What It’s Really Like to Be Bitten by a Redback Spider

I think you know what’s coming. But before that, an important message.

I realise that some of you may have found this page because you have just been bitten by a Redback Spider and you want to know what to do. You are looking for urgent medical advice.

Here it is…

Redback Spider First Aid AdviseOn with the post. This is the story of when I was bitten, what it was like and why I didn’t go to hospital. I did seek medical advice though, speaking to a doctor and you will be able to read the advice I was given.

Finally, in the comments below you will find stories from many people who have been bitten by the redback and how it was for them.

The Australian Redback Spider

One of Australia’s most feared spiders is the Redback. Just before I moved here to Australia, one of my friends back in the UK who had lived and worked in Australia for a year at some point, told me that Redbacks were so strong and powerful that they could actually bite your foot through your thongs. (That’s flip-flops to us English).

Dave, you were talking twaddle!

But what is it really like to be bitten by a Redback Spider? The chances of finding out are quite remote, most sources quote around 2,000 Redback bites occur in Australia each year. So by my maths I would have a one in 10,000 chance of finding out.

Lucky, lucky me……… On Saturday, I found out!

So here’s what happened. On Saturday at around four o’clock in the afternoon, as the sun was getting cooler, I decided to do a bit of tidying up in the garden. It’s autumn here and a perfect time for trimming back the weeds and the overgrowth just ahead of winters dry weather.

By about a 5:45 PM I’d finished chopping off all the excess growths and I was picking up all of my trimmings in large bunches, carrying them up the driveway and throwing them all into one big pile. It was getting quite dark so I couldn’t really see much.

All of a sudden, whilst transporting one of these bunches I became aware of intense pain in the back of my wrist. The pain grew quite fast and although I have never hammered a nail into any part of my body, this was how I imagined it would feel.

As the pain grew even more, I decided to go in doors and take a look at it under the light. This is what I saw……

redback biteNothing!

Well, if anything, a very very tiny barely visible white mosquito bite like bump was all I could see. But the area around the pain was starting to look red and flushed.

Then it started to sweat, but just in that little circle where the pain was, nowhere else. I’ve never seen anything like it. I took a shower…….. that’s just something I like to do now and then…… and I washed off all the sweat at the same time. But out of the shower after having dried myself, I watched as the beads of sweat formed another circle around the back of my wrist again.

But by now the intense nail penetration like pain of before was fading, which was good news. But that pain was being replaced by a new, burning pain, which was bad news. But given the choice though, I preferred the burning.

Intrigued, I decided I would ask Google Australia what had bitten me, so I searched for “identify bite sweat” because for me, the localised sweating was the identifying factor. And that’s when I discovered that most of my search results led to the Redback Spider bite.

“Can’t be,” I thought “those things kill!” (Well, they haven’t since 1956.)

The more I read about the Redback bite, the more likely it seemed that it was a Redback that bit me.

  • Bites occur typically when the spider is disturbed in the garden or shed. (Tick)
  • The initial bite may not be felt. (Tick)
  • Puncture marks are not always visible. (Tick)
  • Local intense pain follows after about five minutes. (Tick, probably, I didn’t feel the bite remember.)
  • Localised sweating often occurs around the bite. (Tick)
  • May cause a burning sensation. (Tick)

By now it was around 6:30 PM and many of the websites I had visited advised anyone bitten to seek immediate medical attention. But I was feeling just fine and to be truthful, the pain subsided and was now really quite manageable. My only symptom was still the red flushing, some burning and the 2 inch circle of sweaty and very sticky skin.

But I had also read in my research that the Redback Spider’s venom was very slow acting and took a long time to find its way around your body. I didn’t like the idea of turning green and warty at midnight and thinking “Dang! I should have got some antivenom.” So I telephoned my doctor who was very helpful last time we had an emergency out of hours.

My Doctors Advice

He was out but his wife (also a doctor) answered the phone and she was very helpful. Here’s what she had to say….

Lots of people get bitten by Redback Spiders and for most it is not a problem. It is only a very small minority who suffer a reaction and if it is going to happen, it will happen within around three hours. So the next couple of hours are critical. If you suffer from palpitations, nausea, vomiting, headaches, difficulty breathing, abdominal pains or a fever any time before 9 PM, get yourself to a hospital. We don’t carry the antivenom here at our local surgery.

Take an antihistamine tablet if you have one, use an ice pack to ease the pain if you want to and drink plenty of water.

Well I didn’t take an antihistamine, I didn’t use an ice pack but I did take some of her advice about drinking plenty of water. When I say “some”, I took note of the “drink plenty” part and ignored the “of water”. I hit the beer fridge!

Well, that’s what happened when I got bitten by a Redback Spider. Was it a Redback? Well, just after I came off of the phone to the doctor, Beninoz and his family arrived. We were having a slap up a pizza together. Yum!

Before I told him anything of my research, I showed him the bite and asked him what he thought it was. “Redback” was his answer. The next day I spoke to Lisa, a born and bred Aussie who was bitten by a Redback when she was a little girl.

Did you get the burning? Did you get the intense pain? Was there no sign of an actual bite? Sounds like a Redback to me.” was her verdict.

Medical disclaimer!

I can never be 100% certain it was a Redback bite, but I would say I am 90% sure. For me, it was nowhere near as bad as I would have thought it would be. Getting bitten by a Redback Spider would have ranked really high on my list of things NOT to do. Now that it has happened, well, it wasn’t so bad.

Maybe I’m just lucky I’m not one of the minority who react badly, maybe my Redback was just a tiny little Redback, maybe my Redback got brushed off of my wrist before she had finished envenomation, or maybe my Redback wasn’t a Redback at all.

Either way, my experience wasn’t that bad. But according to my research, around 250 Redback Spider antivenom are administered each year here in Australia. So it sounds to me like over 10% of those bitten do react badly and will need medical attention, which is what many websites recommend that you seek. Which is, I suppose, what I did, having phoned my doctor.

So I am not going against the advice given in any other website, I’m just letting you know what happened to me. If it had been my daughter who was bitten, she’d have been straight off to hospital. But I will say that the Redback Spider bite, for some, may well not be anywhere near as bad as you thought it would be.

If you’ve been bitten by a Redback Spider, I’d love to hear if you think it was a Redback that bit me. What was your experience like? There’s no need to register, just enter your comment below.

Did anything else happen on Saturday? Yes, actually it did. And this event really should have ended in death. But I’ll tell you about that tomorrow.

redback spider

Image courtesy of Wikimedia

Update: December 2013

Redback Spider antivenom doesn’t work!

Yes, apparently it’s true. We had a comment from Jenn below (19th of December 2013) who had been bitten by a Redback Spider and despite being in some quite obvious trouble, the doctors treating her did not use antivenom.

They gave her steroids, antihistamines, she was put on a nebuliser and I believe also given adrenaline. But no antivenom. This surprised me so I did a little research, and found an article from just last month by ABC News.

That’s comforting, isn’t it? It will be interesting to see how this one develops.

Update: March 2014

Not so fast! Let’s get a second opinion on this from a doctor who has treated many envenomated patients over the years. See what he has to say in my post…

Update: May 2014

There was one more question I wished I had asked in the above-mentioned interview, but I forgot. It’s a question that has also been raised and answered in the comments below, but it would have been lovely to have got the opinion of an expert such as Professor Julian White.

Fortunately for me I got a second chance, and you can read the answer by visiting the following post…

Update: February 2018

I’m sure my doctors advice was pretty accurate for most cases, but it seems there are always exceptions to the general rules. If you look at a comment made below by John Cliff, February 23, 2018, 9:53 pm, he suffered a scary reaction to his Redback bite more than 24 hours after the event. So, in his case, the reaction didn’t happen “within around three hours“.

Fortunately for John, antivenin from the hospital saved the day.

Visa Assessment Service
{ 487 comments… add one }
  • Blade March 4, 2018, 7:14 pm |

    I got bitten today when I got in the back of the car, no idea how it got on my leg, but all I felt was tiny legs running across my skin, I brushed it off and looked down in time to see the bloody sucker trying to run away, my mum came over and squashed the damn thing. I have arachnophobia. I began to panic, breathing heavily and fast and of course, tears, I moved to a different seat in the car. My only thoughts were: “what if it bit me- what if it bit me.” I am prone to panic when it comes to spiders, not sure why, I hadn’t even been bitten before today- by any spider. While panicking about whether I was bitten or not, I began to feel a slight numb burning in a spot near my knee- I kept looking down at it, at first, there was nothing there, but then the bite site began to swell and develope that mosquito-bite-like lump. I came to the conclusion that I’d been bitten. The next symptoms that came were burning, inflammation, swelling, and what I’d describe as numbness. . Or something that felt like swelling on the inside. Right now at this moment the bite site is also becoming somewhat sticky, as though there is sweat. Now, these are some symptoms that apply to other things too, like a bad insect sting- so it’s not too painful if you can deal with it. But because I am so involuntarily petrified of spiders, the symptoms felt like they were amplified. I ended up convincing my mother to take me to the hospital, and my doctor told me I had only been mildly envenomated, and that it was for pretty much sure a redback bite. I was given pain relief and an ice pack, kept for around an hour, and then let off and free to go home. Overall, the experience was not obviously the best, but it also wasn’t the worst- I’m just not looking forward to dealing with it over the course of the next few days if it persists.

    • BobinOz March 5, 2018, 6:35 pm |

      Scary, but by the sound of it, you appear to be okay. Hopefully, as it was only a mild envenomation, the pain will be completely gone very soon. With me, I think by the next day I was just fine, so hopefully that will happen to you too.

      Anyway, now that you have been bitten, and it wasn’t the worst experience ever, what’s to be scared of anymore? 🙂

  • Tori March 2, 2018, 11:46 am |

    I was bitren by something yesterday morning at around 6am while I was in bed. I was on the phone to a relative back in the UK and I started with a sharp pain in on the side of my upper arm! When I looked I had a big red bump on my arm. I checked the whole room and no sign of any insect whatsoever!
    It looks like a mozzie bite but I have never reacted to one like this before. The pain has been constant and has a slight burning senstion to it. It feels hot to touch but no sweating from the bite.
    The pain has spread up to my shoulder and does hurt to move, however it doesnt seem as bad as some people seem to be having on here.
    I popped into a pharmacy for advice as I dont have a medicare card yet and they said just paracetamol and antihistamines but to monitor it and go to hospital if I get serious symptoms. Just wondered if anyone has any ideas what may have bit me?
    Thanks

    • BobinOz March 2, 2018, 5:34 pm |

      Well, it doesn’t sound like a redback spider bite to me, almost everyone has said they have had that round red sweaty patch the size of a 20 cent coin. I think we can rule out a crocodile bite, as paracetamol doesn’t help with those 🙂

      It’s really hard to say, it could easily be a different kind of spider, or maybe even an ant or wasp. Sorry I can’t help more, but hopefully somebody else might recognise your symptoms and know what it is.

      Anybody?

