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.
my girlfriend got bit in her sleep approximately 17 days ago and still suffering, she found it in the morning as an identifiable bite and by night she had what looked like an acidic pore that was swollen and hardening the meat around the wound. Doctors say the wound popped from the inside and venom is flowing through the human organs, and i could visibly see the affect.
Working through excruciating pain she went to work trucking through the pain getting weaker and slower and more drained, with migraines and a bad whooping cough as the week went on, by the second week she was on 3 or 4 different meds from the doc ( along with different ointments )and they still scratched their heads. Me being the boyfriend I’m begging her to seek knowledge and treatment asap, as of now i am giving her info off this site 🙂 and telln her to get to a doctor and make sure to talk to a doctor that knows what the interweb is asap.
Okay, so I felt a spider or what I seen was a spider coming up my arm so I quickly brushed it off (big big big fear of spiders I cant even take a picture or even look at one but I will try to describe this one to you the best i can) so it kinda pinched me (or bit me) it itches and there is a bump OK the spiders body was small and brown and the legs were kinda mid long (at first i thought granddaddy long legs but I seen them and this is not what it was) so I sprayed it as fast as i could its legs were thin it was the ugliest thing i have ever saw do you think I need medical treatment please let me know thanks!
I Was bitten by a Brown Recluse in 1977 and didn’t even realize it until We got back from a fishing trip near Topeka, Ks at one of the Local lakes. What started out as just a typical tiny bite that itched, Turned into a life threatening ordeal. At the time I Was a foster child so I was taken to a state hospital every other day for the next few weeks while the doctor and students would take notes on the Progress of the bite.
Then after a few weeks I went into shock at the hospital During one of my visitation. With 3 blood poisoning lines ( Infection ) up near my heart. Right then I remembering feeling so weak with no energy on the table. Then I remember hearing the Doctor said we have to lance ( Cut the center out ). SO at that time I was given a Shot (steroid of some sort ) to relax my muscle BUT it wasn’t for Pain, And then the Doctor cut it open , What came out was sooooo gross !
It look like Thousand Island dressing with Blood clots inside this cup full. Ill never forget the ordeal the rest of my life. NOW I handle spiders for a Living 🙂 NOT !!!!! hahahha. But in all honesty its not a laughing BUT Its a serious matter that needs attention from a professional and HOPEFULLY you wont be a Ward of the state !
This morning I woke up with really bad pain in my left arm. It felt like a horrible bruise before i looked at it. After turning the light on, there was a huge blue area on my arm surrounded by even bigger area of redness and bad swelling. I walked around my bed and right there at the foot of my bed was a half alive brown recluse. He must have gotten in my bed at night and was injured from me moving and decided to bite me. Went to the doctor and got a shot of steroids, as well as a prescription for antibiotics and hydrocodone for pain. This evening I am feeling much better, probably from the narcotic pain meds!
man, how you let it get that bad man holy crap I got bit 2 days ago, I’ve just been keeping it clean look at it today a piece flesh fell off about 1m and well been keeping it clean and going to up so disinfected and going in the afternoon missing school oh well.
Not sure what kind of spider bit me, a few years back in Missouri, but what I thought was a zit was actually a blister that REALLY stung upon being accidentally popped. Forty five minutes later, the blister was back. I had my roommate check it out.
She said “Oh my god its a spider bite!” and immediately cut an onion in half and stuck it on my shoulder/arm where the bite was. She said she hoped it would work and then said it’s supposed to be a potato but she was out of them at the time. Without medical treatment, without medications/antivenoms, the wound began to heal with extremely minor ulceration.
I had several people at the church look at it and they all said it was a Brown Recluse bite…apparently Southwest Missourians have figured out how to treat Brown Recluse Bites without going to the doctor! I don’t know for certain but this may also work for Black Widow spider bites as well….the enzymes in the onion drew the poison out….works similar with a potato.
I was bitten by a BR for the second time in my apartment a few days ago. The first time was on my leg. I thought it was an ant bite, until a few days went by & I could barely walk. I was treated in the ER & left with a RX for keflex & an antihistamine. The second time around, the bite is on my right butt cheek. I got it treated immediately, but this one turned out to be far worse than the first. It has formed a big gaping hole about 2-3in deep. it’s very gross & disgusting. It looks exactly like a trachea hole. The pain on both occasions were unbearable!! This tiny little insect is damn near lethal!! It’s extremely scary because I don’t know if it’s still in here & I have children, one being an infant. I’ll submit my picture so that it can be posted. But if bitten, whether it be a spider or an ant, seek immediate medical attention just to be on the safe side.
I will save the spider bite stories, but my teen is allergic to any bug bites. Dr told us to use adolphs meat tenderizer and make a paste apply it to the bite. Also ice bag on top too, this keeps the blow flow slow DONT USE HEAT!!! it will spread the poison faster! Keep a few wet past applied all day, ice all day this was the only thing the saved my kid from a bad bite, she was in a place where there are not recluse but they get all kinds of boxed shipped to them from the Phillipines and Holland, so one could have came in to her dads house..
the cellar spiders are also mistaken for brown Recluse. they ARE GOOD! they eat Brown Recluses
I was bitten by something, probably a brs, but it didnt’ hurt, itch, or do anything for the first couple days. Then it started ulcerating. I went to the doctor, who glanced at it and said I got bit by something (duh) and put me on antibiotics. I took them faithfully, and the lesion didn’t get any bigger, but it didn’t heal either. Mine was located right under my waist band, so I was constantly irritating it. The doctor said not to cover it, so I didn’t. Tried all brands of antibiotic creams, ointments, etc., but it just stayed there, oozing. Yuck. After almost six monts, after showering, I thought to myself, antiperspirant keeps things dry…….hmmmm……I’ll try it. It can’t hurt. Well, guess what? Within a week, it was gone. Pretty amazing.
Wanted to add, that I also found out that raw, dark honey, a thin layer and covered with a sterile bandage, can kill the mrsa virus or bacteria, whatever it is. Just thought I’d pass that along.
If you see a spider that looks like a brown recluse but it legs are really thin and long like a daddy-long legs, that would be a cellar spider. There are different types of cellar spiders. I think around four. They are some times mistaken for daddy long legs.
Ok I’m new at this! Mine started as a little dot. Next, was a small pimple. Now, its red, pus, fluid in it. This hurts ans burns so bad! It’s on my middle finger and I have a ring that I now cannot take off. So I am going to get it cut off. I’m curious to no if the ring is trapping the infection in my upper finger or if I cut the ring should I let it spread. It’s throbbing. The recluse bites are fitting my symptoms. Have not been to doctor yet so I’m going to try some black salve. Just hope its not to far for that. Any suggestions?????
Jorge – (cat died from necrotic wounds; dog with similar symptoms). The spider you have shown is a wolf spider. There are 2000 species of wolf spider and not one of them are poisonous. This spider is not your culprit. It sounds as though your pets are getting bit by a recluse. There are several different types of recluses as well as widows. You can go to www.spiderzrule.com and look through the list. They have every known and unknown species that a person could possibly find. I hope this helps and I do not know when you posted this hopefully not too long ago.
READ: I was bitten by a brown recluse/hobo spider which basically react the same. I was extremely blessed that we caught it in time and do not believe I will scar. I am almost healed! I am still taking it day by day using my leg more and dealing with the fever and nausea that seem to come with activity, but the bite itself- I am very impressed with.
I was bitten 8 days ago while at work clearing out old products, I was wearing pants and felt a painful, burning itch on the outside of my thigh..later on I went to the bathroom and noticed a large bruise where the itching was with a swollen red area over the bruise along with a pustule. Do Not pop the pustule. I had no idea what it was.
I went home and my mother informed me it was a poisonous spider..the brown recluse, which we now believe was a hobo spider. Basically, we kept my leg elevated and immobile with 20 minute intervals of ice. (You do not want movement or ANY heat around the area as it could make things worse and spread) We also rotate 20 minute pulstaces of bentonite clay, charcoal, baking soda, and aspirin. Check on how it reacts to each. I also started on benadryl and aspirin-I learned after a couple days while researching more not to take aspirin or ibuprofen..use aleve.
I had a fever and chills during the next two days pretty bad and I am still guzzling down at least 3 liters of water a day, getting a dry mouth. Make SURE you are drinking plenty of water throughout the whole process. I used an enzyme product topically that is known to counteract enzymes from spider bites along with Probiosil gel (known to help with gangrene).
I also LOADED up on vitamin C and zinc mainly along with taking extras like Thymex (good for infection, inflammation, skin conditions, chronic lesions, low immune, allergic reactions, stress, and slow healing response), and Immuplex (immune support) as I felt needed.
Only a few days ago we discovered the Essential Oil, ‘Sweet French Basil’..it has been used for centuries before we had the medicines we have today for rattlesnake and insect bites, neutralizing the toxin. I put it on before I went to sleep and saw the most improvement I had yet. This stuff is amazing! I kept it on the next day, it can be an irritant and might sting just a little when you first put it on..I developed little red bumps around the bite site, but it is because it is releasing toxins and the dark purple decreased. I began giving my skin breaks in between using it so it did not become too much to handle (as I thought) with all the bumps. I believe this oil was the most effective for treatment and I am overjoyed with the progress! It does not cost much.
Mine still has not erupted and does not show any sign that it will! I am writing this to help others because I know I was scared and even though it is looking better with only a little purple and green with rash from the toxins releasing, I am extra careful with how much I use it and how it is feeling.
~make sure you keep the area clean bc that is the main cause of future scarring
~I did not have any bad reactions the first night with the pulstaces, only the 2nd night did I get little blisters all over the purple/green area after the clay-thinking bc I used all apple cider vinger to mix the clay, prob too intense for it at that time..they went away within a few minutes.
~the enzyme cream had- pancreatin, papain, bromelain, trypsin, lipase, amylase, rutin, thymus, zinc, and parotid in a petroleum base. It is not a name brand so that is the best I can do, made from a doctor in a small Texas town but wanted to give you an idea of what is in it.
~I kept ice on the area when moving (the only moving I did was going to the bathroom for the most part) besides that I was on my back with my leg on some pillows
man that has to hurt. my mom was bitten by one twice. on the stomach and under the armpit. i hope that i never get bitten by one. all of the pictures look so nasty.it also looks very painful. hopefully no one else will be bitten by one.
When I first opened this website, I thought someone had taken a picture of my left thumb. I got bit on Tuesday, Nov 16,2010. Never felt the bite but as the day wore on the thumb started burning and a white blister popped up. I was at the VA Hospital in Houston for three appointments one of which was Dermatology. The young dermatologist “pooh-poohed my concerns. Over the next two days my thumb had swollen and was extremely painful. I saw the doctor at the VA Clinic in Beaumont and the first words out of his mouth were: “brown recluse”. I am now very concerned as to what the eventual outcome of this bite might be. Am on a sulfa based antibiotic and a topical cream. Was told to put wet heat on the wound but now that I have read this and a few other websites, I know that you should use cold compresses. I will see the doctor again on Monday in order for him to make a decision as to what course of action to follow. I wanted to post a picture but don’t see where there is any link or otherwise to do so.
I just got bitten 2 weeks ago and my doctor gave me 500 mg anti. I’m 15 yrs old. Today i went to clean it and I noticed another hole in my arm, my father wont take me to the E.R for nothing. Can someone please help me. I don’t want to die.
