| Author | Message | ||
     Etennuly |
Last month I broke a toe just simply walking through the house, basically obeying the laws of gravity. It healed nicely in the following weeks and now fits back into all of the shoes that it used to. Problem over, all is good. New game! A couple of weeks ago, on Monday night I was approached by a spider while sleeping. When I awoke I felt a cobweb strung over my head, down my face and on down my body.  Weird that I had never felt anything like that before. I turned on the light and found nothing but a single sticky web. Got that wiped away and went back to bed(fitfully at best) . Four nights later repeat event. The morning of the first encounter the entire house got sprayed for bugs spiders and what evers. Friday I felt abdominal pain and stomach pain, joint swelling and aching beyond normal. Then my throat went to extremely dry at night, by Monday my tongue was also dry. That felt totally strange. Tuesday I thought I had a spot of poison Ivy on my leg because I wear shorts when I mow. There was a weeping wet spot that just coincided with what I thought were the spider bite marks. Well to shorten the story I was taking prescribed antibiotics for another chronic malady that just may have saved my leg.....or more. I went to the Dr this morning, he said I was the luckiest man he knows right now, because I was taking the antibiotics at the time of the bite, I am not now in the hospital having pieces of my leg cut away due to the skin infection the spider gave me! Wholly shit.....  this was serious! The spider bite turned into the skin eating cellulitis something 'er other that makes for those nasty pictures when you look up spider bites! It is now healing up and doing well.....but that was a bullet dodged for sure! So if you get bit by a spider and a few days later it looks like poison ivy, and you feel like crap, get it checked NOW! I will get a couple of pictures up in a bit. | ||
| Boogiman1981 |
man i freaking HATE spiders. waking up like ithat is one of my worst nightmares. makes my skin crawl just having read it glad you're gonna be okay | ||
| Etennuly |
The first picture is of what the bite start out looking like. It stayed the same for days.  The second picture is how it looked at day five when it started to seem like it was poison ivy. This picture was actually taken day eighteen, today. It got swollen much larger and nasty blistered like the blisters were boiling, but I did not think to take any pictures in between because I did not think it was a big deal until last night.  | ||
| Fast1075 |
Brown Recluse....an unassuming absolutely non dangerous looking....little thing about the size of a dime.  I have scar tissue from an ulceration following a bite...my mom nearly lost a leg from a bite...we encounter them ALL THE TIME working on A/C units in Florida...along with lots of Black Widows. Dangerous little guys...I never put a body part where one may be hiding...not unheard of for one to bite you in bed....but it is usually when you put on a blanket or quilt that has been unused....and the little guest is hiding in it... | ||
| Etennuly |
Kind of like one of those times when you blow a rear tire from hitting a sharp rock at sixty mph mid corner leaned into it and recover without crashing. I can live with being lucky once in a while.  (Message edited by etennuly on September 29, 2011) | ||
| Strokizator |
You're lucky your wife's not Japanese. Mine remembers all the little superstitions her mother told her growing up near Osaka. If you see a spider in the morning then it's good luck and you can't kill it. Night time it's OK. If you whistle at night, snakes are going to come into your house. Crazy stuff like that. Not only do I need to know which bugs I can kill but also the proper time of day (there's no good time to dispatch a cricket). I need to get her to write them down someday. | ||
| 86129squids |
Good God. Vern, you're indeed blessed/lucky, whatever you wanna call it. My younger cousin died last year after he was bitten by a brown recluse. He lived in western NC, was an avid outdoorsman, a "favorite" child... one day he decided to clean out his boat. Got bitten, recognized what was going on, went to the hospital where they administered some kind of antivenin- then promptly had 3 cardiac arrests, went into a coma, full system shock. He died a few days later. My aunt and her family are still having a very hard time with it all. Please, keep us posted as to your progress, and let me know if there's anything I can do, buddy... so far your posts sound great! I do hope things clear up for you to make BTF- I'll see about bringing the right "medicine" and some Ben-Gay...  | ||
| Etennuly |