  • John Cliff February 23, 2018, 9:53 pm |

    about 8 yrs ago I got bitten on my finger by a redback…this was in bed at around 2am…finger was stinging heaps so turned on the light to find it was crawling across my chest and so brushed it off and killed it…rang hospital to find out what was best to do ‘cos it was extremely painful…they asked about my general health & age (mid 50’s then), said it should be OK, just take painkillers…did that for the next day and night…two mornings after bite woke to bad headache, dizziness, fever and this weird sweating pattern on my legs…both legs sweating profusely (literally pouring off – thought I had wet the bed!) between knee and ankle…no sweat on other parts of legs or body other than a small circle of sweatbeads around the bite site…rang hospital ED again and was told to get up there pronto I needed to have antivenom treatment…the bite toxins had become systemic…went up to the ED & had antivenom via drip for 3 hours after scary warnings that I may suffer an anaphylactic reaction to the antivenom…had the head of the ED plus some nurses standing by…then lots of interns being shown what a classic example of systemic poisoning from redback spider bite looks like…after antivenom drip finished, no pain no sweating…totally back to normal except for small red mark at bite site!

    • BobinOz February 26, 2018, 5:44 pm |

      Well, that is a nasty reaction and also one that makes my doctor’s advice incorrect. I was definitely told that if I didn’t get a reaction within 2 to 3 hours, I’d be fine. Sounds like your reaction took over 24 hours to kick in, maybe more.

      As I was reading your story I was expecting to hear that you had actually been bitten more times from a different redback or two, so a delayed reaction like at was a bit of a surprise. I think I’ll make a slight amendment to my above article.

      Great to hear that the antivenom treatment did its job without any adverse reaction on your part. Must have been pretty scary at the time though. Thanks for sharing your story, very helpful.

  • Robert Scarman January 27, 2018, 6:38 pm |

    Bitten by a redback taking off my shirt I noticed the little arachnid running across my chest. About 5 minutes later I felt the tiggling start on my shoulder blade. Classic sticky skin around bite point, and a throbbing pain; scale 5/10. Dull ache down my arm. Washed the bite site and cold compressed to alleviate pain. 48 hours symptoms have decreased, with localised swelling and stickiness around bite site.

    • BobinOz January 29, 2018, 7:54 pm |

      Sounds like you had a very similar reaction as I did, and judging by some of the stories here from others, we both got away with it lightly.

  • Meaghan January 7, 2018, 9:12 pm |

    Hi Bob,
    Just after your opinion. I have been reading through the posts on everyone’s Redback spider bites and my Husband seems to have a few of them but varies a little. He went to the wood stack 2 nights ago and came back after chopping some wood for the fire, wearing thongs of course!. After about 5 minutes of being back he looked down and saw a big wide egg type swollen shape on the top of his right foot. There were no visible bite marks (there still isn’t) however during the night his whole foot ached and he couldn’t touch it. 2 days on the sorest point (where the egg originally came up) is slightly red and is very sore to touch but become slightly itchy, the top of his foot is extremely swollen and its started to bruise everywhere, darker bruising near his toes and towards the bottom of his foot which is becoming black bruising (almost like he has torn the ligaments in his ankle). Do Redback spider bites bruise? He has had no other symptoms as in headaches, dizziness, etc either. Its strange! Would really appreciate your thoughts! Thank you.

    • BobinOz January 8, 2018, 6:32 pm |

      Hi Meaghan, we have quite a collection of redback spider bite stories here, I can’t remember anybody talking about this type of swelling. Most people mention a red sticky patch, completely flat, about the size of a 20 cent coin.

      I’m also pretty sure that nobody has mentioned the kind of bruising your husband has had either. So, from what you are saying, I really don’t think this is a redback spider bite and I have no idea what it could have been.

      I would, if I were your husband, go to the doctors with it though, because it could continued to get worse or turn into an infection. Hope he gets it sorted, Bob

      • Meaghan January 8, 2018, 10:03 pm |

        No worries Bob. Thank you so much for your feedback. It was a bit of a long shot but I appreciate your thoughts. It is a little strange! It is still quite sore and quite bruised. He will go to the doctors ‘hopefully’ and I will let you know what the verdict it. I couldn’t see anything about bruising in other comments but thought I would ask just incase. Thanks again, appreciate your time.

    • Heather Clark May 16, 2020, 11:31 am |

      Hi Meaghan,
      I’m wondering how your husband’s foot is?
      Over a month ago I was bitten on my toe by a redback.
      There was a lot of pain involved at the time, I won’t bore you.
      But, as I said, it is quite a while ago and a purplish bruise has come up on my toe and is getting worse almost daily.
      I keep expecting it to start recovering…
      I’m wondering how long it took your husband to recover.
      Regards, Heather

  • Rebecca January 4, 2018, 10:57 pm |

    I was bitten last Friday afternoon/evening I was swimming in a pool on holiday… So it was either in or around the pool.. No pain from the bite, but a short while after getting out of the pool I felt a burning like I had grazed the back of my leg high up near my bottom. I thought nothing of it and went to bed but due to its location I had trouble sleeping and the pain built through the night. I woke up after only a few hours sleep and saw what looked like two mozzie bites with very red inflamed skin. Friends told me they were mozzie bites and I was having a reaction but that has never happened! It was very painful but as I consider myself to be a bit of a wimp with pain I tried to ignore it. Unfortunately I had a two day drive home and sitting on it for 8 hours a day was a new kind of agony. On getting home I went to the Dr who diagnosed an infected insect bite and put me on antibiotics… After 4 days with only continued pain and very little sleep I went to another Dr who diagnosed Redback bites!! Reading your blog and the other stories on here has helped me realise that it’s true! I never saw the spider but it is the worst pain I’ve ever experienced!!! I’ve found ice packs and sitting in cold water the most useful for pain management. I’m so glad I didn’t see the spider because I would have panicked!! I thought it was supposed to kill you without treatment, but no it just hurts like hell for weeks!! Oh and leaves lumps under the skin for longer… So I have a small amount of pride that I’ve handled what really was one of my worst nightmares fairly well… Now I just need the pain to go away! ?

    • BobinOz January 5, 2018, 8:25 pm |

      As I read your comment Rebecca, when I got to the bit where you said there were two marks at the bite site, I thought that maybe you were bitten by a snake. Believe it or not, brown snakes can sometimes deliver painless bites and people actually don’t know they’ve been bitten. They can also do dry bites, where no venom is injected.

      But I’m not going to disagree with the doctors who looked at your bite, and you having read some of the stories here sound convinced, so redback it is. Glad to hear it hasn’t been too painful for you, and you have learned first-hand that getting bitten by one of these things and not getting treated doesn’t necessarily kill you.

      Like yourself, I’m still alive.

      Other than that, how was your holiday? Rhetorical question 🙂

  • Pete December 27, 2017, 6:27 am |

    Hello. I was bitten on xmas eve unknowingly by a red back spider. This website and the comments were extremely helpful so I would like to add my story to help others.
    24/12 1400 After lunch i felt like i had been bitten by a mozzie on my left calf and thought nothing of it.
    24/12 1800 We celebrate xmas eve as a germans so by now i was drunk and merry. I felt my testicals tighten and the mozzie bite a little more aggressive. Pain 2/10
    24/12 2300 I went to bed feeling crook thinking I was just drunk. My calf throbbed all night and started sweating. I kept waking up wiping the sweat off my calf thinking it was blood and puss from a mozzie. Pain 3/10
    25/12 0700 My left foot was begining to cramp and my calf was really sorr and sweating. I thought it was a blood clot so went to hospital scared of getting an embolism. The doc said 95% sure red back spider bite. He said take anti histimines panadol and ice it. Pain level 4/10.
    25/12 1700 My calf was pulsating with waves. All bones from knee down arthritic in left leg. Pain 5/10.
    26/12 0230 Iam 120kg. 6’5. 39yold. Fit and hav a tolerence of discomfort. I was moaning in bed. Shaking uncontrolably. Waves of pain. Burning sensations. Feeling of hammers hitting my legs. Feverish skin doing that sweating but cold thing. Highly comsidering going to hospital but after reading these commentd decided to ride it out. Pain 7/10.
    26/12 0500 Pain and sweat moved to other leg also. Toes numb and couldnt move them. Sheer agony. Writhing in bed near dillisional. Pain 9/10. Took a hot shower for 30 min. Instant relief but both legs barely suppotive to walk.
    26/12 0700 Again considered hospital. Toes numb. Waves of pain from knees to ankles. Sweating beads. Took a hot shower. Pain 8.5/10 No sleep all night.
    From then till now i showered every 2hrs. Drank probably 6 litres of water. Took nurofen. Telefast antihistine. Panadol. Two valium to sleep and kept stretching and walking to ease sporadic pain episodes. Basically toughed it out.
    27/12 0700 Now. Pain 2/10. Sweaty thighs and two tight calfs. This website was extremly helpful. I took bits from different stories and applied them. Hot showers were key mentally. Also icing helped too. 48hrs of misery. Thanks.

    • BobinOz January 2, 2018, 5:44 pm |

      Sounds like you Germans celebrate Christmas the same way as us English and Australians 🙂

      Anyway, getting bitten by a redback isn’t much fun whenever it happens, but crikey, bad timing for you to cop one on Christmas Eve. Your story is particularly interesting because my understanding from what my doctor said was that if a bad reaction was going to happen, it would be within a few hours.

      Yours though seems to have taken a couple of days before reaching its peak in pain. I think you’ve been very brave to tough it out, I think I would have been going back to hospital at around 7/10, but certainly by 9/10. Good to see you got back down to a 2/10 by the 27th, clearly you are over the worst of it.

      A rotten experience though that has most certainly stuffed up your Christmas. Thanks for sharing and I think your story will help some others in the same way that other people’s stories here have helped you. Here’s to a bite free 2018, hopefully.

  • James November 14, 2017, 10:51 pm |

    Hi all,

    I was recently bitten by a red back on Sunday arvo about 1pm. I was up in my roof cavity installing insulation. When I got down I felt a sharp pain in my sock on my left ankle. I quickly brushed my folded sock out but didn’t see anything. I assumed I may have had a reaction to the insulation bats.

    Within about an hour I had a very sharp pain rising up my left leg into my thigh region spilling into my groin. The pain was quite severe.

    I managed to grim and bear it throughout the day assuming I had just had insulation fibres on my skin and proceeded in having a warm shower.

    That night I had basically little to no sleep and arose to go to work the next day. The symptoms I was experiencing entailed severe pain, body aches in my lower back, legs and hips, disorientation, nausia and prolonged sweating from the knees down.
    I went to my local medical centre where the doctor said to me you’re not dead yet so it can’t have been a funnel web and you aren’t vomiting so it must not be a redback.
    I was a little startled to think that was his verdict. He basically shoved me off and told me if it got worse to go to emergency. I pumped out a 14 hour working day and that night found myself in the emergency department where they clarified it was indeeed a redback bite.

    The best they could offer was endone and monitored me for a few hours. I was told I wasn’t able to receive the anti venom as it had been more than 24 hours since the bite and the doctor was understaffed at the hospital and worried I would have an anaphylactic episode in reaction to the anti venom.

