I am bed ridden for the next couple of weeks. Christmas night I was bitten on the left front hip by a Brown Recluse spider. I can tell you it is a very pain spider bite. It feels like someone is burning you with a cigarette. The pain varies from a light burning to a pretty intense burning. It lasts 24 hours a day and 7 days a week. You also feel like you have a bad case of the Flu.
My hip has a place about half the size of a playing card that is turning black and starting to rot out. Along about the last part of next week most of the rotting should have taken place and then I will have a skin graft done. I am about worn out. I haven"™t slept for more than 20 minutes at a time for the last 3 days. I am taking Hydrocodon<sp> 500 milligram every 4 hours and Lyrica 50 milligrams twice a day.
The reason I am making this post is to give what I consider some important information. I manage the safety meetings at work. One of the subjects I try to cover with some regularity is Brown Recluse spiders. I thought I had been doing a fair job of it till I got bit.
What I discovered was that I covered the subject of identifying the spider but not much about the treatment of the spider bites, the do"™s and don"™ts.
The first thing I discovered that really surprised me is that there isn"™t much that can be done to make things better. There is not much of a medical treatment for Brown Recluse bites other than letting it rot out and then do skin grafts.
I also discovered there are a number of things that you can do wrong that will make a bad situation worse.
The first thing I did the night I got bite was to go on-line and see what I could find out.
The two most important pieces of information on that site is to #1 DON"™T put heat on it, #2 DO put ice on the bite. Heat causes the poison to spread and there by makes the rotted out place much bigger. Ice slows the spread of the poison and results in the wound being a small as it would be. (Luckily I knew better than putting heat on the bite. Stupidly I didn"™t bother with the ice, it could have made the rotting place smaller.)
The other pretty important piece of information is to not exercise the area for the first 9 hours or so. The more that you move the area around, the more the poison will spread. That alone can, more than, double the amount of flesh that is going to rot out.
Folks I know this topic isn"™t religious in nature. I have known many of you for a number of years now and I just feel that if I can pass the information along that might help one of you out, I want to do that.
There are too many of us Southern folks on here that live around Brown Recluse spiders to not try and spread the word.
Leaf River Mac, Chuck, LBR, Rebel Hog, and any other southern folks on here, PLEASE read the information in the link. Even if you don"™t need it for yourself, be ready in case it is the kids or grand kids that get bit.
Thanks
mr-pirk
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A former student of mine was bitten by a close relative of the Brown Recluse (I don't recall the name though). She was hospitalized for several days. The poison is very similar in effect and severity.
I'll pray for you, Mr. P.!!! Hang in there and God bless!
Get well soon Mr. Pink. Hope you feel better soon.
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Of course, I'll be praying for you my friend. A hunting buddy of mine told me at the Christmas Eve service that he had been bitten for the 2nd time by a brown recluse. He was bitten a little over a year ago on the upper thigh and almost had to have some parts removed that most men would prefer to keep! This most recent bite was in Pennsylvania while deer hunting. We've been experiencing a very warm fall/winter and the spiders are still out here.
Good luck buddy. I'll tell my wife too so she'll pray for you as well.
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man hope you are feeling better soon, will keep you in prayer
thanks for the info, my wife got bit and had a spot about the size of a quarter, she knew what bit her and got prompt medical attention and avoided any really bad effects, but anytime your dealing with animals that are poisonus, the quicker you seek medical attention the better off you are
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Some useful information
