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bitten by a spider...should i be worried? [update, been to the doctor]
heretoinform
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I discovered a large, red welt on my stomach yesterday morning. I thought it was just a large mosquito bite, and dismissed it.
Today, I accidently jabbed my stomach and I experience some pain in the region of the bite for a few minutes. When I looked at it, the main red welt had gotten larger and there is now a light red ring around it, which extends over two inches from the welt in some places.
Does anyone know what kind of spider bit me? Also, should I be worried at all? I assume that my body will just take care of it, but I don't want to take any risks; I've never been bitten by a spider before.
Today, I accidently jabbed my stomach and I experience some pain in the region of the bite for a few minutes. When I looked at it, the main red welt had gotten larger and there is now a light red ring around it, which extends over two inches from the welt in some places.
Does anyone know what kind of spider bit me? Also, should I be worried at all? I assume that my body will just take care of it, but I don't want to take any risks; I've never been bitten by a spider before.
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That said, I've seen some big spider bites that come from common household spiders and nothing really happened. Spiders can bite hard and the reaction can seem a lot more violent than it really is.
But I highly suggest seeing a doctor if you aren't sure. Look up some of the species of spiders in your area and what the resulting bites look like. I'm sure you can find it online somewhere.
It's not for the faint of heart.
That being said, get checked. There's no real way to tell what kind of species bit you nor its adverse affects to your system.
I agree with the spirit of this, but unless there are two House episodes where tiny broken bones are poisoning people, it was a woman, at the south pole, and he caught it and fixed it in time so she didn't die
Get it checked out by a doctor as the rest of the thread suggests.
Do you live in an area with deer ticks by any chance?
http://www.badspiderbites.com/lyme-disease/
In any case, a doctor is your best bet.
On the other hand, she was taking medical advice from a guy on the Internet there, so...
Also the initial test they do is usually shit and gives a lot of false negatives. I was symptomatic for lyme disease this past month (had a tick bite, had the rash, had extreme fatigue, fever, etc) and the test came back negative but they put me on antibiotics anyway.
So, doctor is a good idea to be safe.
Everything mentioned about Lyme's is true. Go get checked out. I perceive that the general thrust of the OP's original question, though, was "have I been bitten by something poisonous, and am I going to die?" The answer to that quesiton is probably "no." Most dangerous venoms fall into two categories. Nuerotoxins exhibit symptoms far beyond the bite site as the toxin attacks nerves and muscle groups in your body--black widow venom, for instance, can cause shortness of breath, which is a symptom of the fact that your diaphragm is no longer functioning properly on account of a paralyzing agent. Necrotic venoms exhibit symptoms mainly localized to the bite site--but "symptom" in that case usually means massive amounts of tissue damage, gangrenous lesions, and blistering sores while your flesh dies and festers on the bone.
I'm thinking you would have mentioned limited paralysis, loss of equilibrium, unexplained vomiting or rotting flesh if it had come up.
Having said that, the red ring? Bad sign! Get thee to a physician.
I never was able to go to my doctor, for a few reasons (he wasn't there, i didn't have time, etc). So, about a week ago, my gigantic red thing started leak. I've been bandaging it every day so my shirt won't get messed up and to protect it from infection, and it is pretty much 100% drained. There is, however, a hole from where it was oozing. Like, literally. I'm not sure if this is normal, and I am 100% going to the doctor on Monday, but I just want to see what you guys have to say about it. The hole is about 1/3rd of an inch long and maybe 1/5th of an inch tall. I can clearly see in this hole; I'd say I can see about 1/2 inch into my body. It doesn't hurt, I've been bandaging it up for the last three days, and it isn't getting any better. Does this normally happen after a gigantic welt(?) pops?
I took a pic, but the flash really fucked it up (I am not THAT white at all). I will have better pictures tonight (tomorrow morning at the latest [my buddy took pictures with his cell, so I have to wait until he gets off work]).
(I messed with the pic a bit, but it is still pretty bad.)
As you can see, there is a small strip of skin cutting across the hole.
Keep it DRY and CLEAN. Moisture sets up infection, and you do NOT want that infected.
yea I second the hydrogen peroxide. relatively cheap.