    The 2/3 day from the initial bite. Pain is reducing slightly. I still am sweating a lot on both legs and am slightly itchy. No sleep again. Hopefully things reduce soon.

    Awesome stories here let’s me know I’m not going crazy!

    • BobinOz November 15, 2017, 6:21 pm |

      Sounds like you have been through a painful experience James.

      I’m a little surprised by the advice you were given by that doctor, plenty of people get bitten by a redback and don’t vomit, so I’m not sure where he got that idea from. I’m not surprised that you weren’t given antivenin though, I think they only use it if they have to as some people react to that even worse than the spider bite itself.

      Having survived the first 24 hours, your life was clearly not in danger, so they just needed to manage the pain. Hopefully that’s what will happen next, your pain will lessen and you will make a full recovery. Is not a pleasant experience though, as you now know yourself. As you say, some amazing stories here, made me realise how lightly I got off with my experience.

      Thanks for sharing your story as well, get well soon as they say, Bob

  • Kathy April 25, 2017, 3:49 pm |

    Digging away in the garden, pulling out weeds and not really looking at what I was doing. Had gloves on and suddenly intense pain and obviously being attacked by something on my hand. Looked down and had at least 3 red backs on my glove, two of them chomping in like nobody’s business. Whipped of the glove immediately with the spiders still attached. Guess I must have disturbed a nest. Worst bite pain ever!!! Pretty sure it would have been a lot worse if I had not had gardening gloves on and that not more than two bit me. Afterwards no evidence of any bites, except for the pain. Ran my hand under cold water which seemed to help. Pain reduced after about 3 hours but still had twinges for about 2 or 3 days. (phychological after pains maybe?). Nasty little buggers. Could not believe how aggressive they were and seemed to jump out of nowhere. Hope that was the first and last experience for me. I knew that the bites would not have serious consequences unless you have an allergy to them. Lot of folklore about the venom but certainly the most horrible pain sensation I have had to date.

    • BobinOz April 26, 2017, 5:34 pm |

      Through your gardening gloves? I’m surprised, I didn’t think they would able to do that, but they obviously have. As you say, lucky you had them on, otherwise it would surely have been worse.

      Yes, it is a nasty bite, nastier for some than it is for others as you wcan see in the comments made here. You got away quite lightly compared with some. Still nasty though. Hope you make a full recovery soon.

  • Peter March 28, 2017, 6:42 pm |

    Was carrying a camp chair out of the shed 9.30 this morning when I felt something drop on my neck. Was going to put the chair down before investigating but it felt like a spider so I brushed it off straight away. It was a medium sized female redback. I didn’t get any pain for a few minutes so I thought I had been lucky and brushed it off before it bit me. The pain started after about 5 minutes. A strange burning sensation and aching in the general area. I don’t think it got much venom in and I’m glad it didn’t because it was bad enough. Still quite painful now 7 hours later. I get the impression a bad bite would be extremely unpleasant.

    • BobinOz March 28, 2017, 11:00 pm |

      Sounds like you got off lightly Peter, as did I. I thought maybe I was one of the blessed ones, immune to the venom, but no. As you say, it’s all down to how much venom they managed to inject, and I think we have both struck lucky with that one.

      Plenty of people who have made comments here have had bad bites though, and quite shocking reactions, so yes, it can be extremely unpleasant. Best avoided, not that any of us have much say on that one.

      • Pat April 8, 2017, 7:31 am |

        Hi Bob thanks for the information! We are visiting a country town whilst bike riding. Yesterday we decided to sit outside and share a drink prior to dinner. I noticed a sharp pain in my calf which became quite bad and noticed a small amount of blood. I said I thought I had been bitten by something and upon checking under my chair I noticed some large eggs and a friend spotted a large red back spider who will no longer inflict pain on anyone! I noticed the sweating in the area and strong pain up to my groin. I put ice on the area, took a shower and in true Aussie spirit finished my wine. I had read Dr Google which said ice the area and only seek medical if a severe reaction. I had not read the comments here until this morning. What a night it has been severe burning on my calf, stabbing pains and sweating in the area. This is still happening so I assume that my spider had a really good bite. Thanks for the information!

        • BobinOz April 10, 2017, 6:49 pm |

          Yes, sounds like this spider injected a fair amount of venom, glad to hear it didn’t quite spoil your glass of wine. Clearly you’ve had an uncomfortable night, but, by sounds of it, not a seriously bad reaction. Just pain which I hope is now getting better.

          Cheers, Bob

  • Kerrie Keath March 26, 2017, 2:05 am |

    Hi Bob. I live in WA wheatbelt, 110km N/E of Perth. Cleaning junk from shed this morning: hot, sweaty, lots of flies and bugs; did not specifically see a redback but they live here, body usually the size of an Smartie. Without thinking sat for a moment on a bench where they have been seen, before coming inside. Straight to shower and cuppa. About an hour later had a tremendous itch and pain like a barbed, hot needle behind my right knee. Without thinking I scratched it , and only aggravated it. THEN I thought of a bite, and the obvious suspect. I looked up symptoms and found your page. Your contributors’ comments all confirmed my suspicions.
    Took some paracetemol and have been struggling with pain, but the burning sensation is the worst. I do have the red patch about 50c piece size. The suggestion to take steroids was good, I just had them prescribed this week for sore feet, but wouldn’t have thought of them for this pain. Keeping the ice on it and hope the painkillers kick in soon.
    Have you heard from Jodie, who wrote about her daughter’s ordeal earlier this year? Hope her daughter is getting better.
    Now I have a bl&$*#dy buzzy thing flying around the bedroom! Out with the flyspray!!
    With everything else I don’t want to take a sleeping tablet, so will settle down with an ebook, and check my Township game progress.
    Thanks for a fascinating and useful site
    Cheers

    • BobinOz March 27, 2017, 7:34 pm |

      Well, it’s been a while since you were bitten, so hopefully the pain has eased up now. Yes, lots of stories here about people who have been bitten by these things, glad to hear you found some of it useful. And no I didn’t hear back from Jodie, but like yourself, I hope are daughter has made a full recovery.

      And I also hope that buzzy thing has been silenced and you got a decent night’s sleep 🙂

  • Tony March 11, 2017, 12:49 pm |

    Hi, I am in the process of the affects of a Redback spider bite. Last night I was watching the TV when I felt a slight irritation/pain in my left neck area. I started rubbing it, as one does, and at first paid it no heed. Over the next hour it got progressively more painful and I noticed it seemed to be sweating the area – as often as I dried it, it became damp again. After an hour I went to the bathroom to see what it was and could only see a reddish area with no other visible marks. Almost immediately I looked down at my chest area and guess what literally walked out of the buttoned area of my shirt – YES it was a spider, with a large hour glass remark on its back. Now I’m no Rhode Scholar but I put 2 and 2 together and got a 4. I flicked the little beggar off my shirt and administered instant and lethal justice – RIP Redback Spider. Unaware of the seriousness, but cognisant of the reputation I tried calling a 24 hr medical clinic – and once told of my plight their advice was dial 000. Wow, now I am a bit more concerned so I did dial 000 and within 10 minutes the St John’s folk were at the door. They checked BP, Sugar levels, Temperature, and pulse – all were good. They also said I should rest, drink water and if symptoms worsen got to hospital. That was all about 12 hrs ago, yesterday evening. During the night I got very little sleep as the pain grew in intensity and I could not seem to get any relief – I took anti-inflammatories, Panadol and water but the pain remains. I did eventually get some sleep but now, 12 hours later it is still VERY painful and sweaty. I have just conduced the last rights and disposal of the offending arachnid. The pain is increasing in intensity again as I write this……..How long will this last??

    • BobinOz March 13, 2017, 7:57 pm |

      Yes, classic symptoms of a redback spider bite. Well, it’s now been a couple of days since you’ve been bitten, hopefully the pain has already subsided as happened with my bite.

      Unfortunately though, for some people the pain lasts much longer, a week, a couple weeks, everyone seems to react differently. Lots of people have described their experiences in these comments, it may be worth you having a read through. A couple of people, and I don’t think it’s too many more than that, have complained that the pain has lasted a very long time, some have said a year or two or even more think.

      This is rare though, so hopefully you are already on the mend. As much pain as you are/were in though, it does sound as though you at least found the time to conduct some kind of ceremony for the dearly departed redback. That was jolly decent of you 🙂

  • Hailey January 31, 2017, 4:23 pm |

    So my toddler was bitten 3 times by the redback, i ended up finding the little bar&*÷$ in his sheets. Luckily he is fine, my son, not the spider, the spider is well dead. At first he was begging me to get rid of the pain and said he felt sick, 5 mins later he is running around like a monkey on meth happy as larry (once again my son not the spider) so i guess he is one of the lucky ones. Thank god, i dont know whats worse, my boy being in pain or having to put up with the waiting room of the children’s hospital. Lucky for us both. Unlucky for mr spider

    • BobinOz January 31, 2017, 7:42 pm |

      Glad to hear your little boy seems to be fine, but if I were you I would at least make a telephone call to your local doctor to seek advice. When I spoke to my doctor I was told that if I were going to have a bad reaction it would happen within two or three hours.

      From the timing of your comments, your little one might be over the worst by now, but as he is only a toddler, you really should get him checked out just in case. Children are way more susceptible to these bites than fully grown adults are, so it’s better to be safe than sorry.

      From the last part of your comment though, it sounds like you are on your way to the Children’s Hospital; I hope everything turns out to be fine. Do let us know how your boy is if you get the chance. Cheers, Bob

  • Hailey January 31, 2017, 1:10 pm |

    Im worried my son may have been bitten. He saved an already dead moth from a web and got coverd in the spiders web. I brushed him down and everything seemed ok. Later in the day i found a big femail redback in his nappy fold (part thats streachy under the leg) he looks like he has nappy rash but no other symptoms. Hes acting like his normal self.

    • Hailey January 31, 2017, 4:14 pm |

      As an update- definitely bitten by a redback but fortunately he only had a small itchy spots (3) that have now vanished, he gets worse reactions from mosquitoes! Its been 2 hours now and still no symptoms. I found the spider in his sheets. Bloody thing! Have it in a jar just in case I need it. Thank you for this page!

  • Mia January 27, 2017, 5:04 pm |

    Hi, I got bitten by a redback 3 days ago on the ankle and symptoms were as follows.
    Gradual pain increase to the point of feeling like a broken foot/ankle not being able to walk. Intense fever, burning up and shivering. A gradual feeling of the poison moving up the leg, groin and under arm pit pain. Nausea. If over exerting, shortness of breath and tightness in chest, dizzy.
    I am allergic to bees, so didn’t go to hospital as no heart palpitations or fainting.
    Symptoms are dissipating 3 days later, pain in foot gone, but still temperature.
    So resting up.
    The things I did,
    Drank major amounts of water to help body flush it out.
    Ice pack for pain
    Elevated
    Rest
    Emu oil, Tea tree, voltarin and pain killer.
    Questions I have,
    Do these bites build up?
    If so and it happened again, straight off to hospital, or get an epi pen.
    What long term effect can the bite toxin have?
    Interesting subject.
    Thanks

    • BobinOz January 29, 2017, 7:59 pm |

      Well, I’m no doctor, but it does sound to me as though you had an allergic reaction. You definitely did a lot of the right things, but shortness of breath and a tight chest would be enough for me to seek medical help.

