Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Hunter's Campfire Hand swelled up this morning for no apparent reason....

Had something weird happen this morning.

I used the weed eater to cut down some grass around my okra rows. Used it for less than 5 minutes. I was holding the shaft/throttle with my right hand and the hand bar with my left.

After shutting the weedeater off, my hands immediately felt like they were itchy, although there was nothing on them and no amount of scratching would help. After about 5 minutes the itching stopped and then my right hand started to swell up. Within 10 minutes it was swollen up enough that I couldn't make a closed fist.

I've put ice on it thru the day and the swelling has started to go down, but this scares the crap out of me. Only thing I can think of is the vibrations of the weedeater messed with the nerves in my right hand and caused it to swell somehow.

Have any of you ever heard of anything like this happening from vibrations..?

I had a full round of allergy test a few years ago and I was immune to just about everything, so I don't think an allergen started it.

Does Carpal Tunnel cause anything like this.?

Sounds like you got bit by an insect.

sounds more like an allergic reaction.

Okra plants will do that to some folks even though they have no problems eating it.

that is what I wad thinking...

I've had that happen several times over the years. Don't know why and it soon went away but have never not been able to make a fist. I have hay fever too but it is not severe enough to get professional help, just annoying. Take a Zyrtec or benadryl and see if it improves...

I don't know what to think fellas. I don't see and didn't feel any type of bug sting. The itching was on the inside of the palm, opposite of the knuckles.

The okra plants are just a few inches tall, I didn't touch any of them, just weeded around them.

Thinking it might be an allergen, I took a Benadryl about 15 minutes ago. I haven't noticed any changes yet.

Very weird..!

I'm betting insect, caterpillar, or allergic reaction to the okra.

If the swelling doesn't dissapate after 4 hours seek medical assistance.




Oh wait, that is for a different swelling condition.

I always liked okra but hated working it. When I was 7 yrs old, My Grandad told me to go to the garden and cut some okra cause family was coming for supper. I took a cane knife and leveled it to the ground leaving a 3" stub on the several rows.

Family took turns whippin my little ass that evening.

Let me add,..if I die in the night due to my tongue swelling up or some fool thing,..It's been a blast..!

Heck if that happens for 4 hours,..I'm gonna call Guiness, take some pics and make some phone calls. That's not the time to seek medical attention...!





Now that's funny right there. I bet you did get you butt beat over that one..!

I've had similar situations, with both a weed eater and leaf blower. Don't think it was quite that bad and only after using them for much longer periods of time.

do you have hair growing on your palm, might be something else causing it

If you get the swelling down and your hands return to normal, than the next time you weed whack uses a good pair of leather gloves. If your hands swell up again then it may have something to do with the vibrations of the whacker.

My right hand is swelled up. I'm a Leftie..!

TFF!

Where you holding the tool low with your right hand? Could be just blood collecting in the low hand, though the short period is strange.

While backpacking many, myself included, will have the hands swell due to the hands staying low most the time and being fairly inert. Doesn't happen while running as you pump your arms or when I work all day on the jobsite swinging/lifting.

Possible the vibration could have sped up the process.

The itching also matches... probably not it but if it goes away fairly quick, maybe.

Kent

Sounds like you're dying.

Allergies do some strange things. You can have none at all then all of a sudden they hit you. I got allergic to sagebrush pollen that way. I was out bowhunting and watching the pollen blow in the wind. I'd done that for years, but this time it hit me immediately and I've had problems every since. Poison ivy is also that way. You can be immune for years, then all of a sudden it nails you and you'll react to it from then on.

A good cure for that is trekking poles. They keep the arms moving and the blood flowing.