Readers Respond: Sounding Off About Spider Bites

Responses: 85

Got a bite? Did you go to the ER? Did your doc diagnose you correctly? Share your stories with other About.com readers here and read how others have been affected.

spider bite

While this bite began innoculously, just like a small mosquito bite, within three days I had a furious, painful and wild itch across most of my butt. Treated with anti-itch meds and later cortisone cream, the surface skin recovered. HOWEVER, it is is now six weeks later and I'm feeling a crawling, itching and creepy sensation under my skin. Worse at night; impossible to stand for more than five minutes.

—mfshyer

Spider bite in a very sensitive area...

Tuesday morning at my office I felt something tickling in my panties just above the hairline. I thought it was a rogue curly and rubbed it a little - then I felt the most searing pain ever, made my eyes water! I had a meeting and forgot about it. That night when I was about to get in the shower I saw a HUGE purplish-red swollen mark with pus in the center (EWW!) and it hurt like mad. I can't believe I didn't notice it all day. I figure it had to be a spider but I'm still not sure how it got up in my pants. It's been 3 days and it's still hard and swollen but not as painful. The center has turned kinda blackish... I may go to the urgent care clinic Saturday if it's not better, I'm scared if I don't I might lose my lady part.

—Guest Diane

spider?

Not sure what bit me. I put on gym shorts that were on my bedroom floor a few hours later my inner thigh was sore and swollen and turning puple. The next day I could barely walk and I felt as if I had been kidney punched in both kidneys. Melancholy lethargic with no appetite, I felt sicker than ever. Was almost thinkin I was gettin the flu or something, except for my inner thigh swelling and soreness. Ate chicken noodle soup for 2 days drank lots of water and now 3 days later im starting to feel half way alive. My thinking is spider bite

—Guest gordy

bitten marlene

This is a different sort of bite story. I was bitten on my butt and thought it was a mosquito bite. I live in the heart of the city and there are no bugs in my apt as far as I know. ABout three days after this tiny bite, a terrible, intolerable itch began. The skin was so inflamed I couldn't scratch. Pain/itching, and then, the area turned red and grew in size. The red area covered half my butt. About a week later, bumps and welts sprung out. Dermatolist gave me Itch-X but that hardly helped. The worst part was the feeling that something was creeping under the skin. It's three weeks later, itch is pretty well gone now but the creeping feeling is still there at night.

—mfshyer

Bite

2 weeks ago I got a bite on my back. I think it happened when I walked into a spider web. 2 days later I noticed a 2 inch round spot on my back and later that week it had raised spots on the out side of the circle. It's itchy.

—Guest gene tonder

does someone have any idea.....

what kind of critter would cause a bite/sting like a hornet on your foot, and leave 2 fang marks 2.5 mm (under 1/4 inch) on your foot? It hurt like a sonofagun for about 5 min., left a small area of swelling, then subsided (it was on my foot, on instep, where there are a ton of blood vessels...I was walking our dog at Duke Gardens Sun. a.m.). No problem a day later, except a bit sore.

—nanodelle

Tracy's Bite

I was recently in Key Largo sitting at a tiki bar. My foot was resting under the bar when I got bitten. The next day a blister appeared on my ankle. I burst the blister and about four days later the blister started to go away, but my foot kept swelling up, was very shiny and extremely painful. I also felt very shivery. It still (nearly two weeks on) is very painful and feels very tight.

—Mrsmacq

Spider Bite

I was bitten I think by a brown recluse. It's puffy and red around the edge and the bite area is really dark and hurts like the devil. It hurts so bad I want to cry and I loose sleep because it hurts so bad at night. The dr said it was staph infection, but I told him he was wrong because I saw the spider in the house and killed it.

—Guest larry

nasty spider

it was about finger nail size ,black with a white stripe down its back. I knocked it down off the wall , and put my head down on the desk to rest my eyes. That after noon driving home i started itching a spot on my wrist...and noticed a red spot by my eye. It went down hill from there...next morning i had bump like rash on my back and neck and a nice swollen eye...itches like crazy...and spread up my neck and on my cheeks. # days later....eye still swollen itch easing out ...so i guss ill live....next spider gets killed......

—Guest spider girl

Hotel Spider Bite

Well when we went school shopping we stayed at a very nice hotel (Embassy Suits In Seattle). It so happens that my husband took one bed and my daughter took the other bed so I slept on the couch with my other daughter. I did not feel the spider bite me but in the morning my back started itching really bad. It started swelling and getting really red and then I saw the two dots which look like a spider bite. It got as BIG as a Silver Dollar and I didn't know whether I should rush to the hospital or not, I put some Corti-Cool anti-itching gel on it but even if I touch it, it just starts itching again. The swelling went down A WEEK after I got bit but the itching increased! The thought of a Spider Being on me gives Me the Chills!

—Guest -Becky

91 year on mother has an infected finger

My mother's finger this week became very red, swollen, tight, and sore. It felt very warm when you touched it. When looking close you could see two small white pin holes on the inside of her finger, straight across from each other. An oncology doctor who my mom just happen to be going to on the day she noticed her finger looked at it briefly, mom said he only glanced at it, and prescribed an antibodics. A nurse at the clinic took her temperature and it was normal. I told my mom they should've also taken your blood pressure, I mean really! My sister decided to put some black sauve on it used for drawing out infection and pus started coming from it the next day. It would be very interesting to know what caused this to happen, hopefully it will clear up before long.

—Guest Linda Hudson

Wondering if I Should See a Doctor

Two weeks ago I noticed a small open open on the side of my leg. It would itch and not successfully heal for several days. I thought maybe a foreign object was lodged in there because of how weird it felt. I put on Neosporin and it finally healed but turned into a bump that doesn't feel normal. The last couple of days I wore panty hose which must've irritated it because it spread into a large red, itchy area, with a thick bump in the center and raised little bumps around it. The skin is rougher on it and it even bother me when walking. It doesn't seem to be healing after two weeks so I am considering what to do. Its possible its a bug bite of some sort as I sleep in a garage at night.

—Guest AKS

god help me

one day i was playing football in the yard and my friend through wrong so i went to go get it and right as i picked up the ball the spider bit right through my sock. my foot hurt so bad i couldn't walk on it. the next day my foot was huge and red and there was no pain.

—Guest nick

Spider bite on my outer upper thigh

At first I thought I ran into something or my underwear was chafing me right at my hip. The it looked like a bite, but rather small. I stopped paying attention to it because I thought I got food poisoning, gurgling stomach, pressure, gas, diarrhea. On top of it all my feet were killing me, especially my joints, it hurt to take a step. My asthma had been acting up I thought also as I had labored breathing, was super tired, eyes stung, fever. After a three days of this, food poisoning didn't seem to be an answer but it was getting better. My boyfriend noticed the bite, kinda thinking I had a staph infection or some std maybe. I looked down and saw it had gotten bigger, but just made a mental note to pay attention to it. Its been over a week now, a friend relating a story caught my attention when he had a bite in the exact same place. I showed it to him, he immediately recognized it as the same. He said it was a wood? spider bite and showed me his huge scar. He says it'll be huge

—Guest Alex

bruised, itchy welt

I noticed an itchy place on my outer upper thigh one evening. The spot was about a quarter size and it itched. When I looked in the mirror at it, it was a bruised, itchy, welt. The next morning the welt was gone but the bruise was bigger and streaked. The itching subsided but the bruise remained and got larger. No other symptoms, pretty sure it was a spider but I cant be for sure

—jcheree