Brown Recluse Spiders-OUCH!

WOW Cory, now you're the second person I know who was bit by a brown recluse in the VI. I know of a lady who was bit on STX and she had to go to PR to get treated. Since I heard about that incident, I kill any brown spiders I see. Normally I would let them live, but since it is pretty hard to positively ID them as a brown recluse, I figure better safe than sorry.

Yikes, too, about the staph infection on STX!!!

Thanks for keeping us all informed!!

Oh, here's a site with photos. For those who are TERRIFIED of spiders, don't look cuz there's lots of photos.

http://spiders.ucr.edu/recluseid.html

The problem with identifying them is who the heck gets close enough to see how many eyes they have? That's why I just kill them outright now.....so my apologies to all the innocent brown spiders that I've killed!

The Brown recluse has 6 eyes, not 8, and has a "violin" shape on its back. Also know as a "fiddleback" spider.

Heres a pic of the violin shape....

http://creatures.ifas.ufl.edu/urban/spiders/brown_recluse03.htm

Cory,
Sorry to hear about not one, but TWO bites...yikes! I am moving to STX next week from Washington State, and am very familiar with the brown recluse. I’m surprised you are still up and moving after two bites.

I was bitten a few years back and literally feared for my life. Thank goodness I was at a rendezvous fair and the local herbalists had just the thing – propolis. It’s a by-product of bee hives, the brown sticky stuff they use to hold the hives/combs together, and works wonders! They say it’s a “flesh rejuvenator” which is good against the recluse bite, since the poisons eat away the flesh. I know a few people who actually had to have skin grafts after being bitten. My bite healed up nicely, but only after 2 days of fever induced hallucinations and no muscle strength in my leg for about a week. I think had I not used the propolis it would have been much worse.

I’ve been going through all the stuff we will and will not be bringing with us for the move. My bottle of propolis was not on the list of things to bring, but you can bet it is now! I wasn’t aware of the brown recluse being in the island, but I’ll come prepared.

thanks for the heads up,
Lori

I was treated about ten years ago for a bite on the back of my calf. I never saw what bit me. Like you, Cory, I assumed it was a nasty, very itchy mosquito bite that I completely compromised with constant scratching, thereby causing an infection. I went to a doctor and had it checked. I was put on antibiotics and given a topical ointment, but the site continued to worsen. It was growing wider and deeper, oozing continuously. I was wearing 4" gauze bandages that had to be changed regularly. I believe I went through 4 courses of different antibiotics for more than a month before things began to improve. This was about the most disgusting, repulsive wound I've ever seen.

The odd thing is that no one at that time diagnosed a spider bite. I guess they were just treating it as an infection and I assumed it was a mosquite. When I later changed to a new doctor and discussed this bite with her she immediately said it was most likely a brown recluse spider bite. (Her specialty had been dermatology, and bites were of great interest to her.)

By the way, this happened on Long Island, New York. The brown recluse is by no means an exotic tropical creature.

You have my sympathy Cory. Keep your hands away from it!!!!

A friend of ours was bitten by we do not know. But, the symptoms were similar to brown recluse. She ultimately went to the hospital (STT) and they gave her prescription for nitro-glycerin (sp?) patches. They told her to apply 1/2 patch according to the instructions. This worked for her. The pain and the nasty looking wound on her leg went away. She is left with a small scar on her leg but from what I hear from other spider bite victims, it could have been worse.

I saw the info about nitro-glycerin patches.

Im going with this: its from a brown recluse venom kit available online.

*Advanced Adsorb Powder
Contains Activated Carbon made from bituminous coal through a patented steam activation process.
Capillary or electromagnetic attraction to the molecules of Brown Recluse venom.
Ineffective unless mixed with liquid.

*Echinacea
Powerful infection fighter and natural antibiotic.
Effective blood purifier
Supports the body against blood poisoning.

*Lobelia
Encourages the flow of oxygenated blood.
Long history of effective use on insect bites.

*Plantain -
Powerful astringent which works to contract the skin tissue.
Healing, antibiotic, and styptic effect on sores and wounds.
Some have reported good results on Brown Recluse bites using this herb alone.

Cinabar/Lori: I consider myself lucky that i have no necrosis, no dying flesh or id be back int he ER. Not being able to sleep becasue of the pain is the worst part! I cant find a comfy position with the constant throbbing of pain.

