spider bites and tcm ???

[Blooming Lotus]

Wasn't really sure where to put this, but as I sit here slumped over my computer ( too sick to think about it myself ) I'm thinking that tcm is likely going to be a good way to go and no doubt someone herre is going to have some advice that could help me out.
The bite was about 2 days ago so it's unlikely that it'll kill me ( despite what my body thinks ;) ) , but to me it feels like a blood poisoning. Did 10 - 15 of a combat cardio class then started sweating profuesly and went to the bathroom and had fluids comming out of nearly every oraphus in my body.

Really don't want to go to a doctor if I can help it, so truly folks, any advice or suggestions ( and I'm thinking something like a topical treatment to draw out the mounds of puss or something like a blood tonic) will be sweet :)

Always good to know how to deal with this sort of thing anyway ( even more when you're too sick to think for yourself ) so cheers .

BL

[Kwajman]

A spider bite will show up as a "bullseye" type wound. Sounds like ya got the flu there.

[Blooming Lotus]

actually, I have 2 of those ! And both are biult up with this brown gunky puss that only comes out in bursts when I try to drain it ( and yes I'm hygienic about it before someone asks ) . I'm also pretty swollen in the local bite areas, red for a good many centimtre diamter around maybe a third of my leg , and it's hot and uncomfortable / tender enough that it's waking me up through the night. One on my calf and one on my knee. I've been sitting in aircon so I feel much better, and I felt alright doing my 1 1/2 hr pilates workout as well, but then I was in aircon then aswell. I think the cardio caused some sort of vasilodation drama, circulating things because of the extra heat and thinner blood ( like spider poison for example ) through my system much faster, making the symptoms acute. I think staying in some cool air and a good flush with a truck load of water for 24 hrs, is probably going to be the best thing I can do.

Still open to other suggestions though and thx for the patronisation ;) :rolleyes: .......... I said it was a spider bite no ???

BL

[Kwajman]

Sorry, thought you were wondering if it COULD be a spider bite. By your description, you've got it right on.

[rtkd-badger]

If I were you I would go to a doctor as with some spiders its not the venom you have to watch but the nucrosis that occurs afterwards. Skin and flesh start to rot then staph can set in. Gangrene comes after this, hard to do MA with limbs amputated if you know what I mean. Not impossible but hard all the same.
So get to a doctor

[Kwajman]

Hows the bite today? Still kind of oozy and juicy? Make sure you use lots of hydrogen peroxide to keep it clean. Did a doc see it yet?

[Blooming Lotus]

I just googled nurosis and it sounds pretty scary, and more so seeing as though the both wounds spilled green thick gunk this morning for 20 mins and 15 cotton tips and then still left me red and swollen anyway. I have an awesome home remedy book from a phd western med professor who also dabbles in some tcm and he 's suggesting a warm towel compress over cabbage leaves, onion slices/ garlic or hot tomato to draw out foreign fluids and disinfect. I've heard about both the garlic and cabbage and have uised it myself to treatr ppl with similarly infected Aussie insect bites ( tics etc ) and have had success. I'll likely try that for myself tonight and have forced myself not to workout this morning ( still feel nauseous and common sense prevailing and all :rolleyes: ;) :D ).

I did do 1 1/2 hrs of isos last night though without too much drama and started bwe after that in attempt of redemption for the class I died in in the morning and I found it extremely crazy that within 10-15 afreakinggain, I just over heated waay too much too soon and the sweat pouring out of me was just ludirous and unattractive :) . It's definately heat / blood related and being I'm kind of fond of my limbs in the number and length they're at, I guess I'll just have to catch up fitness when my body allows me ( :bang: ) lol........

Moving on though....... additional to the aircon and 24 hr fluid saturation , I think ( and especially with gangreen potential in mind :eek: :cry: :woo: ) , that a lymphatic cleanse ( blood purification wash ) ( which btw is why this is on tcm thread to begin with ) is a really good move. You can do this with a whole range of herbal teas and jazz, and pumpkin is another good one and here http://www.cancerchecklist.com/herbs/lymphaticstimulation.html is good website and this is another http://www.aimthisway.com/herbal-release.html with links if anyone's interested.

Because of the strict dietary regime, I subscribe to (low dry complex carb / high protein / high syruped / high sulfate / pre chemical break down ( via red wine or lemon juice or carbonated bicarb soda drink ) and flush or cleanse excess with herbal teas and lipid balance formulas ( which is scientifically proven to increase immunity and growth hormone replacement and production ) my immune system performs unusally well and i'm really fortunate that I never even get so much as flu or a sniffle and it really had my back on this one ( for all the slack I got from the pretty boy lifter/ builders of kfm.com for running it this way ) .

