking for specific, probably timely information for their current state (for those of you, I'm sorry for your plight), or are interested in general randominity like me. I am not a doctor, biologist, scientist, or anything of the sort - I'm a photographer with a wide range of interests, including understanding how things work at a deeper level. Still, I think it should become widely known by all that you should be extremely careful when cutting agave with a chainsaw.
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| Scene of the crime |
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| Pretty sure his friends were watching in horror, plotting revenge at this point. Little did I know. |
While the irritants are widely known and documented, what is really interesting is outbreaks like mine are fairly uncommon and few people or doctors seem to even be aware of it. Under the right circumstances, it's incredible just how vicious and vile the agave plant can be. It's like a dragon, fanged and spitting fire. Spikes let you know not to mess with it. But when you bring a chainsaw to an agave fight, it fights back harder. The testament to that is the last agave I battled is still alive and standing outside my door with a quarter of its leaves remaining while I'm lying in bed on medication. If left alone, it would survive just fine. I plan to finish it off, but not before adjusting strategy and wearing armor.
It turns out the nastiest part of the plant is microscopic. The leaves are filled with calcium oxylate crystals, a common bio-mineral found in many plants, that serves both biological functions and as a deterrent to animals. The crystals can take one of five shapes, but the agave chose the form of double-tipped needles called raphides which tend to grow in bundles. Anything over 180µm in length is considered an irritant to humans, and these plants produce them in abundance from 30-500µm. For reference, with good vision, we usually can see down to about 100 microns, so 500 is relatively large. The article referenced above mentions that one droplet (0.03ml) of agave juice contained 100-500 crystals.
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| Raphides of calcium oxylate crystals from a Sanserveria sample, photographed by Michael Clayton, University of Wisconsin |
I saw raphides listed as both mechanical and chemical irritants in various places, but all noted that they easily penetrate the skin, causing issues on their own. But what they really do is open the door for other toxins in the sap to enter the system. Saponins, acrid oils and other compounds that cause a slew of conditions, including death of skin cells and sweat glands, are all loaded inside agave juice. "Causing dermatitis" is too benign a statement.
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| Bundle of Raphides from Sanserveria, photographed by Michael Clayton, University of Wisconsin |
From what I have gathered, I think what really makes this entire cocktail a major problem is the choice of weapon - the chainsaw. In just about every instance I could find online, the cases like mine happened while using a chainsaw with exposed skin. This article is in Spanish, but can be translated and gives one of the best overviews of the entire picture. He points out that the two more cases he found as well as the one he assessed had all used chainsaws.
Everything I have stated at this point is fact based on my reading. From here on, I am speculating, but what I imagine is happening follows some pretty basic logic. Chainsaws move along the bar at about 88 feet per second (55-60 mph). The material getting slung off of it is hauling ass, and in this case, it's filled with bundles of tiny needle dagger demon spears. That should be enough to imagine what's happening, but for funsies, I wanted to estimate what this looks like by the numbers. I tried to be conservative with figures, but let's do a little math:
From what I stated above, a drop of agave juice contains an average of 300 raphide crystals, which would measure an average of 235 microns - well above the length considered an irritant. They are long and flat, but pointed at both ends, so they won't always pierce the skin. Assuming if they hit at an angle of 15 degrees or less off vertical, they would likely stick. That makes it a 30 degree window on each end, 60 degrees considering both ends are tipped, thus giving it a total of 60 out of 360 chance of landing correctly. That's a probability that 1 in 6 crystals will stick in your skin. I have no idea how to average the amount of juice hitting my skin - that stuff goes EVERYWHERE. I would venture a conservative guess as being one full drop coming in contact every 10 seconds or so, at a speed of... lets say 30 mph at that point - still plenty enough to embed into skin. So, putting it all together - 1/6th of 300 crystals per drop hitting in the correct orientation is 50 every 10 seconds. That's 300 every minute. Ten minutes of cutting an agave with a chainsaw will get you about 3,000 crystals in your skin. Based off the look of my skin, I'd say that's pretty accurate.
