Obligatory “this actually happened last month”, but it affected me for weeks, so I continued to FU until recently.
One night, while moving the garden waste cans out to the street, I felt a mild “pinch” on my belly. Didn’t think anything of it at the time, figuring I’d been poked by a sharp branch, or something.
Looking at it later than night, it was slightly swollen and a bit tender, with two tiny dots in the middle of the swelling. I thought “How funny – that looks like a spider bite”, and washed it with an alcohol pad and went to sleep.
I was awakened early the next morning by absolutely SEARING pain in the spot where I’d been bitten. Easily 7 out of 10, as bad as a broken wrist. If anything, the spot was less swollen than the night before.
Okay, so that clearly WAS spider bite, and there’s only two spiders that live in my area with a serious bite – Black and Brown widow spiders. A quick check with Dr Google and I checked off most of the symptoms associated with widow spider envenomation:
- Slight swelling
- Severe pain at the bite site
- Muscle cramps
- A sense of impending doom (seriously!)
But fortunately, no trouble breathing, so “not that bad”, right? The same article said that symptoms typically went away in a couple of days, to a few weeks, depending on the level of venom exposure.
I confirmed that they only give anti-venom for “severe, life threatening reactions” to spider bites, and that’s clearly not what this is, so I popped a few Tylenol and went to work.
Every 4-6 hours for the next several weeks, I would take another dose of Tylenol. I was not able to sleep for more than 6 hours at a time, because as soon as the Tylenol wore off, the pain would immediately wake me up.
The cramps eventually spread in a band all the way around my torso, leading to some unpleasant digestive issues, and horrible back pain. Every day, it seemed like things were getting “a bit better”, so I put off going to the doctor, because “they aren’t going to give me anything to treat the venom, so I may as well just ride out the pain”.
Okay, sure. But as a doctor friend of mine reminded me halfway through this, they do have medication specifically to reduce muscle spasms, and better pain-killers than what you can get over the counter.
I might have been comfortable, at least, instead of walking around in a fog of pain for several weeks. My back is still a bit messed up, from all the spasming.
TL;DR
If you’re bitten by a venomous animal, seek medical attention, even if it’s “not that bad”.
Comments
That sounds like it would drive anyone nuts… (I mean, really) how did you not just crawl into a corner and scream for help?
That sounds really brutal, how did you manage to keep going through all that pain without medical help? I mean, I can’t even imagine enduring something like that for weeks… what made you hold out so long?
Uh, how is your liver? That is a bit much Tylenol.
That sounds rough, ya big dummy!
My brother in christ, it has both “Black” AND “Widow” in the name.
What greater warning could you possibly need?
Look at this guy, not getting more than 6 hours of sleep at a time!
Let me guess, you’re a dude . . .
It helps to identify the country.
I had a friend get bit by a black widow on a camping trip, right after he ate mescaline. Spent the trip in the ER.
Bruh. Are you trying to win the Darwin awards or what?
I dont even know what to say. Id be impressed if it wasn’t so dumb.
Tell me you’re from a country without universal health care without naming the country 🙃
Can confirm black widow bites can have awful effects. I got bit twice by the same spider while gardening and didn’t sleep for more than 20-30 minutes at a time for about the next week from the muscle cramping and fever. It took weeks afterwards to feel I had recovered.
Every muscle was cramping at one point or another. My scalp muscles. My tongue. Every damn muscle I didn’t know existed cramped.
I got hit by one as a kid. Don’t remember much other than it hurt like hell and I did have to get anti-venom.
Would you let a wasp live in your shoe for a month just because it only stings sometimes? Same logic applies here, next time something bites you and it hurts to exist, skip WebMD and hit urgent care.
I spent a year backpacking across Aus, and I knew that if I ever got bitten by a widow, I was gonna take the anti venom, because fuck going through all that pain haha.
Sounds like you took it on like a champ though 🤝🏻
When I was bitten by a black widow spider I had muscle cramps in that leg, gastrointestinal cramping (emptying really lol) and heavy sweats then I was fine the next day by the time I went to the doctor. Sounds like I got off easy!!
The dr’s advice was “don’t get bitten again but if you do, go to the hospital.” I wasn’t making good choices because I was already recreationally drunk so all I did was catch the spider and try to sleep it off like an idiot. I brought the (dead) spider with me in a plastic bag. She said “that is gross” and that she didn’t need to see it to believe me. Long story short, some of us don’t always make good choices. TIFU solidarity
I got bit by a spider last summer and based on the symptoms am assuming it was a brown recluse. The strangest symptom was that I couldn’t sit still, felt like I needed to go for a run to get rid of excess energy. Incredibly weird sensation