Thread: Brown Recluse Spiders

Has anyone ever heard of this happening.

My sister is in the hospital now, and they say it is from a brown recluse spider bite she got in Nov.2002. Actually she was bitten twice Nov and then in Jan. 2003. This is her second stay in the hospital with the same problem. They say she hasn't been bitten again that the poison can fuse to your cells and can flare up again when you are under stress or your immune system is low. She woke up Fri. morning with a little spot under her breast by evening she was in the emergency room with her breast swelled three times its normal size. She has been in the hospital ever since on IV antibiotics and had to have surgery to have some dead skin romoved. To top it off she is 6 months pregnant. Luckily it is not in her blood stream and is not reaching the baby. They have her on the OB floor so they can monitor the baby. She has been under alot of stress, the anniversary of her fiances death(he was 31 and they had a 8 month old baby, they had been together 5 years) and the father of this baby is in jail, he was sentenced to 10 years, he was busted for a meth lab in a shack on his mothers property. She hadn't known him long, he was a one night stand that went wrong.(long story itself)
If anybody knows anything about this please let me know. This is just strange and she is having trouble getting any answers from the doctors,like on how to prevent it or cure it. PM if you would rather do that than post. Any help would be greatly appreciated. Thanx in advance.

After I posted the above, I got to thinking about my sister. Prayers are needed for her, I feel so guilty for my life going so well. She has had tough times and any prayers are greatly needed for her. She has a 10 year old autistic son, his father and her are no longer together. She met her fiance and they decided to take it slow before jumping into marriage. They did have one child together. He passed away from a brain anurism(spelling) while setting in the car with the baby while she went into a Minut Mart to get a coke. That was 2 years ago Aug 4th. She met this new guy and had a one night stand and got pregnant. They try to work things between them so they both could be there for the baby. Well, as you read above, he was no good. She learned that just a little to late. Now this thing with the spider poison. I don't know what to do for her but pray.

cjc5263 was recently bitten a few months ago. She might be able to give you some information. However, you also might just want to do a search. After cjc posted about her bite, I did a little search because I was unfamiliar with the effects of their bites.

It is definitely scary.

Your sister will be in my prayers!

So sorry about the problems your sis is going thru.
We'll keep her in our prayers as well as her unborn baby.

I also had a spider bite on my right calf several years ago.
Do not think it was the brown recluse, but it was nasty. Had to have an irrigation and debridement (cut open), spent the night in the hospital, and have visiting nurses twice a day to pack the wound. It hurt, red, swelled up bigger than a grapefruit size, puss. Not pretty. I did not require IV antibiotics, just the oral ones. I had good insurance. All that is left is now a small scar that won't suntan, so I was very lucky.

Most brown recluse bites require strong IV antibiotics, debridement of
the bad tissue, dressing changes. They can be very severe, as your dear sister's has been.

Sending hugs her direction.

Thanx to you all for the thoughts and prayers. She is on my mind alot.

I'm terrified of spiders. And the brown recluse is common in our area, usually dark out of the way places. Could even be a closet or attic, not necessarily outside. It's very serious business. The are quite small, redish - rust colored and shaped like a fiddle. Scarey.. Good luck and best wishes to your sister.

<~~~Sending positive healing vibes to your sister and her family. I had never heard about brown recluse spiders before. I did a search on them and was amazed at the toxicity of one of their bites! Here is a link to a place that sells traps for them,and also shows the spider and some photos of bites. Please don't let it freak you out too much though...remember this web page is trying to sell spider traps and I am sure they are very biased on what they post there! Here is the link:
http://www.brown-recluse-spiders.com/ The traps are only $4.00 a piece...maybe you would feel better if you got your sister some and set them up around her house while she is healing in the hospital? I haven't been able to find anything about cell fusion and re-occuring symptoms? Maybe it's just very rare what your sister is experiencing...

Here is another VERY good link on bites and treatments:
http://ohioline.osu.edu/hyg-fact/2000/2061.html