[OT] PING - The Poster formerly known as Wafflycathcs

[OT] PING - The Poster formerly known as Wafflycathcs - re bites gone ugly

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Lorraine - 26 May 2004 16:45 GMT

Hi Helen, I'm a part-time lurker, although not much at all lately, in
this group and I've been searching for information on spider (or other
unknown creature) bites. I ran across a post from you back in 2001 that
sounds similar to what has happened to my granddaughter, Madison. I was
just wondering if you ever found out what caused the blister on your
foot, and how did it heal. We don't know for certain that Madison's
bite is from a spider as she didn't see it happen.

I have pics up of Madison's hand at
http://www.raineforest.com/gallery/madbite
I'll warn everyone though, they might be a bit much for the squeamish. I
don't think they're that bad, but proceed with caution.

I'll be checking back for replies, or my email is Lsquared at pobox dot
com if you prefer to take it to email.

Thanks for any kind of info.

Lorraine

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dirtylitterboxofferingstospammers - 26 May 2004 17:02 GMT

>Hi Helen, I'm a part-time lurker, although not much at all lately, in
>this group and I've been searching for information on spider (or other
[quoted text clipped - 15 lines]
>
>Lorraine

Hi Lorraine

I'm trying this both newsgroup and attempted email.

It looks a bit like what I had. Mine was a clear blister about an inch or so
across, in a circle and about the same in height, filled with clear liquid. The
surrounding area was inflamed,swollen, red and painful. The swelling was in all
of my foot and going up towards my knee, redness fading the further from the
location of the bite.

Never did find the exact cause.

Doc gave me antihistamines. Didn't do much good - the thing took a couple of
weeks to go down - the blister burst after a few days. Left a nasty red scar
where the blister had been - the skin gradually came off, but now there's no
sign of it ever being there.

Cheers. helen s

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John F. Eldredge - 26 May 2004 18:00 GMT

>>Hi Helen, I'm a part-time lurker, although not much at all lately,
>>in this group and I've been searching for information on spider (or
[quoted text clipped - 34 lines]
>Left a nasty red scar where the blister had been - the skin
>gradually came off, but now there's no sign of it ever being there.

I was bitten on the hand by a brown recluse spider last July 4th. As
is characteristic for this type of spider bite, I initially had a
painless welt that looked like a mosquito bite. About an hour later,
it started to itch and burn. By the next morning, I had a circular
scab about 1/4 inch across, medium red with a dark red perimeter. I
checked on the web, and found that what I had matched the photos of
brown recluse bites. Such bites cause local tissue death and can
lead to anaerobic infections such as gangrene, so I went to a medical
clinic and was prescribed a ten-day dose of antibiotics. I ended up
with a scar, but no deeper tissue damage.

Signature

John F. Eldredge -- john@jfeldredge.com
PGP key available from http://pgp.mit.edu
"Reserve your right to think, for even to think wrongly is better
than not to think at all." -- Hypatia of Alexandria

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jmcquown - 26 May 2004 18:20 GMT

>>> Hi Helen, I'm a part-time lurker, although not much at all lately,
>>> in this group and I've been searching for information on spider (or
>>> other unknown creature) bites.

(snip)

>>> Lorraine
>>
[quoted text clipped - 9 lines]
>>
>> Never did find the exact cause.

(snip)

> I was bitten on the hand by a brown recluse spider last July 4th. As
> is characteristic for this type of spider bite, I initially had a
> painless welt that looked like a mosquito bite. About an hour later,
> it started to itch and burn. By the next morning, I had a circular
> scab

(snip)
Aren't they the loveliest of spiders? (teasing). Several years back I was
getting ready to move and pulled some boxes down from my closet to go
through them. Opened one box up, gawd, that's a brown recluse! (You can
tell because the mature ones have a 'violin' shape on their front thorax).
Turned out the attic was infested with them. They can cause real problems
if the bites aren't treated promptly.

I was at the doctor's office last year when I saw a man with the bite of a
recluse - his entire calf was red and irritated and he said he'd had a large
blister before it burst and scabbed over. They gave him some sort of shot
and I *think* antihistamines and antibiotics to take. Not sure they have
anti-venom for a brown recluse.

Jill

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John F. Eldredge - 26 May 2004 18:46 GMT

>> I was bitten on the hand by a brown recluse spider last July 4th.
>> As is characteristic for this type of spider bite, I initially had
[quoted text clipped - 16 lines]
>antibiotics to take. Not sure they have anti-venom for a brown
>recluse.

