# Brown recluse bite



## neoclassical (Jun 23, 2009)

I woke up this sunday with a spider near my face, I blew it away and then threw the covers aside. I promptly passed back out and woke up with an itchy burning bite on my knee and joint aches. Yesterday I came home from work with the heat on full blast in the car running a fever with a red blotch the size of my palm on my knee,dizzy... Wifey took me to the ER and it was confirmed that on of my worst fears happened to me, I was bitten by a brown recluse, the bite site got infected and spread etc. Now I get to see how much of a chunk of skin dies off on my knee. You wouldn't believe how much this hurts either, my back, my knees, my head. I had to take a full hydrocodone the DR gave this morning, and I never take pain killers stronger than motrin. Anyone know of anything I can do to minimize the damage?

Thanks,
Adam


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## Tiger (Jun 23, 2009)

Thats always been on my top 5 or so of things to fear in life. I doubt theres anything you can do.


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## cycloptopus (Jun 23, 2009)

Holy Crap!! Dude, I see you're from NY. Did this happen there? Aren't Brown Recluse bites worse than a Black Widow's? Hope you get better soon.


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## neoclassical (Jun 23, 2009)

It happened here. I think a black widow is worse because its poisonous, the brown recluse is venomous, but this feels like I've been poisoned. The only reason why I'm up right now is I'm enjoying the warm fuzziness of the pain killer. I'll post a pic of the bite later today.


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## ralphy1976 (Jun 23, 2009)

i know it sounds gross, but do post a pic please!!!! and i hope you get better soon!!!

Bitten by a brown recluse!! man that's heavy metal, you should add this in your CV / resume


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## SamSam (Jun 23, 2009)

Fuck man. I'm glad we don't have any such biting/ stinging nasties over here. 

Hope you make a full recovery dude.


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## synrgy (Jun 23, 2009)

Man, that's right up there on my list of fears too.

Untreated, their venom can spread indefinitely, rotting *all* of the victim's skin right off the bone. *ick*

You went to the hospital and got treated. That's all you can really do, at least so far as I know. Just be sure to stay real mindful of whether it gets better or worse. If it gets any worse, call doc ASAP.

Fucking fuck I hate spiders...


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## neoclassical (Jun 23, 2009)

took a pic of the bite, i'll upload it when wifey gets home tonight, looks really nasty today.


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## MTech (Jun 23, 2009)

Good thinking to go to the hospital at least! The guitarist of Acacia Strain got bit by one and waited to go and they almost had to amputate his leg.

Press release:
The Acacia Strain recently canceled several shows after guitarist was bitten by a brown recluse spider. Here's statement from singer, Vincent Bennett: "I'm sure a lot of you have heard that we had to cancel the last day of Sounds of the Underground and our last couple of shows because DL got bit by a poisonous spider. DL is not dead, so you can squash that rumor. He got bit by a brown recluse, you can read all about it here. Basically, it's a spider whose venom rots skin. If it isn't treated in enough time the bite victim can rot completely from the inside. The doctors said if we had waited two more days DL would have been legless, or dead. But he's, ok. Ok?"


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## neoclassical (Jun 23, 2009)

^holy shite


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## poopyalligator (Jun 24, 2009)

Dang dude that is brutal. I hope you make a quick and healthy recovery. At least you got bit in a place that can recover good. I have a friend who works in the hospital, and said that the worst bites for those are actually on your hands. If it bites where your fingers are or in between there is a good chance you will lose a couple.


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## synrgy (Jun 24, 2009)

*shudders*

Recluse spiders build irregular webs that frequently include a shelter consisting of disorderly threads. These spiders frequently build their webs in woodpiles and sheds, closets, garages, plenum, cellars and other places that are dry and generally undisturbed. _They seem to favor cardboard when dwelling in human residences, possibly because it mimics the rotting tree bark which they inhabit naturally. They also tend to be found in shoes, inside dressers, in bed sheets of infrequently used beds, in stacks of clothes, behind baseboards, behind pictures and near furnaces_. The common source of human-recluse contact is during the cleaning of these spaces, when their isolated spaces are suddenly disturbed and the spider feels threatened. Unlike most web weavers, they leave these webs at night to hunt. Males will move around more when hunting, while the female spiders tend to remain nearer to their webs.

