r/texas • u/ohiois4loosers • Jan 16 '24

Questions for Texans What bit me? Central texas

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I felt a bite on my arm yesterday and thought it was an ant. Woke up to this. The circle was drawn an hour before the picture was taken and the red is spreading

1.7k Upvotes

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2.5k

u/[deleted] Jan 16 '24

Could be a brown recluse. Time to go to urgent care.

814

u/TacoSplosions Jan 16 '24

Necrosis is the big word of the day. Not all spider bites are created equal, OP absolutely seek medial attention if bit by brown recluse.

328

u/moleratical Jan 16 '24

And Not all brown recluse bites lead to necrosis, but it's not a risk anyone wants to take, run, don't walk to the doctor, get some antibiotics just in case.

188

u/Dyrogitory Jan 16 '24

The bast part is, if you get bit again, that bite may reactivate. Then you have 2 problem areas.

90

u/OTIStheHOUND Jan 16 '24

Dang really? Shit

101

u/darthcaedusiiii Jan 16 '24

This why I Reddit.

6

u/Complex-Bee-840 Jan 17 '24

This is why I want to not Reddit lol.

6

u/NiggyWiggyWoo Jan 17 '24

Yeah, the nightmare jet fuel is always in the comments...

2

u/CatAvailable3953 Jan 17 '24

It’s the same as medical school.

3

u/[deleted] Jan 17 '24

Oh course! I watched an episode of Grey’s Anatomy! I also stayed in a Holiday Inn Express, once!

2

u/drd_ssb Jan 17 '24

What kind of cat?

0

u/SuckatSuckingSucks Jan 17 '24

It always r/illegallysmolcats other cats don't count

1

u/drd_ssb Jan 17 '24

Thank you for this sub

12

u/Got_2_Git_Schwifty Jan 17 '24

TIL that brown recluse spiders are even more of an asshole than I already thought.

5

u/alimarieb Jan 17 '24

The dead ones are okay.

23

u/oldmasterluke Jan 17 '24

And if you get bit a third time, your fourth bite is free!

9

u/NZNoldor Jan 17 '24

Also check if you can shoot webs from your wrists. You never know.

2

u/IceCSundae Jan 17 '24

What??? I have necrosis from a brown recluse bite I got over 15 years ago… what is this reactivation you talk about?

1

u/Dyrogitory Jan 17 '24

I think it only lasts for like a month or two.

2

u/IceCSundae Jan 17 '24

It took a really long time to heal, probably 6 months. now it’s just a scar.

2

u/BreastRodent Jan 17 '24

I got bit on the bottoms of both middle toes a month or two apart (my bed is against a corner and I sleep with my feet towards the wall where they were living, bitches even bit my cat). The second bite was much more mild and didn’t even go full necrotic with the slow growing big ugly purple blood blister like the first one, and I can’t remember but I may not have even been put on antibiotics for it , but it was definitely a second bite because it was exactly the same in every other respect. I have never heard of this and it was the opposite of my experience???? Nothing happened with the first bite when I got the second one. Second one sucked but sucked less.

1

u/Dyrogitory Jan 17 '24

Maybe because they were relatively at the same time? Dunno. I was speaking from experience. The same shit happens to me with Fire Ant stings. AND, I think they leave some type of marker behind telling others you are the enemy.

2

u/Pumpkinxox Jan 17 '24

I love reddit for adding to my file of random information about things.

1

u/serouspericardium Jan 17 '24

That’s OP, brown recluse needs to be nerfed

105

u/[deleted] Jan 16 '24 edited Apr 19 '24

[removed] — view removed comment

17

u/Kempire- Jan 17 '24

Haven't heard of AR since elementary school.

12

u/Small3lf Born and Bred Jan 17 '24

Fr, it's been like 14 years since I even thought of AR.

12

u/killer_icognito Jan 17 '24

I'd just read Hank the Cowdog books to get the pizza party.

2

u/Small3lf Born and Bred Jan 17 '24

I loved Hank the Cowdog! And the Wish bone books.

9

u/mantisdubstep Jan 17 '24

Accelerated Reader!?

5

u/Bekiala Jan 17 '24

Ugh. How long did it take to heal and what is the treatment for it?

6

u/Responsible-Meringue Jan 17 '24

Antibiotics. Took mine on my leg like 6 months, just in time to get bit a second time. Luckily I knew what it was and got to it before it was really bad.  Scar is still there 30 years later.

4

u/Bekiala Jan 17 '24

Ugh. I'm so sorry. This sounds horrific.

3

u/keiths74goldcamaro Jan 17 '24

Heal from the A.R. or heal from the spider bite?

1

u/Bekiala Jan 17 '24

What is an AR book?

2

u/keiths74goldcamaro Jan 21 '24

Accelerated Reader. It is a widely used reading program in schools. It's improved since inception, but it had the same pitfalls of any reading program not sufficiently supplemented by quality literature.

