Kitchen Garden Forum

I was clearing the overgrowth in an area untouched for about a year - on Saturday late afternoon and felt a slight prick on my lower leg to the side of the front - i thought it was just a bit of spiky plant growth -there was a hole the size of a pin head and a little bit of blood. I carried on thinking nothing of it - didn't hurt much and i was engrossed. Seem ok that night - seemed to have healed, bit itchy that's all. Next day i was out and about in the garden as usual and started to feel a bit off by mid day my leg started to swell and REALLY hurt so much so i could hardly walk - just sowed and potted sitting down. By dusk i really couldn't walk the swelling was the whole of my leg from knee to ankle and a red welt in the centre of it - went to bed almost in tears from the pain after taking an allergy pill.
Next day (monday)i couln't walk - pain chills throbbing and i could now see there were two red welts side by side. i was laid out only relief for the pain was to keep my leg high. By evening felt a bit better and hobled about weakly - saw my neighbour and he said it was a spider bite aaaaaghgh - the hobbling about set the pain off again and back to bed chills throbbing but this time i put a frozen wet face cloth on it and lavender oil - having tried to look up spider bites on the internet - without much luck - to see what to do - the extremes of the options were to aply essential oil and a cold compress or amputate your leg???????? I obviously chose the essential oil as i couldn't walk to the shed to get my saw - though it was tempting.

Anyway rambling on here -sorry- but it was frightening and excruciatingly painfull. Today i can walk again feel better and i want to know who donnit. I've tried researching on the net but not getting anywhere - does anyone know what kind of spider might have had a go at my leg.

Dear C.J, are you sure it was a spider and not a snake, it sounds a violent reaction for a spider bite, but i know they can effect people in different ways.
Glad your on the mend.

Not sure about anything as i didn't see what bit me - but my neighbour said it wasn't a snake - i think if it was a snake i may well have seen it though
There are aparently one or two venomous spiders in France that do bite people but so far i don't know what they look like or are called.
Definately will wear long trousers next time i tackle undergrowth like that. My other half wears chainsaw trousers at all times and its 34c today

Hi CJ

I had an incident like that once - I was at a concert at Milton Keynes Bowl some years back, felt a stabbing sensation on my foot and thought nothing of it but on the way home (walking miles to MK station and then back to Birmingham) it hurt more and more. The next afternoon I couldn't even get my trainers on and my boss took me to A&E where they gave me anti histamine injection and pills and said it was a spider bite tho I couldn't see anything. What kind of English spider takes chunks out of peoples feet???? I never found out but the doc said it was likely to be a foreigner attracted by the heat...
Hope you're all healing up nicely and feeling no more pain!!

Thanks Franksmum

CJ

Sorry to hear of your pain. The only thing that has had that effect on me was a scorpion bite in Italy. I understand they do hang out in Southern France. Otherwise, here is some info on biting UK spiders, if you can bear to look at it.

http://www.nhm.ac.uk/nature-online/life ... bilis.html

Alan

I'm so sorry to hear of your nasty bite. I don't know of any European spiders that bite but just generally speaking I would advise you to always consult a doctor over such a serious reaction. As well as the reaction to the venom you can develop an allergic reaction that could kill you. If it's well known enough in your area for your neighbour to recognise it, there may be some kind of anti-venom you could take.
I really think such things are too serious to deal with without professional advice.
Hope your symptoms have eased a bit at last.

Thanks for the sympathy Alan and Jenny - i must admit i am in need of some my other half just thought it was funny at first and didn't believe i was bit by something serious - i thought it must have been a snake, until our neighbour poped by.

Yep we do have scorpions here they are in the house garden everywhere but i've not been stung by one they are not at all agressive. I even managed a close encounter - one had gone into my trouser pocket (normally they don't go anywhere near clothes) and i was rumaging around thinking why have i got debris in my pocket and there was a jab and i pulled my hand out and there was a sorpion hanging onto my finger with its pinchers didn't sting just hung on for a free ride out of my pocket.

That site is good Alan - could have been that spider - sounds like it turns up in this area too. Wish they had a french version so i could work out what is really round here - it would be nice to know what it looks like if only to run a mile in future - maybe the powers that be like to keep the deadly insects a bit hush in case of scaring away tourists.

CJ, I would strongly suggest you consult your Dr about getting what in te UK is refered to as an "Epipen". This is used to deal with SEVERE allergic reactions.

See here for more detail. http://www.anaphylaxis.com/pro/6_6.cfm

Thanks Peter - that sounds like something we should have in the house in case of emergencies - if we have friends visiting who have anaphylatic responses to bees or whatever.
The symptoms your link gives:
The classic symptoms of anaphylaxis include hives, swelling around the eyes or mouth, and difficulty breathing or swallowing.

: are not ones i had thank goodness

I will find a doctor and go if the wound starts to look any worse though. Lavender oil and a frozen tea towl is doing the trick this evening.

Many years ago when my father in law was a boy - he's 91 now - he fed a spider regularly with flies. One day the spider missed the fly and bit him. His whole arm swelled up and he had the red welts too. He says it was very painful.This was an ordinary house spider. So the bite from ANY spider can be nasty.About 80 years ago he just had to get over it - no antihistamine, epipen, antibiotic etc then.

If you saw the spider, here's an identity parade of possible French villains.

http://www.chez.com/tegenarius/tegdes.htm

Alan

Thanks Alan
That really put me off my breakfast. They all look like SPIDERS. Very hard to tell however the hobo spider (l'araignée clocharde) "where it lives in nature in the waste lands or low grasses" yep exactly - looks a bit too familiar - i didn't see the one that actually bit me but the grass was full of spiders that looked like that one where i was clearing- my other half that was the most familiar looking of your parade of nasties.

Not that i am trying to freak myself out but its venom is necrotic and there is a dark patch forming around the bite so i am going to pop down to the chemist - they are great in France and know heaps. See what they say.

Thanks again for looking for me - can always rely on you to find stuff in the digital jumgle out there - do you speak French - i ask because you always seem to come up trumps with French stuff. I just blobbed the text into a translator.

That's a great story Jane

CJ

you asked "do you speak French?"

OUI

Alan