Darn spiders!!!

reply to post by Jkd Up


I'm a pharmacist who also studies homeopathy. Although there is no antivenin for a brown recluse spider, and although you should seek medical help, you can also treat it with first aid with homeopathic remedies if 911 isn't available, or before they get there.

There is a great first aid book called "Help! and Homeopathy: What to do in an emergency before 911 arrives" by Eileen Nauman.

This is what you should do if bitten by a Brown Recluse spider (from her book):

1. Wash off the area of the bite with soap and water.
2. Put a cool cloth or ice over the area (place a towel between the skin and the ice).
3. Call Poison Control in your state.

For emergency homeopathic treatment (if 911 not available).

1. Lachesis 30c, 1 dose. If symptoms return, give again. You can take up to 3 doses in the first 24 hour period. If it does not halt symptoms completely, consult a homeopath.
2. Pyrogenerium 30c, give one dose if there is a red "stripe" moving upward away from the bite area; this is sepsis or blood poisoning. Get to the emergency room quickly. If symptoms still persist, give every 15 minutes, up to 6 doses. Consult a homeopath afterwards for follow up treatment.
3. Ledum 30c, one doses every 15 minutes, if the bite is "cold feeling" up to six doses.

----

For a black widow bite:
1. Place ice on the bite area.
2. Treat for shock
3. Antivenin shot on doctor's approval.

Homeopathic first aid, or if 911 not available:

1. Lachesis 30c, one dose every 15 minutes.
2. Latrodectus mactans 30c, one dose if lachesis doesn't work. This is potentized black widow and acts like an antivenin; without the side effects. Once every 15 minutes up to six dose.
3. Ledum 30c, one dose every 15 minutes, if the bite site is COLD to the touch and the pain and swelling feels better from ice. May repeat up to six doses.

---

As I said earlier, it's important to get medical treatment if you can get to it.

But if you can't, or if you're not around an emergency room, it's good to have a homeopathic first aid kit and a homeopathic first aid book like this one on hand.

You can buy homeopathic first aid kits (and homeopathic bite and sting kits) and books online. You can also get most of these remedies in any health food store, or you can ask them to order them for you. Potencies of 30c or less do not require a prescription.

Hope that helps.

edit:

There are different symptoms of both spider bites. I thought I'd also list them here. (This is also from Nauman's book.)

Black widow spider symptoms:
1. injured area becomes numb after the bite
2. pain at the bite site
3. severe cramping; very painful and agonizing.
4. board like rigidity of the abdominal muscles
5. Tightness in the chest
6. Difficulty breathing; this occurs over a 24 hour period
7. Dizziness
8. Sweating
9. Vomiting
10. Nausea
11. Skin rashes

Symptoms of brown recluse spider bites:
1. bite is not painful until several hours afterward
2. skin becomes red, swollen and tender around the bite site
3. skin then develops a pale, mottled, cyanotic (bluish) center
4. Over the next few days, a large cap of dead skin, fat, and debris will develop over the bite site.
5. And ulcer or crater of dead tissue will form.

***(Now you know why it's really important to seek medical help if you do think you've been bitten by one of these things! Ick!)




[edit on 30-1-2009 by nikiano]

I was wondering if anyone with any medical knowledge could testify to this.


With my brown recluse bite, when it had reached the point I could see a puss bubble, knowing not to pop it because when I did that to my other bite I became horribly sick for a few days, I just took a lighter got it royally hot and branded the bite.

The puss came out, not in a popping fashion, but kind of secreted from the whole bite wound after the branding. It quickly healed up in about 1 month.

Did the extreme amounts of heat applied for a good 30 seconds break down the molecular compound of the poison?

reply to post by Jkd Up


Wrap everything in plastic bags when you go to bed

Don't bring in any shrubbery or plants without washing them of or shaking them out first.

my husband got bit by a spider this way. He had to take IV antibiotics for two weeks. Within 20 minutes he had a red streak running from his thigh to his leg.

Not all spiders are venemous, but a problem is that their mouths are bacteria filled. So they can transfer that and infect you even if the most docile spider bites you.

