The brown recluse spider bite, like many other spider bites, is extremely hard to feel; if anything, the bite would feel like a pinprick if even noticed at all. The brown recluse is one of four poisonous spiders. In fact, only 60 out of 20,000 species of spiders are actually capable of biting at all.
The brown recluse is not an aggressive spider and the only way on would bite is if they feel threatened. This is usually cased by the brown recluse feeling trapped, which can happen if they are caught in clothes, or pressed between skin and another surface.
Spider Bite Reaction
Note: The two pictures below are of a bite to an individual from East Texas. To see how everything turned out in this case, take a look at kcfac.kilgore.cc.tx.us/mobleypageap1/brown_recluse.htm. To see additional pictures of Brown Recluse bites, continue reading.
The Initial Brown Recluse Spider Bite
Two Weeks Later!
The physical reaction to a brown recluse spider bite depends on the amount of venom injected and also the way the victim’s body reacts to the venom. Some do not react at all to a brown recluse spider bite, while others can be severely injured. While some notice the bite right away due to immense pain, others do not notice the bite for several hours, which can be extremely dangerous.
Some reactions due to brown recluse spider bites are a fever, the chills, itching, going into shock, vomiting, as well as restlessness. Initially a small white blister will appear where the brown recluse bit, the skin surrounding the newly form blister will also become swollen. Later as the area becomes infected it will get extremely red in color and the tissue also becomes rather hard.
Brown Recluse Bite
The bite from a Brown Recluse Spider is usually dry, blue-gray or blue-white, with an irregular sinking patch with torn edges and extremely red. The deep and sore wound from the brown recluse usually takes a very long time to heal. Death usually will not occur, however the risk is higher in young children and the elderly.
When there is a reaction to the brown recluse’s venom the bite actually forms into almost what is like a volcano lesion. The open wound can range anywhere from a few centimeters to a few inches in size. The open sour can take anywhere from 6 to 8 weeks to heal completely, and after that the entire recovery can take several months.
Brown Recluse Spider Bite Treatment
Victims should seek medical attention immediately after being bit by any spider due to the fact that many are unaware if a spider is poisonous or not. It is extremely helpful to bring in the actual spider, if possible, so that the doctor can identify whether or not the bite is dangerous or not. Many doctors will give high doses of cortisone-type hormones to help defeat hemolysis and other systemic complications. Other treatment depending on the case sometimes is also administered.
The photos of the person’s hand on this site are of Lynn McClutchen. She was treated for an MRSA infection, and there was no evidence that a spider was involved at all. Science does not support the practice of attributing random necrotic wounds to spiders.
I got bit by a Brown recluse whatever spider in my sleep, in Mass, their not supposed to be that far North! Didn’t go to hospital, Two weeks in all bruising has dissipated and wound is mostly dried up. I hate that spider, I think I killed he/she in my sleep!
One time my cousin and I were hanging out and she felt something tickling her knee and she looked down and it was a brown recluse she got up and jumped and I told her mom and by the time her mom was up the stairs she was crying saying it stings and it was a bite the size of her entire knee her insides were showing her whole leg was red and purple and bloody.
i live in michigan, i was 25 years old at the time. ive been biten at least 4 to 5 times on the same foot under my computer desk. what did it feel like? well nothing at first. but after awhile i felt as though my foot must of been touching an electrical cord cause it felt like i was being zapped little bits at a time. so i check down below and didnt see any cords broken. later that night when i was preparing my bath. i noticed my foot looked red and started to peel in a certain area. the pain wasnt much at all. i could still stand on that foot. but ive noticed many punture holes near the red zone. then ive noticed these agressive little spiders in my apartment. they must of came from the basement area cause theres lots of spider webs down there. i didnt seek treatment. i just watched and observed my spider bites. today my skin is red and slightly lumpy on the left foot. it doesnt peel anymore but it was a great pleasure to see nature at its best. not to many people get red sores to take home. my foot is now immune to cold weather. thank you mr. spider
If I were bitten, I would take a kleenix with kerosene on it and hold it on there for a long time. Kerosene will draw fluid out and hopefully pull out some of the poison. When I start getting a cold sore, I dab it with kerosene several times a day, and it stops it dead in its tracks. Kerosene also stops bleeding, working the best if you can actually dunk the cut area into a jar of the stuff. It will also help to keep it from getting infected. My grandma’s home remedy. Some doctors know about it. My mom also used it on beestings and even dunked her thumb in a jar of it when she got it caught in the car door. Took the pain away somehow.
