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Member since 3/8/05
Posts: 85
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Posted on: 6/15/07 11:51 AM ET
On Monday of this week, I was bitten by a black widow spider. I came in and took some of the kids Benadryl. Then I called my doctors office. They told me to go straight to the ER. I got there at 11:30 am. I was finally seen by the doctor at 4:30 pm. The Dr. gave me a tetinus shot told me to ice my hand down 4 times a day take Tylenol or Motrin for pain. If it started itching, swelling, or getting red, to come back to the ER. I was so mad by the time I got out of there that I'm sure my blood pressure was high.

The Dr. did tell me that by my taking the Benadryl it kept me from having an allergic reaction to the poison. The reaction is what causes most people to get very sick.

I have had no swelling, redness, or itching at all, so I guess I have been lucky.


Carmen
  
Member since 7/28/04
Posts: 3233
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Posted on: 6/15/07 11:54 AM ET
You need to report that delay to the medical director of that hospital. After the disaster in LA this week (where a woman died in the ER floor) these delays are being noted everywhere.
  
Member since 9/12/05
Posts: 1707
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Posted on: 6/15/07 12:33 PM ET
In reply to momof2girls
I'm glad you're doing okay. Thank goodness it wasn't a brown recluse - I think their bite can be a lot worse.
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“Some luck lies in not getting what you thought you wanted but getting what you have, which once you have got it you may be smart enough to see is what you would have wanted had you known.”
~Garrison Keillor~
  
Member since 2/9/04
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Posted on: 6/15/07 1:20 PM ET
In reply to momof2girls
You might also want to tell your doctor's office about the long wait. You might have gotten seen faster at a Walk-In clinic. Sheesh.

I'm glad you are allright!
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iPad's auto-correct is my enema.
  
Member since 2/9/04
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Posted on: 6/15/07 1:23 PM ET
In reply to dresscode
Quote:
After the disaster in LA this week (where a woman died in the ER floor) these delays are being noted everywhere.


How awful! Lots of people don't think to go to walk-in clinics (including our son when he was in college . . . Aaaargh! . . . for a minor sports injury) and go to the ER when they really don't need it. This includes immigrants who don't even know about walk-in clinics, and people with no money or insurance who know the ER has to take them. I think lots of ERs are overburdened.
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iPad's auto-correct is my enema.
  
Member since 7/12/06
Posts: 2110
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Posted on: 6/15/07 1:31 PM ET
In reply to momof2girls
That's wonderful about the bite. Most client dr. offices though do allow for their patients who have a file to call and get an immediate appt.

They just tell the people who had a regular appt. that an emergency came in.
  
Member since 4/8/02
Posts: 3623
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Posted on: 6/15/07 3:09 PM ET
Benadryl? Thats good to know. We have a real problem with black widows. There are also some very evil looking green flourscent eyed fuzzy spiders on our back porch, they look right at you with evil eyes, I swear, they have consciousness and intend to murder us all.
They know you are about to kill them, if you even think it, they jump! I have to camoflage my intent to vaccume them up with the shop vac, and do it real sneaky so they don't get away.

My daughter was bitten by a brown recluse on her arm while asleep. We didn't know it was one of those...and she has a small hole in her arm. It was a couple weeks later we heard on the news that people were getting bit by them, and here were the symptons...the poison dissolved some of the tissue. She was very lucky, some people died or had huge holes of muscle gone, or part of their arm. I felt like a stupid mother when I found out. It obviously happened in her sleep, and it was hours later, so I figured she must be ok...I didn't know she should have had shots for it, I didn't even know it was a brown recluse! Had never heard of them, till it was on the news.
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"What you WANT is irrelevant, what you've CHOSEN is at hand." --Mr. Spock
  
Member since 11/14/03
Posts: 977
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Posted on: 6/15/07 3:58 PM ET
In reply to SansSouci572
Yes, I agree, those spiders are psychic!

I used to work in a walk-in clinic and we saw all sorts of people come in, from car accident victims who had already gone to the ER and had waited for 4 to 5 hours and decided they'd had enough of that, to people with who-knows-what hallucinating and sweating profusely to broken ankles, etc. Sometime we did have to refer them back to the ER, but in many cases we were able to fix them up and send them home.
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http://annikaatelier.blogspot.com/
  
Member since 7/12/06
Posts: 2110
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Posted on: 6/15/07 4:02 PM ET
In reply to SansSouci572
All of the people I know or heard who got bit by the black widow or the brown recluse had wasting of the sking down to the bone. I've not heard of a single case just like this one posted. This is the first.

The doctors had to clean out the rotted tissue, pack the wound, and change dressings and have repeat appt.s to check on the progress.

I think this posting is really great, but if I got bit, I would call my doctor and go in.
  
Member since 9/12/05
Posts: 1707
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Posted on: 6/15/07 4:07 PM ET
In reply to SansSouci572
Quote:
My daughter was bitten by a brown recluse on her arm while asleep. We didn't know it was one of those...and she has a small hole in her arm. It was a couple weeks later we heard on the news that people were getting bit by them, and here were the symptons...the poison dissolved some of the tissue. She was very lucky, some people died or had huge holes of muscle gone, or part of their arm.
Aaaargh! That's exactly what I meant by their bites being worse. Their venom can cause necrosis and some people have actually had limbs amputated due to that. It can spread very quickly, too. I saw a show on tv about the brown recluse and it scared the heck out of me because they are local to us. Spiders are nothing to mess with.
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“Some luck lies in not getting what you thought you wanted but getting what you have, which once you have got it you may be smart enough to see is what you would have wanted had you known.”
~Garrison Keillor~
  
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