Echinacea for venomous snake bites

[Joshua Parke]

Here’s my experience using echinacea for some rattlesnake bites. From the research I’ve done, echinacea is effective for all venomous bites. Brown recluse, black widow, hobo…there are probably a few other stories that were shared. But I’m going to share my experience with rattlesnake bites.

Two days ago my horse was bit by a rattlesnake. Actually, both of my horses were bitten, but only one of them had any real swelling. The second horse that had been bitten must of had a “dry” bite, because the first horse who was bitten took all the venom. He swelled up considerably, and my filly who had the dry bite had very minor swelling. <—I’ve been medicating both of them, but he gets most all of the doses throughout the day.

Two mornings ago I awoke, and the first thing I do is go outside and feed my horses. There was no noticeable swelling at this time. After feeding them I go to work on my property, a few hours later I get back to my domicile and my boy was at the water, he turned and knickers at me and I saw it….the right side of his muzzle was swollen to the size of a large pomelo, “…the size of a very LARGE grapefruit…”. I knew instantly what it was, so I go to my herb cupboard and get out the echinacea tincture. I began dosing him every 30 minutes for the first two hours. And I think I started out with 18 droppers full, then tapered to an average of 9 droppers full throughout the day. I gave a dose every hour. The first four doses were mixed with half a melon in the blender. Then the rest of the first day I was soaking hay cube cookies in water mixed with the echinacea tincture. The cookies would absorb the echinacea water. I was using 18 droppers full in the hay cubes and splitting the doses between my horses. By the end of the first day the swelling had reduced by at least half.

Day two, I began giving the tincture mixed into a watery fruit smoothie. The bite is on his upper lip, just barely on the inside of his mouth. And there was some tissue that was turning dark so I wanted to get echinacea directly on the bite area to stop any formation of necrotic tissue. So I figured that the watery smoothie would be better than soaked hay cubes. This worked excellent, and by the end of the second day the swelling had reduced by 80-85% and the dark looking tissue that goes necrotic began to recede considerably. I was giving a dose every hour, but I had to run to town to pick up more tincture, and he didn’t get a dose for roughly 4 hours.

Day three, this morning. It’s been 48 hours since the bite and the swelling is reduced by probably 90-95%. I’m going to continue to give watery smoothies with echinacea throughout the day. I have enough tincture to last through the day but will probably be driving to town again to pickup some more.

As of right now I’ve used 7oz of tincture, and I plan on giving at least two more 1oz bottles today. The snake was a small one, and if you don’t know, the small ones tend to release the most venom because they haven’t yet developed much control over their venom flow while biting, so I’ve been told. So my horse ended up with a full tank of venom into his lip. And my filly didn’t get hardly any…probably just the residual venom on the fangs.

Last year my dog was bit by a rattlesnake…also on the lip. I didn’t know about echinacea at the time so I took him to the vet for the antivenin. That night while he was at the vets I began researching, and that’s where I learned of echinacea….and all the dangers of going the allopathic route. I guess that giving the antivenin has a high percentage of being fatal. When I picked him up the next day he was SEVERELY drugged up…I was quite concerned. I took him home and threw away the drugs they gave me. I immediately began giving him tincture sandwiched in raw ground beef every hour. I think I used two 1oz bottles and may have opened a third throughout two-three days. For him the swelling was drastically reduced by the first day, and by the morning of the third day the swelling was completely gone, and all of the dark tissue that goes necrotic had diminished. Plus I didn’t feed him his normal meals, the only thing he was eating had been the tincture sandwiched in meat. Fasting aids in recovery quite considerably, but I needed to get the tincture in him somehow.

The most common thing I hear from people in the area who’ve had animals bitten by snakes is how much necrotic tissue forms and how long it takes before their animal is showing any signs of recovery. I often hear of dogs at 6 weeks out still suffering from a bite…and yes I tell them of echinacea. I’ve only had one person actually take my advice…and their dog was recovering by day three….they didn’t administer with the frequency I kept suggesting. By the second or third day, they understood….and they began giving it more frequently…but still no where near as much as I kept recommending. And they were afraid of putting the tincture on the bite mark because it may sting a little….I tried to say that the venom in their tissue was causing way more pain than a little sting from some alcohol tincture would cause….yet they were still concerned. They left town on day four or five after the bite. The dog was getting much better, but still recovering. This bite was on the lower leg, by a big snake, with multiple bites.

Some important things about administering the echinacea. It’s a very mild herb, so you can use a LOT of it. The proper way to administer it is with frequency instead of just quantity. Give frequent doses instead of just one or a couple of large doses. I started off giving a dose every thirty minutes, then I give a dose every hour….except while I’m sleeping. If you can also get the echinacea directly on the bite mark…do it, it will put medicine localized directly where needed. Echinacea is an herb to use as needed instead of constantly. If you use it only in cases where it’s needed then it will be very effective, but if you use it every day as a “preventative” it won’t be very effective when the time comes that you actually NEED it. <—no experience with that statement, just something I’ve read.

My timer has gone off about ten minutes ago….so if the post is all jumbled and a little confusing, I haven’t had time to go through and clean it up a bit…but I think it makes enough sense. 😉

1 user thanked author for this post.

Amy Cain

[Martha StanleyStudent]

Thanks for the post.

Most interesting. Glad your fur friends are well.

Martha

[IdahoHerbalist]

Joshua, where are you located? How much do they charge for the tinctures in what volume? The reason I ask is because I am wondering if you are familiar with PLANTAIN.

Also, if you have animals in snake bite country you might want to look into getting some of our formula.

[Dr. Patrick JonesHomestead Instructor]

Echinacea is remarkable for snakebite (or spider). It contains a constituent that inhibits the enzyme in the venom (hyaluronidase) that disolves the hyaluronic acid in the body. Hyaluronic acid is, essentially, glue that holds your cells together. In addition to inhibiting the enzyme, Echinacea also stimulates the body to produce more hyaluronic acid. Great stuff.

The Snake Oil from the olden days was actually an infused oil of Echinacea.

Don't use herbs or combine herbs with medications or use them during lactation or pregnancy without talking with your healthcare provider.

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