This morning I realised it was likely a more serious spider than I initially thought, so again thanking common sense and lack of need for outside approval to continue to best of my knowledge regardless.
Still no plans to go to a doctor and still don't particularly want the Placebo..,......or rather medications, but thx for all of your concern and if anyone wants to add something re lymphatic cleanse and drainage ( something we should all do occassionally regardless somewhere in our cycles ) I'm sure I won't be the only one to benifit :cool:

Cheers again


Blooming Lotus

[rtkd-badger]

Personally I think you are crazy but hey, each to thier own.
Hope you get better soon and have no lasting effects.
Please keep us informed.

[Kwajman]

Thanks for the leads. I love alternative medicine even though I work in the medical field. Keep us posted on how you do.

[Blooming Lotus]

Thx for the support ;)

Anyway, really not wanting to go to the doctors ( despite obvious need for treatment ) I did a little homework last night . What I realised while brushing my teeth of all things was that clay draws impurities out of your pores and then reduceds the size. I ran this by a naturapath and got a big thumbs up. Mud / clay mask over bite every 3 ish hrs for as long as necc.
Dandelion is also a really herb for lymphatic cleanse and tea from dandelion is really really inexpensive ;) . Echaneacea is another good one and so is licorice root. If you're good you can find a product that has all of them blended together for a one seep hit ( :D) and it shouldn't cost more than $10 or so.

Also ( being you asked ) had a look at some olive leaf extract foir the sa me thing. Sooo many ways to attack it, I just feel that drugs a serious lazy / unthinking mans option. Much better today and held a solid meal down yesterday. Did 1 and bit hrs of isos and maybe 4- 600 machine resisted abs last night and maybe 40 mins pilates this morning. Trying to get enough health up to my bwe set and a solid 1-2 hr light machine full body . No pressure (and no ma traing until monady ) , but for your own future refs and inspiriation in similar situations ( :) :P) I'll let you know how quick I recover and how I do it.

Cheers again

Bl

[Buddy]

Michelle,
Go to a doctor! I was bit a couple of years ago and ended up in the hospital for 3 days.

[seikido]

(...relieved to be living in a country with few poisonous creatures)
Where are you? Australia? I am totally for alternative medicine for most minor ailments, but your bite sounds serious. Please go to a doctor, if only for him/her to check and see what you can and cannot get away with "naturally".

[cloudz]

Hi there

Here's something my gran would do if I'd get stung by a wasp when I was little ( in UK, so that's pretty much as dangerous as it gets)

pick up a hand full of soil - not too muddy and not too dry, douse it with vinegar and apply to the sting/bite. Find a way to keep it there for about
1 - 1 1/2 hr. Worked really well for stings (draws it out) - not sure how it'd work for other sorts of bites. But My Gran was from Cyprus and would say that that was their remedy for all sorts of bites and stings. Probably ok for the minor/irritating ones, anything more I'd get it checked - luckily not much chance of that in UK :)

sorry to hear about your bite - sounds pretty nasty
Get well soon!
geo

[Kwajman]

Great to hear the alternative options seem to be working. Too many people want to just hop off to the doc and take a pill. I'm going to note your suggestions for poultices too.

[spiff]

i remember reading something scientific (an article in New Scientist or something) about a year ago that was saying that new research was suggesting that there are no spiders that have a sufficient quantity of venom in them to kill a healthy adult human. apparently a lot of the deaths related to spider bites come from infection of the bite or are completely unrelated to the bite, the spider becoming more of a scapegoat than anything.
ultimately you should probably get going down to the doctor, if only for a diagnosis.

[gerard]

Personally I think you are crazy but hey, each to thier own.
Hope you get better soon and have no lasting effects.
Please keep us informed.

;)


Seriously, have you ever thought exploring the power of the mind (meditation is the best tool) instead or relying on so many gadgets. Unless your qi is stagnant then taking Chinese herbs and acupuncture/qigong would be of benefit. Otherwise you're making rich the alternative medicine industry.

:p

[Blake_AE]

I don't know a damn thing about spider bites but just a thought...

I've read the words "drawing out" a lot in regards to whatever is building up in the bite area, and the venom and pores and what not...

If this is a few days post-bite, isn't it much to late to draw out venom which would have run its course through your blood by now? Whats left would be infection/rot.

What do you have against the scientific/medical community anyway? I'm all for alternative medicine, natural remedies, etc... where applicable. Something like this, that risks amputation... I'd put my pride aside and get to emerg.

[Blooming Lotus]

Ultimately, if I didn't have better information on how to do it faster and more naturally, I no doubt would have. Thx to all for concern but really, it's to easy to not trust these things are goingto work then run crying to your doctor for placaebo drugs and end up out of action for and three weeks of antibiotic treatment. Yah , I'm in Australia and I've done some work for "national parks and wildlife " some time back during serious bush fire season and tcm studies etc aside, done bush survival skills with both them and the army and various other places. It's a part of our lives often here and particularly in Queensland, so you really become fairly familiar how to deal with this jazz.