I was bitten by a brown recluse in August of 2008. I knew immediately when I was bitten, I had pulled on a pair of jeans from the dresser and was walking down the hall. The pain on the left side of my thigh was like being stung by a hornet I was bitten twice. I grabbed the spider and took him with me to the Dr. I was sick within 15 minutes of being bitten. The idiot Dr. that I got gave me antibiotics and prednisone and told me to put HEAT on the wound. “Like I said idiot”. Well after going home and doing what the idiot suggested by the next morning I couldn’t sit down. The pain, nausea, dizziness, and other flu like symptoms were almost unbearable. I saw a surgeon within 48 hours of being bitten. I lost my first bit of skin a a quarter size circle ” I had been bitten twice” about a 1/4 of an inch deep. They didn’t get it all and I was still really sick, lost a little better than a half dollar size that round and a half inch deep. They cut all this out while I was awake with local injections. The second run they didn’t numb me enough and I got to feel it until they gave me 2 more shots. The wound was packed and I had to strip that out in the shower, while screaming I’m ashamed to say. It took over 8 months for the wound to heal, even now if I bump it too hard in winter it breaks open and bleeds. I have had moderate to severe joint and arthritis pain throughout my body since the bite. I am 30 years old so I’m reasonably sure its bite related. Occasionally small pimples also pop up but are too painful to pop. It has been a rough experience.
I am in fifth grade. I am really worried because my friend has a spider bite looks just like that help!
I was bitten by a spider which I believe to be a Brown Recluse on Wednesday. About three weeks ago that Friday I felt pain almost like a splinter on my arm, I looked and there was a water bubble, so I squeezed it not knowing what it was. It keep getting worst on Tuesday I went to the doctor and he gave me antibiotics, it kept getting worst. A week later I went online and researched treatments and read the one about applying baking soda paste to the bite. It really did help. I did turn a little black (only the top layer) but it just peeled off and I think and hope I am healing. I also rinsed it several times a day with peroxide and applied baking soda once it dried several times a day. It seemed to pull out stuff from my bite. Try the baking soda and keep it clean.
Hi, I was bitten by a brown recluse spider pretty bad about a month ago. Since then I was treated for it with antibiotics and all has been fine and dandy. However, the other day I woke up with a huge spot on my chin, which I thought was just a pimple, but it looks a lot like what happened with my spider bite. Can the venom stay in your body and cause another wound somewhere else?
I have been getting bit by the same species of spider for four years, Until today I didn’t know what kind of spider it was. I just caught a brown recluse in my bathroom it scared the crap out of me. Every time I got bit I would have multiple red splotches all over my body in random spots. but then this last time i had a blister type thing that I have never had before. For a 15 year old it can be really frighting.
I have recently been bitten on the back of my arm just above the elbow from what I think was a brown recluse. I did not feel the sting and after a few hours I noticed the area was red, swelling, and started feeling uncomfortable. It simply looked like a bite that was not too serious at first but was progressively getting worse. The next day my arm swelled up and the bite area was begining to open up and looked quite infected. My first trip to the doctor resulted in a mild antibiotic and to call if it gets worse. What a nice prognosis, take two aspirins and call me in the morning. The next day my boss took one look at me and took me directly to the emergency room. I have spent the last three days in the hospital on iv-antibiotics.
They lanced the infected area to help drain the infected area and packed it with gauze. As it stands the swelling is down and the wound area looks clean but I have a nice gaping hole at the bite site. It seems to me like the Doctors here in the northeast seem have absolutely no clue how diagnose or treat a serious spider bite. I am still waiting for the results from the tissue culture and I am wondering if the lab is also confused. It amazes me even though I told them that I thought it was a spider bite they are limiting their diagnosis to a potential staff infection. My dad has been home spider hunting so far without suckles and my friends are keeping me amused sending me spider man balloons and bug jokes. I guess I just have to wait and see.
Hi Megan,
Send any pictures to badspiderbites+jen@gmail.com. There is also a link at the bottom of the screen with my email as well.
I may have been bitten by a spider tonight on my left upper arm. No severe symptoms, but happened about 2 hours ago. My arm does feel semi sore and a slight tightness. I do not see any marks really, but I am really worried it may have been a brown recluse. I have a pic but it is not to visibly clear and cannot figure out how to post a picture on here? …help!
Trudi P, bring them to a zoo
Hi Nichole, personally, I’d give it a day or two you will know for sure. all spiders bite if it gets worse see a dermatology not a regular doctor
I had 3 raised bumps on my left thumb that hurt when touched …..?? I am 54 never had this in my hand area….then i had redness in my left forearm…no pain then…a white pus filled the area?? i went to my dermo. doc he said it was bite by a spider (I’ve been going to him 23 yrs.)he gave me antibiotics for 14 days. i still have a redness at the area and a small scab.i think it was mrsra i never had a red thing like this on my arm ever…..
I live in Johannesburg, South Africa and have had some really scary encounters with Violin spiders.
Some years ago I got bitten in the kneecap and my leg swelled up to probably double normal size. I used the old boil trick on this one and heated a glass bottle, placed it over the bite and on cooling it sucked the venom from the wound. Thank goodness for some bush therapy as this seemed to do the trick after a few days. The swelling and pain subsided and within about two weeks all was well.
My cousin got bitten in about the same spot and was fortunate not to lose his leg to amputation ! The leg has however lost a lot of muscle tissue and is roughly half the size it was before.
Then calamity. I got bitten just below my left eye some 15 years ago.
This wound has never healed and continues making the telltale blister and then erupts and creates a crater. Tried everything from doctors, to herbalists to you name it and no cure !
South Africa is riddled with these arachnids and bites are becoming more frequent.
Only good place for a violin is under the sole of my shoe, where they regularly end up !
a few hours ago, I was bitten by a brown recluse on my neck. Small in size-fitting descriptions. It’s simply a red dot, and doesn’t hurt much. There seems to be a faint-very faint outline of red around the bite.
I would like to know what to do…I’m very low on money. Does the necrosis happen to everyone who is bitten? I don’t want to have doctors giving me useless medications/antibiotics…
My email address is not correct. It should be countrygirl_bab [at] hotmail.com. Somehow I accidentally clicked on my daughters email address when I was sending my story. Mine is # 384. Sorry about the mix up. I’m also going to send some photo’s.
Thanks,
Beth
My boyfriend suffered what may have been a bite from a brown recluse on his ankle several years ago. He told me that they did surgery to remove the necrotic tissue and gave antibiotics. This happened in 2003-2004 and just recently the area got irritated and opened up again. His whole ankle is just a mess.
An older gentleman we know said that spider venom will stay in the tissues and continue to cause localized damage and/or a systemic response depending on the amount of venom. Surgery tends to spread the venom and antibiotics will NOT remove venom.
He recommended ichthammol ointment 20% to draw any remaining venom from the tissue. Applied to bite and cover with gauze. Keep it clean and do this until tissue starts to look healthy.
My boyfriend is doing this and after all these years he is starting to get better color back in the ankle than I have ever seen and it has only been two weeks since he started this regimen.
Hope this helps. The sooner you do this after being bitten the better your chances of success.
Hey my name is Beth and I live in Tennessee. I was bitten by an brown recluse on May 8th, 2010 while camping at a campground in the mountains. I didn’t go to the local er until 2 days after I had been bitten because I wasn’t sure it was a spider bite. The area had gotten bigger and was very painful and by this time I realized something wasn’t right. The er Dr told me it was a brown recluse bite and gave me antibiotics. A week later my skin had started to deteriorate and green drainage was coming out of it. I went to a different er that is a trauma center to be seen. There they called in a surgeon to look at it and he didn’t want to take me to surgery he wanted me to go to wound care.
I went to wound care and all the did was clean it and pack it and told me to come back in a week. A week later the area had gotten much deeper and was tunneling. I went back to wound care and once again all they did was clean it and pack it and told me to come back in a week. I was in so much pain because by this time the area was approx 5cm deep and 4cm wide. I went back to the er at the trauma hospital and once again they called the surgeon to see me and it was the same surgeon. He said he didn’t want to take me to surgery just continue wound care. By this time I was very weak and running fever so one of my friends decided to take me to a different town to a trauma er. Those dr’s there couldn’t believe how the other dr’s had let this go so far without doing anything. By this time it had been 9wks since I had been bitten by the brown recluse.
They gave my iv antibiotics in the er and pain med and referred to their trauma clinic. I went to the trauma clinic the next morning and was seen there by a trauma surgeon. She wanted to take me to surgery that day but they didn’t have any opening in the operating room for that day. I was scheduled for surgery a few days later. I finally had my first surery July 7, 2010. I was doing good but then I got a abcess and had to go back to the er. They drained the abcess and everything was ok or so I thought. Then 2 weeks later I had another abcess which was the size of a softball. They decided they needed to take me back to surgery to find out why I kept getting the abcess’. So on August 13, 2010 I had my second surgery.
When I came out of surgery I had a wound vac. They had left my wound open. I was told that when they got back in there I still had a pocket of venom in there that was still deteriorating my tissue. This is October 4, 2010 and I still have my wound vac. I still have a partial open wound. This has been a total nightmare. If you think you have been bitten by a brown recluse please seek treatment and demand that they treat you right!!
I live in Arizona. This morning I was going through a bag of clothes and when I pulled a pair of pants out there was a spider just chilling but it was enough to freak me out. The clothes weren’t in a bag until recently and have only been inside my friend’s closet. The spider was brown and small about the size of a quarter maybe bigger this includes the legs too. The legs were very thin. I carried my pants out of my room but the spider wasn’t there anymore. What sorts of spiders are like this? Do I need to be worried about it in the house? I’m gonna be cleaning my room out later after work but I’m worried its a brown recluse. Should I let my friend know since the clothes had come from her house?
I got bitten by a brown recluse about 5 or 6 years ago on my stomach. It wasn’t severe but i did have to go to the doctor. She said i could get a shot or put rubbing alcohol on my bite 6 times a day for about 2-3 months. Of course i chose rubbing alcohol. The rubbing alcohol worked really well. It started to heal about 3-4 weeks later, but there was white puss coming out of the bite. So i just a cleaned it with rubbing alcohol,then put some ointment stuff on it and covered it with a band aid. About 5 days later my bite was healed completely but i now have a scar.
i got bit multiple times in the same spot, and the spider left barbs inside which i could pull out. Also, a long tublike thing came out and green puss. anyone else had Barbs?
Thank you all for your pics, I thought i was bitten by the a little beast but it doesn’t seem so. although i have bee bitten by a spider it doesn’t seem to be a brown recluse i’ve seen what they can do my friend nearly lost his leg he had let it go way to long Thanks Brian…
I live in ontario and I got bitten by a spider my story is like cynthias i had the same problem but i got bitten twice on the same leg on my one on the side of my leg just above the knee on the inside and the other on the back of my leg just above there the leg bends could this be by the same spider i have been on antibiotics and taking asprine just to kill the pain i was going through at first i thought it might be an ingrown hair cuz of the black but it started to get bigger and going purple and red so i went to the ER and the doc said it was a spider bite it don’t hurt as much any more just really itchy i have kept it covered cuz there is still a little bit of stuff coming out of it. and when i change the bandage it’s taking skin with it. so i’m using sterile pads and first aid tape.
I have three Shih Tzu dogs and in may I was gone away for a funeral in another state the dogs were at home with a sitter and within two days of returning home I found a sore on one of the dogs head which was the size of a nickle and it had a hard crust on it I took the hard crust off saw the sore which was very deep I treated it with peroxide and triple antibiotic cream it took about three weeks to heal but two weeks later I had given the dogs their baths and groomed them and the next day I was brushing them again and felt something hard by Lizzys ear and so I fliped it back to see what it was and a part of her ear fell off in my hand it was about 1 1/2 inches long called the Vet.
