Brown recluse spiders migrate into homes in the autumn, where warmer climates may be found. These spiders reside in places with regular human movement, but they are not usually aggressive. They are known to bite when they feel threatened or trapped. Bites often occur when a spider is trapped between a piece of clothing and the human body. It is believed that they enjoy human dwellings because their nocturnal lifestyle benefits from artificial light.
Brown recluse venom contains at least 9 distinct poisons; making it similar to rattlesnake venom. It effects blood vessels in the bite area to potentially cause massive tissue destruction. The result can be horrific. A bite that is left untreated may require an amputation of the limb, and it can lead to death. The bites cause kidney failure in some people.
Avoiding Brown Recluse Bites
Since bites often occur whilst people are sleeping, it is not always possible to avoid them. We recommend that bedding be fully checked before going to sleep, and that clothing be violently shaken before it is worn. These little devils love the insides of shoes, so beat your shoes together, and inspect the insides of them before wearing them. Keep all dresser drawers tightly closed, because they will hide in the underwear too. We normally recommend against the use of chemicals (especially poisons), but it is wise to spray a long-lasting insecticide around windows and doors in the autumn. Please take all precautions, including wearing splash-resistant goggles, and a respirator, if you do.
How To Know If You Have Been Bitten
A brown recluse victim is not always aware that he has been bitten; at least not immediately, when treatments would be the most beneficial. Sometimes the bites immediately cause extreme pain, but in other cases, there is no sensation at all. There may be visible fang pits at the bite site, but this is not always true either. Sometimes there is itching at the bite site, or a generalized fever. The general rule is that there are no general rules for brown recluse spider bites in the early stage. Some victims do not realize that they have been bitten until several days have passed.
Between one and three days after being bitten, an untreated brown recluse spider bite is likely to form one or more blisters. The bite site may become bluish colored at this time, and it may begin forming a crater.
Seeking Emergency Medical Care
A brown recluse spider bite could easily be considered an emergency condition, so a hospital visit may be essential to ensure that the victim is stabilized. Be forewarned that there is very little that orthodox medicine can do to stop the regional damage that is caused by a bite. Doctors typically give antibiotics and anti-histamines in the hope that regionalized damage can be somewhat minimized. These are truly desperate measures that yield very little success. Therefore, we recommend that you follow our alternative treatment recommendations.
Self Treatment - Stage 1
If you have been bitten by this spider (or any other spider), the first thing that you should do is apply activated charcoal directly to the wound. This is something that should always be kept in the medicine cabinet for poison emergencies. You can find it inside capsules sold at health food stores, or you can buy it in the aquarium department of a grocery store. Either way, the charcoal must be finely ground before it is used. Apply a thick paste to the bite area that is made from the fine charcoal powder and water. Tape the charcoal and water mixture to the bite, and leave for four hours. Using it again, or for longer periods is unlikely to help.
We also recommend orally consuming a teaspoon of dampened charcoal powder, in order to get a tiny amount of charcoal into the blood. Please read the article about activated charcoal usage, or proceed at your own risk. It is best to have it made ahead of time in preparation for any poison emergency, and the sooner that it is used, the better.
Take massive amounts of echinacea supplements until the bite wound completely disappears. Echinacea was used by the American Indians to heal snake bites, which is believed to be where the term "snake oil" originated. Some reports indicate that echinacea is very effective for treating venomous spider bites.
Self Treatment - Stage 2
Six days after a brown recluse bite. Click to enlarge.
After the first few hours, charcoal will no longer be useful. Purchase bentonite clay powder from a health food store, and mix it with enough water to form a paste. Apply this paste onto the wound, and cover it with medical tape. Use colloidal silver instead of water if it is available. This paste should be left on the skin for at least two hours, several times a day. The skin should be washed before the clay is applied to remove any oils. A mild hand soap should be adequate. Avoid moisturizing soaps and lotions.
Topical bentonite clay has yielded some amazing results for victims of brown recluse bites. Internal use of bentonite clay is not advised. For best results, mix a small amount of echinacea with the bentonite clay powder. The clay will typically remain useful for about a week, but every bite will be different. Continue for a couple of weeks.
Brown recluse spider bites usually take 6-8 weeks to heal, but this treatment method should speed the process dramatically, and reduce suffering in the meantime. Hopefully it will help victims eliminate, or at least reduce the crater scars that these spiders have become infamous for causing.
Be Prepared
You may not be able to get bentonite clay from local retailers, so every family that has a possibility of being bitten by brown recluse spiders should purchase it as soon as possible, and keep it ready in storage. Once bitten, a person may not be able to obtain it from online sources in time to be useful. Seriously, order it now, along with the activated carbon.
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Comments
Thank-you for anyone that can help.
Maggie
P.S. Please excuse the grammar and probably the spelling to I am a very distressed Mom.
