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118 points

The bite actually doesn’t kill you, it just shuts down your nervous system so you can’t breath.

People if given cpr immediately (kind of need someone to know it’s what bit you) till it wears off / get on a ventilator will live.

I remember reading about someone who survived. They got but, and a team started doing cpr. The only issue was his eyes were open the entire time on a hot sunny day. So he was blind after the damage the hot sun did.

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2 points

wears off

I think it is in the duration of hours, rather than minutes before wearing off.

So yes, a team in rotation is required for CPR, or one triathalon participant.

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78 points

The bite actually doesn’t kill you, it just shuts down your nervous system so you can’t breath.

I feel that’s like saying “getting mauled by a bear doesn’t kill you, it just causes major lacerations so all your blood leaks out”. Technically sure, but it seems like a bit of a pedantic distinction…

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33 points

Reminds me of people who insisted COVID didn’t kill anyone because it was the symptoms that actually killed people

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17 points

You’re not totally wrong but some things are not so easily treated as with rescue breathing. This is the same problem with any paralytic agent (e.g. botulism) is that the mechanism of death is suffocation since you can’t breathe. But from a rescue standpoint its really easy to breathe for someone whereas its not easy to stop multiple lacerations leading to exanguination and I think that is the point they were making is that this could be a survivable event if a rescuer is nearby.

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8 points

I was thinking “it’s not the fall that kills you, it’s the sudden stop at the end.”

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5 points

It’s not the sudden stop at the end that kills you. It’s the different times at which parts of you stop.

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11 points

Getting bit by a venomous snake in Australia and you’re blood starts to disassemble itself. The only counter is antivenom or die. Your blood breaking down is what kills you. And there is no way to separate the bite from that.

Being able to counter the venom in such a simple way is what makes it different. You can logically break it down into steps that are separable.

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4 points

Yeap, but that’s because the venom is a hemotoxin rather than a neurotoxin.

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1 point
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24 points

Breathing - famous for being optional for those that would like to live.

Yes, there have only been around 3 people killed by them (largely because they’re shy, aquatic, and somewhat uncommon), and intervention can be made to stop them from killing you, but they’re one of the most toxic animals on the planet, and are unquestionably deadly.

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1 point
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We do have a lot of experience with their toxin though, since so many other animals people like to eat and play with also use TTX like newts(on their skin itself), pufferfish, and sea slugs. The blue ringed octopuses are just unique in using it as a venom. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/books/NBK507714/

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3 points

I’m shy, aquatic and uncommon

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21 points

Blind as permanently blind?

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37 points

Correct, nothing can move, not your lungs, not your eye lids, nothing. So he went very blind from staring at the sun for 30mins straight while people did cpr until ambulance arrived

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12 points

Yep.

They couldn’t close their eyelids.

Better blind than dead.

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6 points

Hmm, does one also not feel pain during such event? Also what happens in your head during it? Are you conscious or it also just shuts down your brain as whole?

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1 point
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It depends on the dose, but yes you can be conscious with respiratory failure due to TTX. If you get a large enough dose you’ll lose vascular tone and go into shock. At that point even CPR may fail to save you because what you really need is vasopressor drugs.

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1 point

So what you’re saying is I should take a date to see the blue ring octopus. Then I should get stung and tell them to give me CPR for a few hours or I’ll die.

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6 points

Get bitten by that spider that gives you a permanent boner first to make it super awkward.

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3 points

Well, at least you won’t be embarrassed for long after she turns you down.

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2 points

It’s win win

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