Took her in and he said it was infected and gave me antibiotic to give to her for 15 days but I was so devastated I took her to another Vet. the next morning and the cut the edge of her ear off and sent it to a lab and did blood work and everything came back OK. Tuesday I found two brown recluse spiders in the sunroom were the dogs and I stay a lot one was alive and one was dead and they were the first ones I had seen since I lived here which is 9yrs yesterday I was brushing the dogs again and found a spot on one of the other dogs and were they are bitten their hair falls out this bite is smaller then the bite on the other dog so I treated her with the same thing peroxide and antibiotic cream and the comments I’ve read on this site sounds just like what I`ve experienced with the bites on the dogs.could it be that they got bit by a brown recluse?
I cant believe it i have a ton of card board boxes in the basement the recluse love that time to get rid of the boxes!
about three days ago i woke to pain in my chest i looked down my bra and found a small brown spider and a large pimple thinking it was just a typical house spider i tried to forget about it and go on with my day that evening i was feeling sick and the pimple started turning black i put a hot press on it and to meds to ease my pain the next morning i checked it and some of my flesh was rotted away i tried to treat it to the best of my ability but it just kept getting bigger and more corroded that night the pain was unbearable i felt like my chest was burning from the inside out so i went to the er turns out my small house spider was really a brown recluse i started getting a fever up to 108.6 i was loosing since of reality not able to eat and the pain was almost unbearable thankfully my team of doctors were amazing and took very good care of me the only advise i can offer is don’t even second guess if you have a questionable bite SEE A DOCTOR FAST PLEASE its not worth waiting around.
Mandy
Hi… I live in Florida, and I was bitten this morning (Friday Sept 17, 2010) at 6am by a spider that I believe was a brown recluse. It felt like a bee sting, and I swatted it so hard that I squished the spider before I realized it was a spider. The bite area looked red and sore immediately, and I saw the 2 fang marks. I washed it immediately with soap and water, then drove over to my local hospital emergency room. They gave me a prescription for antibiotic pills and pain pills, but they couldn’t be sure if the spider was a brown recluse or a brown widow because the bite area was too new.
They also said it is impossible to tell if the spider injected me with a little venom, or a lot of venom (or any venom at all), before I swatted it. They said I must wait to see if the bite area starts swelling up and if the center area begins to blacken or darken from necrosis setting in. They said necrosis would normally show up in just a few hours. Okay, it has now been over 9 hours since the bite occurred, but the bite area remains fine. It’s not swollen or reddened, and I’m not feeling ill or anything. —– Is it true that I would be seeing necrosis by now if it was a brown recluse bite? Is it safe to believe I am safe from necrosis if I am not showing any symptoms at all by now? Or, if not, how much longer should I continue to watch the bite area and be worried?? Thank you in advance for any info you can give me! – lisa b.
Thanks so much for info 2 weeks ago was my first bite and luckily I noticed it that day or the next the doctors at the ER were highly stupid but gave me the antibiotics then i went and seen a real dr and she lanced it and gave me pain meds i don’t think ant sight has explained how very painful this is the second and third night i wanted to die i couldn’t breath and my anxious attacks started coming on i could not sleep for three days now 2 weeks in i sleep better the swelling has gone down but there is still a large area with blisters around it that like to pop when they feel like it but what can i expect on full healing terms???
In 2003, I was bitten by a brown recluse. I didn’t feel the bite, I just noticed that it started itching. It was on the inside of my left thigh. I actually thought it was dry skin from shaving or something like that, so I put lotion on it to no avail. The next day, I noticed a small bump, that made me think that it was from shaving. I thought I had an infected hair or something. My leg started hurting, not in one place, but my whole leg hurt. This was the end of the second day. (I assume it was the second day, since I don’t know when I was bitten.) Day 3, when I woke up, the bump was the size of a half dollar and was really hard and red. I tried using peroxide and an anti-bacterial cream on it. I even tried a cream for ingrown hairs. Nothing worked. My leg was also hurting a great deal. And I started to notice a smell that smelled like rotted meat, little did I know that it was my leg that was rotting. Day 4, That morning, the half dollar sized dump had turned into something the size of a band-aid box, yes, that’s right, a band-aid box. It was hard as a rock, very red, and you could feel the heat coming off of it. I was running fever, had the shakes, and could not hardly move my leg.
The smell was even worse today. I decided it was time to go to the ER. When I got there, (i lived in a very rural area) there was no real doctor there. The person I saw told me to come back the next morning to see a doctor and a surgeon. I went home with antibiotics and pain medicine. That night, I was in so much pain, I would shake even though I wasn’t cold. I went to the hospital the next morning, and the doctor came in, took a look at it. He took some blood and was back in 15 minutes telling the nurses to get me into surgery right then. It was a brown recluse bite. And it wasn’t only one, there were 2 bites within an inch of each other. I went into surgery, and after coming out, I couldn’t see what it looked like, it was bandaged up. At the worst, I thought it would have a small cut. WRONG!!! I had an 8 inch cut with a gaping hole in the middle of it. The nurse came in and told me that i’d never believe in a 1000 years how much dead meat there was in my leg. They stuffed packing in the hole for 2 days. That was the worst, when they would pull that packing out. They released me with no packing, and told me that the wound needed to stay open to let the venom drain out.
I had no idea what I thought it would look like, but it was yellowish pus strings. I had never seen anything like it before. Over the course of several weeks, the skin started to grow back. It took a long time to heal up, and 7 years later, even though it has healed up, if you run your finger along my scar, you will feel a hole under the skin. I will never forget this. It was very tramatic for me. Even after coming home, I couldn’t even go to bed without feeling like spiders were crawling on me. I think it hurt just as much mentally as it did physically. If you have any of these symptoms, don’t wait. Please go to the emergency room ASAP!!! I waited to long and it made it worse, if I would have gone right from the get go, things may not have been as bad.
My brown recluse spider bite(s) experience was very scary and debilitating, and now, nearly four years later the painful memories are fading, but the photos still make me cry.
Having been bitten (about 14) fourteen times – by brown recluse spiders near the end of October 2006, during a visit to my Mother’s home in Tavares, FL. I had come in late from a weekend at the beach and was chilled, she pulled a quilt from her outside storage closed which I happily rolled up in. I slept soundly, but woke up with what I thought might be red ant bites or something similar. My Lymph Therapist and Mentor thought I had chiggers. She said to put nail polish on them to suffocate them. My doctor thought I had boils and prescribed antibiotics (which did nothing) and pain killers (which I was happy to have). Friends who lived on the shores of the Wekiva River knew the bites were brown recluse having seen them before. About that time, I noticed 2 small spiders in the bathtub and promptly flattened them. I did some research online and ordered some spider traps and nutritional supplements. I learned that the brown recluse injects a packet of venom which quickly develops into gangrene which is necrosis or death of the tissue. My Mother called her homeowners insurance and contacted surgeons who recommended removal of the affected tissue (removal of my left butt cheek) indicating that it would be a long recovery.
Staying in Florida to complete my training to become a Lymph Therapist, having just completed the classes and purchased my equipment: a Lymph Star Pro Machine, a Gem Galaxy FAR Infrared Cold Laser, a FAR Infrared Ozone Sauna and an Ionic Footbath. I contacted Jennifer at Rightway Enterprises, from whom I had purchased the equipment and received my training, she advised me to apply the ozone to each bite 30 seconds twice a day and sleep with the passive head of the Gem Galaxy Cold Laser on the worst bites. The next day, 11/09/06, I was about 50% better and much relieved. About three weeks later 12/03/06 I was nearly completely healed and not only is the skin completely normal, I have no scars at all. After I take a sauna you can see where the bites were, as red spots are visible. I’m told that I still have the venom in my blood and the Red Cross will no longer let me donate blood.
The photos I took myself, which was difficult – I had three bites on the top front off each leg, and a few down the back of each thigh and one large one developed on my left butt cheek which is shown in these photos: Photo 4403 was taken on 11/08/06 prior to treatment, 4422 was taken the day after 11/09/06, 4458 was taken on 11/11/06, and 4558 was taken on 12/03/06. People have commented that the photo on 11/09 looks worse than the photo from 11/08, but let me assure you that it was 50% better, the bleeding and oozing had stopped and I was able to stop taking pain killers and to sit for the first time since the necrosis had developed.
Certainly I believe it would be very beneficial for people who have brown recluse bites to have similar therapeutic treatment at the earliest possible opportunity. I praise God that I had the equipment and survived this awful ordeal.
If you have any questions, please feel free to contact me
Sally
“there’s joy in the journey.. in Christ.” (John 15:5)
Svernon2k4 [at] aol.com
sounds bad, you should go to the doctors!
I’ve been killing what I think are brown and black recluses all over my house. My mom thinks it is a woodlouse spider. Are there any brown recluses in San Diego?
This is a really great website. Spiders really never bother me. That is because if one were unfortunate to come across me, it will be dead. I have killed so many over the years. I know some are supposed to beneficial. I thought may be I should change my wicked way so I am trying to find out if I should spare them. After reading and seeing some of the stories on here, I will keep my evil way. Because of back problem, I sleep on the floor. Now I will have to be extra careful. I will bookmark this site as a reference.
I live in Florida where insect life abounds. 3 days ago, I entered my car and as I sat in the driver’s seat, a light brown, slightly fuzzy spider, measuring nearly 1″ in size, ran across my dash and climbed into an air conditioning vent. I did not react quickly enough to squash it. I suspect this was a brown recluse spider. What to do? Should I set off some sort of insect bomb in the car? I’m afraid that might interact with gas fumes….Anyone have a suggestion? A friend said the spider would likely not survive in the car, but I don’t see why it wouldn’t. It’s probably starting a family!
Carol
IF YOU HAVE A BITE THAT LOOKS ANYTHING LIKE THE PICTURES ON THIS PAGE, GO TO A DOCTOR!
IF the doctor sends you home with nothing or tells you to monitor it and it is getting worse, GO TO A DIFFERENT DOCTOR! Maybe call around to see if anyone has experience with your issue before you spend your money.
IF the doctor is looking up treatment options it’s because he/she may not have experience with brown recluse bites. Not all doctors know all things and by looking it up, at least he is trying to use his knowledge to help. This isn’t a big deal, docs look stuff up all the time.
NEVER ASSUME JUST BECAUSE THEY ARE A DOCTOR THAT THEY ARE AUTOMATICALLY RIGHT!!!!
Me and my fiance and our three kids just moved to lower mi and have problems with spider bites my son and my fiance had gotten bitten and spent weeks in the hospital and the local health department wont do a thing about it is there any one who can help we’ve sprayed and we still find them every day.
trudi P i live in Michigan and have the same problem.
I live in Michigan and have the same problem trudi p has and something needs to be done there have been 13 people with the same bites on them and a little boy even died from the infection. how do you contact people on here. i live near Detroit.
I was bitten by a brown recluse spider and my 3 year old son was two and i was wondering how to get rid of them. can you spray for them i was really sick we both spent a week in the hospital on iv antibiotics and are now seeing wound specialist and its hard because like any young child you cant keep bandages on them. thank you.
Hello, I ran across this site today. There is an ad on Ebay that will heal brown recluse spider bite in two weeks. There are pictures of a spider bite healing from day to day on the website. Just type in: ” Brown Recluse Spider Bite ” and search Ebay.
After I did a search on Google, I could find another other site that offered healing of a spider bite without massive amounts of medicine and doctors. Hope this help everyone! Thank you for your site, Drew
I really hate that I came here for help and, see the pic of my bite…bottom right hand (next to the nickel) and yet, nothing I can click on tells me what it could be.
Jessica, if you haven’t already gone, get to the ER IMMEDIATELY. Two of my toes turned blue and I had developed a clot and had to have vascular surgery. The blue is a sign that blood is not flowing to the area.
we have them up here in Michigan we see them all the time outside cause we live by the woods. they do come in the house we find them in house a lot we had huge one in our basement wish i could take photo of it. never been bitten by one after i read this hope i never do.