Me and my friend were about to get on the trampoline.When we did we picked up a wet stuffed animal and two not one but two BRS came out.I only saw one and my friend never bothered to tell me about the other one because she thought I would go crazy and it would bite me a lot.It was like 6 inches away from me.I was freaking out about the other spider so while I wasent paying attention it might have bit me.I have been having some of the things to watch out for and the bite looks like some of the pics of them.My parents do not beileve me.I can even see fang marks.What should I do? Im scared.
My daughter Dakota 18 was bitten by something.
we live in the San Joaquin Valley in California Fresno area to be specific. She was bitten on a Monday afternoon and died 1 week later on Monday. The doctor treating her thought it may be a Brown Recluse but later thought not. Everything you stated about the after effects of the bites happened to her. I need answers as to what happened to my daughter. Her death cert. states possible spider bite and the toxic specialist is taking her case to a medical convention.
Everyone tells me that these spiders are not in California but everything is so exact. Anything you can tell me would be helpful.
I have been told that a brown recluse cannot bite through the skin unless there is pressure put on them. Is this true? Thanks
How to rid your home of a BR infestation, not possible… I moved to Kansas city 2 years ago and leased a 4-plex that had been vacant for months. It is full of BR I have about 50 dead I keep in a cup. I put down the sticky traps during the warmer months and they usually have to be replaced once a month from being full.
People say that spraying works that’s not true unless you directly hit the spider. What spraying does is make them move more than usual meaning you will see them more often, and either drive them deeper into your home (walls, attic, crawl spaces, above light fixtures, etc.) or into your personal items such as your shoes, furniture, bed, etc.
These spiders aren’t aggressive meaning they won’t charge you or purposely seek humans. I have noticed that if you reach at one say about to squash it they do usually raise their head or whatever to bite… They crawl up the legs of beds but they also fall from light fixtures into your beds or onto other surfaces. I’ve found them in every room in this house even where they have fallen into the toilet and sink. So be careful at all times if you know you have them in your home and keep the sticky traps in every corner.
If you must spray have the traps laid out and do it at night but be ready to kill the ones that run up from the baseboards after getting a smell of the spray. The larger guys are very fast too…
I think I got bit by a spider but I am unsure. I was walking through the parking lot at work this morning and I felt like there was something pricking my in the back of my leg behind my knee. Like maybe there was something in my jeans, like a needle prick or sticker thing from outside or something.
I was walking thinking ‘ow, okay, ow’ and i kept rubbing and slapping it a little as i walked. I sat down in my chair, and i still felt this almost stinging, pricking feeling like the worse paper cut ever, almost. So I was just like okay, I went to the bathroom and pulled my pants down to see it, and there was two marks like two dots big enough to tell they were circles and were about a quarter centimeter apart. And there was blood drawn as there was a little on the inside of the pant leg.
I just put a band aid on and it just hurt all day, like a stinging, burning pain, and annoying. There is also a bruise just above it and slight red irritation. That was at about 8-8:15am. At about 6pm, I started getting a little nauseated. I’m not sure if I was bit or if I’m getting the flu from the weather. I put hydrogen peroxide on it and it immediately all turned white fizzle, even in between the two dots! I kept putting it on and it kept fizzing.
It now looks like a shallow cut and instead of two dots it looks like it all connects into a minor scratch. It still hurts and all around it, but looks better. Not sure what to do. Not sure if something was hiding in my pant legs. I’m just monitoring it until tomorrow. Will much happen within 24 hours if it is a spider bite or BRS? Is there anything in particular I should notice or look for that would make it stand out?? I’ve never been bitten by one.
when i was a little girl, my dad came home from a church he worked at at the time, and brought home two “fiddleback” spiders. he flushed them down the toilets after he let us observe them. scary creatures, they are.
