Jellyfish problem

[farfallina]

I would like to take your advise on something
I love swimming. But recently every single time that i swam I was stung by a jellyfish!   
I didn't see them in the sea but I could see their sign on my body because it turned to be red and it was burning
I don't think the ones I was stung were so poisonous. Nevertheless I find it extremely disturbing!
All my life I swam but now I am scared to go in the water

Why am I writing about this? 
Well.. I heard that in Australia there are many. So I thought maybe you came up with some kind of solution. Do you have a way to avoid jellyfish?
I heard about a sun cream that prevents also jellyfish stings. It is called as Medusafe
Has anyone among you used that?

[Nay-nay]

A wet suit maybe??? The box jelly we get here can give a person a heartattack leading to death so they are pretty nasty but also quite big with very long tentacles. They used to advise putting vinegar on the stings but I don't think that is the procedure anymore. For those little jellies I think the wetsuits stop the stings. The last time I went to the beach there was blue ring jellies everywhere and people still going into the water with their kids and then running out to the lifesavers crying and getting medi. Those stings come up like welts. But between the crocs, bull sharks and jellies I don't swim at the beach anymore either!!

[cookie1]

I don't swim at the beach anymore either. Not a good advertisement for Australia. I THINK wearing pantyhose will prevent jellyfish stings. But then you would look a little unusual and it would only cover your legs. A wetsuit would certainly do it.
I'm sure others will have some good suggestions.

[CreamPuff63]

I THINK wearing pantyhose will prevent jellyfish stings.

"fishnet" stockings 

[Ceejay]

I THINK wearing pantyhose will prevent jellyfish stings.

"fishnet" stockings 

 

We have stinger suits available locally.

[andiesenji]

Hot water, as warm as you can stand, will neutralize the jelly stings.  
We don't have the extremely poisonous ones here in southern Calif. but they can be very painful and annoying and at times are seasonally numerous.
During these times, people who go to the beach regularly take the huge Thermos containers filled with hot water along.  
A few drops of ammonia in the water is even more effective.

Forty-some years ago I was badly stung by a large jelly while swimming in Acapulco, Mexico.  I still have scars on my right calf.  
One of the beach boys ran up to me with a bucket of hot water and within a few minutes the excruciating pain was relieved.  
I was taken to hospital because I also had some kind of allergic reaction, very rapid heart rate, drop in blood pressure and I fainted a couple of times.  
Nothing to fool with.  Some of the beaches around San Diego, where there are more jellies than further north, they have nets in the water around the "baby beaches."  

[Nay-nay]

Oh yes I remember the stockings (pantyhose) thing Cookie. And Ceejay that looks like a great product - it is a body stocking! 

[farfallina]

My God!!! From all I read I can tell that it is even worse over there!!!
Thank you all for your advises

I heard and saw about stinger suits. The thing is I would look like an extraterrestrial around here if I used that
The ones you have over there are much bigger and more poisonous
Here instead they are smaller. Yes, when they sting it hurts but in a shorter while it passes. It kind of feels like you are given a little electricity

Last year I was stung by weever fish under my foot. Since it had never happened to me I thought I stepped on a shell or something and so I continued swimming believing that it would pass in a few minutes as usual. But the pain increased instead. I went out of the water. We wash with a little drinking water. It kept getting worse! At the end we went to ER. It was the longest 10 minutes drive in my life! I almost cried because of the pain. When we went to the hospital they said it is most likely to be a weever.
All they did was to put my foot in the hot water just like andiesenji said! Nothing else! They said it is the best thing you could do in such cases. I really felt it working from the moment my foot was in the water. In a short while the pain became bearable and it reduced with time. They kept adding hot water until I felt relieved. Sure I had limp for a few days

[I Love Bimby!]

We all had to wear black lycra suits at Port Douglas recently "just in case" even though it isn't stinger season. A bit like super thin wet suits....

[Bonsai]

Hot water is the only thing that really helps take the sting out of jellyfish - there has been some trials in Australia comparing how effective ice, vinegar and hot water (45 C) was at relieving pain and getting rid of the whelts - only hot water worked. We get a lot of annoying jellyfish in Perth (river and sea) at some times of the year, and it does put me off a swim if I can see orange blobs in the water - not life threatening but miserable just the same! 

[faffa_70]

Hot water is the only thing that really helps take the sting out of jellyfish - there has been some trials in Australia comparing how effective ice, vinegar and hot water (45 C) was at relieving pain and getting rid of the whelts - only hot water worked. We get a lot of annoying jellyfish in Perth (river and sea) at some times of the year, and it does put me off a swim if I can see orange blobs in the water - not life threatening but miserable just the same! 

My kids love taking the ferry (on the river here in Perth) and counting the jelly fish - don't think they can count high enough some times!!!!   

[cookie1]

When I was doing my training we had to swim at the Claremont Baths. I think the jetty was held up by the jellyfish. As you slid into the water it was like going into clear jelly. 
A friend stood on a stingray at Monkey Mia and he put his foot into very hot water and it eventually helped with the pain.

Good luck with your jellyfish farfallina.

[meganjane]

Oh Lord, I remember doing my swimming lessons at Como in the river - nothing like doing a dive straight onto a giant jellyfish!

The Stinger Suits sound fantastic! My sister lives in Busselton and you just can't swim there in summer for all the stingers.

[Cornish Cream]

Are the jelly fish more of a problem these days than years ago?I can remember watching a wildlife programme on the TV were they are a problem in Japan.The Japanese fishermen found out that when they had tried to get rid of them by chopping them up they were infact causing them to multiply.

[CreamPuff63]

they are really not a problem. Jellyfish, like vegetables, have their seasons.

other than that, you really have to decide how much you want to risk it.

for me, I am can't get that stupid movie "Jaws" out of my head. up until that point I was probabably a better than average swimmer, after that movie, I was someone who would rather sit on the beach and watch other people enjoying themselves. Only when the weather is really really hot will I go in the water (and the stingers do not really deter me more than the thought of a shark - which in all reality is not that huge a threat all things considered...I would have to be pretty unnlucky)