Natural Remedies for a Brown Recluse Spider Bite

I am a soap maker and know that other treatments do in fact work with other issues. I came across several articles with plenty of remedies. By my experience and items on hand, I chose to make a paste to include activated charcoal.

I mixed 1/8 cup water, 1 tablespoon activated charcoal, 1 tablespoon of dead sea salt, and a little less than 1/2 teaspoon of turmeric.

I used a gauze pad and inserted about a tablespoon of the mixture in the middle and folded the gauze. Applied the gauze directly to the bites. It burned a little from the salt, but more bearable than the pain from the bite. I changed out the dressing after about 4 hours. The second dressing stayed on over night. The bite with the small opening responded best, of course that's the one that I also applied some of the paste directly on my skin. In between the dressings, I noticed that particular bite was forming a hard knot under the skin (which is why I added more paste).

By morning, most of the swelling is gone and the knot has also gone away. The other two bites are still sore and a little swollen so I will continue the process. They still have no direct opening, which is great due to the fact that normally they should be showing signs of infection coming out. The pain is definitely tolerable. I'm not sure if the small opening or me putting the paste directly on the bite with the worst symptoms made the difference in the healing. I would not recommend opening a bite for healing. I can live with the extra time and less complications to just keep applying the paste. I have definitely been amazed by some of the natural remedies that I have tried. This one possibly saved my hand from what could have happened. Two bites on my hand and one on my foot.

Around 7 years ago, I was bitten by a brown recluse spider. This was not the first time - the first time, I went to the hospital, where they gave me antibiotics and sent me home. This had approximately no effect on the bite. The venom continued to eat up the skin till I had about a four-inch round, 1/4 to 1/2 inch deep wound. I self-treated it with any home remedies I could think up, and nothing worked.

About a year later, I was again bitten by a brown recluse. I knew better than to go to the hospital (I'm not recommending that anyone not seek medical attention; I am simply stating my personal experience.) By now, I had done a lot of research on spider bites, and found out that the venom was oil-based, so I got to thinking what might neutralize the oil and draw it out.

I mixed together the recipe below, and applied it to the wound, which was about the size of a half-dollar and deeper than the first wound. This was about a week after the bite. I applied it to the bite and covered it with medical gauze. I changed the dressing and re-applied the paste about every 4 hours. In less than 24 hours, it quit hurting. About 3 days later, I noticed it healing, and discontinued the treatment. It formed a healthy soft scab within 2 weeks, and new, healthy skin within 4 weeks.

About 2 years ago, my dad was bitten by a brown recluse on his (bald) head. He had gone to the doctor and gotten antibiotics for it, which did no good for the wound. He showed me the wound when it was about 3 inches in diameter, and I could see his skull in places. I applied this recipe and covered it with gauze, and gave him the rest of the mixture so he could continue the treatment. Within 12 hours, the wound quit burning and tingling (brown recluse bites normally continue to burn and tingle). Within 24 hours, and swelling around the wound went down. He used it for the three days I'd recommended. By the third day, fresh scab was beginning to form and there was no more pus-filled discharge, just some clear serum and a little thin blood now and then. I applied only clean gauze to keep the area clean, and it was covered with healthy skin in about 3 months.

My Brown Recluse Spider Bite Treatment

• About 16 aspirin, ground up
• Enough 91% Isopropyl alcohol to make a paste
• about 1/2 cap 3% hydrogen peroxide
• 1 cap witch hazel
• Calamine lotion unshaken, with most of the liquid portion poured off, about equal parts of the thick part mixed with the above
• approximately one 2 oz tube triple antibiotic ointment

Let me know if you try this and your results!

Zach

(Necessary disclaimer: Use of this treatment is at your own risk. This treatment has not been scientifically verified, and I have to state here that it should not replace currently accepted medical treatment.)

Last Thursday my 5 year old came in from playing outside crying because his side hurt. Something had bitten him and the skin was broken, red and swelling. It did not look like a sting or tick bite. Based on the way it looked and how it behaved, I am pretty sure it was a brown recluse spider bite. So, I dove into treatment. A friend had had success treating her child's recluse bite with Epsom Salt baths (4 a day! ) and a plaster of coconut oil and charcoal applied directly.

Here is what I did for my little guy:

Charcoal, flax, clay poultices. I put a fresh one on morning and evening with a couple of hours of breathing time between changes.

