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kansasskydiver

Brown recluse bite?

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You need to listen to these people and get medical treatment as quick as possible. I was bitten about a year ago from this past March. I was bitten on the back of the left thigh. I ended up having a M.R.S.A kind of staph infection. Fortunately my doctor drained the bite and gave me a prescription for Levoquin which cleared up the whole thing. All I ended up losing was about one layer of skin around the bite and fortunately mine wasn't bad and drained residual blood for about a week. The only residual effect I had was some arthritis in that leg for about six months. Things are fine now and you really can't even see where the bite was. Each case however is different with these critters so get medical help as soon as possible.

Chris

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Worst part is, it's my pull hand if anything happens:(


Well you can always use your other hand. I've heard if you do that it feels like someone else... oh wait, you're talking about skydiving... right?;)

I almost came out to the DZ this weekend, but it looks like I made the right call by not going.


"Ignorance is bliss" and "Patience is a virtue"... So if you're stupid and don't mind waiting around for a while, I guess you can have a pretty good life!

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Kansas,

I was bit by one last weekend!!! On the elbow.

Honestly, the spider never showed his face. There are hundreds of these Brown Recluses crawling around the house. I am assuming it was one of them. No fang marks are showing. Like I said, it was on the elbow and it would be hard to see that anyway.

Basically, I woke up with a pain on my elbow. Almost like something banged into it - like the corner of a table or something. After about three hours, it looked like a golf ball was underneath the skin. My cousin kept saying that it looked like one of those cartoon elbow's - like Popeye's.

At peak, it felt like someone hit me in the elbow with a baseball bat.

I took some benedril and put ice on it. The ice seemed to help most. It has been a little over a week and the repercussive pain just went away.

Definitely gave me a new form of arachnophobia. It sucks for sure.

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This is exactly the reason why I fucking hate spiders.....seriously, we should all vaporize them or send them to Jupiter or something....



Excellent idea :P

Spiders are critical in almost every ecosystem on earth. They stabilize and control insect populations. Care to think about the staggering numbers that the other bugs would reach, and the damage they would cause? We'd be overun with insects, spreading infectious diseases, destroying crops.

Spiders also serve as an important source of food for many other animals. Hummingbirds use spider silk to build their nests.

Yeah, hate them, they're worthless.

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Spiders are critical in almost every ecosystem on earth. They stabilize and control insect populations. Care to think about the staggering numbers that the other bugs would reach, and the damage they would cause? We'd be overun with insects, spreading infectious diseases, destroying crops.



Yes i knew that. Thats why we have bats. Bats can do the same job spiders can and they're alot nicer. I've been bitten by a spider before and I have really bad arachnaphobia, so yes, i know they help out with the bug population and I figured when I posted that, that someone would object and say something to the effect of what you just said. But i can still feel the way I do about it. I don't like them and yes, i do feel they are worthless. Except tarantulas, for some reason, i dont have a problem with those....
Puttin' some stank on it.

----Hellfish #707----

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Spiders are critical in almost every ecosystem on earth. They stabilize and control insect populations. Care to think about the staggering numbers that the other bugs would reach, and the damage they would cause? We'd be overun with insects, spreading infectious diseases, destroying crops.



Yes i knew that. Thats why we have bats. Bats can do the same job spiders can and they're alot nicer. I've been bitten by a spider before and I have really bad arachnaphobia, so yes, i know they help out with the bug population and I figured when I posted that, that someone would object and say something to the effect of what you just said. But i can still feel the way I do about it. I don't like them and yes, i do feel they are worthless. Except tarantulas, for some reason, i dont have a problem with those....



I'm sorry you wont try to change your feelings. I had a severe phobia of water. So much so that I could only shower, a bath was out of the question. I couldn't look at ocean scenes on television. Sometimes just looking at a puddle would make me want to run away. I overcame it to learn to scuba, something that I never would have thought possible. You wont change if you feel you can't.

And that's not "why we have" anything. Spiders control insect populations in addition to bats. Every species on earth has a has it's own intrinsic value. One species of animal cannot take the place of another.

Do you want the many types of hummingbirds, lizards, small mammals that "use" spiders gone too?

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Yes I know, i guess thats just the phobia side talking. I'm not saying that I wouldn't be up for changing it, but it'd be hard, very hard. Like your phobia of water earlier, thats mine with spiders. Even looking at a picture of one, makes me squirm and and double check myself.....i have it bad i know...

Maybe i should go to one of those things at a museum where you have the spiders crawl on you and stuff.....my friend has a tarantula and like i said, i can deal with that. I hold it and "play" with it, but its the ones like the brown recluse and the black widow that scare the crap out of me....
Puttin' some stank on it.

----Hellfish #707----

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If you can handle the tarantula, then I'd say you've got a good chance of overcoming it. Of course, you really have to want it. Good luck, and I'm glad that you seem to know where your thoughts are coming from ;)

And to the original poster, get it looked at. As a former EMT and spider bite recipient that put me in an ER, get it checked out. I waited too long, trying to self-treat myself. It was not a good idea. You don't need to have immediate or debilitating symptoms, the goal is to avoid them.

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I took some benedril and put ice on it. The ice seemed to help most. It has been a little over a week and the repercussive pain just went away.



Have you seen a doc though?? You never know what is going on (rotting) underneath your skin still...B|
~Jaye
Do not believe that possibly you can escape the reward of your action.

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I had a friend who was bitten by one, they had to surgically remove a chunk of his leg to stop the spread of the rot. I was bitten by one, and a chunk of my tissue would fester, turn bright red, about the size of a quarter the first time, the size of a dime a half dozen additional times. Each time it would swell up, then crust over, itch like crazy, then fall off. Did this for about a year, then went away.
skydiveTaylorville.org
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My appologies for not posting an update sooner. I appreciate the concern from everyone and am happy to say the results are 1 of 2 things based off of the conclusions of my dr. (which was a pain in the butt to get a hold of) and how the bite is reacting.

1. I was bit by something else that was big, mean, and rather pissed off. Similar pictures were found on the internet and listed as unknown... At the same time, the fang width was very similar to the brown recluse, which leads to the next conclusion

2. Based off of the amount of liquor in my system... Just kidding hehe But seriously, Dr. said that not everyone reacts to the recluse the same way and depends on the sevirity of the bite, how deep, how much venom etc. He doesn't doubt, though can't prove at the same time that I was in fact bit by one. Without the spider for identification it's hard to say other than how the body reacts. He didn't want to treat it with any medication unless it got worse (it's stayed about the same) at which point I should visit the ER.

So more than likely, I was bit by one, though we can not prove it. And why I haven't reacted to it, just depends on the person and where i was bitten. Looking back at the night I believe I've pinpointed when I was bit to 2 times. First being when we were carrying pallets to the bonfire. They were all stacked up in a pile, damp, dark etc. Perfect grounds for them to live. I recall reaching for the pallet with my right hand, turning it and lifting, putting my wrist in the bite spot... I also recall there being spider webs there. Only other time i can think of, and wouldn't make sense cause spiders don't just bite to bite, would be sleeping on the new couch that showed up at the dz.

All in all, my skin isn't falling off yet, expect in the spot where i was bitten. It tends to be swollen up in the morning a bit, but then goes down during the day as I do my stuff. If it gets bigger or any more red, then I need to proceed to the ER for treatment... To me, somewhat of a risk as the bite can get worse if not treated, but they don't want to risk treating it and it not being a recluse bite apparently.

Again, my apologies for not keeping everyone up to date, I was reminded by a mother a appreciate her concern :)
Chris
<--- See look, pink dolphins DO exist!

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