*shudders again*


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## ralphy1976 (Jun 24, 2009)

this thread is pointless without pics!!!!

C'mon i am eargerly awaiting the picture of your bite!!!

I hope, on a more serious note, that you are ok today though. Hopefully all this will just be a bad memory in the near future


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## Origins (Jun 24, 2009)

ralphy1976 said:


> this thread is pointless without pics!!!!
> 
> C'mon i am eargerly awaiting the picture of your bite!!!
> 
> I hope, on a more serious note, that you are ok today though. Hopefully all this will just be a bad memory in the near future



Hey, he is not a circus pet..


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## ralphy1976 (Jun 24, 2009)

indeed, hence the last line, as it is pretty serious what happened to him.


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## RenegadeDave (Jun 24, 2009)

My friend's girlfriend suffered a BR bite on her leg when she was helping clean up after Katrina. She has a scar about the size of a nickel on the back of her calf, but it's not overly gruesome. She was pretty on the spot seeking medical attention though.


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## neoclassical (Jun 27, 2009)

Pics. It got browner/blacker, but I didn't get any pics. It looks pretty good right now. you can even see 2 little fang mark scars now.


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## neoclassical (Jun 27, 2009)

GGGGRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRR, ADAM SMASH!!!!!!!! That was him. Might be putting the Buddhist vow not to kill aside for a while......





synrgy said:


> *shudders*
> 
> Recluse spiders build irregular webs that frequently include a shelter consisting of disorderly threads. These spiders frequently build their webs in woodpiles and sheds, closets, garages, plenum, cellars and other places that are dry and generally undisturbed. _They seem to favor cardboard when dwelling in human residences, possibly because it mimics the rotting tree bark which they inhabit naturally. They also tend to be found in shoes, inside dressers, in bed sheets of infrequently used beds, in stacks of clothes, behind baseboards, behind pictures and near furnaces_. The common source of human-recluse contact is during the cleaning of these spaces, when their isolated spaces are suddenly disturbed and the spider feels threatened. Unlike most web weavers, they leave these webs at night to hunt. Males will move around more when hunting, while the female spiders tend to remain nearer to their webs.
> 
> *shudders again*


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## windu (Jun 27, 2009)

dude spider bites are serious, even the ones that cant kill you are still serious. gotta be carefull about them spiider bites. if your not sure if its a bite, you can tell by looking at it, and seeing a hole. like a pimple without the white stuff. it will eventually stiffin up and turn black. need to get meds for it immediatly and stay off the leg or where ever your are bittin

glad to hear your ok bro! fuck them recluses. i live in south texas. i come across alot of scorpians and black widows down here lol


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## yellowv (Jun 28, 2009)

A recluse bite is much worse than a widow bite. Recluse venom actually rots flesh. In some case huge hunks of flesh have to be removed surgically in order to stop the spread of the venom. I have seen some pretty horrific pictures of the damage done by recluse bites. A fried of mine got bit by one on her ass while riding an ATV years ago. She had to have flesh removed and plastic surgery done. She still had a little crater left in her butt cheek, but the ass was still pretty nice


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## 7 Strings of Hate (Jun 28, 2009)

my old man got bit in the thigh by one and eventually got a softball size peice of flesh removed from it.


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## yellowv (Jun 28, 2009)

Crazy thing. I reply to this thread earlier today and then find and kill a recluse in my kitchen about an hour ago.


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## Fred (Jun 28, 2009)

Fuuuuck that. Here I am whinging about mosquitoes when you have bastards like those kicking around! Sorry to hear about that man, hope you get better without having chunks of flesh removed.


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## neoclassical (Jun 29, 2009)

yellowv said:


> Crazy thing. I reply to this thread earlier today and then find and kill a recluse in my kitchen about an hour ago.



As it turns out I've been seeing these things for years. I even touched them as a kid. I never knew what a brown recluse was or did until about 10 years ago. I had a coworker that was bitten 20 times on the leg in her sleeping bag, but you could never tell because she caught it early and her doctor had her put dead sea salt and mud packs on the leg along with the meds. I've been doing the same thing, and the knee looks better but still hurts to the touch and burns a bit.


