Giant Garage Spider!

[Care4all]

Big Wood Spider DSC_2232_c_e on Flickr - Photo Sharing! do you think that is the garage spider?

 

[Valerie]

All spiders are poisonous.

normally outdoor spiders are not...only ones are the indoor ones...brown recluse and the black widow...neither of which are fatal to a healthy adult.

The most poisonous spiders in North America

sorry to interrupt the scream fest with facts...sorry

Define "healthy adult", because I got bit by a brown recluse, and was completely out of commission for a solid week, and still sick for like a month. By out of commission, I mean incoherent. Could barely lift my head, couldn't speak, couldn't think, couldn't move off the damned couch, couldn't even keep my eyes opened, was white as a ghost, with a black leg, and that's only what *I* remember. Others told me they thought I was actually dyng..

If that's what it did to me, I'd hate to see what it did to someone with a cold who was "
less than healthy".

That sounds awful!

I got bit by a spider once on my forehead near my eyebrow. I was out getting wood to start a fire and it was dark so I didn't even see it or realize I had been bitten. I woke up in the morning with a huge headache and a half swollen face. By the time I got to the doctor the skin at the site of the bite was already necrotic. Just a tiny little scar now. The doctor put me on Keflex, an antibiotic, and Prednisone, a steroid, right away. I felt sick for a few days, but the medicine helped me recover very quickly.

 

[geauxtohell]

That was cool!

The irony: if you kill the spider with raid, you will end up spending money on more cans of raid to kill the other bugs that the spider would have killed.

Wolf spiders in your house are a good sign, as they kill recluses (if you live in an area where there are recluses).

 

[geauxtohell]

That sounds awful!

I got bit by a spider once on my forehead near my eyebrow. I was out getting wood to start a fire and it was dark so I didn't even see it or realize I had been bitten. I woke up in the morning with a huge headache and a half swollen face. By the time I got to the doctor the skin at the site of the bite was already necrotic. Just a tiny little scar now. The doctor put me on Keflex, an antibiotic, and Prednisone, a steroid, right away. I felt sick for a few days, but the medicine helped me recover very quickly.

You know, the other day we were talking about the number of bacterial infections that are misdiagnosed as spider bites. Specifically Brown Recluse bites. People are diagnosed with Brown Recluse bites in areas where they aren't even endemic too. On top of that, there is no real test to run to see if a person has been bitten by a spider.

You may have been bitten by a spider, but, I'd put my money on a staph or strept infection. The fact that it was responsive to a ceftriaxone would support that. Antibiotics don't work against spider venom. The steroid is probably what made you sick.

Just a thought.

 

[AllieBaba]

Bullshit you will. When I kill the spiders in my house, I have zero bugs.

BTW, a big spider population will attract house centipedes, and one of the best ways to eliminate a house centipede problem is to eliminate the spiders.

 

[Valerie]

That sounds awful!

I got bit by a spider once on my forehead near my eyebrow. I was out getting wood to start a fire and it was dark so I didn't even see it or realize I had been bitten. I woke up in the morning with a huge headache and a half swollen face. By the time I got to the doctor the skin at the site of the bite was already necrotic. Just a tiny little scar now. The doctor put me on Keflex, an antibiotic, and Prednisone, a steroid, right away. I felt sick for a few days, but the medicine helped me recover very quickly.

You know, the other day we were talking about the number of bacterial infections that are misdiagnosed as spider bites. Specifically Brown Recluse bites. People are diagnosed with Brown Recluse bites in areas where they aren't even endemic too. On top of that, there is no real test to run to see if a person has been bitten by a spider.

You may have been bitten by a spider, but, I'd put my money on a staph or strept infection. The fact that it was responsive to a ceftriaxone would support that. Antibiotics don't work against spider venom. The steroid is probably what made you sick.

Just a thought.

No, it was the magic Prednisone that did the trick. It happened pretty quickly and my PCP said it looked like a spider bite and called an infectious disease specialist on the spot who determined I should be put on Keflex as well just in case it wasn't a spider bite. Like Dis, I am an otherwise perfectly healthy person. If I hadn't gone to the doctor right away and started the Prednisone I would have suffered more, like she apparently did.

 

[PixieStix]

Cmon girls----it's just a frickin spider--smack it with a shoe

What a horrible spider
A shoe? I would have taken a baseball bat to both of them and then called the orkin man!

That guy was stupid for allowing the eggs to hatch.

