# Alternative treatment for Brown Recluse bites



## rhrobert (Apr 27, 2009)

This a site with some great information on the brown recluse. We've had more this year than normal, so I checked on some treatments in case we're not close for medical attention.

I never used to worry about being bitten, but a friend has a hardball sized hole in his hip from a bite...never saw anything like it before.

Stan Abrams, M.D. :: Spider Bite Treatment :: Mini Stun Gun Use


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## weedygarden (Apr 27, 2011)

Brown recluse also seem to be spreading in the US to areas where they haven't been before. Of course, they get spread by people who are moving boxes, etc.


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## hillbillymama (Jun 9, 2011)

This is really great..we have a lot of brown recluse around here too. Not just treatment but pointers to keep them at bay BEFORE they do the damage!


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## RevWC (Mar 28, 2011)

I have pulled the spark plug wire off my VW and arched it on a spyder bite 20 years ago. I had forgotten all about the electric process and Im surprised there is not more on this. I had a friend the got bit in the neck by a brown recluse and they removed about 1/2" diameter by 4" plug of flesh to remove the damage.


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## Bigdog57 (Oct 9, 2008)

Besides the venom itself attacking flesh, it also harbors nasty bacteria that can have 'flesh-eating' properties. Not only the Brown Recluse, but other ground spiders have this type venom - they just aren't seen in as large numbers as the BRS.


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## jeremiyah (Feb 13, 2009)

RevWC said:


> I have pulled the spark plug wire off my VW and arched it on a spyder bite 20 years ago. I had forgotten all about the electric process and Im surprised there is not more on this. I had a friend the got bit in the neck by a brown recluse and they removed about 1/2" diameter by 4" plug of flesh to remove the damage.


Stun Gun 20 to 50,000 volts, is best, electric fence, Tazer, cattel prod, spark plug, all will work, likely. A frie d just used fence for Black Widow -far worse than BR.
ALSO!!! Knock off all sugar, carbs, wheat, gluten; De-acidfy your body; if you feed the poison / bacteria, and yes, it will thrive. Have an alkaline system.


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## tsrwivey (Dec 31, 2010)

Electrocute someone to treat a spider bite!?! Really??? Explain exactly how that helps.


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## hiwall (Jun 15, 2012)

> Electrocute someone to treat a spider bite!?! Really???


This was a fad for snake bites about 20 years ago.


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## drfacefixer (Mar 8, 2013)

tsrwivey said:


> Electrocute someone to treat a spider bite!?! Really??? Explain exactly how that helps.


It doesn't. .. Ok. To be fair, it does take their mind off the pain of tHe bite.


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## Cotton (Oct 12, 2013)

Got lots of brown recluse spiders where I store livestock feed (cattle, horses, chickens, rabbits etc). As careful as I am a few times a year I still get what I call “Fuzzied”. If they are somewhat pinched between my skin and a feed sack that’s what their legs feel like as they try to run, a fuzzy/tickling sensation. My reaction is almost instinctual at this point.

Only 3 times in the last 7 or 8 years have I actually been bitten. None serious, they rarely give a full dose. That is until this spring. Early one morning I went to feed the critters. I got fuzzied, hoped it wasn’t serious. Afterwards I went on a hike through the woods searching for useful plants or anything with a bloom I didn’t recognize.

I cut my hunt short because the spot on my forearm became inflamed, the itch was intense. The only thing I had that I was sure would help was Plantago virginica, a native species of plantain. I chewed a leaf, pressed it onto the bite, held it on with a bandaid. The itching and inflammation began to diminish within an hour.

Every time a leaf dried out I replaced it with a fresh one, every 3 to 4 hours. I stopped this procedure on the 4th day. There was only a tiny dark spot where the bite had been.

I have no idea how it works but it does. I personally know other people who have successfully used plantain for brown recluse bites.

After this bite I learned there was something I should have applied before the plantain. A slice of potato!

In my youth I worked as a welder for Pullman Std. building freight cars, box cars etc. For flash eye burns a slice of potato has the amazing ability to draw out the burn. For 3 years I put a raw potato in my lunch box every morning. Didn’t need it often but several times a year I drove the 70 miles home holding a slice over the burned eye. Don’t believe me, drive down to the local welding shop, ask any old welder about this! It works!

