Brown Recluse Spider bite

[J3K]

It was about six months ago...Becca and I had matching spider bite marks. When they got worse and opened...like the Grand Canyon..I began to think...these are brown recluse bites. I looked it up and sure nuf. It also explained our fevers and general maliaise.

Becca has a small scar. My bite mark...disappeared almost completely.

Then I got bit again on my lower abdomen at my pubic hair line. Oh wow...that one was bad. Really bad. Did the typical , open up and spew forth kind of ickiness. It left a scar the size of a quarter. It's bad. It took close to a month to heal.

So I wake up Friday morning with what I think is a painful zit on my chin. One of those that starts underneath and gets bigger...feels painful and you can't help but think " this zit is gonna be huge."


By the end of the day the entire left side of my face is swollen and painful to the touch. Sunday evening rolls around ( I barely covered it with makeup for church ) and I start thinking...this is a spider bite.

This morning I look and whaddya know ! I was right. IT's a brown recluse bite. The skin has already started to peel around it. There is a HUGE knot under the surface and my face is still swollen.

I called my chiropractor/accupuncturist and he zaps the bite with electricity..and adjusts my back because I've been having issues breathing properly ( part asthma..part spider bite poison). He puts me on a couple of supplemental herbs to deal with the immune system.
*************************************
For those who won't read further...please pray this bite doesn't leave a huge scar across my chin. I'm not especially vain , but I don't want a giant purple scar either.


Stop eating. Put down your drink. Or bypass the rest of the story altogether if you have a weak stomach.
************************************************** *****************












I get home and the bite has already started to open up and leak pus. I manage to gently perform minor surgery on it with a sterilized sewing needle. Doc had confirmed that how I cared for the previous bites is how to treat this bite as well. Just keep opening it up and letting it ooze. I do that with sewing needles of various sizes. Then I use peroxide to cleanse and Masters Miracle Gel to neutralize and aloe vera to help the skin around the wound.

By my best guess , knowing it takes five days for these things to fully open , leaving you with a hole large enough and deep enough to stick a cotton swab half way in.... I should be in prime form for Easter Sunday. Oh bliss oh joy.

I'll have to get one of those big bandaids to cover it. I wonder if I can find a dress to go with my new face.

ROFLOL

I'll keep ya'll updated........

I also have to call the BugMan and see what kind of chemicals he uses to spray for brown recluses. I'm not sure I want all those chemicals in my house....but this is the third bite for me. If we've got a nest of them somewhere...I want those killed asap.

[NayneeNoo]

Oh goodness! Hope there's something you can do to get rid of them. Spiders. *shivers*

Oh, and OT but I am ROLLING about your signature line.

[PurpleButterfly]

I'm so sorry - brown recluse bites are nasty for sure! I always insisted on organic, orange-peel based pest control until ds got bit by one, then I told them to bring out whatever they needed to to get rid of those very dangerous spiders. Have you ever read about using a mixture of bentonite clay and colloidal silver on brown recluse bites? HIGHLY effective:

http://www.eytonsearth.org/brown-recluse-bite-clay.html

http://www.highway60.com/mark/brs/bite.asp?Msg=2006

I also read this about using lavender eo:

http://www.highway60.com/mark/brs/bite.asp?Msg=899

for quick healing and no more spiders!

[ChristmasGirl]

oh dear at least you've had some experience with this so that you know how to treat it, esp. considering the area it's in now. Ummm, put an easter sticker over a bandaid? I must say you are one gutsy woman!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!


My friend had one on her leg...i think she must've let it go too long, and eventually had to have wound care on it. She's considering getting a tattoo of a spiders web surrounding the hole that it left in her calf, lol.

Hope you're feeling better and that God gives you lots of peace about this

[boonpnutsmom]

I was bit by one this past summer, it took a full three months to heal, it was nasty. The one thing that you have to remember is, you have "outbreaks" from the poison of the initial bite, and not be getting different bites. The poison can travel throughout your body and come to the surface through sebatious glands. You need to find a way to neutrallize the poison. For me, I was really lucky as some of the medications that I take for me treatments did the job. It has now been almost a year and the area is still tender and will always be prone to exacerbations.