- From what I was told last year, no antivenom has been developed for
brown recluse bites. So, they treat the symptoms and try to keep any
secondary infection from setting in. I suspect that I may have
received a relatively small dose of the venom; the spider may have
caught a bug a short time earlier and used up most of its venom
supply. Also, I didn't actually see the spider, but the wound
matched textbook photos of a brown recluse bite. The major health
risk, as I understand it, is not from the bite itself but from
infections that can arise in the necrotic tissue.

Signature

John F. Eldredge -- john@jfeldredge.com
PGP key available from http://pgp.mit.edu
"Reserve your right to think, for even to think wrongly is better
than not to think at all." -- Hypatia of Alexandria

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Lorraine - 27 May 2004 03:59 GMT

>I was at the doctor's office last year when I saw a man with the bite of a
>recluse - his entire calf was red and irritated and he said he'd had a large
>blister before it burst and scabbed over.

And another blister story. Thanks! The NP drained Madison's blister
instead of waiting for it to burst on its own. That seemed to relieve a
lot of her discomfort.

Thanks for your input.
Lorraine

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Lorraine - 27 May 2004 03:59 GMT

>I was bitten on the hand by a brown recluse spider last July 4th. As
>is characteristic for this type of spider bite, I initially had a
>painless welt that looked like a mosquito bite. About an hour later,
>it started to itch and burn.

I didn't see Madison's bite the first day, but it's my understanding
that it was similar to your experience.

> By the next morning, I had a circular
>scab about 1/4 inch across, medium red with a dark red perimeter. I
>checked on the web, and found that what I had matched the photos of
>brown recluse bites.

The blistering instead of ulcers is what was confusing us. I finally
found one picture of a spider bite that blistered on the net. Other
pictures matched your experience. Our anger at it being dismissed by
the first nurse practitioner as a burn is the motivation behind me
searching out other experiences.

> Such bites cause local tissue death and can
>lead to anaerobic infections such as gangrene, so I went to a medical
>clinic and was prescribed a ten-day dose of antibiotics. I ended up
>with a scar, but no deeper tissue damage.

Glad to hear you recovered well with minimal damage. Spider bites can
be scary.

Thanks for the info!
Lorraine

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Lorraine - 27 May 2004 03:59 GMT

> Left a nasty red scar
>where the blister had been - the skin gradually came off, but now there's no
>sign of it ever being there.

I like the sound of that!

Thanks for all the info. Madison was over earlier tonight for her daily
photo shoot, and she said that it didn't hurt at all. She didn't seem
to be favoring it near as much, so I'm sure we're over the worst.

I don't know that we'll ever know for sure what caused this either.
Brown recluse spiders are common around here, and that was our first
guess. One of the nurse practitioners confirmed that possibility.
Madison is still blaming it on carrots?? I thought she liked carrots.

Thanks again,
Lorraine

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MaryL - 26 May 2004 17:49 GMT

> Hi Helen, I'm a part-time lurker, although not much at all lately, in
> this group and I've been searching for information on spider (or other
[quoted text clipped - 15 lines]
>
> Lorraine

Lorraine,

What a frightening set of pictures. I'm so glad to see the wound is
healing. I don't have any knowledge for you, but I do have a couple of
suggestions: First, do you have access to the alt.consumers.pest-control
newsgroup? If so, I would suggest that you post your questions there, with
a link to those excellent pictures. This newsgroup deals with pest
extermination, but some of the people might recognize the pictures. Be sure
to *include your location,* thought, because that could help to narrow down
the possibilities. Second, are you close to a university? If so, ask to
speak to an entymologist in their biology/zoology department. Take a set of
photos with you, or arrange to e-mail them. Finally, what about a zoo?
There could be someone on staff who might recognize the damage shown in the
pictures. They would have have a more routine connection to damage caused
by specific insects (or whatever it was) than most doctors have.

MaryL

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Lorraine - 27 May 2004 03:59 GMT

<snippage of great ideas for more resources>

Thanks, Mary. Those are great ideas that I hadn't thought of.

> They would have have a more routine connection to damage caused
>by specific insects (or whatever it was) than most doctors have.

There is one local pediatrician's office here that will be more educated
on this type of damage by the time we're through. I know that I
probably sound like an over-protective grandmother, but I really feel
that NP needs more experience before she makes statements like "spider
bites never cause blisters." Had we followed her advice and let it go,
who knows what might have happened. While not the most common symptom,
every one of the medical staff at the immediate care center had seen
blistering bites in the past.

Thanks for your ideas. I really appreciate it.

Lorraine

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