For brown recluse bites… warm a slice of potato but not so hot as to burn the skin. Apply to bite for a couple of hours. Afterwards keep moist plantain applied until healed. The plantain worked for me and I have personally experienced the potato’s ability to “draw out”.

I made a simple plantain tincture this morning. I used Plantago lanceolata, English or lance leaf plantain. I’m not an herbalist, they would have made a more complex medication. I used what I had because I know it works. Plantain is simply the best thing I’ve ever tried for bites, stings, cuts, scrapes or anything skin related. It puts jewel weed to shame on poison ivy. I farm livestock, this sort of thing happens to me often. This summer I used plantain almost weekly.

This particular species of plantain is common on roadsides. I wouldn’t harvest from just any location however. My concern is petroleum products in the soil. I harvested this morning from an embankment across a ditch from a lightly traveled gravel road. The road was slanted away from the embankment. Any rain would run into the ditch on the opposite side.

The photo’s are beside a paved road, just for identification.


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## hashbrown (Sep 2, 2013)

I have been bit twice once treated by a Dr. with steroids and the second time I treated it myself with Prid drawing salve. The salve healed the bite faster with alot less pain and for about 5 bucks not 300.


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## Cotton (Oct 12, 2013)

I stopped this tincture a little early, an emergency. It was made with plantain and rubbing alcohol as it’s intended for external use. It turned very dark.

My nephew sells old fashioned square bales (hay). He leased a new field for next year. It had some broom sage (Andropogon sp.) that he could sell and a few acres of good bahia. The rest was trash hay.

He called me this weekend as the best way to get this trash hay off the field was to bale round bales. I went down there and baled 46 rolls. The first bale the twine on one side didn’t cut. When I crawled underneath the baler to manually cut it. I laid down in a fire ant bed!!!! 

I needed my tincture today. I got about 40 fireant bites…

Sort of funny…this was a very steep hilly field, far steeper ground than my fields. I’d only made one circle. I was in a corner without a lot of options as to where I could dump out a round bale. What I tried to do was allow it to roll down the hill and hit another round bale. I missed by foot... it picked up speed, went over and embankment and across a highway! 

First time I've ever missed and entire field with a bale!! This road has very little traffic and thankfully there was none… :congrat:

I’ve seen deer crossing and cattle crossing signs… Anyone know where I can get hay crossing signs? Just in case I bale there again?


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## Cotton (Oct 12, 2013)

An update on the effectiveness of the tincture… Simply amazing… I’ve used plantain leaf many times but this is a first with a tincture.

Fireant stings cause pus-filled blisters that last about a week. With one exception all mine healed completely in 36 hours. I’ve never used a conventional medication that produced results so fast. I used a q-tip, dipped it in the tincture and swabbed it on all the stings, 4 times a day.

I stopped treating them after 2 full days. If like me (over 50) cuts and scrapes don’t heal as quickly as in my youth. It’s nice to know I have such a potent medicine as plantain tincture. It’s supposed to be effective for about 5 years.


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## ContinualHarvest (Feb 19, 2012)

Brown recluse bites inject hemolysing protein complex. I have not seen any supporting evidence that an electrical shock would generate a change to the molecular structure of that protein to render it harmless. 
Perhaps someone with a background in organic chemistry could do one.


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## Dixie (Sep 20, 2010)

Cotton said:


> After this bite I learned there was something I should have applied before the plantain. A slice of potato!
> 
> In my youth I worked as a welder for Pullman Std. building freight cars, box cars etc. For flash eye burns a slice of potato has the amazing ability to draw out the burn. For 3 years I put a raw potato in my lunch box every morning. Didn't need it often but several times a year I drove the 70 miles home holding a slice over the burned eye. Don't believe me, drive down to the local welding shop, ask any old welder about this! It works!
> 
> ...


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## Cotton (Oct 12, 2013)

There are so many plants that are incredibly powerful medicines. Sadly many, even my own family, don’t trust them… Our modern society programmed us not to believe!

The good lord gave us what we need, he put it all around us… Trust him or what man says…Choose! Thus may be you and yours known!


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