Chemicals do not work well with spiders, especially if there are egg sacks, as nothing pentrates them. We have several customers that have serious problems and the only way we are able to treat them is with a torch. We actually burn the areas, where the sacks are and then we are able to eliminate the babies. If you are able to find actual webs then you can treat those area with several different chemicals, but I don't think that is anything that you would allow as these are highly poisonous toxins. If technicians use something that has a pyrithium base, this is oil based and it will leave a residual effect, but most spiders need a contact chemical that kills them almost instantly. Good luck.

[cobluegirl]

Oh Jennifer...that is nasty..makes my skin crawl.....I hope you get better soon and you get the spiders gone....

Wow, as bad a time as you're having, it seems like you're doing better than a friend of mine (actually he's a former teacher) did when he got bit. He didn't realize he had gotten bit (that's common, from what I understand), but then next morning he woke up and literally couldn't even get out of bed. He had to call an ambulance (he lived alone) and wound up in the hospital for a few weeks.He said the darn thing nearly killed him.

Hope you get better soon.

Owie! that you'll heal superfast!

Um..... .......my curious side wants to see a picture.....

[Lantern Light Mama]

Thats scary!

Ive heard brown recluse horror stories from down south. I hope it heals very fast for you!!!! Praying those spiders either A: Die or B: move out.

[Quietspirit]

yikes! You poor thing!

I was bit by a brown recluse 3 years ago on my arm. It was terrible. My whole arm swelled, lymph glands swelled all along the right side of my body, ran a terrible fever, and was very sick. I had to go on major antiobiotics and anti-inflammatories.

[J3K]

Originally Posted by BeckyD

Um..... .......my curious side wants to see a picture.....

You are a funny one.

The bite on my face is looking really good. I'm cleansing it daily. Squeezing and pushing and all that nastiness.

The bite on my bum....did I mention I had a bite on my bum too ? Found it after I got home from the chiro...anyway.... it's in horrible shape. And I won't post a picture of my bum. It's in an obvious spot. You'd KNOW you were looking at my bum. So NO.

I saw some bites online , and to be honest and a bit befuddled....mine don't look near as bad as the ones I found online. Maybe I have some sort of immunity ? Maybe my body fights off poison better than others?

Maybe I have ..dum de de dum! SUPERPOWERS



Or maybe it's all in my head ?

Originally Posted by Quietspirit

yikes! You poor thing!

I was bit by a brown recluse 3 years ago on my arm. It was terrible. My whole arm swelled, lymph glands swelled all along the right side of my body, ran a terrible fever, and was very sick. I had to go on major antiobiotics and anti-inflammatories.

EEK! These are the horror stories I've been hearing. I swelled , ran a fever and felt general ickiness. but I didn't have what you are describing. That sounds like what I've read online.

I was told by my dr (an MD ) there wasn't an anitbiotic on the market that took care of brown recluse bites. That antibiotics are given so the paitent feels something is being done. They don't respond to that kind of treatment. Most doctors I know use shock therapy. Including my chiro. He used accupuncture needles and hooked me up to some sort of thingie. Puslated thru the bite. My gramma saw a regular doctor and he shocked her whole system. yowsers that sounds awful. I much prefered the specific shock to the general body shock.

Let's do the body shock again! (sing it to "Time Warp"...it fits)

[cklewis]

jennifer? promise me that someday you'll go on Survivor? You are as tough as nails!!!

Hope you feel better soon!!

C

[Quietspirit]

Yes, I've heard that about antibiotics since then. I'm not sure why I was on antibiotics but I do know that after 1 day on them, my fever broke. It did take a long time for the swelling and achiness in my arm to go away though.

Shock therapy?! Yikes...I'm really glad my doctor didn't seem to be in the know on that! However, it sounds like I was very fortunate that I responded well to a treatment that usually doesn't work.

Anyway, I hope you are feeling much better soon!

[J3K]

ooohhh me on Survivor ? that's an interesting thought. True confessions time: I've only seen one episode of Survivor. It was the one where the guy fell in the fire and the skin on his hand melted off.

I'm a survivah
not gonna give up
blah blah blah blah
gonna work harder
I'm a survivah....

I do a mean Beyonce impression.

Originally Posted by Jennifer3kids

I do a mean Beyonce impression.

I can picture it!