I live in East Central Iowa and was bitten by a small BRS almost 6 months ago. It blistered, popped, peeled, closed up, peeled again and itched like crazy. I never had any severs pain. The red splotch has never gone away. The bite area has turned hard and has gotten larger and turned purple. When I push on the area it feels hard and lumpy. I broke down and have a Dr. appointment on Thurs. Thank God we don’t have the larger BRS here in the midwest. It’s not warm enough for them to get that big. Even the little ones can do damage.
The “two weeks later” photo is really gross, as if I’m feeling the pain right now. A tiny bite from a brown recluse spider can really cause a serious problem. So we should always watch our backs especially in the dark (yeah, they love dark places!).
Oh by the way. If you see one and don’t want to get near it but want it dead. Spray it with aqua net hairspray and wait about a minute. You will have yourself a little statue for your collection and identification.
I owned a 27000sq ft restaurant in Peoria Illinois for 2 years. I opened in March of 2007 and by May I realized that the entire 110 year old train station was infested with brown recluse spiders. These spiders were very aggressive due to the activity. I had over 2000 glue traps in the building. They would be filled with spiders.
The ones I changed daily would have between 15 and 20 on each trap. Spraying was useless. I had one employee and myself bitten. I learned that the skinner you are the less the venom will effect you. I contacted a few universities and all agreed that due to the reclusive nature sprays and powders usually do not work. The spiders actually move around in a manner that powders and residual sprays do not get on their bodies just the hairs on them.
The restaurant is now closed and the building is vacant except for a bar. Perfect breeding ground for them. So if you live in Peoria Illinois ground zero for brown recluse is the old River Station restaurant. Lots of luck. I hate these things.
About 3 months ago…I noticed my right breast was extremely sore….towards the bottom of it. I went to my gyno and she ordered a mammogram. Everything came back normal, thank goodness! but, my breast was still so sore, I could barely touch it. A week later, the sore part turned red…so, I go to my regular family doctor. He says that it looks like Cellulitus…(infection under the skin caused by bacterial, ingrown hair..etc.)
So, he gives me an tetracycline and tells me if it doesn’t get any better in the next couple of days, go back to my gyno…well, it didn’t get better and by this time it was red and kind of flaky…and looked like a small bruise was in the middle of it? Strange…so, I go back to my gyno again…she confirms that my family dr. was correct…it’s Cellulitus and to continue taking the rest of my antiobiotic and when I was done with it..give it a couple more days and it would be ok. I take the rest of my antibiotics and wait a few more days. It looks the same. I get in the shower one morning and it starts burning…so I look at it and the part that looked bruised, kinda of a scab looking thing (but you couldn’t feel it, like you could pick it..it was under the skin).is gone and it’s all open skin now….puss starts coming out of this like you cannot even imagine!! It had no smell, but it continued to poor out of this erase size hole for hours…I go back to my family dr. the very next morning saying..something is wrong…there is a hole now…puss is still coming out of it and now the hole has turned BLACK.
He swabs and sends it off..tells me he has no idea what it is….?? I’m freaking out…looking to him for answers! Since I have implants, he refers me to my plastic surgeon that had did the augmentation over 7 years ago. I call and make an appointment with him. My family Dr. has NO IDEA what to do now…so, my plastic surgeon tell me, it’s probably bacterial infection of some sort and calls me in Bacterum and says call him in a few days if doesn’t get any better….It doesn’t…puss is still oozing out of it…I am wearing gauze pads and putting cream on it…?? He tells me now, come in..I need to see it. I make appt..next day, go see him…he is dumbfounded by whatever this is….he said…..I have been a surgeon 32 years and have never seen anything like this…so, by now..I am like OMG!!