When the poultices were off, I would apply lavender essential oil or a drop of oregano oil diluted in a plantain salve.

2 Epsom Salt baths daily. 1 1/2 cups Epsom salt in each warm bath for 20-30 minutes with lots of bath toys to keep him entertained.

3-4 times a day I put 1/4 teaspoon of turmeric and a tiny pinch of pepper in 3 ounces of full fat milk. He drank that down and then I let him chase it with a spoonful of local, raw honey.

I gave him 1,000 mg of Vitamin C 4 x a day. That sounds like a lot of C but he never got loose stools, so I probably could have given him more.

Each time I put 1/4 teaspoon sodium ascorbate in a mug with 1/8 teaspoon baking soda and a teaspoon of raw honey into a mug. I called it honey soda and he drank it without question. :)

From the "get go" my little guy had some hives on other parts of his body. I did give him benadryl twice a day to deal with the hives. After 2 days he didn't have hives.

I watched him like a hawk for signs of infection or the need for medical help. But he felt fine and played normally and had no fever, chills or malaise.

Early intervention made a big difference. My friend who treated a recluse bite on her child didn't find out about the bite until it looked bad and it took a couple of weeks to treat. But she persevered and healed her little one.

Today my 8 year old pulled a tick off of his stomach. It is swelling and I have begun the same treatment I used for suspected recluse bite. Turmeric, Vitamin C, Poultices. Turmeric and C should reduce the risk of systemic infection. The poultices will draw out local infection.

Two adults in my house have had bee stings in the last few days. The same protocols are useful for us, too. I just give more C and turmeric to adults.

~Mama to Many~

A brown recluse bite will begin to blister and turn purple/black around the bite within a matter of minutes to hours. The black area is usually quite large (1-12 inches across- not usually as small as 1/4 inch) and indicates the area that is being affected by the venom. This is not infection, so antibiotics will have no effect on it. The venom acts to kill the tissue, which will slough off in a layer or chunk, leaving a large open wound. The various remedies mentioned in this post include various items that purport to draw out the venom. The most effective of these, I have found, is the potato poultice.

The easiest and most effective method I have found is to use a starchy potato (Russett, Idaho, or the like. Do not use a waxy potato, like a red or gold potato). Peel the potato or scrub it to get the dirt off. Use a grater to shred the potato like you are making hash browns. Take a handful of the wet potato shreds and place them into a piece of thin cloth, like a handerchief and tie it shut (use a rubber band or twist tie). Use a bit of alcohol on a cotton ball and scrub the bite to break the blister open and disinfect the surface. Place the potato filled cloth on the bite and secure it in place by whatever means necessary. Leave on for several hours, until the potato begins to dry. Discard the old potato where it cannot be eaten by any animals (it can kill them) and repeat with fresh potato. You should notice the purple area fade and get smaller until it is gone, over the course of a day or two. Keep repeating until the purple is all gone. If you stop early, the remaining purple may still slough off. If you see streaks of red, it indicates infection as well as venom so you may need to see a doctor.

I went home and mixed up my wound healing cream of equal parts honey and coconut oil probably two tablespoons each. I broke open three capsules of cayenne added 5 grams of msm powder and mixed it all together.

This by itself is an absolutely incredible pain reliever and healer for cuts, scrapes, open sores etc. but I knew she needed a drawing actor so I broke open five capsules of activated charcoal and mixed it in. went over and applied it.

The pain immediately subsided and she said within thirty minutes the black streaks started coming back down her arm. She healed up in a couple of weeks, and crazy enough, another man bought her house and was bitten by a brown recluse five years later, I saw him limping and he had a necrocious patch three inches across his calf I made the same formula and he also healed quickly. Also works on scorpion bites and other spider bites.

Version #1: Place 2 tbsp. of the table salts on to a folded up paper towel in a small bowl. Add spoonfuls of the hot water to the salt until it forms a paste like wet sugar. Apply the paste/compress onto the bite or insect bite/sting. Then soak a clean washcloth in very hot water; wring out. Place the hot cloth over the paste/compress on the bite. Resoak the cloth in hot water as needed to keep it hot. A hot water bottle works much better for this application. Continue for 30 minutes. The salt compress can be left in place all night by wrapping the compress with plastic-wrap and securing it with tape. Remove in the morning and examine the wound/bite area. Re-apply if needed.

