Spider Bites & Joint Pain

Most spiders are harmless to humans and, in fact, are helpful to us by keeping insect populations in check. When it comes to joint pain, the only spiders you need to worry about are brown recluse spiders, whose bite can cause a host of systemic reactions in your body and, in some cases, black widows.

Recluse Bites

• Brown recluse bites are the most common in the United States. Symptoms usually include stinging followed by pain at the bite site. Depending on the individual and on how much venom was injected, the symptoms can begin within 3 hours or take as long as 3 weeks to appear. Flu-like symptoms including fever, joint pain and nausea are considered a systemic (or whole body) reaction and usually begin withing 24 to 36 hours of the bite. The skin around the bite will slough away, and the skin directly where the bite took place will be replaced with thick scar tissue.

Location and Pain

• Because a bite can cause pain around the area where it occurs, it stands to reason that joint pain will occur if a bite occurs near a joint. Poisonous spider bites are considered more dangerous if they take place near a joint, a vital organ or the top of the head.

Serum Sickness

• Serum sickness is a physical reaction to antiserum medication used to treat poisonous spider bites, in particular black widow bites. Flu-like symptoms, including joint pain, are a symptom of serum sickness and can last anywhere from 3 days to 3 weeks.

Treatment

• If you have been bitten by what you believe to be a poisonous spider, call a doctor right away. If possible, bring the spider into the medical facility to help them positively identify it. If there are systemic complications, including severe joint pain, many doctors will prescribe high doses of cortisone or anti-venum serum, which should relieve the joint pain. Most recommend washing the bite and covering it with an antibiotic ointment. Healing may take as long as 2 months and can leave a scar.

Populations Affected

• Young children under the age of 10 years are more likely to experience some of the more serious symptoms associated with spider bites than are adults. This is in large part due to the fact that the spider emits the same amount of venom into its victims regardless of their size, so proportionately speaking children are getting more venom than adults.