Good news fromHouston, TX,

There is an emergency treatment for venomous spider bites. Typically, the venom from spiders is made to dreak down the tissue of the organism for use as easy nutrition for eggs which are commonly laid into the bite. If the shock treatment doesn't work, Which it usually does, you will definitelyknowwithin two days. Thisis what you do:
Sterilyze a small needle. Puncture the center of the wound, pushing the needle (or wire) in until you feel resistance of unaffected flesh. Withdrav needle while using absorbent material to collect leakage.
Next, slice a potatoe in half, and microwave it for about 20 minutes. The potato should be dry oo the outside, but moist about 1/2 inch deep. Heating the potato activates the starches insideand promotes the ability of the potato to absorb sodiums and proteins.
Attach the potato with the cut side to the wound. Bandage tightly so as to provide a 100% seal between the potatoe and the affected area. Leave on overnight. By now you will likely have a slight infection. Take about 2,000 mg of assorted anti inflammatories (aspirin, Ib, etc).
In the morning, prepare a sanitizing solution for removal of the potato. Also have a small bowl of sugar wetted slightly with hydrogen peroxide. Have someone slowly pull the potato upwards away from the skin, gently lifting out all necrotic flesh, egg sack and pus. If the string of bad tissue is broken, you will be forced to scoop ot the rest with a sanitized spoon (which will be painful because the hole in the skin will be smaller than the diameter of the infected area.
Wash the wound with a betadine solution if one is available (prolly not). After the wound is as clean as possible (which will likely not be clean enough) packthe open wound with the sugar. Seal the wound until the sugar sets. This will prevent 98% of infections from forming if you did a good job with contaminant removal.
After a day or two, leave the wound undressed if weather and environment permits. Allow the sugar to fall out at its leisure. DO NOT ATTEMPT to clean the wound if no infection is apparent. That is what the sugar is for.
The previous info was provided for the sake of my Bros who may have no other option in the future. I can assume that the average reader will have enough sense to persue professional medical help if available. Disregard people who tell you that you cant help yourself in extreme circumstances. There is always a way. Just be sure not to hurt yourself or risk losing an arm or a leg because you want to show off this advanced survival technique. Whereas this will likely be 90% effective, modern medicine will likely be 98% effective.

reply to post by Snap


ha, that is crazy...crazy funny, not meaning your crazy...Im gonna try it next time i get a mosquito bite. I have one of those clicky thingies I use on unsuspecting friends...cant wait for mosquito season...wonder if it works on west nile virus, that stuff just moved into my area last year =(( oh, well, if I get bit, Im tryin it.

I got a spider bite myself once on the back of my neck. From removing brush by a stream at work. I thought a ten pound wasp stung me, it hurt so bad.

I looked like I got bit by dracula. It scabbed over and was painful for 6 months.For over two years after that, I would get weird skin conditions. My skin would start peeling.

I REALLY should of seen a doctor.
Don't know why I didn/t. Was 18 and stupid as usual.

Alot of great input here and we were even able to get a few medical people in here to help out. I appreciate it!

Now to stir the pot a bit.

Obviously, a spider or snake bite should be treated by those who know how and you should try and remember the details abot what bit you so a discription can be given to the medical helper, however, in a SitX sinario; there might not always be a doctor there to hepl or perhaps you are in seclusion and bit, shurely you cannot just roll up and die. What can be done in these, more rustic, situations?

I am no doctor... but I live in Australia, like some of the others who have posted above.

The good news about all those spiders is the web they make. While doing survival training I found out that they can be used as super bandages and wound dressings.

A google search confirms that my memory is not failing.........yet.

So you have more than enough bandage for the entire ATS crew then JKD UP?

Tim

I caught a show may have been on National Geographic ("I was Bitten")where a guy was bitten in thigh by a brown recluse.. It was as he was sleeping. He went to work with no treatment.. Essentially entire top of his leg died.

I have some doubts about electrocution for bites after reading this site

Debunking Usage of Electric Shock for First-Aid Treatment of Venomous Snakebite

Fact: There is absolutely no scientifically sound evidence that electric shock or the use of any stun gun on a snakebite, either in man or animal, is effective in preventing the effects of venomous snakebite. In victims with serious snakebite who used the device they still had symptoms of snakebite and required standardized medical treatment including antivenom.

Its the arachnids that made me decide not to live in Oz, I hate the bloody things, apparently though in north america the greater threat now is from chiggers and ticks which carry various nasty ailments and they are spreading right across the lower 48.

I had a friend who used an Activated Charcoal Poultice on a Brown Recluse Bite. Standard treatment wasn't helping much. It had opened up into an oozing sore. It healed up quickly with the poultice.

reply to post by munkey66

Thats not a gecko...thats a dinosaur! Sure glad I don't have any of those around here. I think the worst thing we have here in Northern California (read: way up north by the Oregon border not middle of the state) is black widows. My grandmother was bit by a widow and I know she did get sick but was alright afterwards, she got bit again and nothing really happened. Black Widows don't really scare me at all, I won't kill them if I see them I just move them to a new location.

Originally posted by Jkd Up
Being from a state that houses some of the most poisonous spiders, one of my main fears is the little eight legged critters will injure myself or someone in my party. How can one prevent this from occuring from insects that pride themselves on being everywhere and can be very unforgiving to deal with?

Is there a place to get anitdote for Brown Recluses? Or perhaps we can just get some great spider first aid here on this thread. I think this could be vital info for people in densly populated wooded areas such as myself.

Nitroglycerin patches. If I remember right, there are some studies on the effects of using nitroglycerin patches on Black Widow and Brown Recluse bites. Apparently (again, if I remember correctly), what the poison from those two bites do is to cause your blood vessels to collapse down to where blood can't really flow through them. This, in turn, causes the area effected to basically rot from lack of blood flow. The nitro opens the blood vessels up, and allows your body to deal with the poison.