SNAKE GOT YOUR TONGUE?

  • Published
  • By Tim Barela
  • Torch Magazine
Compiled from wire reports --  A snake collector from Portland, Ore., stuffed a 20-inch eastern diamondback rattlesnake into his mouth to impress his girlfriend and barely survived the stunt.

An unwilling participant in the 23-year-old man's showboating, the venomous snake bit back. It sunk its fangs into the man's tongue, and he was soon near death with a swollen tongue that blocked his airway.

The snake collector, who was at a barbecue where he'd already downed a few beers, had captured the rattler three weeks earlier on the highway near Maupin, Ore.

"It got hold of my tongue," the man said, more than a bit embarrassed. "It was my own fault; I felt too comfortable with it and got complacent."

He said at first the bite felt as though someone had given him a shot in the mouth.

But it quickly worsened, as his girlfriend drove him to Oregon Health and Science University.

"You know that painful feeling when your arm falls asleep badly?" he asked. "Well, it was like that with my whole body, only 10 times stronger."

As his tongue and throat swelled and cut off his airway, the pressure forced blood to spray from his nose until his entire face was covered in crimson.

Since trauma doctors couldn't get a breathing tube past the man's swollen tongue, they had to cut a hole in the front of his neck to insert the tube. They then injected him with antivenin to combat the rattler's toxins. Finally, they moved him to intensive care and placed him in a medically-induced coma for three days until the swelling went down.

Fortunately, their efforts saved his life.

Doctors say the snake enthusiast was lucky to survive the incident, as an obstructed airway that prevents breathing will cause most people to perish within seven minutes.

If it had taken any longer to get to the hospital,
the man probably would have died of asphyxiation,
doctors said.

Oregon's Poison Control Center sees about 50 people a year with snake bites, usually hikers. Deaths from rattlesnake bites in Oregon are extremely rare.

The hole in the victim's throat is healing nicely, and he is on his way to a full recovery, doctors said.

"I learned my lesson," the man said. "I still love snakes, but I'll take more care in handling them."

And how about handling relationships? He discovered that women aren't overly impressed with under-the-influence poisonous serpent stunts -- even ones that don't maim or kill. His ex-girlfriend can attest to that.