      I’m not sure if these bites build up or not, my understanding from expert Professor Julian White, you might like to read my interview with him there is a link above, is that it’s all down to exactly how much venom the spider injects into you. For example, I got bitten, and as described here on this page, I was pretty much okay. So I thought that’s great, maybe I’m not allergic. According to the professor, that’s nothing to do with it, it’s all down to how bad the bite was from the spider.

      If I were you I would definitely see a doctor though, in view of your bee allergy, explain what has happened here, and ask how to best protect yourself from potential bites in the future. It’s better to be prepared, as I’m sure you already are with bees.

      Most people don’t have any long-term effects, but some have reported them here in these comments, and for everyone it seems to be different. Hopefully you won’t have any and you will make a quick and full recovery from this. Good luck, Bob

  • Simon Pockley January 26, 2017, 4:14 pm |

    It was fairly late at night but there was a 2-3 hour delay before I felt my red back spider bite on my left elbow. By the time I felt any pain I was asleep and dreaming that I had to give back my borrowed left arm because it was full of pain. So I woke to intense pain and retraced my pre-going to bed path to a cane chair where I had been reading. When I turned the chair over, under the left arm where my elbow had been, was a female red back with 3 egg sacks. The pain was extremely sharp. As I was in a very remote part of western NSW there was nothing to do but take a Panadol and bury myself in a good book. By morning the pain had gone. There was a slightly sweaty red patch. But the next day I tore my rotator cuff muscles (left shoulder) and began to suffer joint pain which has persisted for months. Not sure if this was a coincidence or a consequence?

    • BobinOz January 27, 2017, 6:44 pm |

      I’ve not heard of that kind of delay before the pain kicks in, but it does seem to me that everybody reacts differently and each bite is different. I don’t think the redback can be blamed for your rotator cuff tear, but people have mentioned joint pain quite a bit and the fact that it continues for some time.

      As I say though, every reaction is different, so maybe it did cause the tear? Hope you make a full recovery soon.

    • Simon Pockley January 28, 2017, 6:10 am |

      Thanks for maintaining this site Bob. Very useful to hear of other people’s experiences. Clearly there are quite a lot of people bitten by red backs each year. Do you keep the numbers? I was recently told that the red back is not native to Australia but closely related to the ‘Black Widow’ in the USA after arriving by ship to and becoming naturalised…?

      • BobinOz January 29, 2017, 8:26 pm |

        You are correct in as much as the redback spider is related to the black widow, they are part of the same family, but the redback is definitely an Australian spider, a native.

        As for numbers, I have variously read 2000, and between 5000 and 10,000 bites a year. I’d go with the higher number of that lot, simply because so many people get bitten and do not seek or need medical help. So who would know?

  • LIZ MACINTYRE December 31, 2016, 10:39 pm |

    These comments are really helpful thank you. I got bitten by what I think was a redback (didn’t see it), on Christmas Day. Thought it was just a mosquito, but then pain came in like a knife wound, and legs ached. Bite was on back of leg, just below the knee. Next day, fever, rigours and weird sweating from mid calf down to feet. Cold and clammy and always wet with sweat. Feet felt like they had shingles and were painful to walk on. Sweats, chills and fever, as well as pain on palms of hands and soles of feet, carried on for about 3 days. No appetite, nausea but not vomiting. Symptoms would disappear for hours and then reappear as though the poison was swirling around my body. Dygesics certainly helped: Neurofen, Ibuprofen and paracetamol, and I just took them every four hours. Now, a week later, most symptoms have gone, but still loss of appetite and sensitivity on feet. Horrible experience!

    • BobinOz January 2, 2017, 5:59 pm |

      Sounds like the sort of Christmas surprise nobody really wants. Yes, from what you say, it very much does sound like a redback spider bite. There has been a great deal of talk in these comments about painful feet and difficulty walking on them. In fact I think all of the symptoms you mentioned here have been talked about before.

      Glad to hear you have recovered now, let’s hope those symptoms stay away because for a few people here they have lingered on for quite some time. Horrible experience indeed.

  • Daniel October 14, 2016, 1:12 am |

    Hello!

    I was bitten on the calf twice by a juvenile female redback on October 8th around 2pm. It’s now almost 2am on October 14th.

    I didn’t get the sweat circle but did get intense localized pain and could hardly tell there was a bite to begin with, visually. The pain seems to be lessening daily in intensity and frequency, but my god it itches badly sometimes, particularly whilst sleeping, if my tiredness upon waking is anything to go by (probably gets hot and scratched in my sleep and have noticed I have woken up scratching my calf).

    Although I didn’t get initial sweat, the bite area sometimes gets clammy, which is a strange feeling. Probably from the localized rash.

    I have been taking antihistamines daily which helps a bit, and using ice packs when needed, to relieve the itch.

    Hoping it buggers off soon. Not sure what else to use to relieve the itching.

    So unless you develop symptoms within 8 – 10 hours, there is a very good chance you are going to be absolutely fine, albeit very annoyingly inconvenienced for maybe a week or two.

    • BobinOz October 14, 2016, 8:59 pm |

      Quite a few people have mentioned the itchiness, although strangely I did not get that. I did get the clammy feeling though, and for some reason I felt compelled to keep touching it to see how clammy it was. I don’t know why.

      The itching does sound very annoying though, well I know it can be, I get it from mozzie bites. Sounds like you are getting over the worst of it though, and I hope you make a full recovery very soon.

  • Kay August 6, 2016, 8:23 pm |

    I also have been bitten by something that I am guessing is a red back on the shin of my right leg. I felt the one small bite and another slightly stronger one at the time but just slapped the leg of my jeans and was aware of the pain but didn’t check or dwell on it as was busy at the time. Site felt sore but not too bad but 3 nights later I woke with intense pain in site of bigger bite. Then noticed swelling and red rash on inside of my knee. Took pain killers and rubbed voltaren on knee as thought I had injured my knee.
    Now two weeks later the nerve pain in and around my knee can be intense. This varies from manageable to extreme pain on putting pressure on knee when walking. Dr. Didn’t think it was the bite so went to orthopaedic dr and he did think it is the bite as there appears to be no problem in my bone. Would like to know if this is red back spider and how much longer will this go on?

    • BobinOz August 7, 2016, 9:27 pm |

      It doesn’t sound like a redback spider bite to me, not by my experience of it or of the many people who have written about their experiences with this here.

      Most people do not feel the bite when it happens, the pain usually kicks in within minutes rather than days and there is usually a red sticky patch around the site of the bite, but no bite marks.

      So, my guess would be not a redback, but I don’t know what it was though. Hopefully somebody else reading this might be able to give you a clue, but either way, I hope the pain goes away quickly.

      Cheers, Bob

    • Martene Blay February 28, 2017, 10:39 am |

      I’d recommend getting a blood test to look for the venom. I was bitten yesterday and still in a lot of pain.I was told it may last a while (days/weeks),and it does come and go. My mother was sick ( not in pain) for several months. Only a blood test revealed the cause, after months and doctors ruling out cancer and other horrors, it showed she had redback venom in her blood.

      • BobinOz February 28, 2017, 11:24 pm |

        Still in her blood after several months? That’s scary! Good suggestion though Martene, getting a blood test.

      • Kelly July 9, 2017, 11:58 am |

        How do they test for redback venom? What kind of symptoms did your mother have? I was bitten on my left foot in February this year, I had a skin lesion outbreak up the left calf which then moved to the left arm (along the lymphatic channels). I also had a few lesions appear on my abdomen. Then I got sick around April! Weird I know but I can’t help put it all down to that bite as it all started then. Night sweats, muscle aches, fatigue, loss of appetite. Also some kind of vasculitis. Could it be some kind of delayed secondary bacteria from the bite? Do these spiders harbour other dangerous bacteria?
        Also does anyone know the approx space between the fangs that would be typical of a redback? I have the scar still showing the two puncture marks and I’m wondering if the distance between them is consistent with this spider.. thanks!!

        • BobinOz July 10, 2017, 6:44 pm |

          I’m not 100% sure they can test for redback venom, but maybe. If Martene doesn’t come back with an answer, maybe you should have a word with your doctor.

          For what it’s worth though, most people, me included, do not appear to have any kind of marking or scar at the bite site, even immediately after being bitten. It is usually just a red 20 cent sized sticky red circle with no puncture mark at all. So if you have a scar or fanged marks, then maybe it was something else.

          This has obviously been going on for you for a while now, so maybe you should get it checked out by the doctor.

        • Ally December 8, 2017, 5:35 pm |

          HI Kelly

          It sounds like you were bitten by a white tip spider, I was bitten by one 20 years ago in Victoria just below the left knee, within 4 days a little hole had formed and the tissue was necrotic. It then traveled up my leg via the lymphatic system to just below my groin. I had a knee the size of a rockmelon, huge hole’s in me and could see sore, angry, red veins below the skin surface. It wept bad (oozing dead tissue) and I had to squeeze my upper thigh to release the fluid which came out in big greenish yellow, blood stained lumps!! ?
          I now have scars the size of 50c pieces which are indented due to tissue loss underneath ?
          Sadly when my immune system gets low it can come back. Always the same leg, it was horrifically painful (I had a very bad bite, in a rural area where it had never been seen before.
          Also some ppl believe the white tips venom doesn’t cause the lesions/necrosis but instead something on its fangs. Either way a bite can be serious. I nearly lost my leg.
          I hope things cleared up for you fast!

          Now I’m suffering from a red back bite. Ow.

          • BobinOz December 8, 2017, 5:38 pm |

            Sounds ghastly! I think this is why some suggest that an anti-tetanus injection should be given after any kind of spider bite, because the possibility of infection is always there.

  • Sister M. Assumpta June 16, 2016, 2:55 pm |

    Ok – We know Suggestion is a powerful thing & the human imagination is a grand thing or just plain weird. Apparently you can take the Aussie Girl out of OZ but can’t take fear of OZ Redbacks out of the Girl. I haven’t seen a Redback in more than 40 yrs, I’m sitting in our Convent office on the Pacific West Coast in Canada, pretty sure there is not even a Daddy Longlegs lurking under the pile of paperwork on the desk yet my skin is crawling, I’m sliding into flight mode, & fighting an urge to get a broom & turn everything over then stomp on every last one of the Redbacks that I am sure fell out of your Bloomin’ Blog Posts!!! Over 40 yrs I have been happily lulled into a Franciscan Flower Child during my years in beautiful BC – I’ve learned to gently take spiders outdoors. For 2 yrs I watched a Wolf-faced Orb Spider spin her amazing web in the same place above the marigolds on the side of the house & would not let anyone remove her. I watched her double in size, about the size of a Nickle & snapped her with my Smart Phone -she did not return this Spring, 2 yrs is a good lifespan for an Orb Spider. Like most Canadians she was a polite “Have a nice day” lady bothering no one & keeping the bug population down. Now all that lovely warm-love-all-creatures-fuzziness has been jeopardized all because I scrolled through the Posts on this Blog. I have now mentally reverted to the Spider – stomping Terminator I was trained to be as an Aussie child in the unenlightened Fifties. How on earth did I get on this site? Oh yeah – looking for stats on Croc attacks. Obviously I need my time on Online to be restricted. Thankfully it is time for meditation, Night Prayer & Silence so I have to go – but wait! What may be lurking in the Chapel! The bedrooms! Our lush garden!AAARRRRGGHHHH!!! You have much to answer for, BobinOZ Bloggers. Be you Catholic or not my next Post will be to assign you a suitable penance when I’ve had time to ponder on it. For now hang your heads & repeat, “Mea Culpa.”
    Peace, Sister GMA

    • BobinOz June 17, 2016, 6:33 pm |

      Well, I hope, at the very least, that you found the information you are looking for about croc attacks 🙂 even if it has been at such cost.

