Reminder: Milkweed sap or residue in your eyes is REALLY bad!

8 years ago

I spent the better part of yesterday at the ophthalmic specialist (and all day in agony). Around 6 AM I was feeding the Monarch cats, pulling eaten pieces out of the enclosure and replacing them with freshly cut stems with full luscious leaves. We are having some high pollen counts and I was sneezing, as well as battling itchy eyes and apparently at some point in the morning I must have rubbed my left eye after handling the milkweed, before washing my hands.

By the time I was getting ready for work, my eye was burning, in spite of trying to flush it well in the shower. By the time I got to work it was causing serious pain and was red and swollen and everything seen with that eye was a big blur. Nothing I could do made it feel better. Finally, in desperation, I called the eye doctor. After an extensive exam, I was told I had a corneal ulcer/chemical burn and given a steroid/antibiotic ointment. This morning, 24 hours later, it is somewhat better, a bit less painful, and the fog/blur has decreased a bit.

SO...please remember, wash your hands immediately after handling milkweed. ALSO, (I read) don't wipe your sweaty brow with the tee shirt you are wearing around milkweed as that could have traces of the sap on it, and if any sweat gets into your eyes, you'll be in big trouble as well.

Sort by:Oldest

Comments (5)

Gretchen W.
8 years ago
Information about Milkweed is good and sorry to hear you had an accident with the milkweed sap and hope you feel better quickly.
girlnamedgalez8a
6 years ago
I am raising my first dozen of monarch cats and had the same thing happen to me yesterday. It was not until today while on the way to the Doctor's office that my husband brought up the milkweed that a light bulb went off for the both of us. Last night before bed I was wondering if I would be able to see at all today. Be careful everyone, I will be using disposable gloves from now on when handling milkweed in the future.
Related Discussions
Pesticide Residues in Cotton Burr Compost
Q
Comments (38)
This may be the study from CA referred to above. https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/03601238609372539 Chemical residues during screening, composting, and soil incorporation of cotton gin waste W. L. Winterlin Department of Environmental Toxicology , University of California , Davis, CA, 95616, M. M. McChesney Department of Environmental Toxicology , University of California , Davis, CA, 95616, S. R. Scnoen Department of Environmental Toxicology , University of California , Davis, CA, 95616 & J. N. Seiber Department of Environmental Toxicology , University of California , Davis, CA, 95616 Journal of Env. Science & Health, Nov 2008 Abstract The behaviour of residues of five chemicals was studied during aerobic and semi‐anaerobic Composting of both whole gin waste and the fines fraction. Propargite, methidathion, and chlorate residues declined significantly during both composting treatments while DEF and paraquat were stable to composting, when composted gin wastes were amended to field soil, residue levels were generally very low to undetectable in the soil, indicating little potential hazard for a composting‐amendment operation. *** This is the general assumption I usually make: residues may not be zero but with the exception of the known persistent herbicides (picloram and chlorpyrifos, IIRC), pesticides generally break down in the compost to the extent that the residue is either not detectable or low enough to have no observable effects after mixing the compost into soil. This goes for cotton waste or anything else.
...See More
... and you think you're having a bad hair day!
Q
Comments (11)
Sandy, I believe you are correct, that it is "The Laugher", or Charadra deridens. I thank you and Sherry for the lookups. I googled images on line and the little face looks the same as the 'Laugher'. I wonder if he hitched a ride in on a Butterfly Bush I bought yesterday? I watered the plant well after placing it on the deck and the watering might have caused him to move off of it. Since I didn't know what he would eat, I put him down in the garden last night. I hope he finds something he can eat as he was so sweet. Yes, Susan, that little face was just precious. It reminds me of the faces of the little white seal pups with the big eyes. Susan, my redrings are doing fine so far, except for one baby. It dried out in the top, then the leaves slowly dried up and fell off. The little stem is now drying out. I can't see a wound on the stem so I don't know what might have happened. I'll look for it next spring, hoping the roots will survive. Even though I had several RedRing flower heads, not one seed pod was produced! It blooms the earliest of all the milkweeds I've tried to grow, maybe there aren't enough pollenizers around that early in the spring. This might be part of the reason it is declining in the wild. Although, come