I was bitten by a brown recluse spider one morning when I slipped my arm down into my coat sleeve. The bite felt like a prick of a small needle. I went on to work and during the day, the bite was turning red and itching so after an eight hour work day, I stopped at the doctor's office to see what I should do for it. I was given a shot to counteract the venom but the next morning, I woke up and my face was swollen so I didn't know if it was the bite or the shot that did that. The bite spot got larger and the skin around the red circle began to turn a bluish color. I went back to doctor and got antibiotics and still the bite was not getting better. The spot began to rot out and I went back to the doctor and was instructed to wash the hole with soap and scrub it out with a washrag. After that, I was to pour peroxide in the hole and let it boil it out and then rinse with water. The peroxide really burns when it hits raw flesh. The doctor also said to leave the wound open to the air and not put anything on the hole. After I started using it the wound got better and sealed off. I have a scar but with the scar is kind of puckered up and is not as big as it was when the hole was in my arm. I would not want to see anyone go through the pain of a bite. Sometimes it felt like it was throbbing pain and I also felt numbness some of the time. The best thing for a brown recluse bite is to get to a doctor as soon as possible when you get bit. The doctor told me that if I had come within the first 4 to 6 hours, he could have gave me some shots and stopped the venom from spreading and causing as large a hole as it did.

I'm surprised to read that the brown recluse is not prevalent in Southern California as they seem to have proliferated in the Inland Empire over the last few years. I am suffering from a recluse bite currently and having read about them was still caught off guard by the extreme pain at the site that has been continuous. I was trimming a bush in a dark corner when 4-5 spiders went scurrying, thinking them to be common garden spiders I kept working and at one point pressed against it to cut a higher branch. The bite was immediate and quickly painful ...I thought I had been stung! I knew to take Benadryl but was afraid of getting 'too sleepy' as I had a lot of work to do. By the next day the pain was so intense I knew I was in trouble and a hole the size of a pea had opened on my chest. The surrounding flesh was hard like a boil and deep red. I went to the doctor who put me on antibiotics I had covered the area with antibiotic cream, but kept it breathable. The constant dressing changes and antibiotics seemed to arrest progression. This has been one of the most painful experiences of my life. The site continues to shrink, weeping and actually losing thick pus-like material that I shower off or carefully dab with a clean antibiotic wipe. I feel fortunate that it is doing so well, hearing other accounts and seeing photos of how bad it can get. My advice is to get to a doctor sooner when it doesn't feel right and you suspect something is out of the ordinary.

I got bitten Saturday on a nature walk with my children. On Sunday and Monday I was nauseated and in severe pain. It is on my right buttock and the pain is running from my lower back all the way down my hip and thigh.

One morning I noticed a small itchy "pimple" and thought nothing of it. I was out of town and the next morning it had turned pea-sized and black. The next day I was to return back to Houston and planned to see a dermatologist. The morning of my flight I could hardly walk and my whole ankle was purple and swollen. In Houston I went to the ER and was admitted for incision and debridement. I next had a second surgery to remove old surgical hardware, more debridement and bone scrapings. I had plastic surgery to fill the golf ball sized hole and was put on 8 weeks of intravenous antibiotics. Seven months later the wound is well on its way to healing. This was a living nightmare and the worst pain I have ever felt.

I didn't realize that I had been bitten by a spider until my calf started itching. When I looked down I saw a red circle with a hard inner circle with raised white spots in the shape of a C. It was Easter Sunday and I couldn't get to my doctor. I didn't think it was serious but it was starting to hurt and the red was spreading. When I did get in to my doctor she told me that it was a brown recluse spider bite. I was given two shots of a strong antibiotic that day and two the next. I am also on oral antibiotics. It's the weekend again but I will definitely run to the Emergency Room if it gets any worse! So far I am holding my own. My advice is DON'T WAIT to get help.

My niece was bitten 18 mos. ago on her leg but no doctors would listen when she stated it was spider bite. It took them four weeks to realize how bad she was and treated her for BRS bite. She went through the wound care treatments every day to debride the area. She was 28 and in a nursing home, the skin, fat and muscle of her legs deteriorated. She couldn't walk and just this Easter she finally came home with routine maintenance to be done doctor visits. I just got a call that she had a stroke (hemorrhage in her brain) which has also caused her to have serious heart attack. I wonder if this is some of side effects of BRS or of meds she's on but I pray for her to be okay someday.