      It was lucky you didn’t find my page about the funnel-web spider.

      Peace be with you Sister, peace be with you.

    • Chris March 14, 2017, 5:06 pm |

      I really enjoyed reading your post, it cheered my day up a bit 🙂 I have been watching a spider in my bathroom grow for the last 6 months as it eats up all the mosquitoes it catches in its mess of a web. Not sure what kind of spider it is, but I leave it be as I have never seen it leave it’s corner and it is doing a good job with the mozzies. I was bitten by a mozzie almost a year ago and ended up with an unknown waterborne virus that left me with a nasty fever for over a week. I do kill any Redbacks and Whitetail spiders I see without giving it a thought though.

      • BobinOz March 15, 2017, 12:32 am |

        You should have killed the mozzie 🙂

  • Andrew Plant June 11, 2016, 8:38 pm |

    Hi all. Having survived unbitten by a spider in Australia for 55 years, finally got fanged a couple of months ago in the garden. Like many, didn’t see the spider, so with the help of my medical scientist wife and Dr. Google, 99% sure it was a red back. No visible bite, intense, immediate pain, but completely localised to the top joint of the bitten finger tip, no systemic reaction whatsoever, except unable to sleep till 3am – the worst pain I’ve ever experienced. The localisation was most strange. Other bites and stings I’ve had (quite a few – it is Australia, after all!) all had a wider area of pain, and always a distinct spot where the fangs/sting went in. So the lack of mark and local intense burning pain seem to be the features common to other victims that would suggest it was a red back rather than some other arachnid/centipede/insect. If my young daughter had been bitten, I would have called the ambulance, but for most adults it just seems to be an interesting 6 hours. I’ve also been bitten by an otter, but that is not something that visitors to Oz need be overly concerned about!

    • BobinOz June 13, 2016, 4:24 pm |

      Yes, sounds very much like a redback spider bite, it has all of the tell-tale signs. Like you say as well, for the vast majority of people it is nothing more than a quite painful period of time.

      For the unlucky minority though, and we’ve had plenty of those comment here, it can be significantly worse, ranging from long-lasting pain to, in some cases, a severe reaction to the bite.

      I was one of the lucky ones, sounds like you were too. By the way, congratulations on getting bitten by an otter, that’s quite impressive!

      Cheers, Bob

      • Andrew Plant July 24, 2016, 7:21 pm |

        Yes, it’s tricky getting bitten by an otter in Australia, especially in Adelaide. Ok, it was at the zoo, and I was 6, and wanted to pat the cute animal despite the sign indicating they were on restricted diets. The long term effects include a nice scar between my thumb and forefinger, and a lifetime of referring to Savlon as ‘otter-bite cream’.
        I could tell you about my Argentinian bot fly episode ….
        Cheers,
        Andrew.

        • BobinOz July 24, 2016, 9:19 pm |

          Well, you’ve only got yourself to blame for that one. Fancy ignoring the warning sign! What were you thinking? 🙂

          If it’s all the same to you, I will pass on your Argentinian bot fly story, I’m about to eat.

      • Peter Mensforth December 13, 2016, 7:14 pm |

        I recieved a nasty redback bite from a pregnant female. Bite was right on the spine. The sweating started within the first hour. At about the 4 hour mark my joints all started to hurt a bit like arthritis pain but increasing in intensity slowly over 24 hours. I was in hospital waiting room, unseen by any medical professional for this 24 hours. I got sick of waiting so went to another hospital. Dont remember getting there, but apparently thats when i passed out. I was rushed back to the hospital that has anti venom, not that it was worth using at this point. I think they were worried i was going to die because they gave me three doses of antivenom, and i was in resus for several hours. They also dosed me up on morphine and got me to sign something saying i wouldnt sue them for neglecting me for 24 hours. The pain was incredibly intense, i rank my several broken bones around a 4 on the pain scale, and these symptoms at 9.
        I have had at least one other confirmed redback bite which i weathered without medical assistance, i would be dead if i didn’t get to hospital with this one. I have also been bitten on the calf muscle by a small brown snake. (Occupational hazard), and numerous less deadly spider bites.
        I have recently had two episodes where i have a reoccurance of the symptoms. This lasts about 24 hours, and is very hard to deal with.
        Has anyone out there had a reoccurance of symptoms?

        • BobinOz December 14, 2016, 7:56 pm |

          Crikey, 24 hours in emergency without seeing a doctor? That’s way out of order, something must have gone wrong there. I’ve only been to emergency once, touch wood, I was seen really fast.

          Anyway, at least they saved your life, in the end. Interesting that you have been bitten by a redback before without this reaction, which confirms Professor Julian White’s article, linked at the foot of the above post, about whether or not people can be immune to this spiders’ bite.

          As for your question, quite a few people in these comments have mentioned recurrence of symptoms, I don’t wish to scare you, but I seem to recall one person saying symptoms are still returning after a couple years or so?

          You might like to have a quick skim through, recurring symptoms have been mentioned more than once, but I do hope yours go away very fast. Cheers, Bob

  • Kozette June 6, 2016, 6:47 am |

    Can you please tell me the long term health issues that can be caused by a red back spider bite if not treated by antivenin?

    • BobinOz June 6, 2016, 6:09 pm |

      Well, I would if I could but I just don’t know them, and I’m not sure that anybody really does. Everybody seems to be affected in different ways, and if you read through these comments, you will see quite a few people have mentioned long-term issues following a spider bite from one of these things.

      I don’t even think being treated with antivenin can guarantee there will be no long-term effects. Having said that, I think for the vast majority of people once the pain has gone they have no further problems. That still leaves a significant number of people who do though.

  • Tina May 27, 2016, 11:20 am |

    Can anyone help me out there I was in the garden I tipped an old plant out & it was full of red backs which i gladly killed I didn’t feel any pain a week later yes a week I have such pain & swelling just above the ankle the doctors just don’t know one suggested a bite of some sort the other suggested adema I’m left in pain bad swelling &burning igo away on holiday soon everything is paid I just don’t know what to do can anyone help me out there please

    • Maria May 27, 2016, 4:40 pm |

      Hello Tina. I too had a nasty redback encounter (you can read my post if you scroll down to 17 Dec 2015) Just wondering though, if your symptoms ARE actually from a redback bite, as the pain from one is usually instant – like a sharp sting at first, then increases in intensity. You said how you didn’t feel any pain – was that at the time, but then it took a week for the symptoms to appear ?? In my experience, there was a red patch at the site of the bite (about the size of 10c piece), followed soon after by sort of like little goosebumps.

      Strange that the doctors don’t even know what it is. Hope you get better soon, and get to go on holiday. In the meantime try elevating your foot, using coldpacks and strong pain relief. If it WAS a redback bite (and not oedema), you will eventually recover, but it will take “time”. Good Luck !

      • BobinOz May 27, 2016, 11:32 pm |

        Like Maria, I don’t think this is anything to do with those redback spiders. If you had been bitten it would have been painful at the time and as Maria says, you get that red sticky patch around the bite. I think something else is going on here, hopefully your doctor will work out what it is.

  • David April 25, 2016, 9:38 am |

    Hi,

    I can honestly say that I haven’t seen many redbacks here in my suburban Adelaide yard for years! Used to see them all the time when I was a kid. Gotta be honest I hate the little buggers. Pain is not something I get along with too well.

    • ian April 25, 2016, 11:37 am |

      If you have a tidy yard, you will likely not see them. I have a rather messy yard with a fair bit of clutter and I still see them here (Adelaide), though perhaps not as often as I used to. Is it possible houses are more tidy these days, therefore keeping their numbers down?

      • BobinOz April 25, 2016, 5:45 pm |

        I’ve been here in Brisbane for over eight years, still haven’t actually seen one that I know of for sure. I may have seen one in my house when I first moved in, the house had been empty for five months, but I can’t guarantee it really was a redback spider.

        Even when I was bitten by a redback I didn’t see it, but maybe that says more about how unobservant I am than how many redbacks we have here. I think it’s fair to say we are not overrun with them though.

        • Hayley December 8, 2016, 10:03 pm |

          I live in a new (1 year old) house in ipswich qld and my home is full of redbacks. I have a feeling they are mostly in the roof as they make their appearances via the ceiling lights. I am constantly spraying and tearing down webs under furniture, in doorways and from the lights. Many many large females and quite a few males. Every day i discover and kill at least 6 big ones. Have tried so much to get rid of them but they seem to populate faster with every attempt. Also fear for my cat who likes to laze about under the bed and furniture on the balcony. Luckily, so far no bites for either of us.

          • BobinOz December 9, 2016, 6:25 pm |

            Sounds horrible Hayley, and I’m sure it’s only a matter of time until somebody gets bitten and if it’s your cat, it could be fatal. I think you urgently need to call in a professional pest control company to deal with this, they can spray your whole house and they will all be dead within 24 hours I reckon.

            You should be able to get a decent pest control guy to come round and do that for around $200 – $300. Money well spent I would think. Good luck, Bob

  • Catriona Daly April 13, 2016, 3:20 pm |

    http://gu.com/p/4t9d4/sbl

    Man dies from red back spider bite

    • BobinOz April 13, 2016, 11:39 pm |

      Thanks for the link, it’s a scary and very tragic story. I’ve read a few articles on this one, no one has stated whether or not this young man received antivenom, or whether the severe abscess he was being treated for in hospital for four days was as a result of the spider bite.

      There is also the added complication that he was involved in a motor accident not long before this happened. I think we will all have to wait for the full coroners report before we will know whether or not the cause of death was actually directly attributable to the redback spider.

      Very sad though, he was such a young lad.

