Home Metal Detecting

I won't be detecting for awhile.

I have not posted here or anywhere in the last ten days or so.

My wife spent the last two weeks in Hawaii. I stayed home to hold down the fort....I was going to go detecting a week ago last Sunday when I felt a stinging sensation on my lower tummy off to the left of my belly button. It was turning red so I didn't go detecting. By Wednesday of last week, it had developed into a very large red sore. The redness was as big as a Frisbee, and the center of it was an angry looking purple color. When I went to an emergency medical clinic on Wednesday, the doctor said it was a classic poisonous brown spider bite. He also stated that it could take at least a month or longer to heal, and there is no known immediate cure. He gave me an 800 MG antibiotic prescription. The pharmacist at Walgreens told me about a "drawing ointment" that could possibly draw the poison out. It is called, Ichthammol. It is also known as black salve. I am calling it a miracle ointment. This picture was taken this past Sunday morning and it shows vast improvement over the day I went to the doctor. I highly recommend this ointment. It will draw out splinters, cinders, glass and many other things from the body. Including poison...It is removing the poison from my bite. I apply the ointment two times a day and put a large band-aid over it.

The doctor said no metal detecting until the swelling and openess of the bite is completely gone. So, I will just have to read the success stories posted here until that time.



I hope this picture does not gross you out too much. It was taken this past Sunday morning.

My wonderful young sister asked if I had been fooling around and got caught, because she said it looks like a gunshot wound.


image

Comments

  • crispycrispy Posts: 792 ✭✭✭


    << <i>the doctor said it was a classic poisonous brown spider bite >>



    As in a Brown Recluse? Man that looks terrible. Make sure you follow all the doc's instructions and take care of it fully before you venture out again. What state were you in when you got bit - indoors - outdoors? Damn that's nasty. There will always be time to detect later just get that healed up properly! Sorry to hear of your misfortune.

    Crispy

    "to you, a hero is some kind of weird sandwich..."
  • crispy.....Thank you for your comments. I appreciate it.

    I am following the doctors advice to a "T." I have seen pictures of what a Brown Recluse can do. They are terrible looking pictures. The doctor said he couldn't tell if it was a Brown Recluse or not. He said it was a classic brown spider bite and a bad one.

    I am currently in Arizona. I don't know if it happened indoors or outdoors. I didn't feel the bite at all. I didn't even know I had been biten. I later felt the irritation and looked and there it was. I will not even think of going detecting until I get the ok from the doctor. If I never get to go again, I know that I have found my fair share of goodies in the now thirteen years I have done it.
  • Rickc300Rickc300 Posts: 876 ✭✭
    image

    I got this one last year and it almost did me in due to infections and complications. The meds and an over zealous doctor left me with a scar that is about the size of a dessert plate on my back. When everything was over and done with I ended up with some nerve damage from a little bitty spider bite... The quarter is there for size comparison but as you can see in the pic the coin is actually sinking under the skin, (yes it was dipped in alcohol before being placed there) the skin was so deteriorated that even a light touch caused it to give way and sink into itself (Maybe increasing the infection)? I ended up with a saucer size open wound in less than a week before it was controlled by the meds. I won't share that pic here though, let’s just say it wasn't pretty and I wouldn't wish that on anyone... Follow the directions of your doctor, take your meds and be aware of pain and what your body is telling you. If you don't feel right or if the pain is not something you would expect, please tell your doctor and don't think you are a hero for not bothering him/her. As I found out, not all doctors have a real understanding of what can happen from a little spider bite...

    I hope all turns out well, Best of luck and I look forward to more of your stories once you are back out hunting...