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## synrgy (Jun 29, 2009)

*OMFG* 

Brown Recluse Spider Bite, Spider Bites, Venom, Brown Recluses, Deadly Spiders


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## Prosthetic Rec (Jun 29, 2009)

I think I was bitten by a spider on Friday. A friend seems to think it was a brown recluse (which is how I happened to stumble into this thread...) but I can't confirm that one way or the other.
Extremely painful the morning after. Now not as painful, but the redness is spreading and there is extreme heat surrounding the area.
After seeing some of those pics, I think it'd be a good idea to get it checked out ASAP...

Thanks for posting that.


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## Origins (Jul 2, 2009)

synrgy said:


> *OMFG*
> 
> Brown Recluse Spider Bite, Spider Bites, Venom, Brown Recluses, Deadly Spiders



I don´t know if they actually treated the guy or did they just want to see how far it can go? 
Quite disgusting anyway..


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## synrgy (Jul 2, 2009)

Origins said:


> I don´t know if they actually treated the guy or did they just want to see how far it can go?
> Quite disgusting anyway..


 

No, they treated him, but the ones where it starts looking REAL fucked up are where they had to lance his finger to remove the infected tissue. If you do a google image search for 'brown recluse bite' you'll see some fucked up shit, but this is probably the most common string of photos. That's how I found it, anyway.


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## Ironbird666 (Jul 2, 2009)

Very common spider in my area. I've had some encounters with them, but so far so good when it comes to actually getting bitten. A few friends of mine weren't so lucky and I have fond memories of watching one of them get his wound packed with gauze to absorb the infection. Bad thing about packing the gauze was the unpacking. My buddy said it was pretty much the worst pain he's ever been through. That bite left a hell of a scar. Unfortunately for him, the wound got as bad as it did due to him failing to get medical attention. The black widow does cause some tissue damage, but the main effects after being bitten are extreme pain, cramping, naseau, etc. Most black widow bite victims I've talked to/read about said the bite was instantly felt and extremely painful with symptoms lasting several days. All in all, spiders need to die. I hate the bastards! 

It's a good thing you took care of it relatively quickly, you should recover pretty good. If the Dr. gave you meds for it you should be ok.


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## MrRedRaider (Jul 4, 2009)

Ive had many many encounters with the recluse spiders, several of them love the grass that grows around the house and up next to the front porch.. always very cautious when hitting those areas. I stomp them all dead or annihilate them with the weed eater. I did actually see a black widow male and female, although on different sides of the house, and killed them both too. First time seeing those bastids.

I think the worst was this past summer when helping my sister and bro in law take out all the ceiling tile and insulation in their building. Those bastards were hiding in-between the sheets of insulation.. my bro in law got scared shitless a couple times because he would move a tile and one would be staring at him about 6in away from his face.. was priceless seeing him leaping off the ladder and yelling OH SHIT at the same time. Safe to say we all wore thick gloves during that job.. never been bitten. Most of those spiders are not really that brown either.. all the ones I have seen here in Tx and in Arkansas are more green colored, and have more of that ghostly appearance. That is, not varying in color and no hairs.

My old man also got bitten by a recluse when he was younger, right on his ass. Mom said he had to sleep on his stomach for about a week. I remember reading that some people are naturally immune to the venom.. usually it will just get red, but no necrosis. That dudes hand is nasty.. thats a pretty extreme case looks like.


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## Nick1 (Jul 4, 2009)

I got bit by a BR about 4 years ago. I saw it before I went to bed and tried to kill it but it was too fast and ran away. The next morning there was blood on my pillow and a hole in my left hand So I went to the Dr. and he said soak it in Hydrgen peroxide and come back tomorrow. So I did and it was green and my hand was twice its normal size. I couldnt move my fingers. It hurt so fucking bad! So the Dr. looked and said the infection is on top of the skin. So he cut it out. I actually watched it and was amazed the colors it turned and the next day it was just a plan scab. I still have the scar.


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## 777 (Jul 6, 2009)

Dude that spider looks really horrifyingly similar to the ones i found in my house recently...... please tell me they dont exist in ireland....


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## DavyH (Jul 6, 2009)

777 said:


> Dude that spider looks really horrifyingly similar to the ones i found in my house recently...... please tell me they dont exist in ireland....


 
No, they hitched out on snakeback. Another reason to celebrate St Paddy's Day.

