Ever been bitten by a poisonous spider?

[harmony]

Originally Posted by selzer

Yeah, well, I am over here digging at myself scratching and wondering if I have spiders in my shirt now!!!

I gota do it, have you ever thought of a snake under your bed

[wildo]

I could have posted pics, you know. Or discussed the fountain, yes FOUNTAIN of blood, puss, and rotten flesh that spewed from my leg when it ruptured... Try sleeping now.

[Kyleigh]

BowWowMeow ... i so did NOT need to hear that ... I'm so not a fan of spiders and almost everyone I know knows that ... so they don't tell me things about spiders ... and it's not a subject I research ... so now, in my 40s I'm discovering that there are poisonous dangerous spiders in Ontario ... OKEY DOKEY ... I think I'm going to buy a huge netting and just walk around with that draped over me ... this thread has totally creeped me out!

[ShenzisMom]

Just think-some people keep these guys as PETS. Hehehe

[Kyleigh]

You just made me remember something from a very long time ago! I was about 18 or so and was visiting my friend. She lived with her boyfriend, who wasn't home at the time. We were in the living room and she went to the bathroom ... suddenly this MASSIVE freaking spider goes scurrying across the carpet. I screamed bloody murder and grabbed the telephone book and slammed it onto the spider. I then proceeded to stand on the phone book, jumping up and down ... just to make sure it was REALLY dead.

My friend comes back into the living room ...

Sylvie: Marion, what are you doing?
ME: Sylvie, you should have seen the size of the freaking spider ... it was massive ... don't worry, I got it
Sylvie: Um, what colour was it?
ME: Brown, something like that, doesn't matter, it's dead
Sylvie: Was it kind of fuzzy?
ME: How the heck should I know, it just started running across the room, so I killed it
Sylvie: I'll be right back ...

Sylvie leaves the room, comes back to the living room and says Tony is going to freak. Tony's her boyfriend ... that WAS his pet tarantula that he was supposed to have locked up before I got there!

OOOPPPSSSSS

[GSDElsa]

I think youre crazy not to go on antibiotics since these things can easily turn into mrsa infections......im not an antibiotic fan in general but wouldn't risk it with a spider bite like that.

[Zisso]

I had a bite very much like Wildo did.

I work outside in construction. I was standing there, doing my job on a cold February morning when I felt something similar to a be sting. Told my lineman I think I just got stung. Of course he laughed.

Within an hour it was a welt about the size of a quarter. A few hours later, the size of a lime. At the end of the day the welt was the size of a grapefruit, and very painful to walk. Next morning, I went to Dr. Was given antihistamine's and a cream to rub into the wound/bite site. Dr. could see the bite marks! Within the first few hours the swelling was down, less painful. Never did see what got me, but assume it was a spider that had crawled into the leg of my jeans for warmth.

[Lilie]

Originally Posted by GSDElsa

I think youre crazy not to go on antibiotics since these things can easily turn into mrsa infections......im not an antibiotic fan in general but wouldn't risk it with a spider bite like that.

I agree. I have a friend who was bitten by a spider while pulling out his lawn mower. It bit him on the fleshy part of the palm. Being a 'he' man he left it to heal on his own.

A few days later, while at work they rushed him to the hospital. They had to cut his entire arm, from the middle of his hand all the way to his arm pit and leave it open to drain. He was in the hospital for a couple of weeks. He went from ICU - they didn't think he would live, to a very good chance of losing his arm. He was blessed and didn't lose his arm. But it looks really nasty.

All due to a spider bite left untreated.

[RocketDog]

I did see the nurse at my doctor's office the day after I was bitten. She looked at it and she also called me yesterday. Unfortunately, I have way more experience with infections than most people ever will. I well know the signs of when to get going on antibiotics. I've been cleaning it and putting neosporin on it (actually a prescription ointment I have).

To immediately jump on abx wouldn't be the smartest move in my case after having so much exposure to them. Every time I take them I risk having that be the straw that breaks the camels back. I am already allergic to two major ones (including penicillin and that family). I need to make sure I don't screw myself out of more.

Actually, I think it looks slightly improved this morning. The blister is opened and sloughed off. The redness hasn't expanded (I marked it with a sharpie--it got bigger yesterday initially but has now reduced back to original size) so that's a good sign.

[RocketDog]

Originally Posted by Lilie

I agree. I have a friend who was bitten by a spider while pulling out his lawn mower. It bit him on the fleshy part of the palm. Being a 'he' man he left it to heal on his own.

A few days later, while at work they rushed him to the hospital. They had to cut his entire arm, from the middle of his hand all the way to his arm pit and leave it open to drain. He was in the hospital for a couple of weeks. He went from ICU - they didn't think he would live, to a very good chance of losing his arm. He was blessed and didn't lose his arm. But it looks really nasty.

All due to a spider bite left untreated.

I can guarantee you his arm was OBVIOUS in that it needed treatment. That is something else entirely to ignore.

Interesting about cutting his arm all the way open. This is actually similar to what I had almost 5 years ago, and my arm was the size of my husband's thigh from my shoulder to my sausage-like fingers (I had strep A virus in my arm, though). I had 5 surgeries on it (plus several manipulations later) and they had given me only a 15% chance of keeping the arm. I had a drain for 6 weeks--they did not leave my arm open during any of those. I wonder why they didn't use a drain...? I had 3 IV antibiotics given by slow drip, 3 X's daily (I had a PICC line in my left arm). This pretty much ensured I couldn't leave the house for 3 months. Then I was on pill antibiotics for several months.

Now you see why I don't just rush on them. They can really mess up your system when you're on them for over 6 months.