Version #2: Mix two cups of table salt and two cups of very hot water (not boiling) in a medium-sized bowl. Mix until the salt dissolves. Once cooled to touch, soak a clean washcloth in the salt mixture; wring out. Place damp wet cloth on bite wound. Resoak the cloth as needed to keep it as hot as possible. Do this for 1 hour or leave it on all day. The salt compress can be left in place all night by wrapping the compress with plastic-wrap and securing it with tape. Remove in the morning and examine the wound/bite area. Re-apply if needed.

I had read an article at my chiropractor about healing a brown recluse bite with electrical acupuncture. I called him and asked if he knew who did that. He did and I got an appointment and had the treatment. He also gave me the homeopathic ledum palustre. In three days the bite was healed, though I still have a small scar where it was. Oh, the doctor also told me "and when it breaks open, use hydrogen peroxide on it. " It never did break open. I also never filled the prescriptions since I knew they would do nothing for the bite.

Since then I learned about plantago major (plantain - a common weed in these parts) healing a brown recluse bite. I had opportunity a year and a half ago to use it after a couple of friends had with great success. I kept a poultice of the crushed leaf on the bite, changing it every 4-6 hours. The bite was healed in 5 days. I had more trouble with the tape that I held the poultice on with (it was on my inside thigh) as it reacted with my skin and caused sores all around the bite. I tried several types of bandaids and tapes and had problems with all of them. It was worth it though to have the bite healed.

You can make a paste out of Baking Soda and Hydrogen peroxide. Put a bandaid on it. 2 days should be back to normal.

God Bless

Gary

So I picked her up bring her to my house and opened the wound they drilled it was full of venom and her scalp dow to her skull about half dollar size with liquified flesh puss and a yellew to brown liquid and blood.

I squeezed it all out and filled a plastic bottle with equal parts Epsom salts and water. I bent her over squeezed the bottle half way leaving half air half liquid suctioned it to her head and had her sit up, then watched an oily brown yellow red substances rise to the top of the water. Within 30 mins, it drew the poison out. Because they left her with such a large hole, I stuck the entire end of a sterile qtip soaked in hydrogen peroxide in the hole and rotated it several times revealing dead pieces of skin from them lancing drilling what ever. I then went to my cleaning kit for wounds and cut away the dead skin.

Also, I cut the hair around the wound shaved it and started filling it with triple antibiotic ointment twice a day, also cleaning it with peroxide each time I put antibiotic and redressed it using surgical tape I cut into small pieces. Then used a non stick piece of bandaid pad I cut from bandaid to size to just fit tape and hole. You have to keep head shaved around bump for tape to stick and you also have to wait for it to stop leaking.

Use an absorbent sterile medical pad to dab wound softly after filling with triple antibiotic ointment. Went the oozing slowes apply- tape and pad you cut to make basically a butterfly with the pad. Do not close wound like you would with butterfly for 3 to 4 days, until the oozing stops, then close it by pulling the tape just like a butterfly change daily and lean around it with peroxide when you change tape. It took me four days.

The wound / bite is closed and healing well and I've removed tape. The hole is closed and no more leakage and wound is no longer infected.

This was a really bad bad case and if you don't have knowledge to do this, try to find a nurse, or a paramedic from fire department willing to help. My cousin was a licenced nurse and paramedic and he taught me some things. I still have the bottle with the venom and the poison still floating on top separated.. I hope if you're ever in this kind of situation you're blessed with someone who will help at the hospital.

Here is the long of it: Slathered the entire leg and foot with straight lavender oil (read it neutralizes the gangrene affect of the venom);

Applied straight basil oil to the wound;

Applied an activated charcoal poultice over the wound and bandaged it (local clinic did give him the kit, which can and should be ordered online);

Then, I made him lie on the couch with the leg elevated, put headsets on the leg attached to my computer download and ran the rife program for brown recluse bite, one frequency at a time.

Well, the next morning the infection had gone down to his ankle. We continued this until he saw the specialist, WHO WAS STUNNED AND WANTED TO KNOW WHAT HE DID! At his follow-up appointment, a new nurse wanted to know how he healed it (it now was a localizes blister and was cut out). THE SPECIALIST SAID TO MY HUSBAND "TELL HER WHAT YOU DID. TELL HER WHAT YOU DID!!