  • Thomas field March 1, 2016, 6:08 am |

    A lot of time I’ve been woken up with my foot burning allways one foot and even wearing shoe’s actually with shoe’s on the burning was worse I was kept awake for months tortured actually someone must know what is doing this am I sleeping on top of a spider nest and it knows when I’m asleep or is this a human saddist I’m in the process of cleaning up all the spiders I’ve seen one ‘s 40cm round as I caught it on camerra and others big ones that carry around sacks full of baby one ‘s. I saw about four of those ones I got rid of my bed but I think their are still some in my flat and I believe that saddist put them there on purpose I have suspected it’s a spider bite for a long time but now I believe it’s something eles could you please help me with this

    • BobinOz March 1, 2016, 4:32 pm |

      I wish I could help but I think I’m even more bewildered than you are. Hope you sort out though, Bob

    • Emil March 22, 2017, 9:33 am |

      Sounds a lot like gout to me as I had ploblem like this for years.
      All it took to fix it was a blood test which confirmed abnormal level of uric acid. For some reason my body cant get rid of uric acid without the help of Zyloprim. Since I started the treatmant Im OK.

  • Brett February 15, 2016, 5:21 pm |

    Hey Bob
    I was bitten on the 14/2/2016 twice once on the ribs and once on the inside of my arm at first nothing the BANG intense stinging and burning couldn’t touch both areas jump in shower pain went away for a bit then hit me again with sweating and dizzy got ice pack help the pain the only thing that did at first not a wink of sleep.All day today spraying tea tree and ice packs but still burning and stinging now almost a day later hope to get some sleep tonight but reading some of the other comments not like my chance’s lol

    • BobinOz February 16, 2016, 4:16 pm |

      Well I hope you did manage to get some decent sleep Brett, although I suspect you have probably had a difficult night. Hope the pain passes quickly. Cheers, Bob

  • shelley January 15, 2016, 10:40 am |

    I got bitten about an hour ago. Came to our local Edu and they took my temp and pulse and now waiting to see a doctor.
    I had an intense stinging at the bite site initially. Poured vinigar over my hand (bitten on thumb). I didnt see the spider (sprayed the hell out of my office though so hopefully its a dead un now). Profuse sweating at sight to start with but thats now stopped and not really feeling any pain. Maybe its not a redback?

    • BobinOz January 15, 2016, 10:14 pm |

      Hmm. Maybe not. For me, there wasn’t really a bite mark, but a coin-sized red circle that was sticky and sweaty. That did not go away for quite some time. From what I have looked into, and from the many comments here, I think that is one of the key tell-tale signs of a redback spider bite.

      That said, it could have been a redback, but maybe it did not inject very much venom. In which case I reckon you may already be over the worst. How are you now?

  • Michael January 11, 2016, 10:07 am |

    Hi bob, i got bitten last night at 1am by a huge female which had decided to join me in bed.
    I felt something crawl across my arm a couple of times and just brushed it off, being a hot night in sydney i thought it was probably a moth or something, i rolled over and started feeling a burning sensation in my shoulder, having been in the sun yesterday i thought i must be sunburnt. As it got worse i thought i better turn the light on and loot at it., turn the light on and there a huge redback on the mattress where i was lying.

    Anyway, called poisons hotline and was told to use ice packs and take pain killers and see what happens.
    The pain got progressively worse for the first 3 hours, fairly manageable with ice packs and panadeine fortes.
    Its pretty much stayed at the same level since then and its now 10 hrs later.
    I have found if i keep the arm where i was bitten immobilised it lowers the pain a lot.
    Ive read a lot of these posts so i will see how i go and post if i get any of other symptoms.

    • BobinOz January 11, 2016, 7:25 pm |

      Seems we’re not even safe in our own beds!

      Well, if you haven’t had an allergic reaction by now, I’m pretty sure you’re not going to get one. So it sounds like for you it’s all down to pain management and those pills and ice packs seem to be doing a good job.

      Hope all the pain goes away soon, cheers, Bob

    • Michael January 13, 2016, 10:02 am |

      Update.
      Well turns out I spoke to soon. about an hour after writing my original post I started feeling more unwell so decided to book in to see a doctor, the doctor checked me out and pretty much said wait and see what happens.
      By that night I had begun shaking and both my legs where sweating profusely from below the knees. so I went to emergency and they admitted me.
      I spent the next 2 days in hospital, with cold sweats and intense pain through both my legs, abdomen and lower back. they gave me progressively stronger pain killers.
      at the worst of it I was on endone, panadeine, ibuprofen and prgabalin.
      they even tried morphine Intraveniously.
      none of this completely removed the pain but dulled it enough for me to cope with.
      anyway I feel like ive turned a corner last night and feel better today, although I am still taking 3 different painkillers.
      Probably the biggest tip I could give to anyone else who gets a full envenomation like me is Hot Showers.I would just lie in there for 20-30mins at a time, It was the main thing that got me through and gave me more relief than any of the painkillers did.

      • BobinOz January 14, 2016, 12:07 am |

        Wow, that’s a bit of a shock!

        Normally this kind of reaction happens within 2 to 3 hours, that was my understanding anyway. It’s also what my doctor advised. I’m pretty sure most people who have had a bad reaction and have commented here also had it happen within a few of hours.

        You looked like you were going to be okay, and then well over 10 hours later you get the cold sweats. That said, you haven’t had a full anaphylactic shock or allergic reaction requiring antivenom, it’s more a case of a significant increase in pain after a long period of time.

        One thing I have realised from all these comments here is that every redback spider bite seems to be different, some are forgotten within a few hours, others can cause problems for a few years. What’s happened to you is another example of how different these bites can be.

        Hope you make a full recovery soon, thanks for the update, Bob

        • Jeni Locke September 25, 2017, 5:40 pm |

          Just thought I’d throw in my 2 cents worth (showing my age lol). I am a registered nurse, live on mid north coast NSW have seen a multitude of redbacks on my 5 acres but never been bitten thank goodness. They have removed redback antivenin from our hospital and I thought it had been discontinued due to it not working (ie not improving the course of the bite whilst people can react to the treatment). Anyway I had a patient who regularly came in for a hot bath in the evening to relieve the pain of the redback spider bites he had sustained (he didn’t have a bath at home), he came in for a couple of months but then he either got better or got a bath, not sure which but he just stopped turning up. So I can vouch for the hot bath working for some victoms, he said it was like magic better than pain killers (hot water for bullrout (?sp)spines too)

          • BobinOz September 25, 2017, 8:49 pm |

            Excellent suggestion Jeni, for sure nobody has suggested that one here yet. These days with everybody taking a quick shower, I’m sure lots of people just don’t know about this. As you say, hot water is a treatment for bullrout stings, and a few other things I think, so why not the redback?

            Worth a try for anybody experiencing lingering ongoing pain from a bite, as so many people do. But certainly not to be used as a replacement to presenting yourself to your doctor or a hospital in the event of a severe reaction to a bite, as I’m sure you will agree.

            I’m obviously not making that clear to you Jeni, I just wants make sure nobody thinks that submerging a bite in hot water will get out of trouble when they do need urgent medical attention.

            I’m surprised your hospital is no longer stocking antivenin though, my understanding is that it still does have a role to play in certain situations.

            • Jeni Locke September 26, 2017, 7:52 am |

              Most definitely Bob I agree seek medical advice if you have symptoms of a reaction, the hot water is not an emergency treatment but can palliate the pain that lingers. I work in a small hospital with no Doctor so all our antivenin has now been removed, but the redback antivenin was removed before we lost our doctor, maybe we were too small to deal with the possible reactions involved, now we stabilise and ship patients to a bigger hospital by road or by helicopter.

              • BobinOz September 27, 2017, 12:31 am |

                Ah, you must be in Woop Woop 🙂

  • Maria December 17, 2015, 12:06 pm |

    Hi Bob, I was bitten on 22 Nov 2015 at 9.15pm, by a large female redback,on the top of my foot, as I was putting my slippers on, in the Bathroom. I killed the spider, and took it with me (for positive identification) in the Ambulance to Hospital, where I was given 1 Nurofen & 1 Endone, a Tetanus shot, and an ice-pack, and monitored for 4 hrs to see if my symptoms worsened. Doctor was reluctant to give antivenom.

    Discharged 1.30am, given information sheets on spiders,and told to come back if the pain gets worse. Well it did – not a wink of sleep that night due to unbearable pain – the worst I have ever experienced.
    My foot was swollen ,red and burning, felt like it was on FIRE. !!!!

    Went to G.P. next day, prescribed Endone 5mg, 6 hrly, but the pain relief began to wear off after 3 hrs. Back to E.D. at Hosp 4 days later at 5.45am (1 hr. sleep night before). Dr increased my pain medication to 16 tabs day ( 3 different meds) including slow-release narcotic analgesics (Targin 5mg) plus Endone, if needed for break-through pain. These, and the icepacks helped give me some pain relief.
    Couldn’t move my toes for days, as they were paralysed from the venom.
    Got around with the aid of crutches for 8 days.

    Several days later it got itchy, but I found Animine lotion helped relieve it.
    Another symptom I had was hypersensitivity. Even the slightest brush against my foot resulted in an intense stinging sensation, couldn’t even stand any bedcovering on it.

    It took 10 days for the swelling to go down, easing the pain. After I finished the first lot of Targin 5mg, my G.P. weaned me onto 1/2 strength dosage for 1 week.

    It has taken 3 and a half weeks for the pain and stiffness to go, and for total movement to come back in my toes. Not quite fully recovered yet due to some lingering aches and pains, around the left hip area, but hoping they will resolve soon.

    • BobinOz December 17, 2015, 8:34 pm |

      Those pesky redbacks are certainly out in force at the moment, we’ve had quite a few reports come through in the last three or four weeks. Sounds like that redback nailed your foot pretty bad!

      I think doctors are very reluctant to give antivenom and for good reason, some people do react badly to it. I also think suffering immense pain, as you have, is vastly different from suffering a reaction which can lead to nausea, vomiting and breathing problems among other things.

      Glad to hear that it sounds as though you are well over the worst, and that you managed to get through it with the help of some rather hefty pain relief. Look on the bright side; you hurt it more than it hurt you 🙂

      Hope you recover fully soon.

  • Mick December 16, 2015, 8:17 am |

    I woke up at 1am on the Monday just gone to a severe pain in my left inner thigh right up where it joins the torso. It kind of felt like a soft tissue injury but there was no external signs of any damage to that area.

    I managed to sleep on and off for three hours and got up at 4am. At that time I noticed a minor irritation on my knee which my girlfriend said looked like a bite mark. We then looked up and saw a redback spider on the roof. I can’t be 100% sure it was a redback but all the symptoms were there, minor irritation around actual bite, sweat around the bite site, pain in other parts of the body.

    After a few more hours of no sleep I drove home and popped some paracetamol and codeine tablets and spent the day feeling sorry for myself on the couch. By this stage both legs were in pain especially the soles of both feet and both legs were sweating even though nowhere else on my body was. I had some back pain and minor chest pain but most of the pain was concentrated in the legs. I found a hot bath gave temporary relief to take my mind off the pain for a bit.

