Medications: Antibiotics, Antihistimines, Baking Soda
Bacitracin, Neosporin, hydrogen peroxide, tea tree oil, zinc oxide ointment, coconut oil, epsom salts, lavender oil, iodine, ibuprophen,honey, soak hot water, vit. e internally, zinc internally, drank kefir, kombucha tea, TAMANU OIL
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Date Photo Taken: 1/1/2007
I started taking photos of it after I fired the doctors.
Date Photo Taken: 1/1/2007
Date Photo Taken: 2/27/2007
Date Photo Taken: 3/3/2007
Date Photo Taken: 3/9/2007
Date Photo Taken: 3/9/2007
Date Photo Taken: 3/13/2007
The white that you see around the wound is zinc oxide ointment. That really helped with the rash.
Date Photo Taken: 3/23/2007
Date Photo Taken: 3/23/2007
Date Photo Taken: 3/23/2007
Date Photo Taken: 3/25/2007
In June of 2006, I was bitten approx. 2x-3x on my left ankle by what I now believe was a brown recluse spider. The spider was not found, but I know it was a spider bite of some kind because of where I was when it happened. Since I had never had any reactions to spider bites before, I ignored the bites. I became very sick, faint, weak, nauseous, and within a few days, my ankle was huge and turning kind of black/blue with a huge swollen pus/blood pocket. These bites were centralized around a scratch I got on my ankle a week before, therefore causing some confusion about what was causing this swelling, etc. I took some benedryl and ibuprophen.
Doctor visits over several months included antibiotic injections, oral antibiotics, lancing it twice, bacitracin ointment, iodine, packing it, testing it for staph infection 2x, and still the wound kept getting bigger and deeper, oozing blood and pus. A pustule would appear next to the main "crater", pop, and create a new crater. Then one of the "old" craters would heal. It was weird. It kind of "moved" in that way over the course of several months. It was (and is still) very painful, with sharp pains in the ankle, and muscle or nerve spasms, usually late at night.
In December a lady in the vitamin and herb profession whom I had known and trusted for years told me to put oregano oil on it--just like it was sold in her store, not to dilute it. DO NOT--I REPEAT--DO NOT EVER put oregano oil on your skin without diluting it A LOT first with olive oil. I think the burn from that set me back in my healing approximately 3-6 weeks. Oregano oil is a wonderful anti-microbal, anti-bacterial oil--but it needs to be used by someone who knows what they are doing. I was desperate--that is my only excuse, as I knew better than to use any essential oil on my skin without diluting it first. I am experienced with herbs. Just not experienced with spider bites. lol Or desperation. lol I was in deep depression during this time, because I could barely walk, I had to quit work because of this bite, and I developed this hive-like rash all over my body, I believe from being nervous about these craters and my health in general. The doctor said the rash was eczema, and gave me a steriod cream (that didn't work.)So I had other issues at the same time, and each made the other more difficult to deal with.
I didn't start taking pictures until January of 2007, when it became painfully obvious that this was not going to go away. The burns from the oregano oil were healed, but the pustules and craters were still active and on the move. Still having the sharp pains, mostly at night. The body rash wasn't getting any better. This thing had been with me so long I was thinking of naming it and giving it a birthday party, while my boyfriend and mom were having nightmares of amputation. I never even thought of brown recluse bite until a friend mentioned that it looked like that to them. So I proceeded to research brown recluse bites, and came across this site and Linda's pictures. That SO helped me!! I was relieved that someone else had gone through what I was going through!
I gave the medical profession 7 months to help me--they didn't. So I quit going to the doctor in late December, starting taking pictures of it, and documenting what I was doing, and what helped and what didn't. My main goal was to do NO MORE harm.
First of all, I continued doing two things the dr. told me that made sense to me--cleaning it with peroxide, and putting bacitracin on it. I soaked my entire body in a mixture of warm water, epsom salts, baking soda, and sea salt--partially for the rash and partially for the craters. It helped both. When I got out of the tub, I rinsed the salts off, rubbed zinc oxide ointment with olive oil all over my body for the rash, and cleaned the ankle with peroxide, then put bacitracin on thickly, and bandaged it. Twice a day. That gave some relief, but didn't really seem to be doing alot beyond that. That went on for awhile, and then I remembered about coconut oil had anti-bacterial, anti-microbal properties, and wouldn't harm anything--so I began rubbing it around the craters, right up to the edge of them. After a week of that, I noticed that I hadn't gotten any new pustules--the coconut oil had seemed to stop the spread of the pustules/craters. Cool!! The white you see in some of the pictures around the ankle is zinc oxide ointment. But the coconut oil I believe is what stopped the spread, and actually began the process of healing.
About that time, I was advised to boost my immune system by making and drinking kefir, a fermented milk probiotic. It couldn't harm, so I did. Another week, and another huge leap in healing! the craters are getting less deep, less oozing, and less painful. Then my mom suggested making/drinking kombucha mushroom tea. Another probiotic. So I did, and ANOTHER huge leap in healing within about a week. Almost zero oozing, and the wound actually seemed to be drying up, getting less deep. I could actually see the craters flattening, it seemed like. So I stopped soaking, stopped bandaging, and now it is at the stage where I never thought I would be so happy to have a scab!! lol I am keeping a very light coating of coconut oil on and around the scabs--just in case!--and to keep it slightly soft and less painful. And that is my story so far.
May 6, 2007 Latest update on the ankle: It seems like it is two steps forward and one step back with this thing. After it scabbed over, the oozing under the scab started and made the scab fall off. Since then it has scabbed over several times, then the scab falls off and starts over. This seems to be the natural progression of it. Each time the scab falls off, however, the main crater seems to be smaller and more shallow. I sent more pics, but they haven't posted them yet. I have begun using dried plantain made into a tea with epsom salts to soak it in between scabs--and still using coconut oil on and around it. It's been almost a year since the original bites. May 31, 2007 WOW. A lady from New Jersey that I met on Susun Weed's herb forum sent me a small bottle of TAMANU oil to try on my ankle. I cannot believe the improvement! After just 2 weeks using it, I was able to sleep without a bandage last night for the first time in a year!!