so, he gives me more cream and tells me to let that infection or whatever it is to drain…and drain….I continue with the Bacterum and cream for another week…go back….he says OK….let’s stitch up the hole…we cannot have that implant open …on your skin…so, he gives me 7 stitches to try to close this now size half dollar on my breast. We want it to hold, it really isn’t swollen at all and the same area is still red, but now the center is black (my implant?)…one week goes by, i go back..the stitches wouldn’t hold because whatever this thing is that has caused it…has eaten my tissue..it was like sewing wet toilet paper together….it breaks loose. Now the hole is even BIGGER. He advises emergency surgery the following day. He is a great surgeon…but tells me after it was over that he HAD to remove the implant…the infection was all over it. He cleaned it all out…stitched up the hole….and now everything seems to be ok…cept, I have no implant. He swabbed it again during surgery and NEVER from any Dr. has anything came back positive for any type of bacterial infection or anything…he says ..it’s the strangest thing he has ever seen…I’m like…”ME TOO”!!
so, thanks to him….I still have my breast…we both concluded that it had to have been a spider bite…but Brown Recluse? not sure…we do not know. I have to wait 6-8 weeks to get a new implant put back in…but will have a scar…I don’t care though…because I’m alive…believe me…every single thing i put on now….I check it for spiders….I still do not know when, where or what day I could have gotten bit. This has been going on now 2 months for sure, maybe 3. I am still healing, but a bit sore. Whatever it was ate through my breast tissue…I think if I hadn’t had the implants, maybe it would have kept eating it?? Who knows….has this EVERRRRR happened to anyone else??? I can’t wait to see my surgeon next month! Thank God every day for him!! 🙂 Excuse any misspelled words…I had so much to type and wanted to get this story out here after reading the other ones…..
I was bitten by “something” a few years ago while doing yard work. I felt a tickle/ itch on my hand and without looking scratched it and then felt an intense pain but it was getting dark and i couldn’t see what had caused the pain. Later that night I woke up from the worst pain I had ever experienced. It was like someone was holding a hot iron on my hand and my finger was swollen. I examined it and it just looked like a really angry red bug bite. So I opened up the white blister part and drained it with my hand soaking in a warm perioxide water mix. I then OD’d on benedryl and ibuprofen and went back to sleep.
The next morning my finger felt fine (possibly due to the amount of Advil I had taken) and I went about my normal day. At about ten am. I noticed my finger was bruised looking and I had red lines all around it, by lunch the lines were up my arm, my whole hand was swollen and I felt as if I had the flu. The amount of time it took me to drive to the hospital and see the doctor, which was approximately and hour, the lines were to my heart and I had gone “septic”. I was on several IV’s and was told I was lucky to be alive.
My hand swelled so bad that the skin split and bled. The nurse had to remove the band-aid I had on, my skin was stretched so thin from the swelling it came off with the band-aid. Without hesitation, three nurses and two doctors said it was a brown recluse bite and I was lucky I got to keep my finger. I don’t have too much scarring, but my knuckle/ joint still hurts every once in a while and I still have a hollowed spot in my finger.
I was bit by a brown recluse on my ankle and I didn’t think anything of it except for the fact it itched like crazy; until it started to turn like into a very bad scar. It was brownish/black and puss would come out when you touched it. It just looked something out of a bad horror movie.
I was like this isn’t a bad mosquito bite it’s something else. So I went to a walk-in (because it was going to be two months before my family doctor would have seen me) whom not only gave me the wrong advice they told me it was just a bad bug bite (they also didn’t take my insurance).
I went into work the next day thank God I worked at a theme park were 2 RNs were on staff and they were like that’s a brown recluse bite get some Aveeno or effective lotion before it gets worse because right now that’s a sign the venom has already gotten at the skin and is moving towards the muscle. I went right out and got Aveeno and the scab not only came right off within a week, I felt much better.
I still have the scar to prove it as I am sure I will because the venom got to much of my skin and some of my muscle because I sometimes have pain in my foot hear and there when I walk, but other than that now I know what to do before the reaction starts (and what to look for).
My son recently was bit by one too and I knew immediately not to delay and get the Aveeno. His scabbed right off within minutes which means I got to it right away it pussed out for a few days then scared and that scabbed and his now skin is a-OK no noticeable scar.
I live in west Missouri, and I think I have gotten bitten by a brown recluse. Lately I’ve found 3 rather large spiders in the corner of my room, I only got a picture of one that looks a lot like a wolf spider, but I can’t speak for the other two.