    My mother is a pharmacist so she consulted a book she has to determine the recommended course of action to take for a redback bite. Other than what has already been mentioned above it recommends the doctor prescribe painkillers such as paracetamol/codeine or an opiate. Being in severe pain I made an appointment at the local clinic with a view to securing some oxycodone tablets so I could get to sleep. The doctor there had never seen a redback bite before and recommended I go straight to the hospital. She did not consult any medical journals or texts. I did not have nausea, whole body sweats and had not vomited even once. She gave me absolutely no advice consistent with what you can Google yourself on the internet. All the bad words in the English Language are not sufficient to describe how much I detest this particular doctor. A GP is only as good as his/her experience but if you don’t know then look it up! This is a valuable lesson to find a doctor you are happy with and pay the extra money if you have to. Don’t be tight-arse like me and wander off to any old bulk billing clinic.

    Luckily that night my sister came over with 3 oxycodone tablets she had left over from a previous ailment. Without those and alprazolam I would not have had any sleep for the next two nights. That night I woke every 30mins to 1 hour covered in sweat (by now my whole body was sweating, not just my legs). I had 5-10 showers that night.

    The next day and night were pretty much the same, except I woke up less frequently and only had 2-3 showers during the night.

    It’s now 9am on Wednesday, so 2 days and 8 hours after symptoms were first felt. There is still pain in my feet but far less than yesterday. The whole body sweats seem to have stopped. I think the worst is behind me.

    • BobinOz December 16, 2015, 10:35 pm |

      Well, from everything you say it certainly does sound as though it was a redback spider bite. The sweat mark, the pain and most of all sore feet. So many people have mentioned sore feet following a redback bite, it’s very common.

      If your doctor has never come across a redback bite before, we can only assume she’s not been practising in this country very long. I agree with you entirely, if you don’t like your doctor, move on to another one. Pay a little extra if you have too. Sounds like that’s what you’ll be doing soon.

      Anyway, glad to hear your symptoms are easing, hopefully you’ll be all back to normal by the end of the week and by the time you’ll be playing with your toys at Christmas, this will all be behind you.

    • Jodie January 11, 2017, 9:33 am |

      Out daughter ,20 yo is in icu at the moment.
      5pm the day before yesterday she was driving home from wheat harvest and felt a sting under her belly button n briefly though, spider bite. Then though no, jeans are bit tight, zipper rubbing on me.
      Slowly over the next 20 mins as driving she felt intense burning stabbing pain in abdomin and groin area , also up under one armpit and her legs were numb.
      She managed to get to a hospital , 100km away from us and home . As we were driving to her I rang the hospital and asked them to check for spider n snake bite!
      When we got there she was writhing in pain and had not been looked at!
      I searched all over n saw a vague spot I pointed out to dr, but I wasn’t taken seriously!
      For seven hours she was in 8/10 pain and no pain killers worked, legs , bum , thighs and groin excruciating pain and we are pretty tough!
      Drs did every test imaginable and found nothing!
      No high temp … nothing!
      6 hours later the gave a shot of morphene and that gave her relief for 10 minutes and they said there was nothing else they could do n she was sick of being proded!
      At 2am we made the journey home and got her to bed.
      She complained of burning numbing in feet and was shaking uncontrollably !
      As we are 30kms from nearest hospital I thought best to take her as we didn’t really know what was going on as we had forgotten about possible spider bite!
      Got to hospital , gave info from last hospital and stupid nurse looked at my exhausted girl , tremoring and gave Valium and told her to stop being neurotic!!!
      Took her home gave two endone and started researching redback bite!
      Made Drs appointment and said forget the findings of last 22 hours and treat our girl as suspected redback bite!
      He looked at her sweating and shaking uncontrollably and New this was serious, he checked for fine body hairs standing upright and saw the pool of sweat on the floor where her feet were and seat where she sat and sent us back to hospital straight away!
      We get to hospital and I tell dr to check for redback, this at 10am,
      He said although there some symptoms there is no vidable sight or bite !
      He wanted wee sample and I said well an Iv might help don’t you think! 18 hours and that hadn’t been done!
      She is crying in pain exhaustion, tired of sweating and shaking, nausea after drinking .
      They do more bloods
      The only thing that shows is change in white blood cells!
      I tell him there is not always visible bite site and everyone reacts differently!
      At 4 pm yesterday a specialist came to see us and agreed possible redback… also spoke to toxicology who agreed redback though would not try antivenom as risk of aniphalaxis was a possibility!shaking and sweating extreme, still pain though only feet now!
      Our girl was put in icu last night to be monitered as tachycardic! I am there now Valium is now easing shaking , sweating intense, bedchange every hour, soaking!!!
      Pain in feet has eased and she has tried some brekky!
      Omg I hope I was right pushing for them to acknowledge redback as I high possibility . Her body has been through the ringer!!

      • BobinOz January 12, 2017, 7:01 pm |

        Wow, first and foremost, I do hope your daughter is recovering well now Jodie, she definitely sounds like she has had a bad time with this. I’m really surprised and a little shocked she was allowed to leave the hospital the first time with those symptoms, but at least it does sound as though she is now getting the kind of treatment she needs.

        This page has been here for quite some time and as you can see, we have had many many stories from people who have bitten by these spiders, and if memory serves we have had one or two where people have received emergency treatment in hospital. I’m not sure we’ve had too many, if any, where the intensive care unit has been involved though.

        I think you have done what you have needed to do, no mother likes to see her daughter go through this kind of pain and whether you end up being right or wrong about the nature of the bite, you were absolutely right to keep pushing for further treatment.

        For what it’s worth, it does sound like a redback bite to me, but what do I know?

        Again, I really do hope your daughter is recovering well, let us know how she is going if you get the chance. Wishing you and your daughter all the best, Bob

  • ian December 11, 2015, 1:08 am |

    This sounds like no fun at all, a bite from a Redback! Just thought of a bit of advice that might help in some situations. I’ve noticed over the years that spiders and bugs natural reaction seems to be to ‘drop’ when they find themselves up against a large moving object. If you ever feel a strange living thing in the shirt you’ve just put on, resist the temptation to feel or squash with your hand, and just shake the item of clothing to allow it to drop out. I know that Redbacks and White-tails do this, and probably most things do.

    My theory is that most things react badly to pain. Once, I felt something disturbing at the end of the sock I just put on. I tried to suppress utter panic, and calmly (but fast) I gently surrounded that part of the sock with my fingers and extracted my foot. Then if you can imagine, I kind of peeled the sock opening back up around my arm, to reveal the awful truth – a white tailed spider with just a bit of sock between it and my fingers! I don’t believe the myths about them but it still freaked me out. Point being, I didn’t hurt it in any way and didn’t get bitten… just something to keep in mind.

    • BobinOz December 11, 2015, 8:49 pm |

      I kind of agree with your advice here, although it is not always easy to implement. I remember a while back I felt something crawling around inside my T-shirt so I just quickly stood up, took my T-shirt off and then just shook it out on the floor. A wasp dropped out, looking a bit dazed, but he flew off no problem.

      He was probably just looking for a way out and because I didn’t squished him in any way, he didn’t feel the need to attack me. Maybe, anyway.

      On the other hand, when I was bitten by a redback spider I didn’t even see it, so nothing I could do about that one at all. But other than that, yes I agree, the toughest part is probably mastering how not to panic 🙂

    • Ally December 7, 2017, 4:44 am |

      PLEASE! Believe, if it’s not the venom it’s stuff on the white tips teeth. I was bitten 20 years ago it looked like a tiny mozzie bite with a small white head. Within a week a hole the suze of a 10c piece. It grew larger than a .50c piece and i had to swueeze rotten flesh out of my leg. They ARE dangerous!! Ican show you photos of the damage done to my leg happily. Beaniesnbits on FB.

  • Peter S November 24, 2015, 5:14 am |

    Sunday Nov 22nd, 11am – the day you go to the shed, put on your welding jacket to do a quick 2 minute repair. The jacket has leather sleeves and I wear leather gloves. I’d just finished the job and wondered “ouch”, how did welding sparks get through the leather gloves and leather sleeves. So I pulled the gear off and a huge redback fell out of my sleeve.
    Within a minute I could see 2 little white marks on my wrist, a few mm apart with flare reaction around it, but really not much pain. I spoke to ‘nurse on call’ who said go to the hospital if I have vomiting or breathing difficulty. I placed an ice pack. The pain got steadily worse for about 6 hours. Sweating over the bite area, unremitting burning pain. Panadol and ibuprofen didn’t make any difference. I had some oxycodone (endone) left over from some surgery a month ago, and took a tablet at bed time – that helped a bit – enough to get 3 hours sleep.
    All day yesterday (Nov 23rd) – slight reduction in pain, but still too painful to do anything useful. Still sweating over a 10cm diameter area over the bite site. Pain radiating from fingers and to shoulder, muscle spasms in the lower arm. Last night started getting a painful tingling sensation in both hands and both feet and ankles, and slightly swollen lymph nodes in groin, and less than 2 hours sleep. So about 40 hours after the bite, the really intense burning pain has gone, but there’s still a very painful ‘ache’ in my arm that panadol doesn’t touch.

    • BobinOz November 30, 2015, 8:46 pm |

      That coins size sweat circle around the bite area is a real sign of the redback isn’t it? Along with the pain.

      Anyway, I suppose the good news for you is that you didn’t get a bad reaction that required a visit to the hospital or antivenom, but the bad news is managing the pain. It’s been about a week now, hopefully you are well and truly over the worst of it.

      So, are you feeling a bit better now?

      • Peter S December 9, 2015, 2:34 pm |

        Hi BobinOz
        My last comment was at 40 hours. After that, night 2, I started to sweat from the knees down – and I got bitten on my wrist! My lower legs and feet were so sensitive I couldn’t sleep. Stayed up most of the night watching rubbish on TV Day 3. Not much pain at bite site, swollen lymph nodes in groin and armpit, reduced sweating. Day 4. Almost back to normal, except the bite site was still itchy. If I ever get bitten again, I’m going to ask for antivenom. I’m not brave enough to go through that a second time.

        • BobinOz December 9, 2015, 11:17 pm |

          It’s strange, but sensitive feet has been mentioned a few times before. I think you just have to live through this stuff, I’m not sure opting for antivenom is a good idea. Sometimes the antivenom itself can cause more problems than it solves.

          If you are not nauseous, vomiting, or about to meet your maker, I think doctors are very reluctant to give you antivenom. I hope the next few days are better than the last four.

  • Catriona November 21, 2015, 4:58 pm |

    I was bitten this morning, still in localised pain this afternoon. Pain manageable as long as I keep ice pack on.
    Pulled on pair of pants and felt a scratch/sting followed by another. First though was ant! Pulled pants down, out tumbled half squished spider, grabbed cup, scooped up, identified spider, called 000 being hme alone with my two kids.
    Treatment by paramedics was ice pack and told if need pain management take Panadol. They told me there is no anti-venom!!
    My choice whether to go I hospital or not. Chose to stay home and rest with ice pack. Some pain in groin but burning stinging pain continues in bite area, intensifying when I remove ice pack.

