My hand looks like a primitive club(60kb of pics)

Something strange happened to me on Saturday afternoon as I was about to mow the lawn. I had thrown the extension cable into the grass and just as I went to pick one end up, I mean JUST as my hand had reached grass level, I recoiled instantly. Apparently I was bitten by some sort of spider, which I never saw. At first it hurt like, well, frickin' crazy but now it has just made my hand swell up. I took some pictures of my club-like hand to share with the folks.
My knuckles after swelling began: (my fourth finger was the one that was bitten)


Here is my right and left hands to compare. Both were taken at the same angle (approximately) so these show the swelling pretty well.





Note: I resized the pictures considerably but if they need to be removed for bandwidth purposes then just tell me.

LukeK:

I hope you have check in at the local hospital emergency room.

LUKE, LUKE! Are you still there LUKE?... /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/confused.gif

Luke,

Pictures are on YOUR server, so the only CPF bandwidth they use is the 50 bytes or so of text that tells my browser where to look for them.

Scorpion perhaps? Can you see the puncture/bite/sting mark or marks? I'm sure you're smart enough to get it checked out if you feel any additional effects...tightness of the throat/chest...man, I'd be getting it checked out!

Thanks for the clarification Ryan. By the way guys -- I'm not going to get it checked out unless it starts to show signs of discoloration or worsening. I have had no signs of impaired breathing or anything excepting local swelling, which is apparently normal for a lesser spider bite. Heh I won't be dropping dead anytime soon...(right?) /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/yellowlaugh.gif

Probably a spider bite, since a scorpion sting would normally induce convulsions. You probably would have noticed...
But get it checked out right away if that swelling gets any worse, or you lose sensation in the fingers or part of the hand. That's a pretty strong reaction. It might just be that you are allergic to whatever got you. If so, lucky the effect is localized.
Whatever it was, hopefully it got worse than it gave. Maybe it won't be able to bite again.
David <><

[ QUOTE ]
Tombeis said:
LukeK:

I hope you have check in at the local hospital emergency room.

LUKE, LUKE! Are you still there LUKE?... /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/confused.gif



[/ QUOTE ]

"Luke. LUKE. Use the force, Luke..."

Seriously, watch that hand (and monitor your physiological symptoms) like a hawk!

Use an antihistamine cream to help reduce swelling and redness. If there is any itching, use an analgesic cream. An ice pack may give some relief also.

I remember getting stung in the foot by a honeybee many, many years ago (I stepped on one on a curb). It swelled up like your hand, and there were no systemic reactions. If I remember right, it took a couple of days before the swelling started to go down. Last time I went barefoot in that area, tell ya what. /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/crazy.gif

All kidding aside, when something like the above happens to you, there is a need to take precautions.

Immediately after the sting, it is a good idea to have someone observe you watching for any indication of swelling around your mouth. If you start to swell, get to a hospital.

Anaphylactic shock can follow which causes swelling of the mucus membranes in your throat and nasal passages. Very quickly your ability to breath is stopped and death follows.

Well it's two days later and the swelling has gone down considerably. My hand actually feels normal now. As I suspected it was simply a lesser spider bite (most likely since I saw nothing flying around such as a bee). Thanks for the suggestions about treatment guys.

Where are you in TX? That would give an idea as to what it was.

My guess is that it was a wolf spider of considerable size. You probably pissed him off when you laid the extension cord on him, so when you went to pick it up he struck you with his fangs. Those guys are quick, and they blend in quite well with grass even though they're brown. The ones I have around my house can get to be the size of small tarantulas (no kidding, their abdomen are roughly the diameter of a dime /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/ooo.gif) and they have some pretty mean fangs that are lightning fast. I have found a few of the larger ones when mowing the yard, since they go running for their lives when the mower gets near and they're easy to see when they're moving so fast. I know they can be quite aggressive/defensive when being poked at with a stick /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/yellowlaugh.gif, and those fangs aren't exactly small...

LEDman -- I live in the Houston area if that tells you anything. I can say that whatever spider it was that bit me -- it was incredibly fast. My hand had JUST reached grass level, I mean the absolute split second my hand got down there he bit me. I was very surprised at how quick it was.

Being near the coast introduces some other possibilities, however since you're doing OK I wouldn't worry.

Could you see any fang marks? Did it hurt, or was it just a reaction to pull your hand back?

I would still bet that there is at least a 50/50 chance it was a wolf spider since it was somewhere in the grass. Did you see a web anywhere? If not, it's most likely it was some kind of non-web spinning spider that catches it's prey instead of using a web, so that's why I'm betting on the wolf.

[ QUOTE ]
Tombeis said:
All kidding aside, when something like the above happens to you, there is a need to take precautions.

Immediately after the sting, it is a good idea to have someone observe you watching for any indication of swelling around your mouth. If you start to swell, get to a hospital.

Anaphylactic shock can follow which causes swelling of the mucus membranes in your throat and nasal passages. Very quickly your ability to breath is stopped and death follows.






[/ QUOTE ]

These precautions are very wise. I suffered the beginning of anaphylactic shock after a former girlfriend offered me a teaspoon of "bee pollen" from a healthfood jar. Some smart inner voice made me take just the merest taste on the tip of my tongue and within a minute I felt the back of my throat beginning to swell. I didn't panic but told her we had to get down to the car immediately and drive to the Aspen Valley hospital, and that she should drive. We jumped into the car and just at that point I felt the swelling beginning to subside until by the time we were halfway there it was gone and I realized my whole body had been clenched against the fear. Happy ending, but if it had continued at that rate things might have been different.

A wasp stung me on the right ear when I was a kid. The ear swelled grotesquely and I was sick for two days but was never taken to the doctor because we were tougher and more stoic in those days (ie: stupid).

If you are bitten by something, or eat something and have a severe reaction it probably makes sense to head for your doctor or ER until you get a sense of how you're going to react. Once I stepped on a rusty nail and went down to the ER for a tetanus shot just in case (though I don't know if it works after the fact). In the treatment room they seated me near a large beefy guy with a pale face who said "I was almost dead an hour ago". Turns out he was the proud father at his daughter's wedding party and was offered a delicious looking cookie. Within a minute he was on the floor unconscious and made it to the ER just in time to be diagnosed and given epinephrine. He would have died if he had gotten there a minute or two later.

Brightnorm

My experiance with this was over thirty years ago, and I still remember it as though it were yesterday.

My oldest son was stung by a wasp and almost immediately started to swell around the mouth.

We called our doctor who was also a hunting friend, so I had his home number. He said to get John to the hospital as soon as possible.

In those days, we had no emergency squad where we live so we put him in a car and drove to the emergency room.

When we arrived, the waiting room was full of fireworks victims as it was the Forth of July. Lucky for us the nurse at the desk recognized the swelling on John's face an said bring him right back.

The gave him a shot of epinephrine and the swelling started to subside.

The ER doctor told me that five more minutes, and John would not have been able to breath.

I have read that when they find people unexplainably dead in their yards, the first thing the coroner looks for is a bee sting on the body.