I also put some antibacterial cream on it with my bandage.
Yeah, not trying to fear monger, but that sounds a lot like how my buddy's MRSA started out. Just make sure you get it checked out soon.
P.S. As far as I know Hobospiders don't do much damage,you'll just have a scar left over.
I've had countless house-spider bites in my life, and they've always just been like really bad mosquito bites. I'm definitely going with the others that you should try your best to keep it clean until you can get to the doctor.
Anyways, good luck tomorrow, hopefully it won't be anything too serious.
Withour futher adieu, here are some examples of necrosis. Spoiler caution: disgusting.
I can't imagine someone seeing something like this develop on their skin and not immediately go to the ER. Especially because these are minor examples. If you have a particularly bad bite or a particularly bad response, the hole won't close without medical intervention, and will continue to grow and deepen until that happens.
The pic you posted kind of sucks, but if this looks familiar, it is not inappropriate to freak out a little bit and go to the ER.
Actually, keeping the right level of moisture helps wounds heal faster.
That said...if a suspected spider bite developed into an open wound, then yes, ffs, go see a doctor.
I'd be curious to know what the doctor says, though. Make sure you keep it covered and bandaged well, and try not to let any of the pus touch ANYTHING if possible, in case it is a staph infection. Good luck.
The problem here is doctors are booked for 3 weeks ahead of time for some reason, so everyone just goes to urgent care or the ER. For shit like this, you absolutely should do it.
There really ought to be a comprehensive list of things you should go to the ER for somewhere on the internet so we can just link to it. Venemous snake bites, necrotic wounds, compound fractures or fractures involving a limb, stabbings, shootings, frostbite, anything that bleeds for more than 60 minutes that isn't part of a normal menstrual cycle, any sort of wound that either squirts or makes a "sucking" noise, any sort of wound where there may be a foreign object still inside the wound, any vomiting or diahrea that doesn't go away after 24 hours, fluid in the lungs, a rape kit, severe allergic reactions, ingested toxins of a sufficient quanity that you'll need to have your stomach pumped, sudden loss of vision, hearing, balance or equilibrium, you have the Internet's official permisssion to go to the ER.
Cripes, if it's deep enough, you shouldn't be putting hydrogen peroxide OR alcohol on it at all. Those are really harsh on tissue - they're fine for scrapes and small cuts, but for things like a puncture wound (which yours isn't, but frankly, sounds deep enough to be classified as such for the purpose of this post) it can stay in there and eat away at healthy tissue.
I hope you've been to the doctor (you said Monday) so best of luck with that.
Just bulletize that shit and report it for a sticky. Only thing I would add/edit is that for ingestion of any amount of a toxin, contact poison control immediately. A tablespoon of one thing might kill you, a gallon of another might not, but no one but the poison control hotline is going to be able to give you accurate information either way.
Another thing to note is that another one of these large welts has popped up about three inches below my hole, so...we'll see.
Anyway, thanks for all the advice so far.
Then 99% chance it's a Staph Infection. Best of luck, hopefully not the MRSA variety.
i have a nice nasty scar after it too, those things do not heal well
i tried to dry it out but that didn't really do much for the ulceration, in the end i had to have some gel on it for ages and bandages.
see a doctor! it was something i did flick off for a while, but that ulceration did not go away and things only got worse.
Good luck duder - and for God's sake keep up on the antibiotics.
The scary thing about MRSA is that there are some strains of it that are resistant to antibiotics- that's where it got its name, Methycillin Resistant Staph Aureus. (Methycillin was the second big antibiotic, right after penicillin. It's the current go-to antibiotic when someone has an infection.)
Cleanliness is going to be the big thing now. Anything that touches the wound or anything that's been in contact with or has come out of the wound must be cleaned up- place all used bandages into plastic baggies and seal them with tape while wearing rubber gloves (I'm being really serious here. MRSA can colonize a place and then you'll never be rid of it.) Clean all clothing/bedsheets/anything that touched the wound, in bleach and hot water if you can. Wash your hands frequently.
I can has cheezburger, yes?