Spiders do not survive in my sight

 

[PixieStix]

[ame=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sHzdsFiBbFc]YouTube - Spiders On Drugs[/ame]

 

[PixieStix]

That was cool!

The irony: if you kill the spider with raid, you will end up spending money on more cans of raid to kill the other bugs that the spider would have killed.

Wolf spiders in your house are a good sign, as they kill recluses (if you live in an area where there are recluses).

So that was a wolf spider?

What kind of spider is it, that is almost transparent, very small but with pretty long little ugly ass legs? ick

By the way, I kill spiders with my power washer, well at least I wash them away, and I do not have any bugs

 

[PixieStix]

The guy that made that video is stupid, I hate him He needs to be a man

[ame=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e_EU8DibPnU]YouTube - Giant Porch Spiders[/ame]

 

[geauxtohell]

Bullshit you will. When I kill the spiders in my house, I have zero bugs.

BTW, a big spider population will attract house centipedes, and one of the best ways to eliminate a house centipede problem is to eliminate the spiders.

I guess we'll have to chalk it up to our anecdotes.

Having lived in a house with a serious recluse infestation, we welcomed Wolf Spiders as our friends.

 

[geauxtohell]

That was cool!

The irony: if you kill the spider with raid, you will end up spending money on more cans of raid to kill the other bugs that the spider would have killed.

Wolf spiders in your house are a good sign, as they kill recluses (if you live in an area where there are recluses).

So that was a wolf spider?

What kind of spider is it, that is almost transparent, very small but with pretty long little ugly ass legs? ick

By the way, I kill spiders with my power washer, well at least I wash them away, and I do not have any bugs

It looked like a wolf spider to me, and they are pretty ubiquitous.

Though I am not an expert.

 

[geauxtohell]

No, it was the magic Prednisone that did the trick.

The steroid just suppresses your own immune system and the inflammatory response. But the trade off is that steroids tend to cause "flu like symptoms".

It happened pretty quickly and my PCP said it looked like a spider bite and called an infectious disease specialist on the spot who determined I should be put on Keflex as well just in case it wasn't a spider bite. Like Dis, I am an otherwise perfectly healthy person. If I hadn't gone to the doctor right away and started the Prednisone I would have suffered more, like she apparently did.

Just making the point that it is virtually, if not completely, impossible to diagnose a spider bite and that there is little you can do to treat a recluse bite, except debride the wound and try and keep it as clean as possible.

If the ceftriaxone worked wonders, it was probably bacterial. It might have been a bacterial infection in response to the spider bite.

Or you could have been bitten by a non-venomous spider and had a weird allergic response to it.

Just tossing out some ideas. The important thing is that you are well.

 

[Luissa]

That sounds awful!

I got bit by a spider once on my forehead near my eyebrow. I was out getting wood to start a fire and it was dark so I didn't even see it or realize I had been bitten. I woke up in the morning with a huge headache and a half swollen face. By the time I got to the doctor the skin at the site of the bite was already necrotic. Just a tiny little scar now. The doctor put me on Keflex, an antibiotic, and Prednisone, a steroid, right away. I felt sick for a few days, but the medicine helped me recover very quickly.

You know, the other day we were talking about the number of bacterial infections that are misdiagnosed as spider bites. Specifically Brown Recluse bites. People are diagnosed with Brown Recluse bites in areas where they aren't even endemic too. On top of that, there is no real test to run to see if a person has been bitten by a spider.

You may have been bitten by a spider, but, I'd put my money on a staph or strept infection. The fact that it was responsive to a ceftriaxone would support that. Antibiotics don't work against spider venom. The steroid is probably what made you sick.

Just a thought.

I thought I had a spider bite and so did the ER doctor the first visit but by the day after I went to the ER my whole upper leg was red and I had an area that was hard as a rock. I ended up having MRSA on the inside of my leg. Try walking around when the inside of your thigh is throbbing. I had to walk like I shit my pants and they also were worried about my leg I think for a day because it took over so fast. I ended up having to go to the ER five times spending one night there also. I also didn't have insurance, my bill would have been $5,000 if I didn't find out I was pregnant a week later and I was able to go on state medical. And since they established I was pregnant when I had MRSA the state covered my medical costs. I wonder if an HMO would have done that?

 

[geauxtohell]

I thought I had a spider bite and so did the ER doctor the first visit but by the day after I went to the ER my whole upper leg was red and I had an area that was hard as a rock. I ended up having MRSA on the inside of my leg. Try walking around when the inside of your thigh is throbbing. I had to walk like I shit my pants and they also were worried about my leg I think for a day because it took over so fast. I ended up having to go to the ER five times spending one night there also. I also didn't have insurance, my bill would have been $5,000 if I didn't find out I was pregnant a week later and I was able to go on state medical. And since they established I was pregnant when I had MRSA the state covered my medical costs. I wonder if an HMO would have done that?

