Brown Recluse Spider Bites - Now is the time to spray your house! (graphic pictures)

myself ^ | 5/9/03 | brigette

[stlnative]

This is a semi-vanity post - but others should learn about this nasty little spider and the damage it can do.

This is my 3rd day into my second Brown Recluse Spider bite that I have had in the past 3 years. The first one took over 6 months to heal and left a 3/4" diameter crater in the back of my neck at my hairline. I was bitten again 3 days ago, at least that is when I notice a pin head size bump on my right forearm and thought it was just a mosquito bite. Today is day three and I decided to keep a record of this new bite this time if it decides to get worse or hang around for 6 months like the other one. It was pin head size 3 days ago. I found a website after my first bite that keeps records and case pictures of brown recluse spider bites (warning if you think snake bites are nasty or anthrax sores are gross - well Brown Spider Bites are just as bad - they get uglier as time goes by!). I did not record my first bite as I figured it would just heal. But it got worse and worse as the weeks went by.

Anyway people in the midwest should learn about these nasty little spiders, even more if you have kids... you should bug bomb your house often and keep clutter away from and inside your homes. Right now the little nasty things are moving back indoors due to all the rainy weather we have had in the midwest.

Today is 5/9/03 and I am into my 3 day of being bitten by BRS (Brown Recluse Spider). My picture below looks like it is not much of anything and I am hoping that it stays as little as it now. But I am prepared to record it this time if it does get worse. Hopefully my picture of my 3 day old bite will help others recognize when they have also been bitten by a BRS, everyone is affected differently depending on the size of the spider and how your body handle the poison. Since this is my second bite it may not get any worse.



I have started a bite history on a website that has records of over 400 BRS bites (tons of photos there that would make your jaw drop if you have never seen what a BRS can do to you once it bites you) My case number is #995 (maybe they have 995 recorded cases now) the website url is http://www.highway60.com/mark/brs/default.htm

My little bite is how all of it starts for some people, that little bite can turn into this...
Graphic Picture of Hand after a BRS bite and the link to this persons BRS bite story

I don't think I need to say more here - just visit the BRS Bite site and use the search link at the top... Put in the information you want (if you just want to see the stories with pictures check off just the "Yes" next to the Picture option and hit the search button at the bottom.

Do yourself a favor and your kids a favor... spray or bomb your house at least once each season (spring, summer, fall, winter). You can buy house bombs at any local discount store in packs of 3 for about $6.00.

I posted this so that people mainly in the midwest can learn about these nasty little spiders, I didn't do it to draw attention to my own bite... I just know now how nasty they can get and how you can lessen your chances of being bit. I got bit before I had a chance to bomb my house... it has been rainy here and I should have known they would start coming in through the cracks between the window screens and window frame. All in all I should be fine, but some people do not fair as well.

[repubmom]

They're in the LA area as well - a larger area in CA than the map shows. A lady I met had a hole in her thigh all the way to the bone before they did plastic surgery. She was bitten when walking through some shrubs. She almost died from it. From what I've heard their webs are very irregular...not symmetrical.

[discostu]

I guess encyclopedia's aren't nearly as cool now as they were before. Never thought of it. When I was a kid I used to grab a random volume open to a random page and start reading, that's how I got to know a little bit about a lot of stuff but not a lot about anything ;-)

A good set of encyclopedia look good on your bookshelf though, good office decoration if you become a boss.

[SarahW]

There are loxosceles spiders that are not recluses.
They are relatives, and have the violin...
and they are in Virginia.

[katykelly]

When I was 21 I was bitten by a BRS on my thigh. Swelling, every color of the rainbow with red streaks, fever, vomiting, the whole nine yards. Oddly enough it healed on it's own.

Several years ago I was bitten by a spider (didn't see it) while in the garden. It was my left index finger and just kept getting worse. The doc gave me antibiotics and a tetanus shot. It healed, but I have a scar.

Last month I was bitten again while gardening, same hand. The 2nd day my hubby told me to make a poultice with MSG. It worked almost immediatly. This works for jellyfish bites, also.

Interesting thred.

[katykelly]

BTW, I wonder if you are bitten enough, can you build up an imunity?

[metalurgist]

My company brought a school bus up to me in Pittsburgh from Georgia that was fire damaged and needed rewiring.

The bus sat in the lot from the end of October til the end of February when we brought in into the garage. Three days later I crawl under it to assess the damage and I see a lot of big dead spiders in little webs attached to the frame and underbody, lots of egg sacks too. I saw a large half dollar sized one sitting in the corner of the frame and I blew at it, and to my great surprise it moved. So did I and so did the bus.

The bus went back outside where it was 2 degrees below zero and stayed out there for a couple of days. As soon as the bus came in I sprayed carb cleaner all over the webs, frozen spiders and eggs. Two cans later there was nothing left alive under the bus and I had a chemical buzz going.

There are brown recluse spiders in Georgia and I wish you would keep them there.

[Treebeard]

My best friend got bitten twice on the underside of his upper arm while putting on a sweater. He ignored it, thinking the little tug he felt was just an itchy fabric.