 Thanks guys and Brad! Maybe that would be the right stuff right now! The Doc said it is over now, but the only reason I am not in the hospital was that I happened to be taking that particular combination of antibiotics BEFORE being bitten. Re-counting my blessings again! | ||
| Whistler |
According to this video it could have been worse so glad you're OK. I'd be tempted to spray the house another couple of dozen times. Be extra careful, what's that old saying about things happening in threes? http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_bC1j12lHqU | ||
| Brumbear |
I got bit 3 weeks ago and in 3 days you could put your thumb in the hole it's finaly healing  | ||
| Rick_a |
I always seem to get bit at night. Most I see are the common house variety with a jumper every now and then. The bites heal fast and don't really bother so I'm still ok with 'em. The house spiders look a lot like the recluse so caution is always necessary with those guys. I've had a tarantula for several years and it's the most maintenance free pet imaginable. My little bro used to handle big garden spiders frequently until one had his hand swollen to ridiculous proportions pretty quickly. At work I get stung by fire ants pretty frequently. I'm outside all day and they seem to always find where I stash my mesh riding gear. They love the stuff. On the way home on average one will sting the heck out of me, and there may be a couple random ants still crawling around on me when I get there. I'm so used to those stings it may as well be a mosquito. | ||
| Brumbear |
I got hit by fireants real bad in boot camp. I plopped down with all my gear on flack jacket web gear everything and mees kit in hand and realized I sat on a nest awful awful awful feeling after about 40 bites/and stings. | ||
| 01x1buell |
hahahahaha | ||
| Kenm123t |
Wow bad bites Were lucky further south than Fast we have 100S of little Guards Lizards ringing the house in rings 5-6 rows deep and then others hanging bushes and on the outside walls. | ||
| Etennuly |
I did seventeen years in Florida. Fire ants were the pest I hated most, but spiders were feared more because you never knew where they were and they worked all night. A good friend and his family came to visit us there several years ago. Their eldest son got bit by a brown recluse while at our house. Ruined their vacation and his HS wrestling season. One of my golfing buddies stepped into a fire ant pit in deep grass recovering his golf ball. When he stepped onto what looked like a grass knoll his foot sunk in up to his knee. I rushed him to the hospital where he spent two weeks. He was lucky to live and lucky to save his foot. On this day I can't help but feel chill bumps everytime I think about how lucky I was in this current ordeal. | ||
| Froggy |
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| Danger_dave |
Down here we have one called the White Tail. Its bite can cause similar necrosis. Not all the time. So it was thought it was some sort of allergic reaction, but in fact it isn't the venom that is the issue, that's just painful, it's bacteria that lives on the spiders fangs fangs. In some cases amputation of the limb was the only cure. Till they discovered it is oxygen intolerant. At first hyperbaric chamber treatment was used successfully, now they treat it with peroxide - or even O2 rich cleaning agents will halt the necrosis. | ||
| Johnnylunchbox |
Today I learned spider need to brush their fangs and gargle with listerine. | ||
| Drkside79 |
Yeah sounds like a recluse bite except for the spider silk you found. They typically walk around and only use silk to build a home. It is one of the most non aggressive spider there is and in general will run like hell. Although as said bites in bead happen only typically only if you roll over on one. Sorry and glad to hear you are OK Oh and just as an FYI the antibiotic did nothing to treat the bite but did help with the possibility of secondary infection. Unfortunately there is no anti-venom for the recluse | ||
| Blake |
I've read that the best treatment for a recluse bite is immediate application of a venom extractor followed by a nitroglycerin patch. The nitro dilates the blood vessels so that the remaining venom can be carried away by the blood. The venom reportedly causes constriction of the capillaries along with necrosis. I don't think many doctors know about the treatment. It was originally developed by Harry Truman's personal physician. They are quite common here. Before I knew what they were, I used to coax them onto my hand and toss them outside. Hey, anything that kills the big American Cockroaches that are native to these parts is fine by me. Don't like spiders? Turn outside lights off at night to avoid attracting bugs and thus spiders. Kinda same as keeping rodents at bay if you don't like snakes. | ||
