Are the bites always really really bad, or do some people just react to it worse than others? I've seen some people (on TV, not personally) whose entire lives were destroyed by the little buggers.
According to what I read at Ohio States website (I just googled Brown Recluse Spider), some people show no reaction at all, some show a drastic reaction. It depends on how much venom is involved and how sensitive the person is.
Personally, I was bit by a black widow when I was in the Air Force. Didn't even realize it until the next day, and all I had was some redness and swelling at the bite.
Sometimes there is a "dry bite" where no venom was injected. Then you also have people who react very badly and people who react very well to the bites.
I had a bad bite about 6 years ago and was able to fight it off after a week. The affected area was around an 8" diameter and about 10 degrees hotter than the rest of my body at the worst. Luckily my immune system kicked in high gear around day five and two days later it had shrunk to the point that the doctor knew I would be OK. I have only a small scar (about the size of a chicken pox scar) left on my arm. On the other hand, a man I know was bitten on the leg and lost a golf ball size hunk of flesh from it. (Ironic since he had been a missionary in Africa for 30+ years and had avoided all sorts of deadly creatures there. Moves to Springfield MO and gets bitten by a brown recluse within a week.)
There is no anti-venom nor treatment.
My wife was bit on the back of the thigh and had to have a mass removed. No health implications besides that. My friend was bitten above the eye and there were some scarring issues.
One solution is to vacuum often. They tend to live in closed spaces hence the name "recluse"
We found a Black Widow in a bucket in our garage that came from my wife's home-place. They are thick in that area. We see them a lot at the cemetary where they use the vases attached to the tombstones that can be put into the ground. The space under the vase is a perfect breeding ground for them
The effects must vary. Just like any toxin, some people have dangerous reaction, while others are hardly fazed.
My husband falls in the 'hardly fazed' category. He's always getting bitten by all types of spiders. Black widow, brown recluse, etc., and all he gets is a small, tender lump that goes away in a few days.
One of the single biggest things you can do to avoid being bitten is to remove everything from your bed frame and clean the rail and any other nooks and crannies around the bed. Vacuum under the bed and wash your bedclothes regularly, making sure to turn the pillowcases inside out.
Brown recluse are nocturnal and actually quite shy. Their favorite hiding/feeding places are dark one that are rarely disturbed, since they eat soft bodied insects like cockroaches.
That's why one of the most common times to be bitten is while your sleeping.
I'm an occasional listener of George Noory on Coast To Coast when I'm up late and he's lately talked about a friend of his who waited too long to get a Brown Recluse bite looked at and may end up getting his leg amputated. These bites are nothing to fool with.
I was bitten by one in 1985, but didn't suffer as much as some people I have heard of. I didn't feel the bite when it happened, but assumed it happened on Friday while I was at a flower nursery. That evening my left arm began to hurt, and I tho't I had unknowingly bumped my elbow, but I began to feel sick. The next morning I nearly fainted twice, but did not associate it with my arm hurting. On Monday, the arm was swollen and red, so I went to the doctor and told him I must be losing my mind that I had bumped my elbow and didn't remember doing it. He said I had been bitten my a brown recluse spider, and had me look at my elbow in a large mirror. You could see the puncture mark, but there was a white ring the size of a dime around the bite, which is characteristic of the brown recluse bite. My arm was swollen and red from the elbow to my shoulder and the pain was terrible. I don't remember what the doctor prescribed, but he would not allow me to go on a planned trip. I made several visits to his office that week, and on Friday he lanced it, and I took antibiotics until the infection was cleared up. Maybe the skin on the elbow is tougher than the skin on other parts of the body and that kept me from having a worse experience and a bad scar. It was bad enough and I wouldn't want to repeat it.