to think of it, the wild one I found two years ago was blooming later in the summer but it looked like it had been mowed down at some point so maybe it was a second growth I found. I'm so nervous to mess around very much with the RedRing MW; just trying to keep hands off and let nature take care, although I do check them over each day. It is such a pretty plant; hope we can get some more growing and producing seed. I did have one baby actually bloom this year so I'm hopeful it will produce several flower heads next season, along with the wild one. Last year the wild one only put up one stalk (if I'm remembering correctly) and this year it put up four stalks and all had several flower heads, just no seed pod. Do you have RedRing growing in your garden? Mary
...See More
Milkweed
Q
Comments (12)
I also grow a. curassavica and have had tons of Monarchs and caterpillars for years now. The curassavica does not seed excessively and as said above, I need every seedling / plant to feed the cats. I had read previously some few years ago that a. curassavica is not as good for the cats...can give them 'indigestion' and so have been aiming at growing large stands of natives...so I'm wondering about the fact that your natives have not drawn any / many monarchs. Recently I've read that the stating that a. curassavica is not good for the cats is false.... In any case, if I'm growing asclepias for the monarchs, I certainly do want it to spread as much as possible, because once you have the Monarchs there, you will have a lot of them and they need a lot of help....
...See More
Is it a milkweed or a.....
Q
Comments (45)
No water shortage for awhile. I feel like I am permanently in a cloud. I think we had 17" in the last month. It is a jungle out there. Austin is experiencing a boil all water order. All flood gates are open and that was BEFORE the hurricane clouds got to us. Actually the heavier stuff is to the south and east off us this time. Just drizzle here. We missed out on the 12" downfall a week ago. by just a bit. It went to the west of us. I think we got 4" of rain with that one. The river just to the west is over the main road so the guys on the other side have to drive and hour out of the way to get out. The lake has backed up so the river is now a lake. Our droughts end with a rain event that can go on and on. We have been raining since the beginning of September. It is interminable. If I wanted to live in the PNW , I would have moved there.
...See More
Vanessa Finney
5 years ago
Washing your hands is the LEAST we should do, but it may not be enough. I washed mine *twice* before touching my eyes and still got a corneal ulcer and a serious scare. Cloudy vision, eyes swolle/watering, rainbow halos around lights, and yes, intense pain! DISPOSABLE GLOVES should be the rule, as routine as ear plugs when operating loud equipment.
Ola
3 years ago
Battling the very same thing right now. Clipped my milkweed to feed my cats last night, rinsed off the milkweed then washed my hands. there must have been just a little residue on my hand and at some point I must have rubbed my eye. But about an hour later, my eye started really burning. Not sure why but I had a hunch it had to do with the milkweed and so I googled it. And sure enough that stuff is super bad for the eyes. I knew it was poisonous but didnt realize the danger to eyes. rinsed eyes well with saline and dropped in some “real tears” after a quick run to the pharmacy. Redness and pain went away but woke up to a fog in my left eye and full blurriness. Called the eye doctor and he fit me in that day. He was taken aback by the intensity of the corneal edema that was on my eye. I told him about the milkweed and the google search I had done. Normally doctors don’t love dr. Google but this time he came in handy. He called the hospital eye specialist (big hospital in LA) to see if he had ever heard of the milkweed reaction and neither had even come across this in their 40+ years of practice. I guess my accident served a good educational purpose. Hope the knowledge can help someone in the future. Eyesight at dr in left eye was 20/200. So legally blind In that eye! So thankful it wasn’t both eyes! I am currently on both muro 128 hypertonic drops and dexamethazone drops. Hoping this starts to resolve tomorrow. So crazy. Will be educating others to be more cautious in future.
girlnamedgalez8a
3 years ago
Ola, so sorry this has happened to you. I had a full recovery after a couple of days thankfully. It only takes once to know that we must wear gloves when trimming milkweed. Good luck with your cats, I have some now that are stripping the last of my milkweed. This is my second batch in the last month. They have done really well this season.

Reminder: Milkweed sap or residue in your eyes is REALLY bad!

Comments (5)

Gretchen W.

girlnamedgalez8a

Related Discussions

Vanessa Finney

Ola

girlnamedgalez8a

COMPANY

BUSINESS SERVICES

GET HELP

CONNECT WITH US