Any nurses on here? Need advice please.
 

Hubby was bit by what we think might have been a spider today and want to know if these pictures look like I should be worried. I was bit in the face as a child and needed 2 surgeries and plastic surgery so now spiders scare me half to death!!
1st pic was an hour after it happen and 2nd is it now and it is hot to touch and painful

And 2....

Do you know what type of spider it was?

Not a nurse but I would get it checked out

omgosh!!! What kind of spider sinks fang holes that size? I hope this happened outside not in your house....or I'd be scared to sleep at night :eek:

An ice pack should help the pain after you do a Google search to see if there is any reason not to apply ice to a spider bite site. I would get him checked out also or call Poison Control Center or something to see what to watch for.

call the ER and see what they tell you to do.

They will say to come in and that they cannot give out medical advice over the telephone to any patient! LOL! I know cause I tried that one night.

No clue... I circled it with an ink pen to watch size... He is a General Contractor claims manager so he was in an attic getting moisture readings. And that was the first thing I said umm either it was HUGE or buck toothed haha
If it happen here in my house... Cold day in hell I would be sleeping!!! I am so scared of spiders that my dad's old house actually has a 22 bullet hole in the ceiling from me taking care of a large spider :p yes I am actually that nuts when it comes to them!!! And Ryan once jumped out of a moving car he was driving because a spider came down in front of his face... So we are both bad lol

Oh wait this better proves how bad we are... 5 years ago we saw a mom black widow and babies in one of our 1964 Impala's we went right to Walmart got a case of bug bombs threw them all inside the car with the windows up and have yet to go I side it since and when we moved it we had somebody else do it without telling them why :p

Alisha, I am not a nurse, but I do know a little bit about spider bites (unfortunately). You did the right thing by marking it. Everyone reacts differently even to the same kind of bite and the tissue where the bite occurs makes a big difference too. Fatty tissue usually has a worse reaction. When I was bit, the center of the bite turned black and died and flaked away leaving a hole in my knee. My bite mark was small, but I had the red streaks veining out from the bite and that warranted medical attention. So my advice is if it gets bigger than a quarter or he gets the streaking or changes in mood he should see a doctor. Otherwise, I'd just watch it for sudden changes.

I am an ER nurse. Watch for erythema increasing around the site outside of where you marked the borders. If it is increasing steadily or if the area continues to swell, get it checked, either at your primary care physician, a walk in clinic or the ER. Even if the spider was not a poisonous one, everyone carries staph on their skin and it is usually a resistant strain (MRSA), and he may need Bactrim DS or Doxycycline if allergic to sulfa. Wash well with soap and water and apply warm, moist compresses (hot washrag) several times a day until cleared. Hope this helps, and yes, if you had called at work, I would have given the spiel about no information on the phone, yaddayaddayadda...:D

My brother many years ago got bit by something. They at first thought a tick.... but after a few days he had a lump the size of a basketball (not kidding!) so he went to the ER. At first they thought he had Lymes disease, all his joints and muscles were soooo sore like he ran a marathon (which he does do ironically... but not this time). Anyways, it was a spider bite, the ER gave him stuff (not sure what) but when the lump went down, it peeled like a sunburn. Took a good 3 weeks on meds.

My Dads wife got bit by a spider a few years ago in the garden and got blood poisoning (red lines that come out from the center where the bite is to the edges of the swelling). They kept the spider, brought it to the hospital and I don't remember what it was, but she had anti-venom shots, took months for the bite marks to go away.

Most recently my little bro got a spider bite while sleeping at my house in the basement bedroom. He had fang marks quite similar, they locally swelled and were painful, he 'popped' them and clear liquid came out, warm moist heat on them to draw the rest of the fluid out and he was fine the next day.

I think a lot of nasty spider bites that you see, are actually dependent on the person the spider bit. Some are not affected at all, even by a brown recluse bite and some lose huge chunks of skin. If heat/ice does not help, or red lines form or joint/muscle pain or stiffness happens to your hubby, go to the hospital. Better safe than sorry!

It never grew and some clear stuff came out, it only hurts to touch now BUT he is whining of joint pain.. He is a huge dramatic baby lol no fever sooo I am still watching and icing it.
I have had MRSA twice and can't take penicillin or sulfur so I know how fun that stuff is :p

I'm a nurse (not currently practicing). The appearance of it isn't so unusual right now, per se. But what's important is to watch is whether it continues to redden / swell / get hotter. It wouldn't be terribly unusual for some swelling to be present for a couple/few days and tenderness in some bites (scorpions, some spiders etc) can last for more than a few days.

What's really important to note in stings is whether or not the symptoms stay local (around the bite), or if they start to generalize. For example, when I've been stung by a scorpion, it hurts like HE** at the site of the bite (on FIRE at first) and is tender for about 2-3 days. However, if my husband gets stung by one - the neurotoxins in the scorpion venom affect him systemically (severely, I mean) to the point where we have to go to ER.

Everyone reacts differently to stings depending on whether they are sensitive to them and/or allergic, or neither (where everything stays local to the sting).

I almost starting to think Dr for him because bite area is fine BUT he in general feels like poo almost kind of like flu type all over pain and just yucky... So it might be odd timing he gets sick but I would rather be safe.