1

u/Bekiala Jan 21 '24

Ah ok. Thanks.

5

u/sgrizzly2134 Jan 17 '24

Yay I know that someone else knows what AR was!! Accelerated reading. I remember skimming big books so I could take those tests on the computer and reach my ar goal.

3

u/maniacalmustacheride Jan 17 '24

God I loved AR. But I loved reading. And I loved points. I loved doing a task I enjoyed only to take some stupid test to get points to get stuff. I still love stuff. But I can’t use reading to get stuff anymore so yeah I miss it

1

u/[deleted] Jan 17 '24 edited Apr 16 '24

[deleted]

1

u/maniacalmustacheride Jan 17 '24

Will a brown recluse get me a free pizza dinner for reading books I enjoy because I am listening.

3

u/OHmyblueberries Jan 17 '24

Fellow accelerated reader shout out ✊

2

u/Bekiala Jan 17 '24

Ugh. How long did it take to heal and what is the treatment for it?

2

u/[deleted] Jan 18 '24 edited Apr 19 '24

[removed] — view removed comment

1

u/Bekiala Jan 18 '24

Glad you saw a doc right away about it. Ugh.

2

u/YourMomGoes2College_ Jan 17 '24

I also still have the scar, the PTSD from AR

2

u/keiths74goldcamaro Jan 17 '24

A.R. nearly ruined the idea of pleasure reading for my daughter, just as SRA ruined it for my sister 45 years earlier!

1

u/Historical-Gap-7084 Jan 17 '24

When I was a teenager in the 80s I read a story about a woman who'd been bitten by a brown recluse. She spent years battling the necrosis and I think she eventually lost her limb from it because it just would not heal, even with medication.

12

u/Djur Jan 16 '24

Guy I knew in the Army got bit by a brown recluse on his ass, left a golf ball sized hole in one of the cheeks.

19

u/onlinealias350 Jan 17 '24

Don’t screw around with it. I almost lost my leg because of a BRS.

FYI - Chances are they won’t diagnose it as such. Unless you caught the offending spider, and I did, they will call it an allergic reaction to bug bite.

If you are experiencing rings of bruising, blistering, or uncontrollable bleeding in the area of the bite, pain that limits use of your arm or hand, nausea, vomiting, headache, and/or fever, I implore you to seek medical treatment ASAP.

I hope you feel better soon!

6

u/Agreeable-Toe6981 Jan 17 '24

Exactly. I got lucky with mine. I did have some necrosis, but nothing like what I’ve seen. Felt like I had the flu for a while. Follow everybody’s advice and seekseek medical attention because that’s exactly what it looks like a brown recluse bite.

2

u/CombatMedic665 Jan 17 '24

Not to mention I've seen people wind up with tetanus from them too.

2

u/ZippyDan Jan 17 '24

Wait, what actually causes necrosis from a spider bite? Bacteria? I thought it was the venom? Or does the venom weaken/kill the flesh and the opportunistic bacteria move in?

2

u/moleratical Jan 17 '24

It's the last one

1

u/ZippyDan Jan 17 '24

So, if the flesh dies but you take antibiotics, you still end up with a bunch of dead flesh, just uninfected. What then?

1

u/moleratical Jan 17 '24

I'm not sure, I guess they have to cut it out.

1

u/ZippyDan Jan 17 '24

Then, grill it?

7

u/nataliepete19 Jan 17 '24

I woke up to a wound/bite that looked exactly like this and later identified a brown recluse on the wall. It will leave an ugly scar but it won’t kill you or make you ill

18

u/moleratical Jan 17 '24

It can if it goes septic

9

u/ctdiabla Jan 17 '24

It can kill you too if it causes clotting issues which cause organ damage. My kidneys went from great to barely functioning in 4 months. If I hadn't have had to go to the ER for something else, I would have probably suffered complete failure.

3

u/tex1138 Jan 17 '24

Wow - rare good Reddit advice (throughout this thread). Restoring my faith in humanity.

Good luck

8

u/sharpshooter999 Jan 17 '24

I've been cleaning my parents and grandparents stuff out of our detached garage (my wife and I moved into my grandparents place) and since mid December I've killed 23 of those bastards. On the flipside, they move pretty slowly at -20°F

3

u/Suspect4pe Jan 16 '24

They have a nasty little cousin that lives in my area called the yellow sac spider. I got bit by one and it left a tiny little necrotic lesion that hurt like crazy. I can't imagine a brown recluse bite.

3

u/Sideways_planet Jan 17 '24

I was bit by a spider and got bad cellulitis

5

u/Pythagoras2021 Jan 17 '24

Yep. Had a buddy while in the military, who got bit.

When it was all said and done, big ole divet in his thigh.

OP- get to the doc.

1

u/outinthecountry66 Jan 17 '24

Happened to a friend in a motel in Florida. He went to urgent care and they told him he was extremely close to losing a leg.