Black Widow Encounter at Sukkot

I'm not especially excited about sharing this experience, but when I was searching for information at a critical moment, I had a hard time finding anything very useful. I found page after page of corporate-owned, pharmaceutical-sponsored boilerplate that looked like they were all copied from each other. Some real life stories about the effects, treatment, and aftermath of black widow bites would have been helpful. I was aware that being bitten by a black widow is almost never fatal, but I would like to have had more details on what to expect.

According to various reports, between 2000-3000 people are bitten by black widows in the United States each year, so why is it so hard to find first person accounts? Probably due to search engines giving too much weight to "official" websites, but the more accounts that are published, the more they will show up in searches.

Keep in mind--of course--that I'm not a healthcare professional of any kind. This is an account of actual events as clearly as I can remember them, not medical advice.

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Our local congregation had a three-day campout for the last part of Sukkot this year (2022). We arrived Friday afternoon, set up our tents, and got to the serious business of having fun, worshiping, and conversing on every theological topic under the sun.

I love Sukkot!

I don't love outhouses or porta-potties--for that matter, I'm not a big fan of public restrooms in general--but when you're away from home for days on end, you make do with what what's available.

Saturday night, I made the inevitable trip to the porta-potty. I was aware of the dangers of black widows and outhouses, but I thought the worst I had to fear from a porta-potty was someone else's poor aim. 

I shined my flashlight all around inside the tiny space and didn't see anything obviously concerning. Certainly no webs or spiders. I cleaned the seat as well as I could with hand sanitizer and toilet paper, draped more paper across the seat, and proceeded to attempt a...ahem...hover drop with limited success. I bumped the paper-covered seat multiple times and swayed a bit in the process.

Here's the timeline of the next 72 hours...

