Black Widow Spider Bite Symptoms

Black Widow bites aren't quite as deadly as people believe... though you might WISH you would die. People can die from them depending if they get more than one bite or how severe a reaction they have, but it's relatively rare for it to result in the death of a healthy adult from what I understand.

My bite resulted in 3 days of complete h*ll followed by an additional week of nightmarish pain. Every muscle in my body cramped up like I couldn't believe. It was like the charlie-horse cramp in my calf that wakes me (and my husband since I holler and swear) from time to time, but everywhere. The worst were the contractions of my chest muscles. Breathing was a struggle. Every time I exhaled, the muscles constricted and it felt like I had to tear them apart to expand my ribcage to draw another breath. Add in headaches, nausea and a bit of fever. Good times.

Did I get treatment? No. Part time job and no insurance. Nuff said. I had no idea what was happing, only it was the worst pain I could image and I grew up with a lot of pain thanks to other physical conditions. I just sucked it up.

I only got an inkling what was happening during the week after when the pain started to ease and I could think again. I spotted two tiny red spots on my arm and called one of those 'ask a doctor' phone services and was told it sounded like the classic symptoms of a black widow bite.

Ever since then, I get episodes of rather nasty all-over muscle pain identical to the original symptoms though, thankfully, it's not nearly as severe as the original bite. It still pretty much stops me from functioning for the duration. I can go weeks, months or even the greater part of a year between episodes. Just this past month and a half, it seems I'm getting the flashbacks every few days to some degree or another. Monday, I just curled up and tried to sleep the day away while eating pain meds like candy.

I've done research that indicates various venoms can have a lasting neurological impact though it seems extremely rare for black widow, but I never got these symptoms before the bite. It's too much like a played down version of the venom for me to think it's something else. I haven't gone to the doctor for it since I don't really have the energy to spend months fighting to convince them something IS wrong.

There you go, A.D.! The total knowledge of this black widow victim!

And to everyone, thanks for the upbeat encouragement on the weight issue! I am glad of the slimming down. I mean 5 inches??? Who wouldn't be? My pants won't stay up without a belt now! I just need my body to give me a break so I can increase my gym visits and indoor cycling to get the weight to budge and drop a few more inches as well. I'm finding myself rather addicted to walking more freely and the idea of clothes shopping getting easier.

Terii

 

Terii, You should go to the doctor, you may become a big celebrity since the Black Widow spider is such a brand new invasive species in Sweden.
Did you not get any of the killing of the flesh around the wound?
While on a trip to the tip of Baja as a teen, i was bitten by Ms. Widow; and she left me with a black hole that got progressivly bigger and deeper and quite frankly quite grotesque looking.I could acually stick my finger in it and feel the bone. After several weeks it finally
began to grow back. But even today there are times when it looks like a bruise. I was fortunate that i saw a local doc, and got the treatment before the pain and cramps, and spasms got above my waist. he said as sever as it was to cause so much tissue damage that if i had waited till it got to my chest it may have proved fatal.....

 

Ouch, Gene!

I never found anything about black widow bites doing that. All I had were the little red pin-pricks that faded after about 2 weeks. If I'd thought there was a possibility of necrosis, I'd have mortgaged my life to avoid THAT. I know, like A.D. said, its quite common for brown recluse bites to be necrotic, but I had always thought/heard black widows were neurotoxic. I guess I lucked out.

As for the 'invasive species' thing, this was about 12 years ago when I was living in Indiana. While I knew OF my husband from on-line, we rarely conversed. I would have called the funny farm if someone had told me I was going to marry that guy and move to Sweden.

I'll definitely look into that stuff, A.D.! Thanks!

Terii

 

I had a recluse bite my dog on the butt cheek once. Didn't know what was wrong with her until I noticed she kept licking and chewing the fur off of one cheek. I checked and there was blood.She is spayed so no "heat" to worry about. The vet checked her out and she shaved off a spot about 4" diameter and the flesh, what was left of it was all black and nasty and the vet had to carve out a big hole to get rid of all the decay. Anyway, it was NASTY let me tell you. Now days, in my house...if it looks brown it goes down!!!

 

Just as a cautionary note, staph infections, particularly resistant staph infections (MRSA) are often called "false spider bite" because people come to the doctor's office thinking they were bitten by a spider. They start out as a small pimple-type lesion but can get as large as a grapefruit if left untreated. They can also become invasive and once in the blood can become extremely toxic. My husband went through this a couple of years ago and was in excruciating pain with a sore the size of a baseball on his backside. He could neither sit, nor lie down comfortably for over two weeks. Last July, my daughter had one pop up on her face and in two days it caused the whole side of her face to swell. She spent three days in the hospital. So, IF you get something that doesn't exhibit fang marks (black widow) nor necrosis (brown recluse) get yourself to the doctor anyway. You probably have a staph infection which can be even worse.

 

My sister-in-law is an Infection Control Officer at a hospital. Says most of us (general population) have MRSA. Can be passed along through handshakes, airborne, etc. There are so many varieties that most lie dormant. But the advice about getting it checked out is well taken.

Of course if you're staying on-topic and considering that it's either recumbent cycling or no cycling at all (cuz of those tiny little seats), then MRSA stands for My Recumbent Saves my A**.

 

Its definitely not something to get into a panic about, just something that people need to be aware of. Our doctor was seeing 12-15 cases a day when my husband got it the first time. Simple handwashing is a great preventative. My husband discovered another fairly easy solution to reduce his risk for new outbreaks: baths. He replaces his daily shower with a bath a couple of times a week. Hasn't had any new infections for over a year. Not sure why it makes a difference but it works.