03/31/2024
One of our SCMG members was recently bitten by a black widow spider and was extremely il for over a week. In the interest of educating the public, we're publishing her first-person.
A special message for my Gardening family and friends! As a certified Master Gardener, the most important part of my volunteer work is educating the public about gardening needs, how to, how not to and even precautions. Today, I want to focus on precaution from a real-life experience. Spiders? How much do you know about spiders? They are everywhere and their purpose in life is actually to feast on the insects that are not our friends. However, we need to be very aware that while they don’t typically attack us, if we are in their space, some of them definitely will bring us to our knees. I recently had an encounter with a wicked, angry lady, a Black Widow! She surprised me with a bite on the top part of my foot near my inside ankle bone and it felt just like a stick from the brush I was picking up. I didn’t realize she had injected me with her most potent venom with the intent to take me down. It came very close! Did you know the venom of this lady is 15 times stronger than that of a rattlesnake? For humans, this venom attacks the nervous symptoms and can be extremely debilitating but not fatal. How long does it last? That definitely varies with the victims. Should you immediately go to the ER? YES! What is the treatment? Pain management! While there is a spider bite anti-venom, in small towns, it is not likely you will find your ERs having access. Some may even tell you it doesn’t exist in the US, however, medical journals for the Cleveland Clinic and Mayo Clinic beg to differ. From my experience, there should be better protocol for how to treat spider bites in our ERs!
The side effects are grueling and not an experience I ever want to have again. Here is a description of the bite on humans from Texas A&M Agriflife publication on spiders:
‘Widow spider toxin affects the nervous system. Initially, there may be a pinprick sensation that becomes red and swollen. The bite site usually turns pale in the center and is surrounded by a tender redness. Within 1 to 3 hours, the person may experience moderate to intense pain throughout the body that could last from 2 to 3 days. Other symptoms include tremors, nausea, vomiting, leg cramps, abdominal pain, profuse perspiration, loss of muscle tone, and increased blood pressure.’
Spiders (agrilife.org)
I experienced the full list of this description and a few more. I would give it longer than 3 days to be a functioning human again. I am still on the mend and will need time to regain my muscle tone and strength. All of this is to say, careful where you work! Snakes are easy to see, spiders, not so much! Most spiders are pretty harmless but to learn more about the dangerous ones, go to the link above and request a free download of the publication. I would also note that there are organic solutions that can be used to spray your ankles and wrists that might repel spiders while working but just know, they aren’t very big and you can very easily inadvertently disturb them. That’s when they get defensive!
Be garden aware but don’t let the spider fear keep you out of your favorite places!
