Snake Bite Leaves Texas Woman with "World's Most Painful Disorder": Report

A bite from a copperhead snake, one of the world's most venomous, has left a US woman with what health experts consider to be the "world's most painful disorder". According to Newsweek, Rachel Myrick, who hails from Texas, was bitten by an eight-inch copperhead snake back in 2017, when she was entering the LongHorn Steakhouse in Spotsylvania County. She was bitten twice on her toes and once on the side of her foot by the snake, which managed to get into the restaurant's foyer. 

Back then, the bites caused excruciating pain, leading to dropping her cellphone and wallet. Ms Myrick was treated with anti-venom at Maryland Washington Hospital as her foot and ankle swelled. However, either the snake bite or the anti-venom, or the combination of two, left her suffering from complex regional pain syndrome (CRPS) - a condition that causes excruciating pain if a person is even lightly touched, meaning that just a brush against her skin or even a light breeze can be debilitating. 

According to LMTonline, Ms Myrick said, “You feel like your skin is sunburned, then you take sand or shards of glass, depending on how bad my moment is, and you just rub it into the top.”

"I'm in the worst pain of my entire life, times 10,” she added. 

It is to mention that according to the National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke (NIH), symptoms of CRPS include changes in skin colour, temperature and/or swelling on the arm or leg below the site of the injury.

The NIH says that the majority of CRPS injuries seem to be caused by the improper function of nerve fibres sending signals to the brain. Moreover, as per the institute, the condition, which causes “burning” or “pins and needles” sensations or feelings of the affected limb being squeezed, usually goes away when the nerve regrows. 

CRPS can be difficult to treat because of the varied symptoms it causes and the fact they can change over time. This means that currently there is no way to rapidly cure CRPS.