The comments below reflect the personal experiences and opinions of readers and do not represent medical advice or the views of this website. The information shared has not been evaluated by the FDA and is not intended to diagnose, treat, or prevent any disease or health condition. Always consult a qualified healthcare professional for medical concerns.
Salt
Posted by Tak (Eugene, Or) on 08/27/2016
★★★★★
My mom got a brown recluse bite while living in Arkansas. Noticed it when a large pit started forming around the bite but had no money to see a doctor. A neighbor told her to make a paste with 1/2 teaspoon vaseline and as much salt (she used table salt) as you could and still have it be sticky and apply directly to the bite as a compress. She did this for about a week and though it hurt alot the bite was healed completely.
My boyfriend was recently bit by something, it swelled immediately then started bruising after 30 minutes. I immediately cut a potato in half and taped it to the area. The next day a large bruise appeared on his inner thigh everywhere the potato wasn't. It has a small red area in the center and very dark rings. He was also feeling sick with hot/cold flashes and a fever. I then applied the salt paste using epsom salt, changing after 4 hours to sea salt. It looked better when I went to change it and he was feeling much better.
Today is day 3 and I'm still waiting for him to wake up to check progress, I'll update when I see how it goes.
Salt
Posted by Mary (WEst Alli, Wisconsin) on 08/19/2007
★★★★★
My husband and I went camping this weekend, and I ended up with multiple spider bites. I tried everything and nothing helped. I wanted to scratch the skin off my legs. I went on the computer to see about any natural remedies and found this website. I washed my legs with hot water, and then put salt on all the bites. I let the slat on for 10 minutes and the itchy feeling went away. I will continue this until they are all gone. Thank you!
Replied by Shirley
(USA)
08/20/2007
Salt
Posted by CLH (PDL, United States) on 07/24/2007
★★★★★
I was bit by a brown recluse, when I sat down on him, caught the spider, Went to doc day after bit, black area had started forming. doc gave me antibiotic shot and said to watch it over the weekend and he would check it on Monday, I looked at your site and started doing the home remedies. I soaked it in very hot water with epsom salt and sea salt, lots of the salt every day; I put triple antibiotic ointment, once a day.
I took fresh cut garlic and taped it to the black area, every day and also, taped a green banana peel to the black area every couple days.
Went back to doc on that Monday. He said it looked bad but not as bad as he expected it to look, he wanted a surgeon to look at it. Could not see surgeon for a week. I kept doing the remedy above, then one day a whole thick layer of skin let loose of the black area but black area was still there, kept doing remedy till I went to surgeon, I told the surgeon what I was doing he laughed and said keep doing it because it was working and that he would not have to do surgery if it kept getting better, but not to pick at the black area let it fall out on its on, kept doing the remedy till the black area fell out about a week later.
Replied by Scott
(US)
02/25/2016
★★★★☆
Salt
Posted by Susan (South, Texas) on 07/06/2007
★★★★★
Just yesterday for the 4th of July we were at a family gathering. My niece had noticed a red bump develop 3 days prior on her wrist. By yesterday it had gotten bigger, a little over 1/4 inch. You could see 2 fang marks, half of the scab was crusty black and red streaks were developing. It was slightly painful, not unbearable. I check this website our regularly, so it was natural for me to look up a cure for spider bites. Of course we don't know what kind of spider bit her. The salt cure seemed to be the fastest acting and it wasn't too far out from the time of the bite. We wet it and poured salt on it and placed a bandaide over it. She ended up leaving it on for about an hour. Took of the bandaide and ran water over it. About 2 hours later you could tell that the size had decreased and the black scab was gone. We did the treatment one more time before she went to bed. It stung pretty good and she left the bandage on for 10 minutes. We left and called her today and the site is all but dried up. No more pain or itching. For good measure she is going to continue to put the salt on for another night or 2. Amazing!! is all I can say.
Salt
Posted by Bradley (Bon Wier, Tx) on 06/19/2007
★★★★★
i was in Lufkin Tx emergency room a couple of weeks back and I talked to a man who had been bitten by a spider. The doctor that treated him said that he knew people that had been bit by spiders that went to the ocean on Friday and came back on Monday and the bite was was gone away. The salt water heals the bite
Salt
Posted by Tammy (Wellston, Oklahoma) on 11/09/2006
★★★★★
Salt cures Spider/Insect bites, poison ivy. Last year I had a spider bite on my inner thigh. At first it was just a small red bump, but then it grew into what looked like a ring worm. A week later it was the size of a tennis ball and the center of it was a infection white and itchyyyy as poison ivy. I showed it to my family in India via web cam, she knew immediately what to do. Said just wet it, pour table salt on it and let it sit for at least 20 min. After about one minute it began to burn some, nothing unbearable, although i only let it stand for about 5 min as I'm a big baby. It WORKED!! Dried it up in a matter of days. Since then, I have done this remedy for a number different insect bites, even have done on poison ivy and same result. A few days of doing this once at night cleared it. You can literally feel the salt drawing out the poisons.