I got bit by a spider and it is on my finger and it’s so swollen that my finger is back and red. I didn’t see the spider bit me or did I feel it.. I’ve had a headache and tummy up set feeling. but my figure is so big and it’s feels with the swelling on my finger that it’s all worm and the doctor said that’s good thing for it to be worm and to put Ice on the swollen finger.But it’s been like that for four or five days… it hurts really bad. I don’t want to go to the er but if it’s still hurting with in the next couple of days then I would… When it first started I noticed that my finger was blue can your finger turn blue when it’s been bit? what should I do?
my husband was bitten by a brown recluse spider about 2 months ago. at the time we didnt know it was a spider bite as he as a bunch of sores on his body and jsut passed it off as a sore of a ingrown hair. well he went to the ER sat (about 2 months after we think he was bitten, a month and a half after we noticed the sore) and they told us that is was a BRS bite. they stuck him on a antibiotic 2 times a day and told to follow up with a doc, he goes back to the doc in a week, well today (mon after being seen by ER) he said it is burning and his ankle and foot are double sometime triple in size. we cant afford another ER visit so i called them and they told me to call his fmaily doc, we dont have a family doc. the doc he is going to go see is a new place we never been. we been putting ice on his ankle and foot, i been giving him ibprofin and tylenol. alternating them ever three hours for pain adn i just gave him some benadrayl.
i have a few pics of the bite ill post in a few. the area is really dry around the bite and it has a black scab on it. there is some pus coming out of it also. they say its infected, its not as bad as some of the pics, only about a quarter to a half dollar in size. but the thing i am worried about is his foot burning. im googling the side effects of the medication he is on to see if that’s a side effect. he works on his feet all day and he cant afford to take time off for the bite as he is taking off time next week for my c section of our third child. what would you recommend to do to help with anything the burying, the swelling, the pain, ect.. just something to get him through the week. you can email me at toshagallegos [at] gmail.com if you have any advice. thanks
A couple of days ago I got 3 bumps on my arm that just looked like pimples and was like that’s weird to have pimples on your arm. so I popped them but the one closest to my wrist started to swell up really bad making the upper part of my arm really sore. My dad noticed it when it looked kinda like a pimple and he was wondering what it was . Then I showed my arm to him when it was all swollen up and we are almost a hundred percent sure it’s a brown recluse bite. Now two of the bites are starting to go away except the one by my wrist. It looks like a bump with a hole in it with white Thing in the hole that looks like it could get pulled out. I pushed down on area around the bite and pus whole bunch of other nasty stuff came out. It feels like it’s screwing up the bones by my wrist. This is only about a week in and probably doesn’t help that my once friend hit it.
I got 3 holes and its swelling a TINY bit I didn’t feel it right away. After looking at these pics I am quite sure I didn’t get bit.
About a month ago, I found one on the floor or my bed room, causing me to about have a heart attack, since it was 2 inches away from my foot. Luckily, my cat was nearby to take it out, and she didn’t get bit, luckily.
My mother recently got bitten by a brown recluse spider.
She is really not sure what bit her but the side affects she incurred made her believe she was bitten by this spider.
She is 54 years old and was picking berries with my father outside.
She did not notice the bite right away but noticed a rash that evening. It has been a month and the rash covers her whole side and is continuing to reach her other side.
She went to a doctor and they said if she didn’t have the spider they wouldn’t know for sure.
I mean really! No kidding! Who is going to find a spider after it bit you and ran away?
Her side is not deteriorating like the pictures people have posted but she is swollen and bed ridden right now. She couldn’t sleep last night and went to the hospital again this morning. The finally gave her drugs and even looked at the area bitten.
I hope she gets better because she is a go go go type of person and must be miserable in bed.
I’m pretty sure I was bitten by a brown recluse spider almost 3 months ago (Eastern OHIO) on top of my arm below my elbow. One day I noticed I had a round red mark about the size of a nickel, which had 2 small puncture marks in the middle, surrounded by a red ring of blistery skin that was very itchy for about 5 days. I looked on the internet right away and found my spot looked very similar to the picture on webmd.com for a brown recluse spider bite. I put everything on it to try to get the itching to stop and make sure it didn’t spread. I was clearing out old cardboard boxes in the garage.
We live in a farm type environment with LOTS of spiders and bugs and I’m pretty confident I saw spiders that look like the brown recluse. I didn’t get treatment, because it seemed like it was getting better and wasn’t bothering me (but it never has completely gone away). Just this week, however, after being out in the sun a lot and getting sunburn around the area of the bite, the bite spread to approx. a 2 x 3 inch patch outlined by a red blister ring. It started itching badly again (remember my bite was over 2 months ago).
Looks like I’m finally going to have to get some type of treatment, but it appears unless it is VERY serious, like eating away your skin, there isn’t much they can do for it other than maybe give some antibiotics. Very irritating. Seems to be a broad range of reactions to these bites. And don’t forget, anyone that tells you brown recluse spiders are only in certain states, well, we’ve got piranhas in the u.s. waters when they said it can’t be so. Go by your instincts and get treatment or get rid of them in your home if you think there is a problem.
Someone I know was bitten by a brown recluse recently in Maine.
The spider came into their home on banana’s they bought at a local store.
The doctor treating the bite said they were the third in a two week period to be bitten by a recluse in the area. All of which were found on banana’s.
So beware fresh tropical fruit and wash it good in warm water as soon as you get it home and squish any eight legged illegal aliens you find that show themselves.
If I may interject, I am a Healthcare worker, so I thought I should mention something called Hyperbaric Oxygen, which has been shown effective in arresting the necrotic process in Brown Recluse bites particularly. Most people are not aware of this (even many Doctors). If you ever have a bite like this which starts necrotizing, INSIST you be taken to the nearest Hyperbaric unit ASAP! Hope that helps someone.
Please read this was an amazing cure of a really bad bite. WOW I was just bitten by a brown recluse~ I thought it was a hobo till I did some pretty extensive research. The bite was extremely painful and intensely itched. I really didn’t want to talk about the spiders so much as I did AN AMAZING NATURAL REMEDIES YOU CAN MAKE AT HOME FOR SPIDER BITES! I was bitten Sunday night, I went to put on a robe and OUCH, (RIP Spider)
Seriously hurt instant large red swollen mark that started getting larger and on the top of the wound it was flaky the skin was coming off looked a little in one area like bad exema???
I don’t know looked like the skin was dying. I did a lot of research and I’ve worked with herbs for 20 some years and this is what I did for my bite. I used vinegar~baking soda paste to draw venom out plus neutralize the acid and then I went out to my yard and picked some wild plantain and made a paste of it and put it directly on the wound, now you can create a balm or oil and keep it on hand, also basil is documented to have amazing results and charcoal. If you interested check out much more information on natural things you create out of your own home at (karonv) google search. So I used the above mentioned recipe and in less then 8 hours it was a 180. I am shocked it’s simply amazing I was sure I was going to have to make a trip to the doctors not only did I save money it’s healing incredibly well
Two nights ago I noticed what looked like a mosquito bite or horsefly bite on my leg. It was about the size of a nickle. The next morning it was swollen the size of about 8 inches long and 6 inches wide….big! It was red and itched with some pain also. It continued to get redder and a little more swollen yesterday, with more pain, then started to feel a little better last night. Today, the swelling has been reduced even more, and there is no pain. I don’t see any major discoloration or an obvious bite mark. As long as it seems to be getting better, is there any reason for me to go see the doctor?
My son (8) was bitten by a brown recluse yesterday morning at 8:30am, we actually found the spider in the chair he was sitting in. We are familiar with brown recluses since we live in Arkansas and have seen them many times. I took him along with the spider to his doctor, the was not having pain or any real reaction, just looked like a mosquito bite. The doctor did not give him anything, as he said the bite looks good & he may not have a bad reaction, just to watch him closely.
Today his bite is a little bigger & had a pimple like bump in the center, it now has opened and has a small ball point pin size whole, (which the doc seen again today, still no meds, he assures he is reacting good). He does have a rash that has spread across his body, especially close to the bite area, just little goose bump looking things & redness. He has no pain & says his skin just itches. he says the bite feels like a bruise…. I am so worried after reading these post that he was not put on antibiotics….??? but i do trust my kids doctor… don’t know what to do, hopefully it does not get worse….?? any advice??? like is said it is almost 48 hours now since the bite. THANKS!
I was bitten by a brown recluse spider thirteen days ago. I was on a riding lawn mower when I felt the sting, like a needle injection. I kept on mowing as the pain was only a few seconds. The next day the area was red, swollen, and painful. I just lived with it thinking it would clear up by itself. After five days I went to my doctor. They inserted needles with deading medicine right into the sore. I can’t tell you how bad that hurt. I was heard screeming out in the waiting room. Then they made an incision to let the infection drain. I was offered a antibiotic shot but refused since I had my fill with those needles. I did get a prescription for Bactrim. I have been on that twice a day since then. Today is my last pill. The sore is better but still not healed. There is a scab that is too painful to remove. I am also putting peroxide on it to try to clear the puss. I DO NOT THINK MY HUSBAND WILL EVER GET ME ON A LAWN MOVER AGAIN.
I lived in Ks.for 9 years and had never heard of a recluse up until a few months before moving to Missouri.Two of my friends were bitten.one required surgery.The house we bought in Missouri turned out to be severely infested.They are quite literally in the walls,baseboards,attic,ceiling and everywhere else in between.This was a preditorial sale to top it off.The whole house is just falling apart.It is bad enough that it needs demolished and the entire site needs burned.Every night I go room by room with a sticky trap collecting them.They have positively identified as a true recluse.We have had 6 bites in 3 years all requiring ER attention.
I have been advised by several honest people in the real estate profession and various other professions to not only move but to seek legal counsel.It just frustrates me to no end that the people involved in the sale of this house were supposed tho be professional and honest.Had that been the case we would not be living in this nightmare of a house.
I had a bite behind my knee. I also had a rash on my hands and one foot. I went to the clinic and the diagnoses was a bite and contact dermatitis. He put me on tetracycline. I went home and taped a piece of potato on the bite. It drew the poison out. It’s only been 2 weeks I finished my antibiotics, the bite is now about the size of a dime. It is hard with a scab on it. There is no pain. No discharge at all. A potato will draw the venom out of any kind of bite.
I haven’t heard anyone on here mention redmond clay but it is by far the best thing for recluse bites, also something called “black save” would also work.
Hi there,
I sent you an email from my usual email account a few moments ago.
I am working on a new Animal Planet series about Extreme Pests and we are looking for a brown recluse / black widow or hobo spider home infestation story we can tell on the programme, where someone was actually bitten.
I wondered if you could help find this person?
Perhaps I could post my request on your site with my email address?
I will be guided by what you think.
Very best,
Helen
(based in London, UK)
I think i have one in my house about 4 min ago i tried to kill a spider on wall it had a light brown abdomen couldn’t identify more because it moved i tried to kill it but now i cant find it it also had long legs and i believe i found net if it makes one its not a web but at the side of my tv in a v shape area there’s a nest, can anyone help me i cant sleep till i identify this.
Our son was clearing a fence line of brush and trees when sometime in the clean up of the mess he got bit on his right lower leg, it was only 1 hole the size of a common pin that got red around it. He was showing his boss’s wife the leg when she said it was a brown recluse spider that bit him. He went to the emergency room with no insurance, they lost his paperwork so he was there for at least 1 1/2 hours before they even got to him when he asked why he was still waiting to be seen.
