So we are now suppose to do a blog on poison, at first I really didn't know what direction to go. When you first say "poison" I think of Peter Pan and Tinkerbell drinking his poisoned medicine so that it doesn't kill him, "I do believe in fairies!!". Anyway I really couldn't elaborate on that anymore and it really doesn't pertain to science in any way. However, when I saw Tyler, one of my classmates, sitting nearby looking up spider bites I knew what to do! Yes I am being a bit of a copy-cat but I can truly relate this to myself, and my entire family for that matter; The Brown Recluse Spider. Brown Recluse spiders in my opinion are horrible, tricksy, butt-biting little nasties!! But of course I have reasoning behind this. Two years ago my dad was bitten on the thigh by a brown recluse. At first he didn't mind it much it acted like an ingrown hair so he ignored it. However after a few days of waiting the bump had grown and his entire thigh had begun to swell and gotten quite sore. Finally after endless begging from the rest of the family he agreed to go to the ER. The doctors immediately diagnosed it as a spider bite, which is exactly what my mother had tried to convince him it was. This was now the second time my father had been bitten by a Brown Recluse in his life. He then endured several painful shots and various visits from other interested nurses and doctors. One of the nurses was told us of another man who had also been bitten by a brown recluse and waited too long and ended up dying. Then they told us if we had waited too long they may have had to amputate his leg, let mad us feel SO good, dang best feeling in the world! Not! So My dad ended up nursing a nasty sore, it pussed and oozed and bled and was a right mess for a good two weeks. He also used antibiotics for some time. Then came my mom who suffered the same fate. However hers was even worse because the bite lay on her cheek. I was probably the luckiest I received my Brown Recluse bite on my BUTT cheek!! Wooo that was fun! We went in quickly to the ER because the symptoms were all the same. I didn't have to deal with shots though only antibiotics and some uncomfortable sitting. Aaaannnyway lets move onto what exactly the Brown Recluse is. This spider is also known as the violin spider because of the marking on its back. Now if I see the slightest hint of a marking on a spider I squash it!! I do feel rather bad I must say. Brown recluse usually flee from danger which means they don't go out hunting humans to bite; my dad probably rolled over on it in his sleep, and I erm...sat on mine? Recluse typically reside in south eastern states of Northern America. Which is slightly strange that we were bitten in both California and Colorado. However, they do tend to hide in clothing, beds and sheets, shoes, gloves etc. which explains all of our bites. This spider has a powerful venom, or poision, that is obviously bad enough to cause skin lesions. There are two types of poison cycles the recluse can cause; skin loxoscelim and skin visceral. The most common is skin loxoscelim which is what we endured, a bite that grows larger and larger and more and more painful. The second is far less common the symptoms are all over the body, high temperature and blood pressure and most importantly blood in urine which could mean the kidneys are being affected. It is unknown yet what exactly causes skin visceral. It is most likely that every one's immune systems work differently in fighting things off. The best thing to do once bitten is to seek a doctor, the sooner the better. The wound will not heal itself it will continue eating away flesh and muscle. Depending on the severity of the bite shots may be required as well as some daily first aid treatments. If taken care of quick enough, like mine, only a set of antibiotics will be needed. Now just to warn you that waiting really isn't an option here are some pictures of my dad's leg, it is disgusting so brace yourself. There aren't any pics of mine because that would be...weird...
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