I must have gotten this bite in my sleep, I didn’t even notice it until today. At first I thought it was a pimple on my inner thigh, so I tried to pop it. I gave up on that, and eventually it turned into a large welt with a white head in the middle. It’s grown progressively in the past few hours.
I haven’t been feeling sick, or had any fevers but the bite is sore and hard where the white head is.
On a visit to my Mothers in NE Oklahoma back in 1996, as we got in bed the first night, I felt something touch the palm of my left hand. It didn’t hurt so I didn’t think anything more about it. When I got up the next morning, it looked like a little pimple and was red and itchy partly in between my ring finger and my middle finger, and the palm of my hand. I itched it all day. The next morning (day 3) the little spot was now bigger and beginning to look weird. I put some Neosporin on it and went on with our visit. The next morning (day 4) I woke up to a very nasty looking thing in my hand. It looked like a cob web tightly wound around the wound, now almost the size of a quarter, and the center was black and gross looking.
My hand was sore and my fingers hurt to move them. When my cousin saw it, he said it was a BRS bite and I needed to get to the emergency room right away. At the ER, the doctor confirmed that it was a BRS bite and gave me a tetanus shot, put medicine on the wound and bandaged it, and gave me medicine to take orally. Since we were on vacation, he told me to get home (So. California) and see my own doctor right away. We packed up and headed for home. On Monday I went in to my own doctor who had no idea what this was or how to treat it. He spent four hours on the phone calling colleagues and looking through medical books. Finally he took a scalpel and cut out the gross mess, put medicine on it and cleaned it up, then just kept forking the clean meat with the scalpel until it looked like ground beef, then poured liquid skin over it, bandaged it and said ‘lets wait and see’.
When I went back on Friday, it was healing up very well. After about two more weeks, it looked almost like nothing had happened. I have a scar in between my two fingers and the skin looks kind of strange, and the scarring on the palm is almost gone now five years later. I think the worst bite a person can have is a BRS bite because it takes awhile before you know that you’ve been bitten.
Now when we visit NE Oklahoma, I am more watchful of those spiders.
From Fox News Channel 9 Thursday August 11th
ST. CLOUD, Minn. – A four-year-old boy was bitten by a brown recluse spider in Garrison, Minnesota over the weekend, landing him in the hospital and raising concern over a poisonous spider not native to the state.
Maxwell Junior Blake was playing in a sandbox with other children at his grandmother’s house at the time of the bite. Family members think the spider may have hitched a ride in the sand.
PHOTOS: Brown Recluse Spider Bite http://www.myfoxtwincities.com/gallery/news/brown-recluse-spider-bite-aug-11-2011 ( WARNING : Includes graphic images of skin sores)
Maxwell is now hospitalized in St. Cloud, and the skin on his back is dying
Read more: Boy, 4, Bitten by Brown Recluse Spider in Garrison, Minn. http://www.myfoxtwincities.com/dpp/news/brown-recluse-spider-bite-garrison-mn-aug-11-2011#ixzz1Uplcz5fL
i feel really bad for all the people that got bit by the spiders 🙁
Using a shop vacuum cleaner asp after a spider bite I have been able to prevent any contamination, unfortunately I am paying the price of inattention and slow reaction to a new bite from two days ago. A strong vacuum cleaner is also good for pulling out puss.
My mother was bitten by a brown recluse on her butt cheek. At first it may lead one to chuckle but, believe me this was no laughing matter. She (my mom) had to rely on others or a mirror to see what was going on, such as to the bump, pain, redness and so on. At first we weren’t sure that it was a BRS. Or a spider bite at all. The horrible pain and reluctance to heal with the nagging of me and my daughter prompted her to go to the ER.
The physician wrote a script for antibiotics and simply MISdiagnosed her as having an abscess. The VERY next day she went back to the ER. New physician & much wiser. My mother was ADMITTED and so began the treatment. The bite w/ greenish pus was about the size of a silver dollar. However, the redness and sore itself measured nearly 7 (seven) inches ! My mother literally had a TEAM of doctors working to SAVE her life. She developed staff along with the bite. The Wound Care Unit cut open and began the process of removing the rotten flesh caused by the spiders venom, cleaning out the pus (infection) cleaning the wound, packing the wound with medicated gauze, applying triple anti-biotic cream around the bite and finally a clean cover of gauze to protect the area.
