My Brown Recluse Spider Bite Experience.

Well I must start off by saying that I never saw the spider. The reason I think it's a brown recluse spider bite is from all the research and pictures I saw of other people who have been bitten by the brown recluse spider.

I was bitten either in my car while driving or while I was standing around a fire at a friends boat dock.

I was bitten twice on my ankle (the dark spots in the pictures). I noticed the bites the next evening while watching TV. The reason I never suspected a spider bite right away was because there were plenty of mosquito's out that night. My ankle was itchy and I thought at first I had a couple of mosquito bites but they were a little different. They looked like little volcano's with the center being a darker red. I wish I had taken pictures at this point but obviously I thought nothing about them. They were so itchy that eventually that night I tried to squeeze them to see if I could get anything out of them. Nothing came out it just irritated them more.

The next morning the two bites were red with the area around them starting to turn red. I had to work that day (outside in 95 degree weather) so I headed to work not thinking much about them. They were itchy throughout the day but I just assumed that my body was fighting off/healing them.

The next 2 days the bites got worse and had spread to about two inches on my ankle. There was still the 2 original volcano shaped bumps plus about 8 more pus-like filled bumps surrounding the original bumps.

I talked to a few buddies and my girlfriend asked the pharmacist at the local drug store what to put on a spider bite. I tried polysporin (pharmacist's recommendation), Iodine, and virgin coconut oil.

Finally on the fifth day after the bite, my girlfriend got on my case about getting it looked at. She even went as far as calling my sister to gang up on me.

Well I hate hospitals, doctors and don't believe in taking drugs unless I absolutely have to. So I decided to check the internet and health food stores to see if there was anything I could take or put on it. I read that a bentonite clay poultice could suck out the poison. And at the health food store they swore by there products which they sold me a lot of. I bought bentonite powder (100% pure clay/argile), Bio Argile Clay which is a green clay solution, Neutralizer Gel, and two liquid products PO-K and plantain. All of which I was told would either help or neutralize the spider bite poison. I wasn't to sure though, but it did shut my girlfriend and sister up.

As soon as I returned home I started applying these products. First with the liquids, one at a time about 2 hours apart. I put drops on the wound plus took several drops orally. Then around 7pm I tried the bentonite clay powder which I heard did wonders for some. I mixed the dry bentonite powder with the green clay solution and a little water to create a poultice. I used a spoon to spread the mixture on my ankle then I wrapped it with a breathable wrap. After 3 hours I soaked my ankle in a bucket of water and removed the clay poultice by lightly rubbing it with a wash cloth. I was actually amazed that the bite and pus bumps had all shrunk. So I let my ankle breath for an hour and reapplied the clay and wrapped it and went to bed. The next morning it looked the same as the first time I unwrapped it. So I applied the liquids again every two hours and another poultice wrap in the evening. I also started soaking my ankle in an epsom salt bath. All these things seemed to slow down the infection but it wasn't healing.

The next day I noticed that the redness around the pus bumps and spider bites had started to grow in a few lines away from the wound. I assumed that this was the infection starting to spread. I started to get a little nervous at this point because some of the horror stories I had read on the internet about other brown recluse spider bites. Some people battled the infection for years and other bites seamed to eat holes in peoples flesh. The only good thing about my bite was that it was on my ankle which doesn't have much flesh so it didn't spread as fast as some. I have also read of a doctor that uses a modified .

Well, I didn't want to lose my leg or die. So back to the web I went to see if there was anything else I could do before heading to the hospital to be at the mercy of some doctor. Which I heard the only way a doctor treats a brown recluse spider bite is to cut out the infected flesh and give you some antibiotics. So while on the internet I just happened to read about a man who used a lawnmower to treat his brown recluse spider bite. A lawnmower? yes I said a lawnmower. Apparently, a high-voltage, low-current shock to the wounded area neutralizes the poisons, which the body then absorbs. I thought.. well I'll try anything before I have no choice but to go to the hospital.

The next day I called a friend to help me with zapping myself with the lawnmower. My brother just happened to show up as well. Both had a good time watching me zap myself. I used the leads from a car inverter to attach to the lawnmower one lead to ground the other attached to the spark plug cap (remove spark plug) and held the round ends to my ankle. The whole idea was to make sure I neutralized all the poison to stop the spreading. I read that the best way is to place the leads across from each other zap then move them around the infection. Here is what I did. First the harder the person pulls the lawnmower over, the higher the voltage and more times it zaps you. I had him pull it hard enough to get 3 zaps per pull. It gives you a pretty good zap but it is bearable. I went around the wound about 3 times in all directions, about 20 times right on the wound and I even placed one lead on the wound and the other on the opposite side of my ankle and zapped about 20 times all over the wound.

After this treatment my friend and I had to drive an hour away to do some work. I had read that after you zap the spider bite you may feel ill due to your body metabolizing the poison. So it was good that he was driving. On the way I felt a little woozy and got shivers for about 45 minutes. But after that I was fine. Before the zapping I would say the wound was still pusy and wet. Within 5 hours of the zapping the wound had started to heal. The redness was starting to darken and was scabbing up. My friend could not believe his eyes, he thought I was crazy and laughed his butt off the whole time I zapped myself, but realized it actually worked.

After 5 hours we returned for a second round of zapping. It worked so well that I wanted to make sure I stopped all of the poison from spreading. I repeating the zapping for the next 2 days (only once a day) just to make sure.

The wound scabbed up nicely and fell off a couple of days later, all healed up. The only problem I have is that the skin is lighter where the wound was. I was bitten late in the summer so I had a tan, hopefully the lighter skin will tan next year. I will update this site when I find out. Here you will find more information on the brown recluse spider.