• 0:00 - Visited the porta potty.
• 0:15 - Sitting in a camp chair listening to a friend's spontaneous karaoke performance, my left hip felt tender. I assumed it was slightly bruised from sleeping on the ground the night before.
• 0:30 - My hip began to feel like someone had punched me, and it occurred to me that I might have been bitten by something. My wife Paula checked it out and confirmed that it looked like an insect bite of some kind, with a welt like a mosquito might leave. Not too serious, though.
• 0:45 - The increasing throb in my hip prompted a suspicion that it could be something more serious. A wasp, tarantula, or scorpion would have been immediately painful, so those were unlikely. Then I remembered the black widow's affinity for outhouses and that I had just used an outhouse analog. I walked back to the porta potty, opened door, and turned on my flashlight. There was a black widow, hanging in its web right in plain sight just to the right of the toilet seat, it's shiny black body and red spot obvious from several feet away.
• 0:50 - I immediately took two Benadryl and then debated with Paula about what to do next. We both searched the Internet and found mixed advice: "Go to an Emergency Room immediately, but there's nothing they can do for you." So helpful.
• 0:55 - My began feeling a tightness across my abdomen between navel and ribcage. A fellow camper searched the porta-potty and found several black widows living in the reservoir. He killed them all and put one in a baggy in case I needed it.
• 1:00 - I called the local ER. They refused to give any advice over the phone, not even to tell me if I should come in or not. We called my health insurance's help line for advice, and they said to go to the ER and even recommended a particular location. My left testicle was beginning to feel sensitive, a little like it had been hit ten minutes ago. This convinced us that we needed to get to the ER.
• 1:05 - On the way to the car we encountered the friend who had captured the black widow. He was examining the other porta-potty and found a brown recluse just as we were passing by. I looked at it myself and confirmed that it was, indeed, a live brown recluse! What are the odds of two porta-potties, one infested by black widows, and the other harboring a brown recluse!?
• 1:30 - We were camping away from any major cities, so it took some time to reach the ER. This was very unlikely to be a life threatening situation, so an ambulance ride would have been silly. I rated my hip, abdominal, and testicular pain at 3 of 10 at this point. The ER doctor gave me an antibiotic, a pain killer of some kind, and a muscle relaxer, and said to call if I had any trouble breathing.
• 3:00 - The meds had no discernible effect. Paula called the ER back and they said to take a maximum (loading) dose of both ibuprofen and Tylenol. The pain was up to 7 and had expanded to my lower back and up to the bottom of my rib cage. Unfortunately, nobody had any ibuprofen.
• 4:00 - My pain level was up to 9, most intense in the hips and lower back, but extending up to just below pectoral muscles. Nobody at the camp site had ibuprofen, so we drove to the nearest convenience store.
• 4:15 - Pain at 10, from mid thigh to upper chest. Diaphragm seemed unaffected. Every movement of my rib cage was painful, but otherwise it didn't seem to restrict my breathing. I took 800 milligrams of ibuprofen. Since black widow venom can cause muscle rigidity and cramps, and the pain was moving up my chest, I called the ER back and asked if I needed to worry about my heart. They assured me that it wouldn't effect my heart, but they also thought Tylenol and ibuprofen would be effective for the pain. Instead of returning to camp, we went on to the ER again.
• 4:20 - The pain at this point exceeded anything I had ever experienced. I told Paula that I discovered my dial really did go to 11. I didn't rate it that high because any single point on my body had that level of pain, but because the extent and unrelenting nature of the pain was extraordinary. The pain would surge to the point where I wanted to scream, stay there for a few minutes and then drop back to an 8 or 9 for a while before rising again in waves. I told Paula that it felt like someone was trying to pull my legs off and break my pelvis apart. She called the ER to let them know we were coming back.
• 4:45 - We arrived at the ER and were called back almost immediately. The nurse took my vitals, consulted with the physician, and then administered 1 mg Dilaudid via IV. Her lack of practice at inserting an IV momentarily distracted me from all the other pain points. She's a nurse, not a phlebotomist. 
• 5:00 - The Dilaudid began to have some effect. Pain level down to 8 or 9. It really seemed to me that it should have a more immediate effect.
• 5:15 - Pain level went down to around 6, which allowed me to sleep for a few minutes.
• 5:45 - The pain levels began rising again. The physician ordered an additional .5 mg Dilaudid via IV and a muscle relaxer.
• 6:00 - Pain decreased to around 5. I slept for about 10 minutes.
• 6:30 - Pain began rising again.
• 6:45 - Another .5 mg Dilaudid plus Ativan. 
• 7:00 - Pain decreased to 5-6 and stabilized for a while. I was able to sleep for a few minutes at a time, but probably no more than 30 minutes total. My memory of the next twelve hours is pretty fuzzy.
• 8:00 - At some point, I was given Tylenol and something else via IV, and my overall pain became pretty tolerable. Unfortunately, it had also extended from mid-thighs up to my armpits. I believe there was another injection, but I'm not certain.
• 11:00 - We left the ER and returned to the camp site to get some essential items before heading home. 
• 11:30 - We arrived at the camp site, and I was feeling well enough to see everyone. Breakfast was still being served, so I had some coffee and breakfast tacos. Paula tells me that I had some theological conversations with other campers, but I have no recollection of it. I only vaguely remember being there at all. Hopefully I didn't say anything too outrageous!
• 12:45 - We left the campsite for home. I was getting pretty uncomfortable again and could feel stiffness in my knees, a cramp in one foot, and brief stabs of pain at the base of my skull. 
• 14:30 - We picked up prescriptions for pain killers, muscle relaxers, and antibiotics. 
• 15:00 - Arrived home, took the pain killers and tried to relax. Both of my feet were now buzzing with a cocktail of sensations. Throbbing, stabbing, tingling, burning...sometimes even tickling. 
• 16:00 - Pain killers significantly reduced the pain in my upper abdomen and knees, but my hips, lower back, and feet were still at an 8. The muscle relaxers didn't seem to do anything, so I stopped taking them. 
• 24:00 - The buzzing, burning, stabbing in my feet was driving me crazy. Any kind of fabric or breeze touching my feet felt like fire.
• 30:00 - I was unable to sleep because of my feet, so I added Benadryl and the muscle relaxers back to the mix after researching the possible side effects of the combination. The only real downside (with reasonable dosages) seemed to be increased drowsiness, which was a big plus in my book. I also took a sizeable doze of magnesium supplements.
• 33:00 - Finally got about two hours of sleep. My sleep over the last two nights might have amounted to 3.5 hours. Maybe.
• 38:00 - My overall pain level was at a tolerable 4-5. However, the toxin seemed to have settled in my feet where it was a tireless torturer. Walking in my bare feet was like walking on glass, but wearing anything on them was like wrapping them in hot sandpaper. So I wore my slippers to the bathroom, kitchen, etc., and immediately took them off again.
• 40:00 - Paula rubbed my feet, which temporarily calmed them down. Something about compressing nerves at a deeper level stopping the signals from the nerve endings. When she pressed on the bottoms of my feet, it felt like the insides were made of a brittle crystal that broke up under pressure. I was beginning to wonder if I might have permanent nerve damage. Occasional testicular aches, like the distant memory of a misplaced knee.
• 44:00 - I was able to doze off a few times that day and evening.
• 48:00 - I hadn't had the pain killer in about five hours, but I still felt pretty good compared to the previous day. My pain level, even in my feet, was down to about 3. It was still a little early for another dose, so I took ibuprofen and Benadryl, and then went to bed. Sweet, sweet sleep!
• 52:00 - I woke up with my feet buzzing, so I took the prescription pain killer and went back to bed.
• 56:00 - I finally had a full night's sleep! I work from home, so I propped my feet up on a chair and worked for most of the day.
• 58:00 - With my feet beginning to feel better, I became more aware of residual aches in my knees and hips. Pacing around the house and doing squats at my desk seemed to help somewhat. Overall pain level was 2-3 and the torturer in my feet took extended breaks.
• 64:00 - I developed a headache and stiff shoulder and neck, but that could have been from stress or from sleeping in an awkward position the night before.
• 72:00 - I was still experiencing random stabs of pain and other sensations in my hips, knees, and feet, but feeling almost normal otherwise. The "spider man" jokes were getting stale.
• 84:00 - General fatigue set in. I stopped the prescription pain killers the day before, so it's difficult to say whether this is a side effect of the venom or a withdrawal from the medication. Still experiencing aches in hips and knees and random sensations in feet, especially my heels.
• 1 week - Random sensations in my feet still. Itching, stabbing, tingling.
• 2 weeks - Pretty much back to normal except that the bite itself is still a little red and sometimes itches.
• 3 weeks - Bite rarely itches. Now just a small raised spot with two tiny red marks.

According to what I have read elsewhere, most people begin to see the most severe symptoms anywhere from 15 minutes to eight hours after the bite, which tracks with my own experience. Most people also get over the most severe symptoms within 3-5 days, which is also consistent. I seem to have gotten through it a litter quicker than most, due to the prayers of many people and the assistance of my wife. Unfortunately, people also report that it can take several weeks for the residual effects to fully subside.

Being uncomfortable is part of the Sukkot experience. I'd sure like to be a little less uncomfortable next year, though. 

We had a lot of young children present and I'm extremely grateful that none of them were bitten. I will be sure to bug bomb any porta-potties that we rent in the future, just to be on the safe side.

Throughout, I have been supported by the prayers of my local community and at least three other congregations. I am continually amazed at how much love is directed my way in spite of the hate that permeates the whole world. God also gave me an amazing wife in Paula and her knowledge concerning supporting the body's own detox mechanisms (methylation, movement, glutathione, etc.).