    HH, and get well soon!
    Rick

    Edited: This pic was taken late on day two and it got much worse after that, very quickly! Take care of yourself...
    Democracy is two wolves and a lamb voting on what to have for lunch. Freedom is a well armed lamb contesting that vote. Benjamin Franklin - 1779

    image
    1836 Capped Liberty
    dime. My oldest US
    detecting find so far.
    I dig almost every
    signal I get for the most
    part. Go figure...
  • holy cow!...them recluse spiders are the worst eh?...hope your wound heals fast and that the fiddler spider is stuck to the bottom of somebodies shoe...hh
    "see ya at the beach"
    imageimageimageimage
  • DockwalliperDockwalliper Posts: 1,169 ✭✭✭
    image Yuck!
  • rickoricko Posts: 98,724 ✭✭✭✭✭
    Sorry to hear that MDH.... take care and get well. Cheers, RickO
  • kiyotekiyote Posts: 5,573 ✭✭✭✭✭
    Ok, my tick story is now offically a lame whinefest! image

    Get well soon ! I hope it's nothing too bad!
    "I'll split the atom! I am the fifth dimension! I am the eighth wonder of the world!" -Gef the talking mongoose.
  • kiyote......

    There is nothing lame whinefestive about a tic bite. They are dangerous critters. Thanks for the get well wishes. The same goes out to you. Ken...The MDH

    Do you deal in Foriegn coins at all?
  • crispycrispy Posts: 792 ✭✭✭
    No injury or bite should be treated lightly. I finally got a tetanus shot last year (because of hernia surgery) but I was flirting with disaster going such a long time without one. Considering all the rusty crud and bacteria in the soil, I'm surprised we don't hear more horror stories.
    "to you, a hero is some kind of weird sandwich..."
  • crispycrispy Posts: 792 ✭✭✭
    I just had to add this for metaldetectinghound. As I mentioned in the previous post, I had hernia surgery last year (early Spring). It was only supposed to be a six to eight week recovery period. Turns out I was the 1/2 percent of people who get nerve damage as a result of the procedure. I missed almost the entire metal detecting season in recovery. By the time I got back into it it was late Fall and the snow was beginning to fly. Just hang tight and get better. It's not worth aggravating an already dangerous situation. I feel for you friend. Take care.


    "to you, a hero is some kind of weird sandwich..."
  • kiyotekiyote Posts: 5,573 ✭✭✭✭✭


    << <i>kiyote......

    Do you deal in Foriegn coins at all? >>




    I do not...
    "I'll split the atom! I am the fifth dimension! I am the eighth wonder of the world!" -Gef the talking mongoose.
  • Brown spider southwest version


    for all of us in the southwest this is the little bugger to watch out for !!

    there are a couple of different looks to this spider for different areas of the country ,,but they are all as poisonous .


    Floridas version

    both versions AKA fiddle back spiders in the mid west and northwest !! From the fiddle shaped markings on the backs !!

    Be careful out there in the bushes and shady areas ,they hang in the same places as the black widow .
    Touch Not The Cat Bot A Glove !!

    image

    Always Looking for Raw Proof Lincoln Cents !!
  • can't see the picture, the host is blocked..

    the recluse poison makes the flesh necrotic by constricting the blood vessels. a remedy that your doctor is probably not
    aware of, is to place a nitro patch over the wound, as quickly as possible. this will keep the blood flowing and keep the flesh from
    decaying.

    i've also heard that electric shock, like a cattle prod turned to a low setting and placed over the wound changes the chemical composition of the poison.
  • also, remember, boxers during the day, but briefs at night.
  • also, especially if you have small children, check your house thouroughly.. please.
    a bite from one of these can kill a small child and send them into kidney failure.

    look for webs, recluses spin irregular webs and you'll see what looks like the heads of q-tips in the
    webs. these are the egg sacs. if you spot recluse exoskeletons, you have an infestation.

    they like undisturbed places and are very difficult to eradicate. it's a protracted battle of denying their food supply and
    vaccuming up the webs. any tree hanging over your house, trim it back. they live in the tree all summer and drop down
    onto the roof in the fall, into the attic and into the rest of the house. the live about 7 years and can go over 2 years without food or water.

    on the positive side, their fangs can not really penetrate human skin. ever so close to being able to, if you press
    against them the fangs will penetrate. that is why most people are bitten at night, they roll over or something while
    the nocturnal spider is hunting.
  • Hmmmm

    Links open right up for me ?

    anyone else having problems with the links ?

    2bits
    Touch Not The Cat Bot A Glove !!

    image

    Always Looking for Raw Proof Lincoln Cents !!
  • sorry 2bits, in my first post i was referring to the op's bite pic. yours came through fine, yep, recluses.
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