The wound was also measured to monitor the healing process. Second Tean, Infectious Disease. Constantly administered an IV drip of meds to combat the infection from the bite ans staff. She was released from the hospital after a weeks stay. Care continued at home, we had the help & instruction of a Home Care Nurse for a week & then it was just me for the next 3 weeks.The POINT I want to make clear is that you should NOTwait and try to SELF medicate. If you’re not sure what bit you go anyway. If you’re sure it’s a BRS GO and GO FAST. Don’t let yourself be pushed aside ! Be PERSISTENT. After all your life could actually depend on it. Much love and best wishes from Atlanta, Georgia.
WE NEED TO BRING BACK DDT!!!!!!!
I was walking my son back and forth in the living room and realized that a blister was forming on my toe. I told my husband that I wanted to go to the er. He said I was stupid and I told him to watch, the blister was growing before our eyes so he took me. The doc gave me a couple of shots, tetanus cause I couldn’t remember the last time I had had one and an antibiotic and cortisone. I took Great Care in making sure the blister did not pop and three days later it was like it never happened.
The next time i got bit I was asleep at a friends house where fiddle backs where known to be. Because of my last reaction I didn’t really think about the spiders. I was asleep, scratched the top of my knee and woke up s saying to my self, son of a ***! (I had popped the blister and feeling the juice and realizing it was a blister is what woke me). The spider was still on the blanket and fell on the floor and went under the bed, I saw it was a fiddle back, nothing I could do so, I went back to sleep. When I woke up a core had already formed. i pulled it out. Every two to three weeks a core would form, I would pull it out and not touch it. Bout 6 months later it was gone. It never got bigger and I never had any other reaction than that so I didn’t seek help. I think I am one of the lucky ones that does not have to really worry about it, but I do keep an eye out…. Just in case that changes…. I never used to be allergic to bees and now am…. Or Skeeters, so who knows…. I had always thought though that once the blister was popped that’s when it got serious, being the reason I never popped the one on my toe. The one on my knee was small when it was popped so it never scared.
To everyone asking “what should I do” If You Have To Ask That Question, Then You Should See A Doctor ASAP!!
I was recently bitten by a brown recluse on the middle of my back while I had my head in the ceiling tiles of my basement. I didn’t see the spider, but my house is FULL of the things, so I’m pretty sure that’s what it was. I didn’t feel the bite (typical, I know), but about 12 hrs later I reached up to scratch and it hurt pretty bad. After a little while longer, I started to feel this tight, sick feeling in my back. So I went to my mom’s and she said it looked like a BRS bite.
She lanced it with a sterile lancet, boiled it out with hydrogen peroxide, dropped colloidal silver into it (if you don’t have some, you should get some–it’s good for whatever is ailing you) and then she put some Raleigh salve on it. You can still purchase this stuff online, and although it’s a little pricey ($10 for a small tin), the stuff will last you for a very long time (mom’s had this can for over 40 years). She then applied a sterile dressing. I’ve gone back the last 2 days, but probably won’t bother today as she said the bite looks (and it feels) just fine. Get the silver & the salve! You can thank me later 🙂
I have been bitten once in my life by a spider. I was standing in my drive way when it was night and got bit by a spider. I saw it jump off my leg. It was a painful bit but the wound didn’t get anywhere near as bad as some these pictures, so I don’t think it was BRS.
my husband was bitten by a spider about 2 weeks ago we thought it was a little bump that had just got infected so he would pop the bump but it started to get red and pain. Puss started to come out but he still would go to work like that until about a week ago he couldn’t take it anymore. On a Saturday went to a hospital cause he could barely put pressure on it .He got back into an ER room a physician assistant said it was an abscess or a boil couldn’t drained it out because it was hard around it she only but a hot wet rag and that was it. So Sunday he had to go to work he went but couldn’t take the pain ,so he went to another hospital they said it was a boil and they check his blood for sugar and they gave him a tech shot.