Three days later he was feeling very bad, and when he reported to work, (fortunately for him, he worked at a children's medical center, that had every specialty from burns to tropical diseases), one of the geneticist/biologists told him he looked awful and pressed him for info. When he looked at my friend's arm, he told him it was a BRS bite and to go immediately to the ER.

He spent four days in the hospital, borderlined on renal failure, urine output was the color of cranberry juice, and the flesh on the arm almost dissolving. They finally got it turned around and ended up removing a banana sized piece of flesh and muscle from the arm.

I have heard of the shock treatment being used on the wounds, which remain open, often suppurating, and very painful after years, as well as treating them with drugs employed in the treatment of Hansen's disease (leprosy).

[Southflanknorthpawsis]

Very important post, brigette. Thank you for it.

My older brother was bitten in the lower leg by a brown recluse about 8 years ago. The affected area ended up very large; 3" X 6" and quite deep.

At first doctors insisted it was not the result of a bite, but my brother knew he had been bitten.

Still others claimed that there are no brown recluse spiders in California. I always asked what would prevent any spider from traveling in via a zillion different ways (luggage, cars, planes, trains, etc.). Finally doctors agreed that it was caused by the spider.

His case was very severe and he developed cellulitis as well as living with a wound that he was told would never completely heal, despite debreeding (sp?)and a skin graft.

In addition he suffered a great deal of pain. Not only did it affect his general health, but he also had to live on potent pain killers.

Two and a half months ago, his lower leg was amputated after a long, long battle. It probably should have been done sooner, but obviously such a decision is a tough one. Thankfully all went well and he will be fitted for a prosthesis soon.

Awareness of the treachery of this spider is necessary. I have seen the damage it can do and it isn't pretty.

[stlnative]

Even though my BRS bite is minor, some people can suffer badly that is why I started this thread.

My case number is located here Case #995 I will update it daily. It may or may not get worse, but I feel it important to report on it in the event that it does get worse.

Thanks everyone for your posts and sharing your own stories on BRS bites.

[Conservababe]

Interesting thread, but I have seen no mention of hyperbaric chanber treatments for the bites. The treatments allow for rapid healing of wounds, including BRS.

[Conservababe]

That would be hyperbaric chamber.

[templar]

LOL! How did they get along with your jackalopes?

I'm serious. What is now the SW side of OKC suburbs used to be a natural habitat for these critters 50 years ago. They were everywhere and they were huge. They had the habit, when approached, of standing up to a full height of about a foot, but they did it on all eight legs, not rearing up like a dog. They sort of pulled their legs in in to a smaller diameter and just pushed them out strait to attain the full height (maybe a manuever to ward off predators?). I think that they were of a variety that thrived during the low farming activity of the dust bowl years and shortly thereafter, along with the elimination of most of their natural enemies from the earlier intense farming. With the return of major farming and development caused by the growth of OKC, they (the big ones) had disappeared by the early '60's and the heards had only existed for a very few years. The last of the big ones I remember seeing, before I moved away, were only about 6 or 8 inches across with most being in the 3 or 4 inch range.

[templar]

I'm serious. See # 192.

Of course, I was only humorously speculating about them consuming the burglars. They really don't eat all that much. Just mice, rats, snakes, small dogs, etc. (O.K., so I really don't know what they eat)

[jacksonstate]

I live in central Kentucky and have had my house sprayed several times. Demon WP will kill'em dead and you can buy the stuff your self. Our house is in the woods and my second night in the house I was sitting on the couch watching a movie with a blanket over me and a BRS crawled right over my lap. I quickly killed it and searched the house for more. I ended up finding a half dozen in the basement and three up stairs. Last summer I was cleaning out my garage and moved my work bench and there were four on the paneling. I have found them in my son's baseball helmet. I had one crawl over the stove and then on the cabinet and then it tried to hide in a Glade candle box. Two weeks ago I found a BRS flaoting in the toilet in my basement. There is a vent fan directly above the toilet and my guess is that is where it got in. I found one in my heat pump when I went to change the filter. My dog has been bitten but none of us have(wife, kids or me) took my big Choc Lab about six months to heal. If you are ever bitten apply ice quickly and call your Doctor. The ice may prevent any serious damage. The BRS is a very shy creature and that is how it got its name. Most people are bitten by accident. Check your shoes and shake your clothing and don't let bed clothes drape thr ground. Here are some pic's I took of a BRS I captured in the kitchen. I used they key for scale.

[WaterDragon]

Thanks. Just wondered. Thought nature was pure and all that.

[WaterDragon]

I'm NEVER going to visit OK. I kind of like spiders, and usually scoop them up to put them outside when I find one. But NOT what you've described.

[I'm ALL Right!]

Okay, I'm from Tulsa, and we have these every year in our home...but let me tell you--after the past couple of days of storms, this is the last thing I need to think about! (kidding) Can I get past the tornadoes before I have to think about the poisonous spiders, please? Thanks. ;)

[Neenah]

brigette...what a great service you have provided for everyone.! Very informative, and everyone chiming in with their knowlege and experience I know is helpful to those reading.

Good luck to you brigette, and make sure you get checked out if it continues. ..LET US KNOW with a followup, ok ?

[Neenah]

You did good research today, Kevl..thanks.

[stlnative]

That is a nice fat and healthy one... They look so harmless! (Good Catch!)