Spiders... I hate them... alot...

[ITOS]

Reminds me...

Where is Akisohida?

[RynSerenity]

Reminds me...

Where is Akisohida?

Yeah... good question.

Anywho, yikes! That's really scary! I'm also arachnophobic (afraid of spiders), but not as badly as you are, it sounds like. So, you have my sympathies. Here's wishing you a speedy recovery!

[KarlOmega1]

S. Dakota? Yipes! Too close to home! I live in N. Dakota and and hearing about something like that happening near home state (let alone home town) scares the heck outta me!

[TheGreyRonin]

*waves north to KarlOmega1*

Nah, you get used to the spiders down here.

That, or they carry you off and no one ever sees you again...

[EvilIguana966]

Sorry to hear about that Tait-Fox.  You mentioned insulin shots, leading me to believe you are diabetic.  I'd just caution you watch your health rather closely.  A mild poison that is little more than uncomfortable for most people might be harder on you due to your pre-existing health condition.  I'm no expert on this by any means, I'd just advide you to err on the side of caution. 

I'm curious, though, if you saved the spider and have shown it to a doctor or somone who can identify it for certain.  It can often be hard to make an identification over the phone.  You never know, but it could have been a totally harmless bug and you've just come down with something else completely by coincidence.  But of course I'm not there so take my assessment as what you will. 

Personally, I like spiders.  I like them because they eat the things that would otherwise be trying to eat me or my stuff.  But then I've never had a spider bite and live in quite possible the safest and most biologically benign part of the known universe.  Would probably have to travel at least an hour to even have a chance at possibly coming across anything even slightly dangerous. 

[xHaZxMaTx]

I just got around to reading this, and the spider you described sounded a lot like a Black Widow, which are very common where I live (Southern California), but I don't know about where you live.  The venom more than likely won't kill you, but you'll feel like sh** for quite a while.

[Jack McSlay]

heh, spiders are cute, I love those small jumping spiders (for the record, you can play with them as much as you want, as far as I know, they won't bite in defense, and prefer jumping to escape, at least I've never got biten)

It's known that the amount of spiders who can be lethal without the person being allergic is really small, but many can hurt a lot, however I've got biten once and all I got was a little pain and a hard thing un my thumb that lasted for a few weeks

however, I think other bugs can be nastier, I usually don't have much fear of spiders, they usually only bite in last case, I'm usually more careful with bees or wasps, since they tend to be more aggressive

[bill]

Gah, got attacked by a wasp last week. He managed to fly up one of my sleeves without me noticing, and started to sting me several times before I changed shirts. I thought there was a pin stuck in the shirt, or something. Not fun.

[TheGreyRonin]

The wasps around here are fairly friendly. If one gets into my office, I can pick her up and take her outside bare-handed. Fourteen years, several times a summer, none have ever tried to sting me.

The bees here, on the other hand, are vicious little bastards. I've been standing outside on my front porch, and hear a loud buzzing and feel sudden pain...sure enough, a bee just decided I was ugly or something.