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I guess the stinging is some sort of disincentive to any animal trying to eat them?
And has anyone else noticed that the severity of any nettle stings seems to be less at the end of the summer than at the start? Is the body building up some sort of defence or is there simply less active ingredient in the leaves?
Personally, I hate them.
I love nettle stings....
anyway, at the start of the season the leaves are most easily digestible, most nutricious etc. and the nettle needs the leaves, flowers etc to reproduce so produces more irritant to protect itself.
I find it's more that I can go ages without a sting and forget how nippy they can be.
mrmo...
That's really interesting. I didn't know that.
Usually my meetings with nettles involve huge comedy falls into them rather than brushing past, so the severity thing has never really been a factor. It's always been hella unpleasant.
Of course then there's the jumping out of the nettle patch like a scalded cat to find docken leaves - Which is at least not as undignified as standing beside a road or trail frantically rubbing yourself with said leaves.
when they are flowering they dont sting.
when they are flowering they dont sting.
I am not going to test that out. 😉
[url= http://dallia.hubpages.com/hub/interesting-facts-about-stinging-nettles ]some nettle facts[/url]
I'm currently on a high dose of antihistamines for a skin problem (it's basically an all over nettle rash), but the plus side is that the antihistamines make me immune to stingy nettles 🙂
Did someone call?
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You do build immunity. People who grow up in areas without them, such as my Mrs, seem to have a much worse reaction. She says it hurts and tingles for a week.
If I don't scratch or rub the area they generally don't tend to affect me as badly as when I do.
I like nettle stings. Love feeling after a warm early summer ride, hot, sweaty, covered in nettle stings and bramble scratches. Get back home, have a shower then lay in bed with your whole body tingling
Yes it's kinky and no I don't care.
As above, you do build an immunity to them
molgrips - Member
You do build immunity. People who grow up in areas without them, such as my Mrs, seem to have a much worse reaction. She says it hurts and tingles for a week.
How often do you have to be nettled to build up an immunity? Is this only a temporary immunity, or permanent?
I didn't really grow up around nettles as such, but was always falling into them while playing, camping etc. as a youngster
I have always reacted really badly to them and they reaction generally lasts for a week (as your wife say molgrips) and can be itchy as hell.
It can be a pain in the summer as some of the best trails in Thetford become almost impassable due to the nettles and my stings are just about subsiding from one week, when I am back the next getting new ones.
A pre-emptive anti-histamine does help!
Nettles - the plant equivalent of wasps, I reckon.
standing beside a road or trail frantically rubbing yourself with said leaves.
... which don't actually do anything beyond placebo, it's an old wives' tale to stop children (and mountain bikers) from crying.
@fasthaggis
I havent tested it out.
but my mate did, and i watched him do it, he was rubbing the nettles all over his face.
he told me later that the look of horror on my face was utterly superb.
[quote=Cougar ]
standing beside a road or trail frantically rubbing yourself with said leaves.
... which don't actually do anything beyond placebo, it's an old wives' tale to stop children (and mountain bikers) from crying.
What if I take a tiny piece of nettle, put it in water, then dilute it 1,000 times? Will that work?
are the police going to adopt nettling as a crowd control tactic?
What if I take a tiny piece of nettle, put it in water, then dilute it 1,000 times? Will that work?
No, what you have to do is take a pipet and take one drop of the water you just created and then dilute that by a 1000 times.
I generally find that falling into the nettles rarely seems to cause much stinging, it's the climbing out trying not to get stung that does the damage.
Never been one to 'suffer' from nettle stings, no idea why. Longest they last is a couple days before legs are back to normal.
The throb you get from this and bramble rash is therapeutic IMO
the obvious answer then is if you fall into some nettles just lie there until winter . . .
What if I take a tiny piece of nettle, put it in water, then dilute it 1,000 times? Will that work?
Only if you shake it in a special way.
Nettles don't bother me so suspect I have some tolerance - maybe from when I fell in a patch years ago?
which don't actually do anything beyond placebo, it's an old wives' tale to stop children (and mountain bikers) from crying.
I know it's not the STW way but you really should provide evidence for this sort of claim.
2 things:
Thing 1) for the Danger Panda thread a couple of years ago, I had a couple of goes at it down a short section of 18" wide boardwalk with thick, waist high nettles either side.
I thought that would tick a lot of boxes for the brief, but I couldn't muster enough composure for long enough to get a picture worth posting.
Thing 2) Stag do a couple of years ago, early morning, hammered, a drunken wrestle with a mate ended up with both of us in the nettles.
Quite how stingy they were surprised us both, and we then concentrated our efforts to finding the most powerful nettles, and seeing who could outdo the other in flogging themselves on the inside of the forearm. Those little swollen bobbles you get all merged together completely from wrist to crook of the elbow.
I remember feeling at the time that was an intriguing insight into pain, adrenaline and masochism. It was certainly addictive. Maybe we'd run out of booze. Either way, I look back and shake my head now, it was bizarre.
Didn't the Romans introduce them to the UK? Used to beat themselves on the legs with them when patrolling on Hadrian's Wall to keep warm. Not sure if this is true but I saw it on the telly and you know what those foreign mercenaries are like.
It was an occupational hazard as a kid ,but the challenge was always
1. not to cry
2 to find a decent dock leaf not covered in dog mess
3 grab a nettle out of the ground without getting stung, brushing past the buggers always ends badly, have not tried this in many years! nor will I be
are there any alternatives to dock leaves that offer quick results?
How often do you have to be nettled to build up an immunity? Is this only a temporary immunity, or permanent?
