Tell us where your bite is (arm, leg, nose, whatever)
left upper arm
Why I think it's a spider bite
I don't know if it's definitely a spider bite. I normally react to mosquito bites but never to this extent, and I haven't heard any flying around (plus it's winter). I thought it could be bedbugs but there's no evidence. I've been looking for a spider but haven't found one yet. When I saw the nurse at a walk-in clinic I asked if it could be a skin infection and she said it was likely to be a bite of some kind, but she was a bit stumped.
What happened
I experienced angry, red swelling with intense itching on my left ankle and toes on my right foot, lasting for nearly a week. The toes also blistered. I thought it might be bedbugs, but I stripped all my bedding and searched for evidence and didn't find anything (inc spiders).
As these bites cleared after a very uncomfortable week, I noticed itching on my left upper arm during the day but didn't look at it until I got home that night. I also had swelling and itching on the palm of my hand below the little finger. There is no blister here.
On the arm, there was a blister surrounded by a large circle of redness, hot and intensely itchy. The next day it got progressively worse, blister oozing, redness spreading down and around the arm and swelling. I took antihistamine tablets (Piriton) when I first discovered it and applied antihistamine cream around the blister (not on it), but none of these helped.
The itching was pretty unbearable, the redness continued to spread and the blister kept oozing. I couldn't concentrate at work and was concerned it was infected, so I went to a walk-in clinic at lunchtime. The receptionist took one look at my arm and put me to the top of the list. I was seen by a nurse who did a thorough history, took my temperature (normal) etc. I told her about my ankle and toes the week before. She said it was almost definitely a bite, though I asked if it could be a skin infection, and she said it was unlikely. Because there was an open wound she gave me antibiotics which I started taking immediately.
Now the day after starting the antibiotics, the redness has calmed down but the blister is still oozing and it's still crazy itchy. I'm putting an ice pack on it to take the edge off, and I'm now taking Benadryl (ran out of Piriton) and Ibuprofen at regular intervals as well as the antibiotics twice a day.
(In the pic of the arm, the mark above the blister is my BCG scar, I had the vaccine as a baby)
Advice
- Go to see a doctor immediately you see things getting worse. If I had, the antibiotics would have been able to kick in sooner and might have stopped it spreading so much.
- Ice packs help alleviate the itching.