Gerie: How long did the bite continue to worsen for you, im on day 7 now and i still have awful volcano's, red. inflamed skin. I think the worst is over, im now in the oozing stage YUCK! but the 4 inch redness around the wound has gone away. Im down to 1 inch area now, but the volcano is still raised a decent amount. No purple or black going on thank god...

Hey Cory (and everyone else),
Sorry about your bites. The first time I heard about this spider was from the wife of one of my brothers in law, from Atlanta.

The interesting thing that I'm seeing is that other than Cory's bite on the arm, everyone was bit on the leg. The gal that I knew was also bit on the leg... while on the toilet. I've heard these guys are VERY shy, but it's starting to sound like they maybe like the moisture of the toilet. I work out of my home and have my office in my basement. I once noticed a spider (I don't think it was BR) living under the rim at the top of the bowl of the toilet. Each time I'd flush I could see the water coming out from this rim, but it apparently didn't flush this guy out (I think the space is bigger than I imagined). I tried to live peacefully with him for a few visits to his neighborhood, but finally got too freaked out and had to evict him. I ran a q-tip under the rim to chase him out. My point (after a long story... sorry) is that these spiders could live (or lay eggs!) under this rim without being visible... you might want to spray under the rim once a week.

My ex-husband was bitten on the butt. It started as a small white bump, like a pimple, and stayed that way for about a week, more or less. When it started getting bad, it was really a mess. It eventually grew to the size of a quarter and about an inch deep at the deepest part. Tooks weeks, at least 6 weeks, to heal. Sorry Cory. Sounds like you will be sitting very gently for a while.

Now I am off to spray my toilets before I start to get ready for bed.

Anyone know if animals get bitten by blown recluses? I haven't heard of it, but that might be really bad.

i've had one in my linen closet for years,we avoid each other,i make sure to look close when i go for a towel or sheets

6 WEEKS...omg...thats bad news......im in the erupting puss volcano stage and i was hoping this was the worst of it.... i was hoping 3 weeks....

ps...IM STANDING haha

Cory K.

pps...just spent an hour draining one of the bites, HOLY **** I HATE SPIDERS NOW. Just got about 2 table spoons of awfulness out!!

Heres a video of someon elses draining procedure, mine is just like this guys and in the same spot!!!

WARNING GRAPHIC..NOT FOR FAINT OF HEART.. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WdXfjR-8HEc

THESE THINGS ARE DANGEROUS!! Check your sheets before you get int bed!!!

Oh crap - didn't know they had those here. I'm just settling in from the Seattle suburbs where we see brown recluses regularly. I simply made it a habit to always lift a toilet ring and check before I sit down and to lift the sheets of the bed and check before getting in back home. Looks like I'll need to continue those habit shere. For some reason I had assumed that the presence of so many geckos around the exterior of the house here in STX would me we're safe from most nasty insects.

That's one of the most disgusting things I've ever seen. I researched them fairly extensively when I first learned about them. It turns out its very rare to experience necrosis - which made me feel a little better. But still, ugh!

Cory, my experience was a lot like Juanita's husband's. My crater got to about an inch in diameter and probably about 3/4 of an inch in depth. I'm pretty sure I lived with this for about an entire summer, a couple of months. My scar is not circular. It's an inch long by half an inch wide.

It's not an experience I want to repeat.

Gerie

This really freaked me out, so I cleaned my toilets really good last night, and thoroughly examined my bed sheets before going to sleep, but I kept imagining that there was a spider crawling on me all night. Needless to say, I didn't sleep very well. We have an exterminator that comes once a month. Would that take care of the spiders? Or - is there a special spray or something that I can spray in my closets, etc. to make sure they're not hanging around? Just wondering...

worst night of my life..... these are so painful and draining them of fluid is somethign i would want noone to go through.

meowruff...get spider traps and put around all 4 legs of your bed.... Im also going to get the netting and tuck it under every night.

I bought this kit and i also ordered traps with it. http://www.brown-recluse.com/

Cory, what's happening with that spider bite... better, worse?

All healed!! only 3 weeks of hell !

All i got left are two scars that look like bullet holes!

But now im prepared, i got spider traps, spider bite kits and im about to buy a giant net to put over my bed!!

Good to hear that it's done with... And, it sounds like you might be able to make up some great war stories about those bullet holes!

Cory I have one of those bullet holes as well. I had no idea at the time what had bitten me. My mom used an old fashioned rememdy for the bite. She scraped a raw potato, making sort of a pulp, put that on the bite and then sprinkled a little baking soda on top of that, bandadged it up and 24 hours later the bite was completely drained of all the poison and was healing. A week later all I had was a scar.