The bite looks very like cytotoxic snakebites - adders and vipers mainly. Not lethal if treated quickly, but you wish they had killed you. We had a patient (I was a medic in national service) who was on a drip pump six weeks after being bitten by a puff adder. The snake was still in ICU too


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## JJ Rodriguez (Jul 6, 2009)

Nick1 said:


> I got bit by a BR about 4 years ago. I saw it before I went to bed and tried to kill it but it was too fast and ran away. The next morning there was blood on my pillow and a hole in my left hand So I went to the Dr. and he said soak it in Hydrgen peroxide and come back tomorrow. So I did and it was green and my hand was twice its normal size. I couldnt move my fingers. It hurt so fucking bad! So the Dr. looked and said the infection is on top of the skin. So he cut it out. I actually watched it and was amazed the colors it turned and the next day it was just a plan scab. I still have the scar.


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## jymellis (Jul 6, 2009)

Most HORRIFYING spider bite EVERVideo


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## keeper006 (Jul 6, 2009)

I'm a zookeeper who works in the reptile/ invertabrate dept. and I have heard of treating bites with gunpowder. If the wound is still open a small amount of gunpowder on a bandage is supposed to help absorb the venom and break down proteins. I haven't done this or known anyone personally who has, but just thought I'd offer the info for you to check into. Good luck with that.


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## Nick1 (Jul 6, 2009)

JJ Rodriguez said:


>



I never took pics. The scar I have is small and it would be hard for my phones camera to capture it.


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## synrgy (Jul 6, 2009)

keeper006 said:


> I'm a zookeeper who works in the reptile/ invertabrate dept. and I have heard of treating bites with gunpowder. If the wound is still open a small amount of gunpowder on a bandage is supposed to help absorb the venom and break down proteins. I haven't done this or known anyone personally who has, but just thought I'd offer the info for you to check into. Good luck with that.


 
Similar concept -- my mom used to put meat tenderizer (the powder) on things like bee/hornet/wasp stings when I got them. Theoretically sucks the venom out. So far as I was ever able to tell, it totally worked.


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## HammerAndSickle (Jul 6, 2009)

I heard before on snopes (I think) that those pictures of the brown recluse bite were faked. It's sensationalist stuff, I think that's really pictures of a flesh-eating virus of some sort.


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## synrgy (Jul 6, 2009)

HammerAndSickle said:


> I heard before on snopes (I think) that those pictures of the brown recluse bite were faked. It's sensationalist stuff, I think that's really pictures of a flesh-eating virus of some sort.


 
Again, it's important to note that the *really* nasty pictures are *after* the inftected digit was lanced. That means somebody basically took a scalpel and cut a long straight line down the length of the infection, basically splitting the flesh of that person's digit in half, so they could remove the infected tissue. What you see in those photos is a partially stitched (hence why it's all coming apart like that)/partially infected (hence the discoloration/dead tissue) wound, *post*-lancing. The wound would have looked much different (externally) had the lancing not taken place.


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## HammerAndSickle (Jul 6, 2009)

snopes.com: Brown Recluse is the link I was referring to. Snopes is generally a reputable source for debunking things like this in the internet age.


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## synrgy (Jul 6, 2009)

I'm not reading anything there that 'debunks' it, persay.

They're still pretty certain it was a spider bite, and the venom they got from the wound was from the same class of venom as that of the Brown Recluse.

They only really say that they can't confirm what kind of spider it was, which is often the case unless whoever got bit was able to capture the spider to bring with them to the hospital.


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## asmegin_slayer (Jul 6, 2009)

Just had a conversation with my fiance about this topic... She deals with these guys at the hangar, where they house all the lear jets...


She had to say this about the venomous/poisonous confusion though...
[15:24] venomous maiden: Black widows are not POISONOUS they are venomous
[15:25] venomous maiden: and neither are likely to kill you these days but a widow hurts more so I hear
[15:25] venomous maiden: poisonous means you eat it
[15:25] venomous maiden: venomous means you are injected
[15:27] venomous maiden: And both are ALL OVER this hangar
[15:28] venomous maiden: Venomous is when the toxin is injected or delivered into prey
[15:28] venomous maiden: Poison is where you touch or injest something
[15:28] venomous maiden: like the poison dart frogs will mess you up when you touch them
[15:31] venomous maiden: a recluse scares me more only because it looks like so many other common spiders
[15:32] venomous maiden: but the black widow gives you like convulsions depending on where you are bit
[15:32] venomous maiden: nasty little fuckers
[15:32] venomous maiden: I've had both as pets lol
[15:32] venomous maiden: <---stupid


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## neoclassical (Jul 6, 2009)

I bet charcoal would work too. 

