Naomi Lewis suffered six months of ‘the worst pain ever’ after falling off her bike into Australia’s gympie-gympie plant (Picture: Naomi Lewis)
A mum who fell on the ‘world’s most dangerous plant’ says the pain was ‘worse than childbirth.’
Naomi Lewis came off her bike in North Queensland and luckily had something soft cushion her landing.
Unluckily, it was the gympie-gympie plant.
Known as the ‘giant Australian stinging tree’ due to the extreme pain it causes, it is a member of the nettle family.
The plant injected Naomi’s skin with venom which led to six months of physical torture.
She told ABC news: ‘The pain was just beyond unbearable.
‘The body gets to a pain threshold and then I started vomiting. I’ve had four kids – three caesareans and one natural.
Naomi’s six months of agonizing pain was ‘even worse than childbirth’ (Picture: Naomi Lewis)
‘Childbirth, none of them even come close.’
After she fell on the gympie-gympie plant, Naomi’s husband rushed her to a pharmacy.
They bought hair removal strips in an effort to remove the huge collection of stinging hairs embedded in her skin.
An ambulance then arrived to take Naomi to a health facility in Cairns, and she was later moved to a different hospital for additional treatment.
She spent seven days in hospital before returning home with a pack of painkillers to last her six months.
The Gympie-Gympie stinging plant causes a stinging sensation (Picture: Getty Images/AFP)
Tiny spikes inject venom into people’s skin (Picture: AFP/Getty Images)
Naomi’s situation is sadly not hugely rare, with others falling victim to the plant’s stinging effects.
The plant, which grows in rainforests in Australia and Malaysia, causes a sensation people describe as ‘being burnt with hot acid and electrocuted at the same time’.
It can also cause sneezing fits, allergies, red rashes and swollen limbs.
Closer to home, a man in the UK made headlines after he planted the gympie-gympie plant because he was ‘bored’.
Daniel Emlyn-Jones, from Oxford, even said he wanted to add ‘a bit of drama’ to his gardening.
Instead of planting orchids or a fiddle-leaf fig tree – dubbed some of the hardest to nurture – the 49-year-old opted for the member of the nettle family.
He said: ‘I just thought it would add a bit of drama to my gardening. You can get seeds on the internet, you have to be careful it doesn’t spread out of a contained area though, so I keep it potted in my front room.
‘I have always liked plants though, I just have got a bit bored with geraniums.’
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The gympie-gympie plant causes a pain people describe as ‘being burnt with hot acid and electrocuted at the same time’.