Dunno, I don't get stung very often these days but it still affects me far less than her. Then again, being an MTBer I'm generally a lot tougher than she is anyway 🙂
I didn't really grow up around nettles as such, but was always falling into them while playing, camping etc. as a youngster
That's what I meant by 'growing up around them'. I didn't mean my living room was full of them and I used fresh leaves for my bedding... Some countries and climates do not have nettles, so people come here having never been stung ever. I once rode with someone from NZ who had a similar problem.
I know it's not the STW way but you really should provide evidence for this sort of claim.
Well, it's not the science way. You make a claim to efficacy, you need to back that up with evidence. A double-blind trial shouldn't be difficult to engineer.
A quick google finds various sites making claims like "the alkali in the dock leaf counteracts the acid in the nettle" which is patently nonsense as both are acidic.
There's other sites claiming they contain a "natural antihistamine" which is a bit more credible, but no-one seems to be able to actually identify which one. Funny that.
The [url= http://www.nhm.ac.uk/about-us/news/2006/may/news_8265.html ]Natural History Museum[/url] states that "the dock leaf contains chemicals that when rubbed over the sting neutralise it and also cool the skin down" but again neglect to tell us what these chemicals are. In fact, nowhere on the Internet have I been able to find out what this magic ingredient is, so I think we can write this off as "false authority syndrome" especially given that they appeared to have spontaneously made up an additional benefit.
I can only conclude therefore that no-one on the entire Internet has yet documented this magic because it doesn't exist. By the time you've found a dock leaf, the sting has probably faded anyway. Wikipedia lists various uses but fails to mention any actual qualities beyond "The leaves of most species contain oxalic acid and tannin, and many have astringent and slightly purgative qualities." So maybe if you ate a load of them you'd need a poo so urgently that you'd forget about the sting. That might actually work.
[i]Nettles don't bother me so suspect I have some tolerance - maybe from when I fell in a patch years ago?[/i]
No way, I was covered head to foot when I fell in a patch as a kid on a school coach trip. They still irritate the hell out of me.
Some people are just effected worse than others, s'the way it is.
IHN - Member
Personally, I hate them.
Made me smile, I wonder many ppl know/remember what your name/initials stand for.
Re dock leaves - never did anything for me as a kid, so I stopped using them.
Cougar - that's more like it.
Dock leaves are great for number twos. Well when I say great....
Cougar..,
As far as dock leaves go - If I get stung with nettles the effect only lasts for a couple of hours (plenty of practice playing in them when I was a kid)
But...I do come out in a red blotchy rash for those couple of hours. Docken leaves make said rash go away within seconds of rubbing.
That doesn't mean it's not a psychological thing (given that hypnotism can cure warts) but either way, it works for me. Takes away the rash and the pain, and stops me being whingey. 🙂
almightydutch
The throb you get from this and bramble rash is therapeutic IMO
You are strange 😉
nedrapier
Quite how stingy they were surprised us both, and we then concentrated our efforts to finding the most powerful nettles, and seeing who could outdo the other in flogging themselves on the inside of the forearm. Those little swollen bobbles you get all merged together completely from wrist to crook of the elbow.
You are way past strange 🙂
Molgrips...
That's what I meant by 'growing up around them'. I didn't mean my living room was full of them and I used fresh leaves for my bedding...
Normally sarcasm on STW falls into the 'not very funny or nice' category, but that's properly funny. Every time I look at that sentence I laugh. 🙂
To the roflcopter!
Some people are just [s]affected more [/s] much bigger wusses than others
I lead a group of 14 riders down a 1/2 mile long section of green lane on a ride last May. It obviously hadn't been used for a while as it was wall to wall waist high nettles. I tried to knock down as many as I could but all you could hear was people yelping behind.
Fortunately everyone saw the funny side but my legs still got the occasional tingle the next day!
Strangely I find that nettle stings seem to boost my legs. I could be simply that you forget the tired feeling due to the stinging.
are there any alternatives to dock leaves that offer quick results?
Vinegar, works a treat.
[b]Dock[/b][s]en[/s] leaves
dammit!
(Sorry, my inner spelling-nazi took over for a moment there.)
The leaves and stems are very hairy with non-stinging hairs and in most subspecies also bear many stinging hairs (trichomes), whose tips come off when touched, transforming the hair into a needle that will inject several chemicals: acetylcholine, histamine, 5-HT (serotonin), moroidin,[2] leukotrienes,[2] and possibly formic acid.[3][4] This mixture of chemical compounds cause a painful sting or paresthesia from which the species derives one of its common names, stinging nettle, as well as the colloquial names burn nettle, burn weed, and burn hazel.[5]
Anti-itch drugs, usually in the form of creams containing antihistaminics or hydrocortisone may provide relief from the symptoms of being stung by nettles.[31] But due to the combination of chemicals involved, other remedies may be required. Calamine lotion may be helpful. Many folk remedies exist for treating the itching, including Dandelion, horsetail (Equisetopsida spp.), leaf of dock (Rumex spp.), Greater Plantain, Jewelweed (Impatiens capensis and Impatiens pallida), the underside of a fern (the spores), mud, saliva, or baking soda, oil and onions, lemon juice, and topical use of milk of magnesia.[31]
read that the DL sap contains an antihistamine - perhaps thats why it works for me. Or just a very effective placebo!!
Strangely I find that nettle stings seem to boost my legs. I could be simply that you forget the tired feeling due to the stinging.
+1 I think it is a diversion as you say, because it works with pain in general, a pedal attacked shin, or grazed knee has the same effect.
Ah nettles, nothing better than snapping a huge one at the stalk without stinging yourself then whipping it over the back of you brothers neck. Good times.
sit on them in a sauna
Did you write this post in August and set it on a 5 month delay? 😀
Round our way the nettles make many routes impassable in summer and the mud makes them impassable in winter. At least there is spring and autumn.
I quite like the feeling of nettle stings. Sometimes the sting comes back hours later in a nice buzzy way.