itsy bitsy spider

Last night was atypical. Rick woke me up around 3:20 this morning in somewhat of a panic. Coming out of my groggy state, the first thing I could focus on him telling me was that he had incredible cramping and stomach pains, had diarrhea and nearly passed out in the bathroom. If that wasn't enough to jolt me out of bed, he then followed it up with "I think I got bit by something while I was asleep."

Quick onset diarrhea and a bug bite? Sounds suspiciously linked to me. He seemed really disoriented, and I immediately jumped to worse case scenario -- some spider had bitten him in his sleep and the venom was causing the stomach cramping. Not too mention that he said the area around the bite was numb.

Being the super-sleuth that I am, I jumped on WebMd.com to confirm my suspicions. Yep.

A severe allergic reaction (anaphylaxis). Severe allergic reactions are not common but can be life-threatening and require emergency care. Signs or symptoms may include:

• Shock, which may occur if the circulatory system cannot get enough blood to the vital organs.
• Coughing, wheezing, difficulty breathing, or feeling of fullness in the mouth or throat.
• Swelling of the lips, tongue, ears, eyelids, palms of the hands, soles of the feet, and mucous membranes (angioedema).
• Lightheadedness and confusion.
• Nausea, diarrhea, and stomach cramps.
• Hives and reddening of the skin. These symptoms often occur with other symptoms of a severe reaction.

So as quickly as I could, got him loaded up in the car and headed to the ER. Fortunately it was a slow night, so when we got there at a quarter to four, we got in immediately. When Rick took off his shoe to show the admitting nurse the bite, it had strangely disappeared. He was still feeling nausea, but the numbness and the bite were not visible. You could tell the nurse thought we were overreacting and didn't even seem to think the two things were related.

"So are you here for the cramping or the bite?"

Me: "We actually think the two are related."

A doctor came into to see us and after a quick assessment, basically said "it's possible that you got bit by a spider, but there's no spider antidote, so I can't do much for you other than prescribe anti-nausea medication. The doctor asked a ton of questions to see how Rick could have been exposed to the spider.

"Were you outside? Gardening? Hiking?"

" No. No. No. In my bed."

"That's pretty creepy that it was in your bed."

No kidding.....

We got home around 4:30 this morning and Rick was still feeling ill. The bite has resurfaced. Go figure. So we're not crazy. Anyhow, he's home relaxing and hopefully the reaction will subside soon.

If I didn't like spiders before, I'm now really paranoid about having them crawl into bed with us.