Bingo.

Can't answer the last part of your question.

 

[Luissa]

I thought I had a spider bite and so did the ER doctor the first visit but by the day after I went to the ER my whole upper leg was red and I had an area that was hard as a rock. I ended up having MRSA on the inside of my leg. Try walking around when the inside of your thigh is throbbing. I had to walk like I shit my pants and they also were worried about my leg I think for a day because it took over so fast. I ended up having to go to the ER five times spending one night there also. I also didn't have insurance, my bill would have been $5,000 if I didn't find out I was pregnant a week later and I was able to go on state medical. And since they established I was pregnant when I had MRSA the state covered my medical costs. I wonder if an HMO would have done that?

Bingo.

Can't answer the last part of your question.

I guess we have recluse's here but you never see them and I don't think they have any reported bites.
The funny thing is I am deathly afaired of spiders but I don't think I have had a bite, I never get bug bites either or mosquito bites. My doctor thinks it is either my blood type or hormones can't remember.

 

[geauxtohell]

I thought I had a spider bite and so did the ER doctor the first visit but by the day after I went to the ER my whole upper leg was red and I had an area that was hard as a rock. I ended up having MRSA on the inside of my leg. Try walking around when the inside of your thigh is throbbing. I had to walk like I shit my pants and they also were worried about my leg I think for a day because it took over so fast. I ended up having to go to the ER five times spending one night there also. I also didn't have insurance, my bill would have been $5,000 if I didn't find out I was pregnant a week later and I was able to go on state medical. And since they established I was pregnant when I had MRSA the state covered my medical costs. I wonder if an HMO would have done that?

Bingo.

Can't answer the last part of your question.

I guess we have recluse's here but you never see them and I don't think they have any reported bites.
The funny thing is I am deathly afaired of spiders but I don't think I have had a bite, I never get bug bites either or mosquito bites. My doctor thinks it is either my blood type or hormones can't remember.

They actually aren't widely distributed across the country. The diagnosis of Brown Recluse Bites in the pacific northwest or northeast calls the original issue into question. That is not to say that it's impossible (the spider could have traveled in luggage), but it's highly unlikely.

http://dermatology.cdlib.org/DOJvol5num2/special/map.gif

It's actually hard to get bitten by a Brown Recluse. You have to apply downward pressure on them. People that get bitten generally do so because the spider is in their close or they mash it on their skin. So if you have any spider on you, flick it off. They also tend to be nocturnal, which reduces your odds.

We moved into a house and foolishly moved a bunch of boxes from the woodshed into the basement of our new house and were immediately infested. It took several years of bug bombing the house to get rid of them. Even with that, no one in my family ever got bitten. I always made my bed and shook out my clothes and shoes.

Little common sense things like that.

If you are bitten, by everything I've read, you will have no doubt about it.

 

[AllieBaba]

Yeah, well, let me tell you something about brown recluses. They aren't supposed to be in Oregon at all..but they are and they have been since my 75-year-old mom was a daughter. They called them fiddlebacks. I've seen them intermittently all through my life in Oregon, in a variety of different places. Including my mom's barn, hundreds of them, living down in the dirt along the foundations of the barn. I found them when I cleaned out her barn.

They are slick looking, kinda pale brown. Sometimes they have a fiddle on their backs, sometimes not.

Black widows are also found all over the place. They like dry, dark places.

 

[AllieBaba]

Anytime you see double egg sacks you've got a black widow problem. The females always lay two egg sacks.

 

[geauxtohell]

Yeah, well, let me tell you something about brown recluses. They aren't supposed to be in Oregon at all..but they are and they have been since my 75-year-old mom was a daughter. They called them fiddlebacks. I've seen them intermittently all through my life in Oregon, in a variety of different places. Including my mom's barn, hundreds of them, living down in the dirt along the foundations of the barn. I found them when I cleaned out her barn.

They are slick looking, kinda pale brown. Sometimes they have a fiddle on their backs, sometimes not.

Black widows are also found all over the place. They like dry, dark places.

I don't mean to dispute your anecdote, but I guess I will. The simple fact is that the experts disagree with you.

It's an easy spider to misidentify, since it's pretty plain looking (unlike the widow).