His boss came by to see how he was doing and we did not know he was at the emergency room till then. The hospital had told him it was a spider bite, put him on a steriod antibotic and motrin for medicine. By the second day Well it got to the point he could not walk on that leg at all. His leg swelled up twice its size, by the second day from that hospital visit he went back again. They had to cut it open, drain it and pack it with gauze as well as giving him 2 shots of antibotic, and a pain killer shot that did nothing for the pain. He was drainin his wound the next day when the packing came right out, it was loaded with greenish to yellowish white pus and solid white pus. The surrounding area around the wound was warm to hot to touch, very tender all around the leg as well so to drain the would it was no picnic when it was sore.
The hospital had sent home cleaning instructions and cleaning solution for the wound in which is being used. He was not able to walk on that leg for at least a couple days and when he was able to walk he was very careful as the wound drained while he was standing or walking. He is on the road to recovery finally doing what should be done, When they send the care instructions from the hospital for wound care you need to follow up on it and not ignore it.
He is keeping up on being checked at the emergency room even thou he has no insurance, the hospital has a waiver to consider the care for free considering he has no insurance, remember keep all paperwork that is needed (if necessary make copies for your records) and follow all instructions on the discharge sheet they give.
Small black with yellow dot on bottom. I have a lot of bites on me from this spider. Is it dangerous?
I live in Minnesota and have spent the last 2 months dealing with a necrotic skin lesion that came on literally overnight. I woke up in the morning with an severe stinging sensation on my left thigh. It looked like a red burn,then turned into a huge blister, then the next day turned black, and deep….about the size of a quarter.
After seeing 6 doctors, I finally found one that identified it as a brown recluse spider bite.
He says that most doctors in this state are not familiar with this spider.I have been tested for every other thing imaginable, and the BR spider bite is the only thing this can be.
It is very painful. Takes FOREVER to heal. Your entire body feels sick and achy. You develop chills,nausea, and vomiting intermittently.
Just when I think I’m getting better, I get struck again with horrible leg pain, and difficulty walking.I had to be out of work for 6 weeks.
I am a nurse,thought I knew about insect bites, but this experience has been unbelievable.!
I WAS TRIMMING TREE BRANCH’S I FELT SOMETHING CRAWLING ON MY LEG THREE WEEK’S AGO I GOT A SPIDER BITE BUT NOT LIKE THIS ONE. I AM A DIABETIC ON 4 DIFFERENT KIND’S OF MEDICINE FOR THAT LAST FRIDAY THE 12TH OF JUNE 2010 IT’S WEDNESDAY THE 16TH JUNE 2010 I AM GOING TO THE EMERGENCY ROOM TOMORROW TO HAVE IT CHECKED OUT IT IS VERY PAINFUL I TRIED LANCING IT MYSELF WITH A NEEDLE NOTHING CAME OUT WHERE IT IS BLACK IS NOT HALF AS SORE AS TO WHERE IT IS RED AND A LITTLE PURPLE AROUND THE EDGES FEEL’S KIND OF LIKE A GUN SHOT.
I was in the weeds at my friends house. I noticed an itchy spot on my knee. It wasn’t itching that bad but it looked like a brown recluse spider bite. I mean it wasn’t burning but it was itching but not that bad. I thought it could been from the weeds but i dont know. Its a little spot that barely itched for a little amount of time. I have not felt any symptoms so far today but that could change. Please find out if it is a brown recluse spider bite.
Ty
I live in Nebraska and about three days ago I woke up with a sore on a very sensitive back part. Me and my girlfriend spoke about it and she told me that it was the beginning of a boil the last couple days passed and it slowly began swelling and became very painful. I managed to look in a full body mirror yesterday and after some contortionist (sp?) acts get a pretty good look at it. I noticed right off the bat that it had a deep dark core and knew then that it was no boil. So I googled a very long search indicating the look as well as my feelings (symptoms) the last few days. Of course this site appeared first in my search and after reading thru entries came to this one which matched everything perfectly so I went to the doc today and he no longer looked at it when he confirmed my fears it was indeed the bite of a brown recluse which is already beginning to form a crater.
He is optimistic that with the medications and various things he told me to do that it will heal on its own without complications. Whats even better is now knowing we have that spider in this house and what to look for we can potentially protect our children which are 2 and 8 Thanks to this site for saving my ass…literally lol and for helping me to catch this sooner rather then later if not for my sake then for my childrens as we would have probably assumed the boil scenario for them as well and can be more on guard now and take precautions. Great site!
I live in a little town in Michigan and 22 years ago I was bitten by a recluse while I was asleep. I didn’t feel a thing. When I woke up I had about 8 little white dots that I thought were white heads. Tried to pinch them and nothing came out. So later that night I started feeling nausea and fever and my forehead was starting to form a boil.
The next day I knew something was terribly wrong and went to the ER.
Luckily the on call Dr. knew it was a spider bit and treated me properly Within a few days I felt back to myself again but I had huge indents in my forehead and now 22 years later they are still there. I’ve put sticky traps under my bed and I’ve caught several brown recluse spiders. My county wants to Hush-Hush this. They don’t want to scare the public and say that we don’t have them in Michigan. Well I have proof. I want to know where to send these spiders to confirm that we do have them. Also Id like to know , How can I get rid of them permanently.
My home is only 17 years old but my hubby says that under the crawl space it’s spider city.
Thanks,
Trudi
I was bitten by a recluse about 22 years ago on the forehead. Eight bites. I has the tell tale white bumps, then it started to swell like a big red boil. Fever and nausea set in and by the next night I knew I needed to go to the ER. By the way I live in Michigan, a state they still say to this day that the recluse does not exist in. So when I got to the ER I was very fortunate. The on call Dr. made the right call on spot.
Spider bite. He treated it as if it were possibly recluse and I was fine, but I’m still left with indents in my forehead 22 years later.
I have a question, I’ve caught many recluses in my sticky traps under my bed, which doesn’t make for good night’s sleep. Can anyone tell me who I can send these spiders too, I want proof that my county does in fact have them. I know people who have been bitten by them. I feel like the local hospital wants to keep it hush-hush so the people won’t freak out. But I think they should know. Any advice would be appreciated.
Thanks.
wow i only thought it bruised you!
last summer my two year old was bit by something on the knuckle of his index finger…it started out looking like a mosquito bite, but in a few hours it was so large and his hand so swollen that he couldn’t move his fingers! He also got a high fever…I took him to the doctor and told them that I thought it was a Brown Recluse bite, but the doc just laughed it off saying its not possible cuz we are in ND and brown recluse don’t live here…two days later he could hardly move his lower arm and the fever was still there, so I tool him to our chiropractor who deals a lot with vitamin and herb therapy…she said it definitely looked like a recluse bite and she put some TEA TREE OIL on it and told me to do so every hour! Well, by 7:00 that night the swelling had gone down so much that he could move his fingers a small bit, and by morning the fever was gone and all there was on his hand was a small bump with two little punctures in it!!!
This morning I came across a spider is a dish my kids left in the entryway…it was about the size of a dime, black/dark brown and had a grayish white stripe down its back…from the pics I’ve seen on here, I would guess it was a recluse, but I am not sure…is there any way to kill them?…I have 5 young children and do NOT want to go through that same thing again.
Thanks
“Bayer” bug spray in the blue gallon jug, be sure it says ‘germ killer’ on the front.
Kills even cock roaches.
Has a decent smell too.
I found it Home Depot for about $10
I was bitten by a brown recluse in ’98 nobody knew what it was. It started as a little tiny circular bite. I went to three different doctors and they all thought it was ringworm. It kept growing in roundness and then I saw the poison streaks and somebody suggested bleach. I dabbed bleach on it and it developed a very gross green scab. Being thirteen I peeled it off and all the ooze came out. It got a red scab and healed up. I have a weird looking scar that’s bumpy and has no skin coloring, but hey if it weren’t the bleach it could’ve been a lot worse.
now my opinion on a spider bite is that you will always need to get ti checked out cause my friend who works that this store i go to all the time was in the hospital for a month cause she got bitten by a brown recluse when she was doing laundry it was hidden in a dark place where she couldn’t see it…
Now people there are many different spots one of these could hide they like to hide in the dark under furniture and other places where they will feel protect now if you make them mad or provoke them they will attack you no matter i should know i got bit by one last night and im the same antibiotics as maddi and yes it does hurt really bad
Hey everyone, I was bitten by a brown recluse on May 5th, 2010 at about 3am. Yes, I know there are skeptics and those who say or think they were bitten by a brown recluse that were not. I, however, was truly bitten by a brown recluse. I live in Kentucky and was in bed at the time of my bite. I was awoken by a tickling on my throat just below my adam’s apple area.
I went to scratch and laid my hand directly on top of the spider, feeling it’s legs I pinched it between my fingers and tossed it into the floor. After several minutes of shuttering and cringing at the thought of a spider on my neck I carefully got up and turned on the light. It only took me a few seconds to find the gnarly dead bugger laying in the floor. I didn’t really pay attention to what kind of spider he was till later that morning, around 6am, when I looked in the mirror and saw two red fang marks on my neck. I then decided I better take a look at him…when I did I felt my concern rise. My concerns were well deserved, after a doctors visit and being told by my doctor that it was not a brown recluse, but put on amoxicillian, steroids, and a broad spec. antibiotic cream.
The next day I was discussing my bite with a professor at Western Ky Univ. and my doctors findings. My professor asked to see the spider, which I still had in my bag in a medicine bottle, when he saw the spider he asked to show it to another professor. I agreed and later was informed that it had been sent to The University of Kentucky’s Entomology Dept. where it was confirmed as being a brown recluse. Please know that not all doctors are qualified to identify spiders/bugs/ect… and please know that you cannot identify a brown recluse bite by symptoms or looks.
There are many reasons for people’s flesh to be eatin away, one of them is called Necrotizing fasciitis. If you, for any reason, have symptoms of this, IMMEDIATELY see a doctor, this is a serious situation! As for the brown recluse, bites from them DO NOT always mean rotting skin or possible tissue removal of any form. There are plenty of reasons why that is, please remember that information on the internet is not always totally accurate, so be careful and only ask those who are qualified to answer your questions.
My bite is very uncomfortable at this point and I’m 5 days into it…however, I have no blisters, YET, and no rotting flesh. I hope this helps those of you who are truly concerned about a bite or possibly a skin infection. *I am sending photos of my bite and of the actual spider that bit me.*
I Got Bit, This is my Remedy
At first I didn’t know what I was bit by, but later I discovered it was a Brown Recluse Spider.
I was bit one night under my left arm and I it formed a Hugh mountain like pimple with a white circle around it. It itched like crazy and I am an old Union Carpenter and if it itches then common sense tell you to scratch it. So I did with a carpenters Stanley knife razor blade pulled out of the knife of course. Back and forth and back and forth I ran the blade of it until it was bleeding, but it sure felt good. Several days later the wound began spreading down my arm like it was alive and eating my skin and spreading at a rapid rate. Pretty disgusting. I was afraid it would keep going so I went to the doctor. He gave me a Cordizon shot and told me that if I didn’t do what I did that he would have had to amputate my arm. The Cordizon shot really didn’t seem to help because it kept spreading more and more, eating my skin as it went. I prayed and looked over at my bed stand and saw a little old bottle of Iodine my Mom gave me as a kid. I said to myself try it, it can’t hurt. When I swab it over the open wound it was like the poison spider venom started screaming and it was killing it. I started swabbing it 3 times a day and it started healing. It took about a month for it to go away completely. So I Thanked God for helping me find the Iodine and healing me. If you ever have this spider bite you, scratch it with a blade and then apply Iodine immediately and it will take care of it. Thanks for reading, God Bless…
And more to my post, I checked my leg. There was a small spot, and I washed it, forgot about it. The tingling went away after half an hour or so, with a small bruise around the “bite” area. That’s it.
