# Brown recluse bite while pregnant?



## cambridge (Nov 4, 2005)

Not sure if this question should be posted here, but I was just wondering if anyone has been bitten by a brown recluse while pregnant. If so, how was it treated?


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## provocativa (Jan 17, 2005)

I got bitten while breastfeeding, I think the protocol is the same. They gave me an antibiotic for skin infections- I think it was a cephalosporin. If bitten again, I wouldn't take one. Current studies show that they heal as well without one- if identified early. You will need instructions on how to debride the wound using hydrogen peroxide and gauze. Actually, I called the Poison Control Center and his directions were very specific and helpful, he actually recommended tea tree oil as well as the H202. The antibiotic the doctor gave me began a terrible roller coaster of thrush- so be on the lookout for yeasties if you take it. I knew an antibiotic wouldn't be best, but I didn't have health insurance at the time and had a friend recently bitten, end up with a horrible sloughing wound bigger than a tennis ball- and she had to have surgery for it. I knew I couldn't afford surgery, so $80 and yeasties was the cheapest route.


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## Panserbjorne (Sep 17, 2003)

Pascalite clay on the bite site and internally. I have a friend who was bitten (wasn't pregnant) but pascalite is very safe and fine for pregnancy and nursing. It is a live clay and will draw all of the toxins out of the site and internally. I would mix the pascalite with some rescue remedy as well. Worked for her!


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## TexasSuz (Mar 4, 2002)

Please get treated if you are bitten. I got to the point of loosing feeling in my arm when I was bitten in high school. The poison will continue to eat away at the skin and it left a hugh scar even after treatment. I hate to think of what would have happened to me if I had not sought treatment when I did. My treatment was the same as the above poster - wound cleaning and antibiotics.

Good luck and quick healing.


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## guestmama9906 (Feb 12, 2003)

I'm pregnant, and I've got a bite from one right now.
Phoned the midwife to see what to do. I've been bitten by them before, and as I recall, the only thing to do is wait it out (I have a fairly mild reaction though).


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## AliciaH (Aug 12, 2008)

So I also have been bitten and am worried about the baby and the medications and infections from the bite. I am takeing Rantidine and Cephalexin. I go into my OB tomorrow to see whats going on with the baby make sure he is ok.


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## kangaroomum25 (Jun 21, 2007)

I'd get something on that bite right away. There's a company that sells a remedy but I think you can make the same thing at home. The clay a pp mentioned works really well as does plantain (Some have reported healings for Brown Recluse bites using this herb alone). Charcoal also helps. I'd also take plenty of vitamin c (sodium ascorbate of course)


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## jlanda (Jun 15, 2008)

Are you absolutely sure you were bitten by the spider (meaning you saw the spider bite you, saw it run away after feeling a bite, and correctly identified it as a brown recluse as opposed to a lookalike)? Reason being is that 90% of "brown recluse bites" are actually staph infections and should be treated as such. Many doctors in emergency rooms make the assumption of a brown recluse bite without evidence of the spider itself. Plus, in my area (northeast US) brown recluse spiders are very rare, yet there are plenty of people that claim they have been bitten.

If you're not absolutely sure it was the brown recluse (I recommend googling "brown recluse myths" to get more information if you aren't sure) be sure to get it treated as staph infections can be nasty. I don't specifically know if any effect it would have on the baby, but you should get it checked out. I tend to treat using herbal or natural remedies, but if I wasn't absolutely sure of what it was, I would get it treated professionally as staph can spread. Certainly don't want to scare you or anything, just want to make sure you get treated appropriately.


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## Family4Christ (Oct 4, 2007)

Homeopathy! My midwife had a BR bite and she was so sick for a couple weeks and the bite was really huge and nasty. Regular pharmaceuticals didn't work for her. She went to a MD that deals strictly in homeopathy and she was better in 2 days and never had another problem with the bite.


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## Kleine Hexe (Dec 2, 2001)

Where and how are all of you getting bitten by brown recluse?

Nightmare for me....


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## kangaroomum25 (Jun 21, 2007)

Quote:


Originally Posted by *jlanda* 
Are you absolutely sure you were bitten by the spider (meaning you saw the spider bite you, saw it run away after feeling a bite, and correctly identified it as a brown recluse as opposed to a lookalike)? Reason being is that 90% of "brown recluse bites" are actually staph infections and should be treated as such. Many doctors in emergency rooms make the assumption of a brown recluse bite without evidence of the spider itself. Plus, in my area (northeast US) brown recluse spiders are very rare, yet there are plenty of people that claim they have been bitten.

If you're not absolutely sure it was the brown recluse (I recommend googling "brown recluse myths" to get more information if you aren't sure) be sure to get it treated as staph infections can be nasty. I don't specifically know if any effect it would have on the baby, but you should get it checked out. I tend to treat using herbal or natural remedies, but if I wasn't absolutely sure of what it was, I would get it treated professionally as staph can spread. Certainly don't want to scare you or anything, just want to make sure you get treated appropriately.

Plantain works great on infections too, how cool is that?








Also I know a lot of people that didn't know they were bitten by a brown recluse until later.


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## jlanda (Jun 15, 2008)

Quote:


Originally Posted by *kangaroomum25* 
Plantain works great on infections too, how cool is that?









It also works wonders to prevent a mosquito bite from turning into an itchy welt (or stopping it from getting worse if you catch it early.) You have to rub it on for 5-10 minutes, but nothing else has ever worked for me in that regard besides plantain!

I was just on another thread where a poster mentioned she had to be treated for a mrsa staph infection she thought was a spider bite, so I wanted to check back in here. That's why I wanted to mention that anyone with a strange infection-looking thing that _may_ be a spider bite (but you didn't actually see the spider bite you) to just be wary that it could be staph. I usually use sage tea for all my infectious worries, and I'm curious to know if it would work on mrsa (though I don't want to contract it to find out!! yikes! No way to really test that except in worst case scenarios.)

In most cases, spiders don't tend to just up and bite for no reason. It's usually if you are handling them or you happen to sit on them or lean into them. One of the main focuses of my naturalist training program is to correctly identify anything you're dealing with. A simple mixup in color banding on a coral snake versus a king snake could put you in the hospital (or make you panic for no reason.) So I am a bit of a stickler in making sure things are identified correctly.

Here's some more info. Again, it's not to scare anyone, but there's nothing I'd hate to see more than a misdiagnosis leading to something worse when it can be prevented or stopped in its tracks:

http://www.cfpc.ca/cfp/2004/aug/vol50-aug-cme-1.asp

http://www.sciencedirect.com/science...bdb14afb84cb11
(only the abstract is available for free, but it makes a valid point about misdiagnosis)

http://spiders.ucr.edu/hyperbole2003.html


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