I'm getting much better, still soar and itchy and tired. Got a scab now after it being open for a few days.



keeper006 said:


> I'm a zookeeper who works in the reptile/ invertabrate dept. and I have heard of treating bites with gunpowder. If the wound is still open a small amount of gunpowder on a bandage is supposed to help absorb the venom and break down proteins. I haven't done this or known anyone personally who has, but just thought I'd offer the info for you to check into. Good luck with that.


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## keeper006 (Jul 6, 2009)

neoclassical said:


> I bet charcoal would work too.
> 
> I'm getting much better, still soar and itchy and tired. Got a scab now after it being open for a few days.



I know charcoal has good absortion properties, but I think it's something specific about gunpowder. I had heard about putting it directly on the wound, but I found these that discuss homeopathy medicine and taking it orally as it will dilute the poison in the bloodstream

HTodayGunpowder

First Aid for Bites and Stings

Glad to hear it's healing up. People that have real problems with it that you hear the horror stories of have to be allergic in some way to have that kind of reaction, similar to the way people allergic to bees can die from a simple sting that would just annoy most of us. I have friends at work who have been bitten that just get a sore for a week or so, so it all depends on the individual. We have them all over our dept. here as no spraying can be done because of our tarantulas, etc.


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## neoclassical (Aug 10, 2009)

Holy fuck, I think I got bit again. I was putting in the window AC and now I have two little fang marks on the back of my thumb, it itches like my knee did, and its red and raised. I felt a little pinch while I was lifting it. WTF??????? 
I killed one in the basement last week too.

Trying gunpowder from a bullet on bite, massive dose of vitamin C, and looking for the echinacea bottle, and an allergy pill.


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## Empryrean (Aug 10, 2009)

neoclassical said:


> Holy fuck, I think I got bit again. I was putting in the window AC and now I have two little fang marks on the back of my thumb, it itches like my knee did, and its red and raised. I felt a little pinch while I was lifting it. WTF???????
> I killed one in the basement last week too.
> 
> Trying gunpowder from a bullet on bite, massive dose of vitamin C, and looking for the echinacea bottle, and an allergy pill.



Oh shit that sucks dood, call 911 or something!


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## moshwitz (Aug 22, 2009)

Sup

God I hate those things,,we have them like crazy here in Alalbamahell.

They scare the shit out of me, cause I kill them all the time. and it don't matter how much you spray they will come back, especially if you live out in the woods like me.

You might wanna take a look here..

Brown Recluse First Aid Kit | Brown Recluse | Brown Recluse Spider | Recluse Spider


MOSHON
DAVE


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## Esp Griffyn (Aug 22, 2009)

asmegin_slayer said:


> Just had a conversation with my fiance about this topic... She deals with these guys at the hangar, where they house all the lear jets...
> 
> 
> She had to say this about the venomous/poisonous confusion though...
> ...




Your wife is sort of right, but sort of wrong also.

Venomous - producing venom
Poisonous - toxic

"Poisonous" is not restricted to eating, it simply refers to any dose of any chemical that is toxic to whatever you are referring too. Even concentrated enough doses of oxygen or water are toxic to humans. Really, toxic is much better word than poisonous, because it removes ambiguity from what you are trying to say. And yes, Widows are "poisonous", in a sense, despite what your wife claims, but it would be better to say that both spiders are capable of delivering fatally toxic doses of venom to a human, but more often than not they deliver non-lethal doses. Just thought I'd clear that up


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## IDLE (Aug 24, 2009)

neoclassical said:


> Holy fuck, I think I got bit again. I was putting in the window AC and now I have two little fang marks on the back of my thumb, it itches like my knee did, and its red and raised. I felt a little pinch while I was lifting it. WTF???????
> I killed one in the basement last week too.
> 
> Trying gunpowder from a bullet on bite, massive dose of vitamin C, and looking for the echinacea bottle, and an allergy pill.



WOW! Horrible luck, that absolutely blows. If I were you I would start growing phobic of my house.

How are you doing now? All healed up I hope?


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