| Britchri10 |
The brown recluse is really common in Arkansas (& throughout the South & West) I got bitten on the right shin by one whilst working in a state park. The Ranger used nitroglycerine on the bite as soon as I showed it to him. The necrosis was minimal . FWIW: My wife worked in the Burns & Trauma Unit @ UAMS in LR. Several patients were treated for recluse bites, one had a hole the size of my fist in her hip! Nasty little blighters! Chris C | ||
| Ltbuell |
..we have brown recluses and fire ant around these parts(Carson City and Lake Tahoe areas).Seen many of the recluses in the Tahoe area and here, but the fire ants are all over here(Carson City)...got 1st hand experience about a week ago in the back yard while taking pics of a beautiful sunset-more concentrated on it and not watching where i was walking....shorts and flip-flops...stopped to shoot the pics and the next thing i know i start felling little sharp jabs of pain...look down and my feet were peppered with the buggers...talk about why they're called"fireants"(there was a nest about six inches from my feet..not a good place to stop)....i know now 1st hand and it wasn't peggin' my fun meter..hate to be the unfortunate foe to them in the insect/bug world and get attacked much less gettin' barraged by them(i only got less than 5 bites on one foot...man that was 5 too many)..hate them even more now...now i'll def remember to WATCH WHERE I"M WALKING AROUND HERE,expecially in flip-flops(weather has been quite warm,but nice though). | ||
| Blake |
Wow, I'd never have figured that fire ants would make it an area with such cold winters. The must be adapting. The things actually don't hurt you with their bite. They bite to hold on and then sting just like a wasp. I get tagged all the time. Stings for ten minutes then nothing. Going barefoot is too enjoyable. | ||
| Drkside79 |
We have very minimal exposure to venomous animals around here. (Northern Illinois) We get some Black Widows and Some Brown Recluse both are no aggressive and cause very few issues. Although one time at Jewel (food store) a very large spider came screaming out of box of produce. Man that thing was fast. No idea what it was for sure but we eventually washed him into the grinder with help from the produce hose. | ||
| Fast1075 |
I don't get along well at all with fire ants...a sting turns into a blister with me...and they are EVERYWHERE here. Find two nests nearby...get two shovels and a friend...each of you get a big shovel full of fire ants and dirt...swap places and deposit the ants in the other nest and watch. | ||
| Boltrider |
I usually sleep with the TV on, and sometimes that causes me to wake up in the middle of the night. On one of those occasions, I woke up to the sight of a spider repelling from the ceiling and about six inches from my face. Those are some strange odds to think I awoke moments before it would have landed. I don't think it was a Recluse, but I do wonder as it was small and brown in color. (Message edited by boltrider on September 30, 2011) | ||
| Jim2 |
I recently had to take my Mom to the emergency room for an allergic reaction. There was a truck driver that just got admitted. He'd been bitten by a Brown Recluse (most likely) and the little finger on his right hand was swollen and dead. It looked like a burnt Bratwurst!!! He would squeeze it and it would drip!!! Sorry for saying that but if I didn't you just wouldn't understand how bad it was. I believe he said it happened in Ohio while sleeping. I can't imagine he didn't loose his finger and maybe half his hand. He waited four days to seek treatment. I think he was worried about delivering his truck load of chemicals. Vern and Dave, glad to hear you guys are ok. I hate fire ants. They make me feel kind of sleepy for weeks after multiple stings. More of them around here than anything else. | ||
| Etennuly |
Thanks Jim. That thing that happened to his finger is the same skin eating thing that I luckily avoided. From what I have read the Brown Recluse is notorious for carrying the necrosis stuff and shares it with almost every bite. What my Doctor told me was that the necrosis deal can come from nearly any spider bite as a secondary infection caused by their fangs or saliva. It has nothing to do with their venom, which is a whole different problem. He said that had I not been taking the antibiotics that I was taking, when I was taking them, he would be visiting me in the hospital as they would be trying to stop the necrosis. I am so glad I missed out on that! I even took my whole family out to dinner tonight to kind of celebrate  I forgot we have that many grand children! |