By the way, I thought only child rattle snakes were poisonous, as they don’t have a rattle.
Is it possible to have a non-graphic fiddle bite? I have a problem with them(in the winter), because they like to hide under the post-it notes on my wall. One time I accidentally kicked one and upset a few. A little later my leg was very tingly, but not asleep tingly. Hurty tingly.
I do have other spider problems in the winter, which I really don’t mind(I think they’re cute, and they keep the kittens distracted), but I just wonder what kind of creepy crawly would’ve caused something like this)
I had one more comment after reading one the post above he said that his kept erupting and almost one year later mine is still doing it, nothing serious my toes will swell up and the bite site will erupt and we start all over again but with no infection. It itches worse than anything I have ever felt, more itching with me than pain any pain I felt seemed more like it was coming from the swelling in my foot. So the gentlemen in a previous post said that if you don’t get the venom out within 48 hours it will continue to erupt like that which again is more of an aggrevation than anything..so if you suspect you have been bitten by anything please run don’t walk to the nearest ER I waited two days before going thinking it would go away and it landed me in the hospital for 4 days and a year later I am still aggrevated.
Last year during orientation at the University of Kentucky where my son was to attend college in the fall, We were sitting under some trees and I felt something that resembled more of someone touching me with a lit cigarette on the top of my left foot. I kicked and never did see what it was. The next day the site was really itching but still at orientation with my son so when we got home that night it was really itching and turning red and starting to swell, so I went to immediate care here they loaded me up on antibiotics, steroids and pain medication. The very next day I noticed that the redness was covering the entire top of my foot and starting up my leg so I went to the ER.
I knew it was a bite and I felt strongly it was a spider because whatever it was had fallen out of the tree we were sitting under. I was admitted into the hospital (4 days) Doc said it was MRSA and that most spider bites will cause it. That was in July 2009 it is now April 2010 and the skin on the top of my foot is really tough and it still itches like mad some time. The surgeon that I seen said that I was extremely lucky to have kicked it off because he didn’t get to inject me with much poison but it has been a constant aggravation for the last 9 months they all tell me that it will not be completely healed for 1 year.
Are Brown recluse spider found in south Texas?
I was bitten on the left leg by a spider on April 22, 2010. I am not sure what kind of spider it was. I could not find it. Around the bite is a red area of about five inches in diameter. Then to top that off I got bit again on April 25, 2010 and again I could not find this spider. This time I got bit three times on the face two above the left eye and one below the left eye. By early Tuesday morning (1:47) my left eye had swollen shut. I went to the emergency room and the doctor confirmed that it was definitely spider bites which I already knew. I was prescribed an antibiotic, anti-inflammatory, steroid, and something called pro-biotic to calm the stomach. I came home Tuesday night and bombed my apartment. I cannot afford for my three year old son to get bitten by this spider that feasts on human flesh.
I was bitten on 4/22/10 at 5am while on the couch feeding my 8mo old baby. I felt the slightest pinprick/itch. Not having a free hand to scratch,i just rubbed my shoulder against the couch,not knowing i had killed the spider.
2 hours later,i got chills that would not go away. It started feeling like the worst case of the flu i’ve ever had. I decided I should go to the ER. By the time i got there,I was in anaphalyctic shock. I almost died. I was given an I.V of antibiotics(levaquin),benedryl,and steroids(prednisone) and dilaudid for pain.
I was sent home 12hrs later.
This is day 4 now,and My entire arm is turning solid black and red. There is a blister the size of my thumb that 4 days later has not burst yet. Everywhere that’s black is turning numb,and the redness hurts worse than my C-section.
I’ve been to 5 different doctors and 1 surgeon this week,and all are at a loss of what to do for me,so they do nothing.
I’m petrified that I’m going to lose my arm now,or die.
If anyone knows how to help me,PLEASE contact me.
skitzoette [at] gmail.com
i was bitten twice right above ny left breast directly over my heart battled it for 6 months…i’m lucky because i didn’t need reconstructive surgery. i used to love spiders now i’m terrified. i had a whole nest of them in my bed and live only in homes that have lots of light. they love the dark!
What am I supposed to look for in a spider bite? i have two bites on my stomach one in which it is very irritated and the other that looks like it bruised and made a circular bigger bruise. it doesn’t hurt a lot but once i press on it , it kinda is sore and the one that is irritated is swollen about the middle and well i don’t know if it is a boil or spider bite..Can someone understand this? Should i go to the er??
I have brown recluse spiders in my apartment they normally become very active around this time of year.. Bombs will kill them. I go to Walmart and buy the Orange raid box that kills for 90 days. I bomb my house or apt and don’t leave it to the apts to get rid of them.
The bomb gets inside of everything and under everything even holes in the house. I bomb with it every 4-5 months and it does the trick just fine.. Also if I wear clothes that have been in the closet or shoes I haven’t worn in a while I shake them violently.. Its really more of habit these days and sometimes I do it when I know its not necessary. I live in Kansas and recluses are very common here.. Its not any harder to get rid of them than it is ants or roaches..
On Tuesday March 16, 2010 I was at work and I felt an itch on my middle right finger. I scratched it and thought nothing else about it. That night it started to turn red and itch more. At around 0100hrs. On Wednesday March 17, 2010 my middle finger at the point of the original itch started to get very red. On Thursday March 18, 2010 my finger was starting to get even redder.
This was only on my middle right finger. On Thursday March 18, 2010 around 0200hrs. it felt like someone struck my finger with a hammer. Thursday afternoon I went to Urgent Care to seek medical help. The Doctor advised me that I was bit by something, probably a spider. Without seeing it or having it with me, it is impossible to know exactly what bit my finger.
As of Monday March 21, 2010 my bite has spread to my pointing finger. The bite has formed a blister. I am scheduled to see the Doctor again today March 22, 2010 at 3pm.
I was bitten a few years ago by an unknown spider, all I remember of it was it was sore, red, had a blister and a white stringy thing. I didn’t go to any doctors though or take anything for it. I did go swimming in a pool with chlorine though after the blister had opened.
I have a crater like scar on my thigh with a small bump in the center. I am trying to figure out what kind of spider could have bitten me but I had no major symptoms.
i love this eventhough i hate spiders but there is some amazing pictures on this page it is fantastic!!!!!!!and i have been on this page about 30 times i love it that much becouse it has so much infomation
sophie xx
i think i got bit lastnight in my sleep but im not sure. When i woke up this morning my arm was hurting and it was just white looking with red around it. well when i got to school it started hurting really bad (i couldnt even touch it bad). now my arm feels like it is starting to go numb and im really scared after reading everyones stories and seeing the pictures. i think im going to sign myself out and go get this checked out before it gets any worse then it already is. Can anyone help me??
I believe i was bitten during a Rally we had in our town, it was first week in Sept of 2009 and trust me it turned ugly very quickly. I ended up in the ER 3 times,before they knew exactly what type of spider bit me and i had to go to a hospital not even in my town,these doctors here didn’t seem to concerned but the last doctor i seen in Middletown NS Canada knew exactly what type ad what to do and just how long it’d take to heal and he was exactly right,and to this day i still have the scar on the back of my leg…I lost 3 weeks of work due to it,and it took 6-8 weeks to heal and it still bothers me from time to time…Was the worst pain i have ever experienced,i couldn’t drive for for weeks,was nasty….I am sending 2 photo’s i took back in Sept…
“I was wondering if anyone has had a bite return after it had healed? I have a ercluse bite that took almost 2 years to heal.. it was terrible. It was biopsied and that was the result though after all the tramua from everything it developed Pyoderma Gargrenosium. It finially healed and 8 months later reopened in the same site. Another biopsy with the result Brown recluse ( or arthropod attack is what it said)… now here we are again with woulnd care , pain and more surgury to try skin graphs. This has been a nightmare!!! Has anyone had it came back???”
God the doctors are absolutely clueless here. They treated my first bite with silvadene, antibiotics, saline drips and were proposing skin graphs. It was almost like the 1930’s when they treated infections by excising the infected skin from the body. Barbaric!
I didn’t listen to my doctors and the bite eventually healed on its own (with help from some creams I described below)
The old bite does reoccur. I have tools to control the breakout when it occurs but if you dont get the venom out in the first 48 hours it gets stuck under your skin and will keep erupting periodically.
I use bioheal from skin biology and aquaphor healing ointment in combination when a previous bite erupts. It usually goes back to normal the next day — but its like a fight for a few weeks to get it back under control. Then it goes dormant for a few months and the cycle starts again.
My original bite is now erupting less and less each year so I think your body does get rid of it eventually…but I guess I am trying to warn others so you do not have to have this annoyance in your life. Proper wound management in the first 24 hours can save years of hassle.
Cheers
DISCLAIMER TO ALL POSTS BY ME (JUST ABOVE)
These posts are not Medical advice, I am just sharing my experiences. What works for me doesn’t necessarily mean that it will work for you as we are all different.
Always see a competent doctor for diagnosis/advice/treatment of spider bites/wound management etc.
Get bentonite clay onto the spider bite in the first 24 hours and leave on for several days.
This will absorb the venom before it spreads and causes necrotic tissue.
I’ve been bitten before and didn’t use clay and it took years to heal properly. With clay the site healed within 3 days didn’t fan out with redness and more importantly didn’t reoccur after the treatment. My old bites keep coming back every few months (irritation/rash).
I’ve treated at least 4-5 bites with this method and I have no problems at all.
I wish everyone the best and please don’t cut or scrape or use cortisone…they are all useless methods !
Also note this method doesn’t work very well if you apply it 48 hours after the initial bite
My name is Phillip and I live in central Florida with my wife. We just recently moved into our first home. I was bitten on Thursday and didnt notice the bite until later that afternoon. It had a white head on it so I assumed it was a pimple so I popped it. Just some advice, if your not sure what it is dont mess with it. I was squeezing the hell out of this thing and I later learned that because of this I spread the venom further into my hand. Im a chef by trade so this was problematic for me.
The pain that I feel is undescribable, it feels like 3rd degree burns. My wife researched spider bites and came across this website. When I seen the picture of the brown recluse bite it scared me because it looked exactly like what I had. I had her take me to the E.R and they wound up giving me a tetnis shot and some antibiotics, as well as some pain pills. Im still in a lot of pain but see some progress. For those of you that have a high tolerance with pills you might wanna consider self medicating. Here is my bite.
My husband and I were both bitten by brown recluse. I new when I saw it what was wrong so I took Tetra cycline and packed with sea salt.My husband went to doctor and got a very strong antibiotic,I also packed his with sea salt.We are healing well. His doctor was suprised how fast he healed.Mine is good to ,buy itches very bad.Any suggestons on itching ? It has been 2 1/2 weeks and have ran out of antibiotics but still have small hole and terrible itch. We also took 1 asprin a day and kept moving and working even though it was painful.We farm so have to take care of animals,plus husband Doc said keep blood circulating even if it hurts
After 7 months, I had it cut out. Took 2 layers of stitches, skin taking 10. Dr. said it was a recluse.
This is just to let others know what I found out, the brown recluse’s bite does not always form a pimple, sometimes it a bite with a black spot in the center. In Texas it’s a common spider. I got bit, just thought it was a scorpin, later a spot on my leg swelled up and turned black, I keep squeezing it and a liquid came out was putting tinactin on it, it went down after a little time. I don’t rember how much later I was bitten again. This time I saw the spider. In total I have been bitten 5 times. I developed algeries to a lot of things around me, willow trees, cats, rye grass, etc.
