The irony does not escape me
Dec. 4th, 2005 13:38![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
torquillI've been gardening around here for years. I've moved rock piles, rummaged in the shed, cleared out the little outbuilding known as the greenhouse, picked through stacks of bricks, moved old lumber. I try to wear gloves if I'm working in places where there might be black widows, and when I clear out sheds I wear boots and tuck my pants into my socks, my shirt into my gloves. I've seen plenty of black widows, though fewer in recent years as the southern brown house spider took over and ate most of them. Other than one I found on my sleeve and brushed off, I've never had even a scare from widow spiders.
A few days ago I shifted in my chair and felt like a hair on my thigh had just been pulled out. Ouch. Last night I realized there was a swollen spot there. This morning it had swollen to an inch across, and looked like it needed a little attention. I dealt with it, and ended up poking and massaging it some.
For the next hour or so I felt ruddy awful. To the point where I got dressed in case I had to go to the ER. Cramps in my back and just under my ribs, an achy back, nausea, and I was sweating slightly. Hmm, said I. No life-threatening stuff, though I was keeping an eye on it in case it got worse. Another hour, and I feel better. Still a little crampy and sore in the back, still not feeling very adventurous foodwise (oatmeal is my friend), but not bad.
I'm guessing I got bitten by a southern brown house spider, aka a false black widow, of the same kind that's been eating the real widows. They cause some of the same symptoms, but far milder. I guess I know what to look for if I'm ever bitten by the real thing.
It strikes me, however, that after almost a decade of poking around in the yard, sometimes rummaging in rocks or boards with my bare hands, when I actually get a nasty spider bite I'm sitting at my computer. I haven't even ventured out to the yard in days, I've only been to my car to run errands. Bizarre.
Oh, the moral of the story? Don't poke at spider bites. Dumping a bunch of toxin into your lymphatic system (and thus into your bloodstream) can be a bad idea.
A few days ago I shifted in my chair and felt like a hair on my thigh had just been pulled out. Ouch. Last night I realized there was a swollen spot there. This morning it had swollen to an inch across, and looked like it needed a little attention. I dealt with it, and ended up poking and massaging it some.
For the next hour or so I felt ruddy awful. To the point where I got dressed in case I had to go to the ER. Cramps in my back and just under my ribs, an achy back, nausea, and I was sweating slightly. Hmm, said I. No life-threatening stuff, though I was keeping an eye on it in case it got worse. Another hour, and I feel better. Still a little crampy and sore in the back, still not feeling very adventurous foodwise (oatmeal is my friend), but not bad.
I'm guessing I got bitten by a southern brown house spider, aka a false black widow, of the same kind that's been eating the real widows. They cause some of the same symptoms, but far milder. I guess I know what to look for if I'm ever bitten by the real thing.
It strikes me, however, that after almost a decade of poking around in the yard, sometimes rummaging in rocks or boards with my bare hands, when I actually get a nasty spider bite I'm sitting at my computer. I haven't even ventured out to the yard in days, I've only been to my car to run errands. Bizarre.
Oh, the moral of the story? Don't poke at spider bites. Dumping a bunch of toxin into your lymphatic system (and thus into your bloodstream) can be a bad idea.
