brown recluse spider bite- graphical pictures

[Kathe Kitchens]

By the way, for those who read this thread last year and have picked it up again this year, I'd like to give an update on my daughter. It's been about 10 months since her bites were first discovered. Investigating their nature further, we are pretty sure they came from a black widow rather than a recluse.

Several small eruptions came up around the bite area for a few weeks, but the bites finally healed up after about 6 weeks to 2 months. Being aware of the potential for infection hiding inside I kept her on immune system supplements and extra vitamins for a couple more months.

A friend asked how her legs look this year, with summer coming on. I hadn't thought to update the string until now, so thought I'd share her progress. She has two quarter sized scars and one nickle sized scar. She has no disfigurement, no loss of tissue. The wounds don't bother her at all. The scars have gradually faded over the months. I'm not sure what worked the most, but I know that I'm grateful that the course of treatment worked so well.

After I got the "shocker" I was able to treat a bite on my other daughter's leg as soon as it appeared, and it never got anywhere close to as bad as my younger daughter's bites. It left a dime-sized scar that is nearly completely faded. Like I said, I got a bite from some kind of spider at the same time, but mine was gone within a week with just tea tree oil.

We no longer live in that house, and we don't miss it at all. So there you go, kids. If this helps anyone I'm grateful. I still carry tea tree oil with me wherever I go. It's saved me from infections more times than I can tell you, and that includes cat scratches, cuts, scrapes, any situation where the skin is broken. Amazing gift from God.

Kathe :)

[kelly]

Glad to hear your daughters are doing o.k.

Update on my issues. I could not get ahold of my friend last night so I put fresh garlic on the ringworm. Helped some and was not as pussey as yesterday. Got the tea tree oil this morning and put some on a cotton ball and kept it on the ringworm for several hours. Looking better and not itching. Uncovered it for a few hours and it started iching again so on went another bandaid with tea tree oil. My last one took a week before I found out what it was and 8 months to get rid of. So with figuring out this one in just a day I am hopeful that it will not get the same foot hold.

On the wart front hubby has what looks like warts all over his hands so I guess we will start in a small area and bandage it at night since he works outside all day.

Thanks again for this info.

[Kathe Kitchens]

Some folks have had luck with the cornmeal too, so think about making a paste with olive oil, tea tree and cornmeal and putting it on his hands and covering them for an evening with gloves, like women do for dry hands. It just darned well may work. It's worth a try. I'd do it!
Kathe

[kelly]

Kathe Kitchens wrote: Some folks have had luck with the cornmeal too, so think about making a paste with olive oil, tea tree and cornmeal and putting it on his hands and covering them for an evening with gloves, like women do for dry hands. It just darned well may work. It's worth a try. I'd do it!
Kathe

thanks for the idea, will have to run it by him.

[Dirtfarmgirl]

This is a great web site. I get together with friends and bulk order. Very good quality and prices are reasonable even with out the quality discounts. They also link to botanica a very complete general herb site. http://www.mountainroseherbs.com/aroma/q-z.php

[CCC/EquiPro]

I'm so glad that I found this site. I live in San Antonio. Last month my husband was bit on his neck by a spider and last Wed, I was bit on the top of my leg. I'm not sure what kind of spider (although the bite and reaction looks nothing like the photos of brown recluse bites that I have seen), but the resulting bite is as follows:

It started as what appeared to be a a large mosquito bite, which I noticed one morning as I got dressed. By the afternoon, I was running a fever of 103 and had body aches, chills, headache and a very tender tummy. At this time I thought that I had contracted the flu.

By the second day, the bite area had become about 2 inches across, hard, hot and angry looking. I was still running a very high fever and started googling spider bites. It appears to be some sort of common spider, not a recluse, widow or hobo. Most people have no reactions, but some have the fever, headache, nausea, etc.

The third day the main bite area was about 4 inches across and very hard. There was also a larger red area around it. I was still running a fever and went to the Dr. who gave me an antibiotic shot and put me on oral antibiotics. The fever, chills, headache and intestinal issues cleared up. He also told me to hot poultice the area with epsome salts. Being a former horse trainer, I was wishing with all my heart that I had some Ichthammol (a standard product in any stable), but didn't. Last night (day 6) the whole thing finally came to a head and burst. Lots of pus and junk (about 1/4 c came out initially). Today it is still oozing pus and fluid. The "hard" area is about 3-4 inches across, with a very angry middle. Extending past the hard area about 10 inches in diameter there is still inflammation. I also am wishing for a Heticin-K - another great barn treatment for this sort of thing. Used for teats inflammed with mastitis, it comes in a plastic syringe with a soft tip. You put the tip into the hole and "pack" the wound with the Heticin-K. Put some Ichthammol on top and it is a great combo. Instead, I have put tea tree oil in and am letting it air as much as possible. The Tea Tree is a great suggestion.

Any others? It's still a pretty ugly wound. I should have treated it much more quickly, but just didn't really realize what was going on. Odd that my husband had a similar experience just one month ago....is San Antonio and the surrounding areas experiencing a higher than usual number of spider bites? I am assuming that this happened to both of us outside, as we are outside a lot, and we keep our house pretty pest free.

[Kathe Kitchens]

Oh, I feel for you so much! It sounds like you are healing, but surely you can find some ichthammol in the SA area! Give a call over to one of the horse places down there and I'll bet you they can tell you what stores have it! Don't wait...you know how well it works! The combination of the ichthammol to bring the material to the surface and tea tree to knock back the infection and begin healing is a great treatment. I'm ever grateful for finding this forgotten remedy. I swear my home will never, ever be without either one again.

Best to you! Let us know how you heal!
Kathe