While getting seen by a doctor, I told him all this was caused by the recluse, he didn’t think so, I asked if he wanted me to get him one to see. He said yes, so I got him a good size male and gave it to him, after it was dead. He took it to who ever id these things and they told him yes. The reason I tell you this is sometimes when you get bit, you can give off something that will attract them back to you. My husband used to call them my pets. They would crawl across him to get to me. A nurse there also said that they come after you sometimes. It does not always happen, but sometimes it does. This is just a word to the wise. After the allergy shots they stopped. I watch them to learn their ways and I’ve killed everyone I have found.
I live in the desert.and i have been bitten 4 different times. If you don’t get the bite lanced right away. The venom will eat the area of where you been bitten. they same once you been bitten by a brown recluse . it leaves a sent in your blood that other brown recluse can smell a few feet away.
So please take a spider bite very seriously and go to the doctor right away…
For the person who asked what (mercer) = MRSA is: MRSA infections, some times known as Mersa infections, are caused by Staph aureus bacteria. This bacteria is carried by 1 in 3 people but the drug resistant type known as MRSA is only found in about 1% of the population. MRSA colonization does occur in otherwise healthy people but often mrsa carriers will not suffer an infection until the staph attacks an illness, wound or graze area. Antibiotics used against these staph infections often encounter multi-drug resistant strains (MRSA), which are often acquired as a result of hospital infection. Community Acquired MRSA is a different type of mrsa bacteria. It mainly causes skin infections and can be treated by more drugs. It does however spread faster and can do more damage than the hospital strain to those it infects.
Ok about 4 days ago i noticed that i had a redness around a small what looked like a pimple on my right breast. But after another day it got very swollen and even redder, family told me it was a ingrown hair or boil. It has been bugging me, so i started to take antibiotics n cleaning the area with peroxide and alcohol.
the swelling went down and the redness went away a little, so i thought nothing of it. But about a hour ago i looked at it and i noticed that the scab on it had came off and it looked like white pus inside. Then i put peroxide on it and i noticed there is a hole there. Tomorrow i am going straight to the e.r. so that i could get some medical attention. Very worried and scared I will be sure to keep you all posted I will post pics up soon.
Post 327: from my research, if the bite has been properly taken care of it will not come back. However it is entirely possible that you could have reinfected the bite area. This should be taken as an entirely new episode and have it looked at by a physician.
I found several Spiders in my home just at several times. I don’t believe they are brown recluse. They may be just giant house spiders. I haven’t got bit by none yet. I mostly stay up all night but I’m up all night anyways. A recluse is going to look different than others usually with a violin shape on its back. A giant house spider or a hobo spider looks almost identical only a 50% chance of injecting venom. they are considered non aggressive.
I live in S. Carolina.
Tammy Peacock, I cannot give you an exact location on the internet but somewhere it does have information on reoccurrence of these bites. If I remember correctly, it said if the site of the bite was in some way hit or bumped it could come back. It also said they sometime come back at the anniversary time of the original bite. I hate to give you this news as I have gone through months of pain, vascular surgery and enough dressings to supply a hospital. I was checking everything under brown recluse spider bites when I found out about this. I’ll keep you in my prayers.
diane
helllo! i just wanted to post a comment about my sister. well anyways she has been bite by a spider and we dont know what it was. her arm was swole and very sore so we took her to the hospital. they said whatever it was was moving too fast to be a brown recluse. i think it is because the pictures look just what her arm looks like. i just would like to know what it was.
– brianna
I was bit on Friday night on my ankle by what im assuming was a brown recluse..it seems to be the popular spider to blame. Saturday i wasn’t in much pain then Sunday came around and it was bothering me pretty bad. I didnt think much of it though. Then i woke up monday morning and as soon as i got out of bed i fell to the ground the pain was so bad. I went to the doctor and he scraped the little scab away to get any pus out then because the bite damage spread into my joint(i had troubles walking) he gave my a shot right away. I dont know what the shot was. He then gave me Bactrim DS tablets and told me to take them one tablet twice a day. it tuesday night now and it still hurts really bad :/
Caught this little quarter-sized bugger taking a stroll across the living room carpet, so at least I know where the bites are coming from. By the way, 30c Ledum has worked for me on three bites. The last one is finally going away.
Has anyone ever had a bite clear totally up and then come back again? Mine cleared after a very long time wound care and was gone for 8 months and now is back and worse than before….ANYONE???
I was wondering if anyone has had a bite return after it had healed? I have a ercluse bite that took almost 2 years to heal.. it was terrible. It was biopsied and that was the result though after all the tramua from everything it developed Pyoderma Gargrenosium. It finially healed and 8 months later reopened in the same site. Another biopsy with the result Brown recluse ( or arthropod attack is what it said)… now here we are again with woulnd care , pain and more surgury to try skin graphs. This has been a nightmare!!! Has anyone had it came back???
This morning I noticed a tiny red bump on the side of my arm below my wrist that looked like a bug bite of some kind. I only noticed because I bumped it against something and it was very painful. Soon after I noticed another bite farther down and more to the side on my arm. I didn’t think much of it, since I live in Florida and get bitten by mosquito often.
However, I was taking a bath later on and saw that the first bite (near my wrist) has a red squiggly line coming out of it. That sounds slightly silly, but I have no other way of describing it. It is pretty faint, which might have been why I didn’t see it before. It does not show up well with my cell phone camera, and that’s all I have.
If anyone has any advice for me or has had similar experiences, etc. please reply.
The bite was almost two months old before it was determined that it was a brown recluse spider bite. At first they thought it was a fungus, then ulcer and were treating it with peroxide. The ER determined it was a brown recluse and sent me back to a podiatrist. The toes turned blue and the wound Dr. sent me back two ER a couple of weeks later where vascular damage was found in the leg with the bite. The
actual bite was on the left ankle bone.
the bite has to be lanced and drained, then the hole filled with iodine and aggressive antibiotic treatment. I was bitten on the leg by one and the person who worked on it was a corpsman back in Vietnam. He was used to dealing with unusual insect bites. You have to cut it and squeeze all the pus/blood/venom out and then fill hole with iodine.
Can anyone tell me if I have a spider bite or maybe staph? I noticed a bump (like ingrown hair) on my forearm. I popped it thinking that was what it was. Now it is be coming a hole. The middle is yellow but it is not pus. Looks more like dead flesh. The drainage that comes from the wound is a clear liquid that never ends
Diane: Post #317
How far did the damage go and how long was the bite active before discovery of it being a B. Recluse?
I was bitten by a brown recluse spider in July and now in December it has begun to heal. In September I underwent vascular surgery. Has anyone had vascular damage caused by the brown recluse spider bite?
Thank you.
Diane
I live in Middletown, Ohio and had just returned from a trip to Mexico on a Sunday evening on August the 1 2005. Where I live we were having a bad dry spell and had just moved into a new house with new landscaping and what not, I went out to water the flowers that were just put in about 10 am, I did not feel anything bite me at all. Just went about my business watering bushes and flowers of all heights. I went inside itching on my thigh very bad, only an hour later my leg had a small red dot that looked like an infected hair. The itching began to turn into an intense pain, but I went on that night just as normal as any. I could barely sit or stand at all.
That night I tried to sleep but hurt so bad I couldn’t at all, that next morning I told my mother about my pain and she looked at it, being an ex-nurse, she picked at it thinking it was a bad infected hair herself. I did in deed put heat on it to try and make it feel better, but it only made it worse. That night my father tried putting a lit match into a plastic bottle and sticking it on the spot now sticking about half an inch high and was a quarter in diameter. It did not work. I did the opposite of what you are suppose to do once more and slept with a heat pad on my thigh only making it worse once more. I laid around for three days, it got to the point I could not walk without having someone hold me up so I went to see my grandmother and she told me to cut a potato and place the meat part on my thigh and let it draw the infection out, so that night I did and also placed the heating pad on it to help it draw even faster.
I woke up screaming in pain that night. I went to the hospital in Middletown and every doctor that looked at my thigh, now completely red and a huge bump sticking about an inch and a half off my thigh, turned around and ran out of the room. I was put on antibiotics and pain killers for two weeks. I was instructed to visit the local Urgent Care everyday during the two weeks for any changes that may occur and need medical attention. I was lucky when I visited the Urgent Care the next day and had a doctor from Arkansas, a major Brown Recluse Spider bite state, and he knew what it was right off the bate from seeing the red skin and black dot in the middle of the high bump.
I was instructed that the skin would be eaten away from infection caused by the venom and it would have to be drained and that once it began to drain I needed to come back in for further medical attention. It took two days for the antibiotics to kick in and attack the infection and then start to open a small hole to let pus drain out of. I pushed on the outer sides of the spot down, being careful to not push in a pinch manner. It drained for three hours in long nasty thick yellowish/green/black bloody gushes. It stunk so horribly bad that my mother and sister went away and vomited multiple times, and they have strong stomachs! I was able to get up and walk much better but still hurt really bad. I went to the Urgent Care again and had the doctor check my thigh out. He pushed down to see if any more infection and pus would surface only to have more and more. He moved me into a surgery room and cut open the place on my leg a little to wet-pack my leg. This is when they take Iodine soaked ribbon and stuff it into your body. It hurt like nothing I have ever felt before! I could walk fine before being stuff with ribbon and now I could barely even breathe I hurt so bad again.
I went back that next day and had the ribbon taken out. It was swelled with more infection. I had all the black dead skin cut away, did not feel any of it being cut too, and it repacked again. I went back the next day and had it unpacked and repacked. For a total of two weeks after it had first been packed I was having it wet-packed. Finally what infection and venom the doctors could get out was out I was on the road to healing. I could drop a quarter straight down into my thigh and still have room all around it to get my fingers into the hole. It went through every layer but two, almost to the bone. I could look down it and see blood vessels it had ate through. It took about three months to fully heal and not be considered an open wound. I kept it sprayed out with salin and covered with gauze and a medical wrap every day. When I showered I kept my leg out of the waters range to keep from getting it infected again.
Most times it was covered as well. It has now been a little over four years and I have a scar the dents into my thigh a half inch and is the size of a quarter. To this day I have days it is almost impossible to get out of bed because I hurt so bad and con not move. I have weeks were I am fine and don’t really have anything to worry about but maybe a stiff leg or jolt of comforting pain, and then there are times where I hurt so bad I hurt to sit or lay.
I urge anyone who thinks you may have a spider bite to get it checked out. You do not know what kind of insect really bit you to begin with unless you killed it when it happens. I did not even know I had been bitten, so I doubt anyone can tell it. Do not spray to kill bugs, this attracts the “Brown Recluse”, they love to feed on dead insects. I found out from the doctor who took care of me, that spraying only brings them in. There are spider traps which you can check into and I suggest investing into them. Always stay on top of throwing garbage out so you do not have flies and others bugs roaming around your home getting left overs, this also draws in spiders of all kinds. I hope I am of any help to anyone who has encountered a Brown Recluse.
GHJ
I realized I got bit on Sunday morning At first (like someone else on here… ) I thought it was a cigarette burn because I went out the night before. But I remembered I was wearing a sweater, an old sweater from my mother in law. It looked like a whelp with a purple small center and red and swollen around the outside about 2 inches total. It is very tender to the touch. Sunday night i felt two blisters coming up. Monday there are blisters surrounding the purple area. Going to the doctor today….
I have been nursing a bite now for almost 5 months. This is my second bite. The first one was upper leg and at first we didn’t know what it was until it started eating into the flesh. I was able to get it under control and heal without medical visit. However the one I now just won’t go away. Anyone identify with this?
Thanks
I got bit by a brown recluse on Thursday 12/3 sometime between 2-6 am. I work up & couldnt moove my left are & my shoulder felt like some1 hit me w/ a hot metal bat. I touched my shoulder on the outside of my shirt & popped a GIANT blister. My daughter saw my shoulder b/4 I did & ran screaming out of the room. I sent to girls 2 school & ended up in the ER with a bite the size of my fist. It was just blisters so the stupid ER doc told me I had an allergic reaction to my new medicine I was just put on & was sent home. My hubby came home @ 1:00 & I was feeling like I had been hit by a truck.
