Day: May 4, 2025

Spider Bite Chronicles

written 5/4/25, updated 5/4/25

Foreword

I have skeeter syndrome to begin with, yet I really enjoy being outside doing yardwork and gardening. It’s a bad mix. I’ve also been bitten, scratched, and stung by lots of critters in the past… and my body reacts powerfully to them. Here, I chronicle my spider bites. My mosquito bites I have chronicled on a different post (and poison ivy, too). It’s important to note that my immune system is odd, and these lesions rarely fully disappear in a hurry. They tend to hang around and flare back up for some time.

Memorable Cases

October 2024

Location: Across forehead

Symptom Duration: Oct 5, 2024 – Oct 15, 2024; 10 days

36 hours

48 hours

Day 3

Day 4

Facial swelling and lymph node involvement, spreading to eye a little, let up around 10 days later

May 2025

Location: Right eye area

Symptom Duration: May 2 – May 9 (7 days)

4 Hours

Uh oh. It’s starting.

14 hours

Affecting vision from inflammation, increased BP. Notice the eyebrow pushed upwards from swelling

24 hours

Fever, lymph node involvement. I feel badly. Bite site has filled with pus

27 hours

Tired, diarrhea, spreading under the eye

36 hours

Very itchy, hard to see, painful to turn head from lymph nodes, still diarrhea, but feel much better

48 hours

Doing better. Greatly less inflamed, bite is weeping, neck very itchy and stiff from lymph nodes. You can see the eyebrow has come down

60 hours

Whenever I wake up it looks worse, but swelling under the eye and around cheeks are decreased, and bite is weeping heavily now

72 hours (3 days)

Weeping continuing, swelling noticeably diminished, side of face still a bit stiff when talking, neck itchy, inflammation going in and out

4 days

Markedly different, slept soundly, weeping has mostly stopped, zero discomfort on head turning, side of face feels mostly normal, minor swelling remains (eyebrow still mildly raised)