Spider bite?

Today I was mowing the yard and during one of the grass catcher empty cycles, I felt this slight pinch on the back of my head. It gradually developed to feel like someone had taken a piece of my scalp and attached one of those spring clamps to it. Damn it hurt and I brushed my hand across my head and thought...wonder if I found a bees nest or wasp colony and this was the first sting. Ran my butt away but I didn't see any flying insects nor could I have heard since I was wearing ear plugs. (Damn noisy lawnmower.)

Leaning over cupping the back of my head...I could feel it swelling and the localized pain was becoming pretty intense. That spring clamp was still attached. Went inside and got a quick look in the mirror. The area was red and swollen to about a dollar sized coin. It was sensitive to the touch. I'm pretty wound up and the Mrs. is wondering what the racket coming from the bathroom is. We clean it up and I look up spider bite. Hmm...doesn't sound good but of course, this is worse case scenario. I call poison control hot line for more info.

That was 7 hours ago. Swelling has lessened and the redness as well but it still feels like something is still pinching that area. The left rear portion of my scalp along with the ear feels a bit numb, knees and ankles ache a bit. Poison control said go see my doc in the morning for a tetanus shot so I'll be off for that tomorrow.

Flippin' bug!

This thread is useless without pics.

Sounds a lot like a wasp or hornet sting to me.

As a medic maybe I can help you out. A pic would be very useful but I seriously doubt it was a spider bite mainly because of the symptoms you describe. Most poisonous spiders have a very subtle bite, that being if you even notice it. My first guess would be some type of insect like an ant or more likely a yellow jacket or hornet, and if you have even a slight allergy to any of these that will amplify the symptoms quite a bit. Hope this helps.

Ouch. Hope things get better soon. This does sound kind of like my reaction to a yellow jacket sting. Never got one anywhere but the lower leg and it wasn't fun. Got hit twice one time, and I couldn't hardly walk or get a shoe on for a couple days. I had run over a yellow jacket nest hole in the yard with the lawnmower.

Geoff

I hate getting bite, hope it's nothing too serious!

I had something quite similar a few years back and I thought that it was a spider bite as well because I was at a friends house that was crawling with Black Widows in his back yard. The bite was of the same size and swelled just as you had mentioned but I never actually found out what actually did the biting and it seems as if Black Widow bite symptoms can run a wide range of symptoms.

Holy Arachnophobia Bat Man!

I lived through the night, tried to climb the wall and failed. Not a spider bite like the movie. Called my derm and GP about this. Both relayed it was symptomatic of a wasp or hornet sting and advised me to keep the area clean and watch for any changes indicating infection. The tetanus shot wasn't necessary, since I haven't had one on 10 years, it was my option. That area is still pinkish and swollen though now it itches.

Now I understand why I see the gardeners wearing long sleeves and are pretty much covered head-toe.

A spider bite doesn't hurt so much as it itches below the skin where you can't scratch it; then when you rub it, it starts aching something terrible for a few minutes, especially if it's near a joint. What you're describing sounds almost like a wasp sting, or maybe a yellowjacket bite.

saabgoblin said:

I had something quite similar a few years back and I thought that it was a spider bite as well because I was at a friends house that was crawling with Black Widows in his back yard. The bite was of the same size and swelled just as you had mentioned but I never actually found out what actually did the biting and it seems as if Black Widow bite symptoms can run a wide range of symptoms.

Holy Arachnophobia Bat Man!

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Wow, you got a black widow bite and you didn't get a big open sore and blood poisoning from it? You got lucky.

Advise your friend to put up a couple of bird houses, and if he lives in a warm climate, put some bricks out for lizards to camp out on. Both birds and lizards eat spiders.

Then again, he must have a hellish flying-insect problem in his backyard if it can sustain as large a population of spiders as you're implying. Eliminating sources of standing water and seeding the ground with nematodes helps cut down on insect populations.

Surprisingly enough most spider bites don't swell up that fast. Likely something you have a thankfully low reaction allergy too. A benadryl before bed should help reduce swelling in the future, or even now, that is if it is a reaction to histamines (allergy basically).

Ditto what the others were saying about spider bites. We've got the full "meal deal" here in AZ, scorps, windows, wasps, bees and snakes. Sounds exactly like a hornet and nothing like a black window. I've been tagged by hornets and scorpions and it's never fun. :thumbsdow

sounds like you angered a nest of yellow jackets.
sound,smell,and vibrations of ope set them off.
lucky all you got hit with was one!
look around the yard in the daytime for air traffic that goes underground.after dark slip em some sevin dust.

Get some "Extra Strength" Lanacane...I got stung on the neck by a wasp a couple of years ago, and it hurt like hell. Rubbed some of that on it and half an hour later, the pain was gone.

Great stuff! :thumbsup:

Good advice above- and I'll join the chorus saying it sounds more like a hornet/yellow jacket than a spider, I'm unfortunate enough to have too many samples of both. Benadryl to fight the histimine in the bug sting, lanacane to numb it - and if you've got it on hand, some adolf's meat tenderizer mixed into a paste w/a drop of water applied asap will also help break down the bad juju. Sorry for your woe, bites and stings are no fun at all.

carbine15 said:

This thread is useless without pics.

Click to expand...

Not much to really see. Just a swollen pinkish spot on the back of the scalp. Sorry. Yes, am thankful it was only one sting.

Be sure and keep trying the wall. There may be a delay before it starts working, and there's also a mental component involved.

I am a big believer in putting some diluted bleach on a sore like that. (hold it on with a rag or gauze)

The logic is that it both kills germs, and will help oxidize organics. The main challenge is to get it to the place where the poison is.

We have brown recluses and black widows around here, and I have seen what can happen with those bites - not that pretty.

so, how are you? get the diagnosis?

If you get a bullseye rash, see a doc immediately. It looks like this:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Erythematous_rash