General Chat

I expect the gardeners amongst you know that Euphorbia plants are toxic but this is a plea to everyone to take extra care when handling them and watch your children around these plants. An incident today made me realise just how toxic they are.

Just before lunch OH had dug out a Euphorbia and we were getting rid of it. He was wearing gloves and was well covered up but for some reason he had taken his glasses off. As he bent down to pick up some pieces from the path a cut stem sprang up and caught him so that the sap went in his eye. He rinsed it immediately with lots and lots of water but his eye was extremely painful and within minutes was swelling and bloodshot. We went first to the Pharmacist for advice which was to get to a doctor. Next to our local doctor’s surgery where he was given an emergency appointment and seen fairly quickly. Doctor ascertained that there was no foreign body in the eye and the eyeball wasn’t scratched and gave him two tubes of saline solution which he had to pour in his eye as I was driving him the 20 miles to A&E.

At the hospital he had his eye washed with a full litre of solution, had the acidity in his eye checked, his sight checked and lots of drops and ointments put in. He was then sent home with anti-infection ointments and drops that he may have to use for a few weeks and told to go back to the hospital if the pain hasn’t lessened by Friday.

Euphorbia is sold in garden centres everywhere and lots of people have it in their gardens. We knew the sap was an irritant and thought we took reasonable care but we hadn’t realised how toxic it is. Without prompt action OH could even have lost his sight in the affected eye so PLEASE, PLEASE take great care with this plant.

Goodness I am pretty certain we have a small one Vera so will check when I get back and will probably remove it if we do have one. Is your OH normally allergic to anything? Just wonder if that level of toxicity is usual. Can you actually please copy this onto the garden thread as a Reminder? If you can’t do that I can do it for you.

Very many thanks for sharing this Vera.... We have Euphorbia many years in the back garden border and are aware of the potential problems with this plant and have always been extra careful and never had any problems with the milk. sap that is a known skin irritant.

I hope that your OH has no ill effects later, and can be monitored and will suffer no serious or nasty side effects in the weeks to come. Such a worry for you both.

I may have a few of the dreaded Euphorbia plants still in the back border. I will check tomorrow and then dig these out. I don't really want to add to the stress that I am coping with right now. Thank you for this interesting post. Greatly appreciated x

Oh Vera, I hope your OH is feeling a bit better now and not in so much pain.

I have Euphorbias in my garden and have cut them back a little once or twice, I did get a bit of sap on my arm once, just above my glove, but washed it off straight away and was very lucky to not have any effects from it. I really hope your OH is on the mend now and doesn't have any lasting effects. Good job he had it seen to as quickly as he did.

Yes, I agree with Ann, about putting it on the garden thread.

Can someone put this on Facebook too, please?

Lizx

Vera ......... I hope that your OH is feeling better.

It is a well-known problem ....... even getting a little bit on your finger and not washing it off thoroughly can cause problems if you then touch your, lips or other mucous membrane areas (think genitals).

Also ........ Poinsettia belongs to the same family, and has the same sap, so you need to take care when you have poinsettias in the house.

The family, Euphorbiaceae is one of, if not the largest, the largest families in the Plant Kingdom, so there are many many plants to watch out for. Only a few are cultivated, or common, of course!

Hope your oh is alright must have been frightening for both of you .good advice to beware of the plants..Thanks x Barbara

How is your OH today Vera, I've been thinking of the two of you and hope he's feeling better today? I've posted on the garden thread to.

Thank you all for your good wishes. Himself still has a very sore eye but the pain has eased somewhat so I think he will be fine.

I didn’t mean to frighten people into removing the plants from their gardens but wanted to make sure they were aware of the dangers so they could take care. I wish plants like this had better labelling as the “eye lady” at the hospital said they get similar cases fairly regularly.

If you are affected the key seems to be to get it treated immediately. OH washed his eyes with copious amounts of water which diluted the sap, then our doctor gave him stuff to wash his eyes en route to the hospital and, once there, we were treated straightaway in spite of there being a full waiting room. The NHS gets lots of criticism but they came up trumps for us.

Ann, I will try to copy the post to the garden thread when I go on our PC later today. At the moment I am on an iPad. You asked whether OH was particularly susceptible. He has no allergies, is not on any medication and is generally considered very fit for his age.

Liz, I am not on Facebook but am happy for someone else to put up a warning, though I would prefer my name not to be shown.

Thank you again for your concern.

Daft innit? I read the heading as Euro phobia.....
Bob

Bob! :-D :-D :-D

That's two plants I won't have in my garden - the other being lillies.

Sounds like your hubby was lucky there Vera and did the right thing in washing his eye straightaway. I have had the plants in my garden in the past and knew the sap could irritate, wore gloves handling it, but never thought about it getting in my eyes.

Another lovely looking plant I used to grow was Monkshood or Wolf's Bane (Aconitum). I knew it was poisonous if you ate it, but didn't realise at first that just handling it was dangerous. I soon got hubby to dig it all out wearing long thick sleeves and gloves once I did! I don't recall there being any warning on those plants for sale either and they used to be used to kill wolves.