Sea Salt
Posted by Michael Johson (Ventura County California) on 06/17/2023
★★★★★
I had a spider bite that blistered overnight. Lancing the blister and packing the wound with sea salt stopped the necrosis and began the healing process almost immediately. Yeah, pouring salt in a wound is a bit painful, but the resulting effect was well worth it. BTW, it wasn't THAT painful; just a sting for a bit.
Snake Root
Posted by JC (USA) on 07/09/2006
★★★★★
Snake Root applied neat cured weeping and spreading spider (suspected brown recluse) bites. My friend was bitten a few times on his legs and each one became very puss filled and wept... started spreading and was very painful... put snake root on and immediately the bite areas started healing and within two weeks they were gone.
Spoon Heated With Hot Water
Posted by Celad (Kearney, Nebraska, Usa) on 12/01/2009
★★★★★
I don't remember exactly under which ailment I first found it, but the spoon heated with hot water to stop itching for several hours is great. I needed it for multiple (maybe hobo) spider bites that were driving me crazy. As I recall there was something about the heat driving histamines away.
Therefore it also works for poison ivy, oak and sumac. There was a very helpful comment about the urushiol being the active agent and once that is washed off (of everything!) the clear fluid from the blisters is not an irritant. Thankfully I just got a very mild case (through a hole in a jersey glove I think) between my middle and ring fingers on one hand. I just ran a trickle of hot tap water over it as long as I could stand it a few times (maybe I only needed to do it once ;-) and that was way hot enough to assuage the itch, again for several hours.
Getting a child to bear the heat for even a short duration is another topic!
Thank you, Earth Clinic!!
Sulfur Powder
Posted by Terry (Allen, Ok) on 08/14/2011
★★★★★
I was bitten on the foot by a black widow spider and read where clinics use sulfur based anti-biotics for bites. I had no insurance, so I tried triple anti-biotic cream, hydrocortizone, and sublimed sulfur in equal parts aplied 4 times a day. In 2 weeks the hole where you could see the bones, was nothing more than a rough red spot.
Tea Bag
Posted by Sarah (Dallas, Tx) on 09/05/2011
★★★★★
I got some bites on my hands and feet from walking and sitting in dead grass at night and I live in Texas. From the internet descriptions, I think my bites are also from wolf spiders. Awesome little creatures, but they cannot tell us from the bugs they are hunting. The mother spiders carry their babies on their backs for awhile, like opossums and scorpions do, and also, they hunt nocturnally. Anyway, they are worse than mosquito bites, because half of the top of my foot was swollen and itching so bad I could hardly study. So I put a green tea bag (only kind I have right now) in boiling water for a minute, then put it, still hot, on my foot. It felt SO good! And the itching stopped right away. Tea leaves are pretty amazing.
Tea Bag
Posted by Catpleasant (Reno, Nv Usa) on 05/07/2011
★★★★★
I was bitten by a "wolf" spider. My hand was was swollen twice it's normal size. A friend suggested a wet tea bag. The tea bag, when place over the bite, pulled the poison out of my hand within a couple of hours. No bad effects from the bite.
It seems regular tea bags will pull the poison out of spider bites, an abscessed tooth or any place where poison is causing swelling.
Tea Tree Oil
Posted by Laura (Pennsylvania) on 09/10/2015
★★★★★
I used to be an independent rep for a company called Melaleuca (trademarked the real name for our Tea Tree Oil. They sold products with Melaleuca /"Tea Tree Oil" in them. Their oil is pharmaceutical grade, comes from the leaf of a plant in Austrailia, is medicinal and is good for spider bites.
I was bit on the hand in 2011 by a spider while sleeping. I knew it was a spider because the bite had 2 dots where the teeth went into my skin. My hand swelled up like a balloon in 3 days. I went to the hospital and was given an atibiotic and cream which didn't do much of anything.
I remembered the Melaleuca or Tea Trea Oil. Walmart sells the pharmaceutical grade for $7-$8.
I put it on twice a day and covered the bite with gauze. It went away and NO SCAR TISSUE left behind.
It happened again recently on the back of my leg. I keep the oil in my house. Needless to say I skipped the ER and put the oil on my leg. It worked great. Praise the Lord for His natural medicine the world cannot match.
Tobacco Poultice
Posted by Lawton (Corpus Christi, Texas) on 01/14/2019
★★★★★
Tobacco poultice for stings and bites: Since childhood (over 50 years), I have been using pure tobacco for drawing the poison out of a bee sting or a spider bite. Simply wet the tobacco with water or better yet saliva (it is acidic and helps break down the tobacco and get things happening quicker) and tape it with a bandaid or tape onto the wound. Leave it on for a couple of hours and put on a fresh application.
Tobacco Poultice
Posted by C Johnston (Redlands, Ca) on 06/02/2011
★★★★★
You have no healing remedies for spider bites. I was recently bitten by a brown recluse spider and made a tabacco poltis using 2 cigarettes and enought water to moisten. Heated it in the mircowave, covered the bite with it then put plastic over it and went to bed. The next day a huge blister had formed. I then punctured it and removed alot of fluid which had some of the venom in it and repeated the next night. Really lessoned the effect of the bite, which can be life threatening. Also works for bee stings.
Replied by Holly
(O'fallon, Mo)
06/03/2011
