A man who was bitten by a spider as he slept was left in "immense" pain and covered in a rash.
Justin Cohen, of Tulsa, Oklahoma, told Newsweek he was bitten in his sleep by a brown recluse spider. He later found his home infested with the arachnids.
"Later that day my shin started to hurt and I saw a small bruise forming with a bubble. That night a fever started and I was confused as it didn't feel like a cold or I was getting normally sick. By the next day a rash started to form with a wound in the middle," Cohen said.
He then went to Urgent Care, where a doctor asked him whether he had a spider problem in his home. Cohen went back to discover that he did.
"I went home and captured one and identified it as a brown recluse. My apartment had spider issues and I thought they were house spiders. I caught more and they were all brown recluses," Cohen said.
Brown recluse spiders can be found throughout much of the Midwestern and Southern United States.
They are believed to be one of the most venomous spiders in the U.S. and can often be found in people's houses. However, it is rare that a bite from one will result in serious side effects and there have been no recorded deaths.
"The bite was not painful but within 48 hours I was in massive pain. By day five most of my body broke out in a rash and the pain was immense. I ended up going to the ER and they gave me a Benadryl IV and antibiotics. It was massive pain for a few weeks. Apartment sprayed more but it didn't kill the spiders and more were found and I moved out due to the danger," Cohen said.
Cohen had to get a hotel room for ten days while he searched for a new place.
Bites from brown recluse spiders usually just cause leave the site of the bite red, swollen and tender but they may occasionally cause more severe symptoms.
An extreme reaction like Cohen's is relatively rare. Occasionally, though, bites can be extremely dangerous if somebody is allergic to the venom.
Cohen took a picture of his rash and posted it to Reddit, where it's received 2,500 comments.
"Never sleep again. Must Stay awake," one Reddit user said.
Another said: "I live just outside of Tulsa and they're terrible out here. I spray all the time for em."
Cohen said he is now doing much better, five weeks after he was bitten.
Uncommon Knowledge
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Newsweek is committed to challenging conventional wisdom and finding connections in the search for common ground.
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Robyn White is a Newsweek Nature Reporter based in London, UK. Her focus is reporting on wildlife, science and the ... Read more
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