I can't help but snicker over the fact that The Health Wyze Report is now officially doctor recommended! Of course, doctors and nurses have never been our enemies. They are merely slaves to the broken and corrupt system, and they must use only the tools that they are allowed to use, regardless of the consequences. Although, some of them are quite brainwashed. On the other hand, we are deeply hated by the pharmaceutical industry, and this includes pharmacists (chemists).
So yes, they are in Northern California.
And by the way, brown recluse spiders are supposedly rare in my neck of the woods; however they do hitch rides from other parts of the land!
I decided to cancel my doctor's appointment and found that the Vitamin Shoppe had everything mentioned here in-store. I drove there the next morning and picked up charcoal, clay, echinacea/golden seal and organic apple cider vinegar. I started using the charcoal and mixed with water immediately but was not sure if I should puncture the blisters or not. For 2 days I did NOT puncture the blisters and it didn't seem to do anything to the blisters. I began having pain in my leg and running a fever. I do have Hashimoto's disease so wasn't sure if there was causing the fever and leg pain. On Friday, I decided to puncture the blisters and place charcoal mixed with water, with a large band-aid covering the area so that the charcoal did not drop everywhere in the house. Within 24 hours I noticed a huge difference. My fever was gone, the pus was gone and I was feeling better. I did have to puncture the blisters several times over a 36 hour period but it was a good thing. I would change the charcoal/water about every 7 to 8 hours because the charcoal could not absorb any more poison after the 8th hour. On the 10th day, my toe/foot was almost normal again. I stopped using the charcoal/water mixture and used the clay/apple cider vinegar for 24 hours. Then I stopped everything.
It has been 12 days since I was bitten 4 times by a brown recluse spider and I only have 4 little red marks on my toe where it is healing. I do spray Bactine on them about 3 times per day just to be careful. I can walk, and do anything I could do before.
BTW - I forgot to mention that I would elevate my foot as much as I could prior to the 10th day. I think this was important to my recover with the charcoal/water band-aid procedure.
I hope my experience helps someone with this same situation and you don't have to have a open sore and scar from being bitten by a brown recluse spider.
I just got bitten again three days ago (in bed). I got an activated charcoal poultice on immediately and also took it orally. I followed with the full regime described above after 8 hours. No blister formed and the wound is virtually gone in three days. I thank you for your site and hope this helps your readers.
An aside - I am moving and having the furniture fumigated.
I was bitten about a week or ten days ago. Site of bite: left tip of left index finger right where the flesh meets the fingernail.
At first I thought it was a strange splinter. The bite hurt somewhat but not that much to give it any attention. I did develop a strange rash on the inside of the upper arms that just came and disappeared again. One night I woke up in extreme pain. The finger was pulsating. The tip of the finger was blanched and it felt "full". I could not see any suspected splinter or bite site by this time. Walked around for another day, still not realizing it was a spider bite. The pain was increasing. Then the typical red dot appeared within the white blanched skin...I now realized what this was, as a friend of mine had just been bitten a few months ago. That's the SHOCK moment. As I had seen the photos of bites gone bad and I also knew there is no antidote...what to do? My sister found this site. I ran to the store bought bentonite clay and charcoal and started applying the poultice. I made it really thick in consistency and then wrapped it with gauze and tape, not plastic. A day of that, but the pain still increased...it was becoming unbearable. I had to see what was going on with this wound. The blanched skin however with the red dot was all I saw. It hurt so bad by now I had to do something. I poked at it, just a little and the typical blister released a bit of puss followed by blood. Being that all this puss and blood had been right under my fingernail, and was now released, the pain immediately subsided.
TREATMENT: I alternated charcoal/bentonite clay wraps with 3 drops of tea tree oil (left them on for about 4hrs at the time} with healing and antimicrobial wrap of TAMANU OIL (read up on it, it rivals antibiotics), tea tree oil, and lavender oil.
I did NOT MIX all the oils into the charcoal wrap, as I figured the charcoal will just absorb the oil and the oil will not get to the wound....but reading testimonials here it seems either way works.
So I alternated the clay wraps with oil wraps..about 4hrs clay and max. 1hr oil...btw heat is NOT your friend at this stage. Keep the bite site cool, if you can. I also slept with the bentonite/charcoal wrap on....after 4 days ALL POISON WAS GONE AND THE OILS ALREADY HELPED HEAL TISSUE. Now all I'm left with is a little hole where all the puss and blood came out. Dead tissue around the bite site, where there is no feeling, and healthy pink tissue underneath.
Will continue treatment with alternating tamanu oil/tea tree oil/lavender oil wraps with Manuka bio-active honey wraps to support healing, and make sure the site does not get infected as the new tissue grows and I suppose the dead tissue eventually falls off.
THANK YOU SO MUCH FOR THE INFO ON THIS SITE AND THANK ALL OF YOU WHO HAVE POSTED YOUR EXPERIENCES HERE. IT HAS BEEN MOST HELPFUL This could have been a major ordeal, with split open hand or even amputation of the finger. and PS the ingredients are not that expensive, all in all I spent about $100.-, well worth the expance.