He does pest control for a living & took 1 look @ my arm & took me back to the ER & raised hell. Today I have a doc appt 2 decide whether 2 admit me & knock me out 2 clean off the dead tissue (the area is the size of my hubby’s fist and the dead tissue is HARD as a rock). I still get little blisters that pop up daily leaking the yuck/poison out. The night I got bit, we bought a new TV & brought the cardboard box into to house. NEVER open cardboard boxes from dept. stores in your house. My hubby spent the next 2 days spraying & bombing the house. We moved in with my father-in-law for 2 days.
The 1st night back, I saw a spider that looked like a B.R. I killed it & then flushed it. Now I wish I would have saved it to show my hubby. I HAVE ALWAYS HATED SPIDERS!!!!!
Once, I had about six mosquito bites on my left leg, making a wierd connect-the-dots pattern. They itched so badly that they turned darker, and started to look like they were sprouting veins. My parents flipped, rushed me to the doctor, and it turns out that they were just ‘skeeto bites after I scratched too much.
Well, now, something different is going on. Two nights ago, I guess I got bitten by something in my sleep, because I woke up with a pretty itchy arm. I thought it was a mosquito bite, since mine tend to swell up quite a bit before they go away. This one was smaller, and I just heated up a wet washcloth and put it on the bite to stop the itching. It worked. Then today, as I went out to breakfast with my parents, I noticed my bite was itching more than normal. I just made a little ‘x’ on the center of the bite with my nail to stop the itching, but it didn’t help. That might not be healthy, so I won’t do that. It’s actually two tiny bites, now that I really look at it. My mom put iodine on it earlier, but somehow, the second bite is untouched by it. The bites are pretty swollen, and there seems to be hardened tissue underneath. I’m pretty freaked, I hate spiders, but my dad’s gonna take me to the doctor tomorrow to get it checked out. Should I leave or remove the iodine? Please respond, I’m sick of always fearing the worst of spider bites when it’s actually just an allergy to mosquito bites.
I wasn’t even aware that I had been bitten, I had some pain and thought that it was just an ingrown hair, or boil or a pimple. I tried to squeeze it but it was just to painful. By day #2 I couldn’t get out of the bed for anything, my fiance came home from work that evening, looked at me and said, “we are going to the E.R.”. I was very reluctant, I didn’t think it was that big of a deal. Once in the E.R. I was triaged and immediately taken to a room and prepped for surgery.
I thought I would simply get some antibiotics and pain pills and go home. Instead I got a 4×4″ wound to pack after being in the hospital on morphine for 4 days. The doctors told me that I was bitten by a brown recluse spider and if I had waited 1 more day it might have been too late. I had cellulitis on my entire trunk and had lost all of the color in my face, which was what made my fiance take me in. Thank God all that I have left is that beautiful scar.
Bentonite Clay is the only known cure for a brown recluse bite. I’ve been bitten twice. The first time I thought I had a boil until the flesh started rotting. When I got bit the second time, I started Googling about alternative remedies and read about Bentonite clay. I already had Bentonite because I use it for detoxing so I kept it on my leg and changed the bandage twice daily, reapplying each change. The bite healed up within a week. The first one took over a month and left a big purple dent in my arm. Do some Googling about bentonite and brown recluse bites. It’s cheap. You can order it online or get it at almost any health food store.
i had a friend that was bitten by one he lost his leg because it was to late bad spider
I was bitten by a spider 2 weeks ago. When I woke up I noticed a small itchy spot on the back of my leg. By the time I got off work that day it was the size of my hand, and the next morning it was the size of both my hands. A large purple splotchy and very tender area, plus several red splotches scattered on that leg. The Dr. gave me 2 steroid injections, 1 antibiotic injection, and put me on oral steroids/antibiotics/anti-inflammatory for 10 days.
At one time I had 5 blisters the size of my thumb, all would repeatedly drain and refill but one blister stuck around longer and had a slightly bloody discharge. The nerve pain up the inside of my leg was horrible. If I sat still for 30-45 minutes, the nerves would start to burn like I had scratched a really bad sunburn, but walking always relieved the pain. The muscles underneath are very hard, and the whole purple area is very sensitive to touch. I’m on day 15 and still taping a piece of cotton sheet around my leg to keep my clothes from rubbing it as I walk. I hope the worst is over!
Don’t tell people not to panic, it’s not something you can help. You SHOULD go see a doctor right away though if suspect a brown recluse bite, even if you don’t have insurance. (that’s what ER’s are for! JK.) but seriously better to owe some money than end up with a hugh hole in you and then being sick for years. I became interested in this site after reading Linda Ladd’s ‘Dark Places.’ Probably not the best book (mystery/suspense) for someone that’s been bitten but if you’re just interested it’s well written, it gave me the creeps. To all-hope you all stay/get well, and remember STOMP THE SPIDERS!
I was bite by a brown recluse last saturday at a friends house! I went to the dr after I realized it was not a thorn in my thigh after all! I am in so much pain and the medications the docter gave me I do not feel like they are working! I sometimes feel like I am going to pass out, I am also feel like I am going to vomit! What should I do and how long will this last!
to KJR…I just read your post about going through clothes while bit. I was going through some boxes of clothes that someone gave me to put in a garage sale and was bit by something. I felt it immediately…a very sharp pain and removed my hand quickly saying “Ouch!”. Upon removing my hand, I noticed three very small while marks (which looked like bite marks to me) in a row. Within an hour my thumb began swelling and looked like the picture posted. Within two hours it was terrible looking. I quickly went to the doctor and was given some antibiotics. It took care of it right away and healed very quickly. I’m just thankful I went in right away!
My son came over today and showed me 4 bites he has on him. Two on the right leg at the upper thigh and on the shin. One on his left shin, and one just below his right breast.
They look like the one on the page for infections and how the woman is sure its brown recluse. I have pictures but, don’t understand how to place them into this question box. I can send them email.
He had begun taking antibiotics earlier today. Do they help?
After he went home he broke open one and all this greenish/yellowish stuff came out. He says they hurt badly especially the one on his shins.
Its only been 3 days since he was bitten.
I want him to go to the hospital and he wont because he does not have insurance.
We live on the west coast of Florida.
Over the weekend he was party-ing a bit too much and he believes he may have passed out in a bush at a bar that is located on marshy lands at the edge of the gulf of Mexico.
Any and all help you could provide would be a great benefit.
As I look through your site the more upset I get. Sorry. But, normally things like this don’t bother me. When it comes to your kids… no matter how old they are…. its upsetting.
Thanks soooo much for you help.
Sharon
Well it has been 8 or 9 nine days since the bite and I’m happy to say I’m pretty sure this is not a recluse bite. If it is then I don’t seem be reacting to it badly. The wound has not grown at all, it’s the same diameter (about 1/4″) as when I first noticed it. It does have that volcano shape to it but the center area is healing and the scab didn’t fall off again and is actually getting smaller. The scar tissue is the same color; pinkish and a bit flaky skin, but it doesn’t hurt or itch at all. I’m pretty sure it’s gonna heal up fine. I feel lucky. I’m going to be extra careful from now on!
Reading some of your letters and thought I would hopefully help someone out. Ok 1st My name is Dennis…… back in july 09 I was asleep and got bit several times down my left arm starting at the elbow and the lil guy worked his way down.
I didn’t notice at 1st and thats not unusual according to what I’ve read. I noticed a few days later when several ???Water bubbles appeared on my arm followed by redness around the bite areas, intense pain (felt and still does feel like nerve damage), and then the actual bite area bubble busted and left slight tissue damage that are now scars. I know it to be a brown recluse bite b/c of the area where I lived was in Gadsden, Ala which is B.R. country , I identified about 30 B.R. around the apt., there was one on the couch when I awoke, and I worked for a pest control company….so yeah I know it was a recluse. Its been months now since the bite and Ive lost some strength in my left arm and I still have shooting pain from the elbow to the thumb.
The bite I received is the most common…..(1)you wont usually know that you got bit (2) Most wont get the big hole from a bite that you see in so many pix….these are extreme cases. Although even regular bites are very painful. (3) Spraying B.R.’s doesn’t really help b/c most pesticides have to be ingested and since spiders dont clean there self like a roach you have to spray directly on them for it to work (Sorry 🙁 ) Best way to help if you have an infestation……. (A) Keep a clean house as BR’s are night hunters and will feed on dead insects (B) Make sure your house is sealed as best as possible (C) Glue traps work to catch the BR’s (D) get rid of any cardboard that is just laying around(E) if you know you have a problem its a good idea to take something and stuff in your shoes at night to keep one from crawling in them as they like dark places……..
The apt I MOVED FROM I est. at least 100 to 150 spiders….it was a bad infestation as BR’s can produce young at anytime of the year and they can live with out food or water for 6 months (the one I caught lived in a ziplock bag for a week with no food,water, or air….so they are tough) They use there spider web usually as just a hang out for daylight hours and will come out usually a couple hours after dark to start there nightly patrols. The web looks kinda pressed against the wall and real messy looking with a funnel in it usually….. there webs are not as uniformed as most spiders. Anyway I can help feel free to email dray1111975 [at] yahoo.com.
I’m concerned I might have got bit by one of these a few days ago while getting winter clothes out for laundry. The bite is on my thumb, in the same place as the one showed in the picture. It caught my attention because of it’s peculiar appearance, it looks nothing like the usual sort of scrape or minor injury one gets around the house. It’s definitely an insect bite of some sort. When I first noticed it three days ago it had a pin prick sized dark spot surrounded with pinkish tissue slightly swollen. The area is about 1/4” in diameter and has not gotten any larger. Today the center part has gotten a lot larger and the scab fell off. It’s not itchy or anything and I don’t feel any ill affects. I’ll be keeping and eye on it and keep you updated in the next few days.
i just killed a spider that looked like a brown recluse. Thank god i wasn’t sleeping when it came in my room. Anyway i need to know if there is the possibility that there are more of them and if so how to get rid of them
I was bitten on the wrist at the first of the summer. Let it go until the pain was so bad I couldn’t bare it.. Hole the size of a quater.. Finally seeked help. The docters said they couldn’t beleive I made it that long without serious damage.. Now.. After that mess is all cleared up.. I have another bite just above my elbow on the same arm.. Already Streaking red up my vains.. Off to the doc tomorrow.. From Oklahoma… Where we dont worry so much about gangs and guns, but but fear these eight legged freaks!!!
ive been bitten so many times by the brown recluse that it doesn’t effect me like it used to …tiny…scab…gone in 6 weeks.like snake handlers,the body gets used to it…
when i was around 14 years old, i was bit twice by a spider on my leg (knee and back of knee) in my sleep. the next morning, it itched like crazy. i thought it was just a normal ant bite. but when i saw it, it was purple! i knew no ordinary ant could do that! for the next three days, i didn’t touch it. i just saw my skin begin to disappear and a giant hole take its place. when i would walk, it would ooze blood and pus. the front bite just turned into a huge purple bump with nothing but a small hole on top. the bite on the back of my knee was about the size of a quarter all around with a white core in it. we finally went to the emergency room because i started having cold sweats and chills. the doctor gave me antibiotics and took a specimen of it.
when i got home, i grabbed my tweezers, a bottle of alcohol, and i snatched that white core right out of it. the alcohol burned like crazy. to the front of my knee, i applied as much pressure as i could to the hole, and watched the pus descend from it like lava from a volcano. the pain was unbearable.
GO TO THE DOCTOR . it probably saved my life. the only thing i have from it are my memories and my scars.