His foot was a little swollen by then and he was that night he was having a fever, chills, vomiting and his foot was huge so next day we went to another hospital again they took him in right away they thought it was the same thing like the another hospitals gave him so antibiotics through the IV came to find out later it was a spider bite so they were giving him the wrong antibiotics so they admitted him in the hospital they actual had to the surgery because they found a big pocket pus inside his leg. Hes been in the hospital for a week now.
In response to Ryan who gave a website showing the “green” area and stated that if you live outside the green area there are NO BROWN RECLUSES WHERE YOU ARE…YOU ARE ABSOLUTELY WRONG! I lived in the very tip corner of Texas that is outside of the green area and we had Brown Recluse spiders all over the place. It is a farming community full of bugs and insects of all kinds. Just because a map shows that this is the area where they are known doesn’t make it an absolute fact.
You can’t argue with someone who LIVED outside the green area and has identified brown recluses in that area. Please do not listen to this person! Not only that but the website link is through and educational website in Washington and the state depicted is TEXAS. Some person who lives in Washington and has done some research or studies on Brown Recluses didn’t do enough research as far as I’m concerned. You want to be an “expert” of the kind of spiders in Texas when you operate out of Washington??? We have brown recluses in the Texas Panhandle (top corner square part of the state) which appears outside the green area! Don’t be fooled. Seek medical attention if you think it’s serious. Don’t wait for someone else to tell you any different!
Disregard my last comment. My grandmother and I just went into the computer room armed with roach spray (wrong spray type, I know! :] ) and killed it. I would post a picture to help with identification, but for one, I am sure it was a brown recluse, and two………..Ima Scared 🙂
I am at my grandmother’s house, and earlier today i was coming out of my room and noticed something on the floor. As I got closer to it, it moved. It was brown with a seemingly lighter outline on its legs and body. I am thinking it is a brown recluse, but I am no expert on spiders. But once I realized what it was I jumped back and then it scurried into the computer room, which is no longer used. I pushed a towel under the door, attempting to hold it in there. Please identify this ASAP, as my grandmother is elderly and not in good health. Any help greatly appreciated.
If you are bitten by a Brown Recluse spider you will likely need a mild broad spectrum antibiotic and a steroid(usually oral Prednisone). This will prevent mass necrosis(flesh rotting) and nasty scarring. Recent medical studies attribute the ill effects of the bite to a species of flesh-eating bacteria that lives in the spider’s saliva/venom. You need the antibiotic to kill the bacteria that is eating your flesh and the steroid to control the inflammation of your body responding to the attack. This combination should stop the necrosis.
Last night I found a BR bevy toe on the door frame to my bathroom. This is literally the first BR I’ve ever seen. How do I know if this is an isolated incident, or I have BRs all over?
I was bitten in 1988 when serving in the US Navy while stationed in the Philippines. I was bitten four times total, one on each shin where there isn’t much blood flow nor much muscle, and two more times on the right calf. OMG, what a horrendous pain!! I was working third shift at the time, and we figured I was bitten on Tuesday. At first it simply looked like a pimple every kid experiences in his younger lifetime… But it wouldn’t go away. I thought the pimple had gotten infected from popping & oozing it. As it got worse, the pain got worse. By Wednesday evening, my calf was larger than my thigh on that leg. The muscle would lock up if I stood in one place too long. To keep this from happening, I had to pace all day long.
By Thursday night/Friday morning the pain was so intense, I had to go to Medical. They took me into surgery almost immediately, and performed two excisions where they funnel out the entire infected area. Quite simply the bite location is already dead tissue, and will become gangrenous. The doctors told me, if I could have withstood the pain, which they highly doubted I could have, gangrene would have set in by Monday morning, and the wound would have been much worse. I have two rather large scars from the procedure, and two tiny purple marks on each of my shins which were treated at the same time with anti-biotics and creams.
hi i was bitten by something but i don’t know what one day i noticed a red spot it was sorta itchy so the next day it was swollen and hard and there was a little scab at the top i took a pin and scraped the scab off and squeeze the wound all that came out was blood so the i sterilized the wound and put a big band-aid over it then the next morning i noticed dark blood around it and it wasn’t as red it was pale and there was gooey little head on the top similar to a pimple i wiped it off with saline swab and the head came off with ease that night (which I’m experiencing now) i looked at it then i saw a gooey whitish darkish yellow coming out of the hole where the head was i plan on a doctor tomorrow I’m terrified of spiders and i hope the doctor doesn’t make a mistake please leave a reply.
i think i was bitten by a spider and its dark and hurts to touch please get back with me to tell me what i should do?