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Aftermath. 4 days after exposure. I suspect each dot is either a single raphide or bundle wound. |
Here is my complete story and timeline of the whole ordeal for anyone interested in more:
I was heading out the door, dressed in shorts and a tee, low tops and a fitness tracker, ready to hit the gym. My cousins were out front, figuring out how to remove the stumps of the agaves they had dropped the leaves from a few weeks ago. I grew up doing landscape construction and have plenty of experience with this type of stuff, so jumped in to help. After getting the smaller ones, with some effort, we were able to pull the biggest one out with a 4Runner and a tow strap. Once sitting on the driveway, the next step was figuring out how to break down what I estimate was a 300 pound orb of flesh, water and roots.
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| Once the piña was out, we struggled to get embedded tow strap off and get it back upright. |
We had to get it into a manageable size. My first thought? Chainsaw. We'll hack this bad boy up like a pizza pie. Even with only a 12 inch 18v electric saw on hand, it actually worked pretty well, albeit slowly. After scoring through the best I could, a pick axe was able to spit it apart. Piece by piece we broke it down. My cousin asked if it made me itchy. It did a little, but not bad. Nothing more than typical - what shavings, some spider bites, dust and general gardening normally does - especially while in shorts. Again, I was on my way to the gym and hadn't planned for work. At this point, I was already dirty and going to need a shower before doing anything, so I offered to drop some more leaves on the remaining plants.
That's when the trouble began. The little saw was actually the perfect tool to break down the 6 foot tall, teethed leaves. I could reach below with one hand, avoiding any spines and slice them off like slab of butter. It worked great... until I noticed my shins starting to burn and tingle a little. I was halfway through and figured I could finish it up quickly. Another couple minutes and only three quarters done; I had to stop. It felt like fire ants running up and down my legs and forearms, with alarm bells ringing loudly in my head. My cousin had a minor reaction the first time he dropped leaves and said it mostly rinsed off in the shower, so that's where I headed.
A little soap and lukewarm water, and it started to subside. It didn't feel great, but was tolerable. I went off to the gym and kept on with my day. By the evening, I was wiped out. I had definitely pushed myself through two big activities, and I felt my age.
I went to bed early, but wasn't able to sleep. Twelve hours in, and my legs felt like they had a fever - they were BURNING hot (but my face felt fine). I would kick them out from under the covers and they'd freeze. There was no way to get comfortable. The next day, I was completely exhausted and felt like I was hit by a train. My legs and arms were a little better, only feeling like I had a nuclear sunburn at this point. But it got worse as the day went on, as I ended up with the hot chills all day. I wasn't able to make the 200 mile drive I had planned for work and stopped at my brothers after 80, unable to function. I napped on his couch before getting a solid nights rest in bed, but woke the next morning to a rash.
At 40 hours after exposure, it looked worse, but felt better than the previous day. A coat of calamine lotion was all I needed for comfort, wearing pants and a long sleeve shirt without issue. I finished the drive south, photographed my job and headed back home. When I stopped for dinner on the way back, the itch made its presence known. Another coat of calamine wasn't cutting it.
Arriving home just before bedtime, I slathered on some prescription grade cortisone cream. That helped and I was comfortable enough to at least get some sleep. Waking the next morning, about 68 hours after exposure, the contact area was now covered in red dots. It looked way worse than it felt, and it felt pretty uncomfortable. By the afternoon of that day, 75 hours after exposure, the itch began in earnest. Hydrocortisone cream at 2.5% wasn't cutting it. Triamcinolone, another, stronger prescription cream did nothing. Anti-itch gel, which is basically topical benadryl did help, but only a little. I didn't even get out of bed to eat dinner. I just laid there trying to forget I have appendages.
Morning the next day, at hour 90, I woke a little better. That didn't last long. After being on my feet for a couple hours, the itch returned and swelling took off. My ankles ballooned to nearly double by days end. I had obligations to fill, so I kept going the best I could, but by dinner time, I was looking at when urgent care would open the next day. To my surprise, they were open until 8pm - I had 15 more minutes, and just a 5 minute drive, so left my hot bowl of ramen on the counter and bolted for it.
They gave me some oral corticosteroid, told me to take benadryl at night and zyrtec during the day, and I would start a round of prednisone in the morning. It's only been about 14 hours since the doctors visit as I'm writing this, 120 hours (5 days) since contact, and I'm feeling improvements already. My arms are visibly a little more clear and the discomfort is tolerable.
As I'm finishing up typing this whole thing, it's closing in on evening and the itch has returned. Mornings have consistently been better, but overall today feels like I've turned a corner. I hope.
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| Would this be considered a homeopathic treatment? |