As far as the actual bite goes, I've also been bathing and soaking in lavender ( a natural antiseptic ) and tea tree oil soloution , then topically applying that clay mask and an antiseptic under a band aid, remove - squeeze- cry ( kidding ;) ) - reapply antiseptic and cover. I did get that work out away the night before last and had an awesome sweat with no real dramas beside a little extra fatigue and really slight nausea. The following morning I did a 5 and a km brisk walk ( as opposed to run ) , only 1/2 hr aerobics and then a full body bwe set. Thought I should drop off for today and just hit my routine for the 3 hr night sesh, but I'm stoked. I think it was a good move to attack this way and highly recommend you all chck out some alternative or tc ( tradition chinese ) medicine for a speedy recovery in future yourselves.

Before I leave the thread, I also wanted to mention immune systems. As alot of you know, I have this crazy diet involving supplements for every vit and min, and usually consume a whole lot mor than recommended to av Joe of protein each day. Sulfur is ( besides being something our bodies produce naturally ) found in protein and absolutely dire to immune system health. Alot of ppl are really dificient as far as this is concerned, and besides when travelling through China ( land of the sickly gwailo ( foreigner ) , neither myself nor my daughter ever ever sick with as much as a cold. ) If you can't afford the time off work of your training schedule either, I sincerely recommend checkingit out for yourself. Saved me this time anyway ;) :cool:

cheers again

BL

[aikiMac]

Lotus dude, you're awesome.
I'm going to remember this if and when.

[tl Eric]

Whereabouts in QLD are you Lotus?

[Blooming Lotus]

Somewhere private ;) :D

BL

[rtkd-badger]

Blooming Lotus,
You seem to know what you are talking about and I was wondering if you know of any potions for pain relief. I get bad sciatica which hinders my training and I am sick and tired of taking Codine all the time as it makes me weary, dries my mouth out and makes me feel like crap.

[Blooming Lotus]

That makes me soo sad to hear!!!!! Genuinely !
I have this serious pet - hate with any drug at all, but even more so with pain killers. I have some awesome information for you , but today I am seriously out of time. Check in with me tommorow and I'll see what I can do for you.

cheers

BL

[rtkd-badger]

That makes me soo sad to hear!!!!! Genuinely !
I have this serious pet - hate with any drug at all, but even more so with pain killers. I have some awesome information for you , but today I am seriously out of time. Check in with me tommorow and I'll see what I can do for you.

cheers

BL
Will do that, and thank you so very much :)

[Blooming Lotus]

Okay Badger,

Had a slight case of sin - binneitous recently so sorry for the late reply. I did consider your predicament though and even talked to a few ppl on your behalf. As you know, sciatica is caused by a slipped lumbar ( l4 ) vertebral disc or herniated disc usually and is in relation to the sciatic nerve ( which runs from the lumbar region of your spine through the hole in your hip and down the back of your leg). Manipulation and so on is probably not going to do you much good, but i think a combination of stretches (done to slight discomfort and NO more ) and then cold as you can take it bathes follwed by a cooling heat topical thing like tiger balm to allow the nerve to resettle and realign the spine to cater for discomfort through there is probably the best thing you can do for a DIY. There are definately alot of varied ayurevdic treatments available to help you aswell and if you google on 'Ayurevda therapy practioners for sciatica ' in your local area I'm sure you'll find something to help .
I had some really good information for you and I'm sure I can do better so if you can hang in another day, now i'm back instated, i'll see you with it tommorow.

Btw : For pain relief of any kind at all, try some meditation. For more information on how to do that, search map or russbo.com or even try www.houstonshaolin.com or www.kungfumagazine. They all have some good " how to " threads on this and will have some links you can use aswell. Hope it helps a little

BL

[rtkd-badger]

Thanks for the info Blooming lotus, I have been to many chiropractors who twist me this way, and that way, and as you said have had no success except for an empty wallet.
I have been applying ice to reduce the inflamation but as it is over such a large area, lower lumbar and glutious maximus I think you suggestion of the bath may be the better way to go. I am starting to feel as if there may be a build up of calcification as I have fractured L4 and L5 twice.
Look forward to hearing from you tomorrow :)

[Blooming Lotus]

If you're experiencing calcification , thast's why stretching and warm topicals might help you out. I had a link somewhere that was saying the raught tbat chiros are in this situation. Stats are that between boththat and surgery you heal no sooner and alternative medicine will get there in the sameish time. Have a look at medatation for pain though, and I gave birth 11 yrs ago, so trust me when I say it works. Pain and I are old acquaintences ;) :) Detachment and breathing techniques though are a great tool for anyone. Actually Matt Furey has some info on deep reathing on his web site. Find it as 'emails" at www.furey.com

cheers

BL