My 9 year old son woke up this morning and had some kind of bite mark on him. It had 2 blisters in the center. It was like a reddish purple around the blisters. around that was the redness. It is hard under the skin that is infected. I didn’t see what bit him but I took him to doctor and they put him on antibiotics. They said if it is a spider bite they have to let it ride its course. What to do if it was a recluse.
I was bitten two months ago by a brown recluse but nothing happened.
In May 2009 l was bitten by a brown recluse spider in Florida. I ignored it for a little bit and tried not to think about what the horrible little thing had done but that was short lived due to the pain and the damage that it caused to my leg. It resulted in me having to have surgery 5 days later and left me having the wound packed for two weeks to fill a two inch deep hole in my leg. I spent 5 days in the hospital and had to have multiple doctors visits to see a surgeon, infectious diseases doctor and a gastroenterologist who did her best to put my insides back where they belonged after the awful antibiotics that l had to take when in the hospital and for a long time after. So l thought that was it. All we needed to do was remove all the beautiful landscaping from directly around the house, bomb the house to be safe and get on with living……..not a chance.
In July 2009 l was bitten again but this time in my back, approximately 2 inches from my spine on the left side. I did not wait to go to hospital l went straight to the ER after my husband got over the initial shock. This time l spent 5 days in hospital had surgery on the fourth day and discharged home to have this wound which was 4 inches by 4 inches by 2cms deep packed for over 4 weeks. Initially l spent the first 4 days lying n my left side so that the venom did not travel near to my spine. The pain was so bad that l was given IV Dilaudid and also IV Vancomycin as the necrosis and infection had progressed so rapidly they thought l had MRSA.
Thankfully l did not have MRSA and stopped the Vancomycin but it was touch and go. It is now May 2011 and l still have issues with intermitted pain in both areas which is bearable but a recent development has left me rather concerned and that is that l have developed PVC’s which are Premature Venricular Contractions. There is a possibility that the spider bites MAY be linked to me developing this electrical imbalance of my heart but as yet there is not enough research on those who have recovered from a Brown Recluse Spider Bite to confirm this. PVC’s can lead to VF (Ventricular Fibrillation) and if that happens it can be fatal. Some patients have been found at the time of going to the ER to have PVC’s after invenomation from the Brown Recluse and the Black Widow but as for the long term side effects l have not found enough information out there.
So if anyone has developed PVC’s post Brown Recluse Spider Bite please post it and please do not hesitate to go to the ER and be treated as these bites can be real bad in the hands of well meaning individuals and friends. My friend wanted to squeeze it thinking it was just a boil….yey and look what happened to me!!!
I hope that you all feel better.
Several years ago I was bitten by a brown recluse spider , I went to a Doctor Who gave me antibiotics, Drained bite, Had blood tested etc. Tried everything nothing Worked. I had a Brother in Law Who was in the Louisiana National Guard,Going to LSU Med School and Worked for The VA part time. While visiting Him in Alexandra LA. HE saw MY Spider Bite and Picked up some Antibiotic Pills, I Don’t Know the Name But they were Purple or Blue, about a 1/4inch long and 1/6 inch wide.
Two hours after taking this Pill The Pain went away and the swelling started going down. They Next day My hand was OK A year later I was Bitten again So I went again to my Doctor in Hammond La. and told Him about the Pill I had gotten from My Brother in law . He Got a Pill Book and got Me to pick Out the Pill, He gave me a prescription for the Pill we found in his Book and Again after taking it My Spider Bite was Cured in 2 days
PS I hope this will help some one Sorry I can’t remember the NAME
Carl G.
hey I’m not to sure but i think this a brown recluse bite its red with to small holes in the middle i just got it like to days ago I’ve been getting chills and it itches its a little swollen. my mom says its just a mosquito bite but it looks like the pics i have a lot of the symptoms… I’m kinda scared what should i do?