    • Sharon November 22, 2015, 1:03 am |

      Hi Catriona. It must be the day for getting bitten by RedBacks. I was bitten around lunch and am still in serve pain. I suffer from Gillian Barra syndrome in my feet. A condition effecting nerves and causing me to have no feeling in my feet since 2008. I’ve stepped on glass and been bitten by things and never known other then the blood and obvious swelling and bite marks. Today I put my shoes on and started doing my lawn when I felt a pain in my foot. Strange since I don’t feel my feet. Didn’t see any problem so I put my shoe back on and continued with the lawn. The pain got worse so I took my shoe off again and as I looked at my foot a nasty redback walked out of my shoe. So finished mowing the lawn without that shoe and then started surfing the Internet for info. As I only felt pain in my foot I decided not to go to hospital either. After reading the above story I have taken the antihistamine and a lot of panadole. So far the ice pack and constant movement is the only thing easing the pain. The description of having a nail driven through my foot would be spot on and 14 hrs later it still feels like that. I am also feeling a numbing sensation in my thigh. I hope this pain goes away soon so I can get some sleep.

      • Catriona Daly November 23, 2015, 11:22 am |

        wow must be intense pain if even with your condition you can feel it.
        I read somewhere it can take 7 days for the pain to go. This is now day 3 and the stinging, burning pain is continuing, with the occasional feeling like a nail driven in. Sleep is still disturbed unfortunately.

        • BobinOz November 27, 2015, 9:06 pm |

          No antivenom? Well, that’s clearly not true.

          Hopefully both of you are feeling a bit better now, unless any of you have felt nauseous, dizzy or any of the other symptoms I mentioned in my article, then antivenom would not have been needed anyway. Apparently only a small minority need it and sometimes having the antivenom can cause problems in itself.

          It’s probably been a week now for both of you, hope all is good. Cheers, Bob

          • Sharon November 28, 2015, 8:58 am |

            Well 7 days ago I was bitten by a red back and am happy to report my foot has gone back to being numb. That was a very unpleasant week. But thankfully I only suffered from the localised pain in foot and a bit of numbing in my thigh. I did read that the antivenom was not nice and not always needed. I’ve gone back to not wearing shoes when I can get away with it and have also learnt not to leave my shoes outside anymore. All better now.

            • Catriona November 29, 2015, 6:40 am |

              So 8 days later the site can glare up between itchiness and burning sensation that is caused by the site being hyper sensitive so the rubbing of bed sheets or clothes sets it off. So over it.

              • Sharon November 29, 2015, 7:22 am |

                Hi Catriona. I found that happening to my foot as it was getting better. I found applying pressure with my thumb would ease the pain for a while but then I went to the chemist and got some Soov. It’s for insect bits and has an antiseptic in it. So it numbs the area for a good hour or two. If you keep applying it before it wears off it really help. I hope you feel better soon. I can’t imagine how sore you must be with full feeling. I guess I was lucky it bit my numb feet. Hope this helps.

  • Mariam November 5, 2015, 11:56 am |

    Does anybody know where does the red back spider live because I’m always weeding in the garden and it’s know summer time

    • ian November 5, 2015, 1:49 pm |

      They like to live under things like outdoor chairs and tables, pot rims etc., usually a few inches to a couple of feet off the ground. They need a good flow of air to bring in their prey, so if you ever see one inside, it’s probably lost.

      They have a somewhat hard to see (very fine) web, which is a messy bunch of strands leading to the ground, but which are very strong if you push against them. Unless you actually put your fingers inside their lair, you would be unlikely to see them, but they do come out on warm nights and sit at the top of the strands of silk. If you brushed against it, you COULD get a bite, but mostly you need to accidentally squash them to get bitten.

      • BobinOz November 5, 2015, 9:20 pm |

        I’ve been here for nearly 8 years now, I’ve never actually seen a redback spider. I’ve been bitten by one, but I didn’t see him. I might have seen one once, in my house when I first moved in, but I didn’t know enough about them at that time to know for sure. I probably thought every spider was a redback spider back then.

        So I’m glad Ian answered, thanks Ian, as I have no idea where they are.

  • Peter October 8, 2015, 9:33 pm |

    Put on a pair of sneakers while on the mobile phone ready to take my 2 year old son to beach the other day and felt a bite on my foot .Thinking it was an ant so I hang up and take my sneaker off and sure enough it was a red back comes out probably male being smaller and more brown but red stipe .Well change of plans all of a sudden I didn’t feel anything till 3 or 4 hours later and a pain on my top of my foot like it as being squeezed hard on and off lasting all night apparently but having taken afew panafol a seems to relieve the pain .its now slowly going away and feeling like the pain is almost now very minute .Slight sting now and then overall so far over 3 days that’s it so far hope it’s the end of it

    • Peter October 9, 2015, 7:18 am |

      Ps 4th day and the is no pain at all except for a red dot mark on my foot where I was bitten.So overall I would say I was lucky I guess the pain was bearable that last on and off around my foot only for two days ,taken panadol helped so that it all over red rover .

      • BobinOz October 9, 2015, 8:15 pm |

        Hi Peter, glad to hear your pain has subsided, sounds like you were lucky this time. As you can see from other comments here, some people go through horrendous and long-lasting pain.

        Like yourself, I got away with it when I was bitten, but my understanding is it’s all down to how much venom these spiders pump into you when they bite, so next time one of us, or both of us, might not be so lucky. Cheers, Bob

  • Helen October 6, 2015, 2:36 pm |

    Hi everyone. This happened on October 3rd. I had gone up to the chook house to grab a garden hose. While I was carrying it on my left arm I felt a little bit of a sting. I looked down and to my horror and shock there’s a red back on my wrist. I quickly brushed it off but too late it had bitten me. I dropped the hose a little later and went in search of my partner to tell him I had been bitten. He said we should go to the hospital and I said no. He rang the poisons info line and they suggested panadol for pain, (I wasn’t having any yet) and ice pack, see how it is after about an hour. If pain starts to get worse, go to the hospital. I was ok with that. We were fixing a leaky tap when the pain started to hit. About 45 mins after the initial bit, I said we should go to the hospital. So we got changed out of our dirty work clothes and off we went, me still with the ice pack on the bite site. I have a very high threshold for pain but when it started to get worse, I was getting a bit worried. By the time we got to the hospital I was in tears. While sitting in the waiting room the pain was getting worse and I could not stop the tears. I tried waving my arm around, shaking my arm anything to try and stop the pain that was starting to travel up my arm. The area around the bite site felt sweaty and just felt totally different to the rest of my arm. Eventually the doctor took me in to A & E but then almost straight away put me in to the observation ward. The pain was getting more intense. They prepared me with the emergency cart, (apparently there is a chance of a bad reaction from the antivenom), before giving me the antivenom. Then he wanted to have a neddle in, (well that really hurt because he missed the vein at first). I’m thinking just give me the antivenom please. Finally the antivenom was given then we were informed it can take up to 2 hours to take effect. Great! Morphine was injected every 5 minutes to help with the excrutiating pain. I think the morphine just made me relax but had absolutely no effect when a bout of really really bad pain hit me in my wrist. It felt like someone was grabbing the muscle in my arm putting it in a vice and tighening it till there was nothing left to turn. I have never felt pain like it. The nerve in my back is pinched in 2 places and I have to 2 protruding disc which really hurts but not like the pain I endured for almost 7 hrs after the bite. The pain was at a point where I wanted them to take my arm off to stop it. They had taxied more anti venom in from another hospital thinking I was going to need a second dose. The doctor had told my partner that I was having a extreme reaction to the bite.They wanted to keep me in overnight but I just wanted to go home and suffer in silence in my own bed. I was allowed to go after 7 hrs but then the vomiting started on the way home. It is now Tuesday 6th October and still have pain in my wrist and now and then up my arm. We had been told there could be general pain around my body…yep got that too. My ankles, behind my knees and a little in my shoulders.I’m hoping this will eventually go away really soon….like now would be great. The bite site still comes up as a little lump on my wrist, has like some sort of small rash and has been getting itchy. I hope I NEVER have to go through anything like that ever again in my lifetime. It was horrible, scary and excrutiatingly painful for me and my partner was very worried at the time and stayed by my side the whole time.

    • BobinOz October 6, 2015, 9:27 pm |

      Wow Helen, that really is a bad reaction. Fortunately only a very small percentage have this kind of reaction, unfortunately for you, this is what has happened to you on this occasion.

      That is not to say this will always happen to you whenever you get bitten by a redback, the medical expert I spoke to on this subject explains it all here…

      https://www.bobinoz.com/blog/14799/the-redback-spider-bite-are-some-people-immune/

      I know what you’re saying about morphine as well, I was given it to ease the pain after a cruciate ligament operation and frankly it was useless. Anyway, I really hope your symptoms subside very soon and everything goes back to normal. Take care, Bob

  • Mick Oakes October 6, 2015, 7:10 am |

    I got bitten by a red back 36 hours ago. Cleaning up the garage, not being careful (I’m from Canberra and there are heaps of red backs here) and I picked up a rag it had nested in. It bit me on the finger at it was like a nail or thick pin had gone into my finger to the bone. The pain was intense. I didn’t have any severe reactions so I just applied ice to my finger and alcohol to my brain.

    The next day I felt woosy, like I’d taken an acid trip or something, today my stomach is doing dastardly things.

    My finger still hurts, the puncture mark is minimal but damn that spider got me a good one.

    • BobinOz October 6, 2015, 8:45 pm |

      Not pleasant is it Mick? The incredible thing with these tiny critters is that everybody seems to have a slightly different reaction to one of their bites. Luckily for you, you haven’t had any severe reactions as some have, so that’s a bonus.

      Doctors, of course, will advise you to drink plenty of water, but like yourself I turned to alcohol. That’s the big advantage of not having had any medical training whatsoever 🙂

      Cheers, Bob

    • Nicole December 27, 2015, 7:57 am |

      Hi Mick. I was bitten on my little finger on the 23.12.15. Swelling and burning is still intense and I have to wear a bandage because if I bump it, I would prefer to chop it off. Question is how long does it take to heal? There doesn’t seem much info on this.. Thanks

  • Peter October 2, 2015, 7:44 pm |

    About 1988 i got bitten on the thigh by an unidentified Australian spider. I flicked it off rather hastily, but remember it was smallish and black, and have to this day assumed it to be a red back. The immediate symptoms were as described above, however, after those wore off i was left with a slight numbness or a tingling sensation in the front of the thigh, where the bite occured. Kind of like pins and needles. That sensation remained there for many years until one day a few years ago i noticed it had finally gone. However, just lately, caused by an unknown colescense of factors, the numbness has returned. For one thing ive been on a diet change and detox using green smoothies. It may be possible that toxins stored long term are being released. Another thing is after a period of more intensive hiking activity, some LCL ligament strain occured in the knee of that leg, and further investigation at the chiropractor revealed that i work that leg quite a bit harder than the other leg. The numbness may hence be a result of tighness in the quads as a result of the kness issue, but after lots of massage, and rolling the knots out, it just feels not really tight but numb. Or could it be that i work that leg harder because of the numbness? So i dont know… just found this page, looking for anyone else with long term numbness or tingling sensation.

    • BobinOz October 5, 2015, 7:44 pm |

      Interesting, we’ve had many many different symptoms and reactions mentioned here in this thread, I don’t actually have a recall anyone saying tingling or numbness, but many people have spoken about symptoms returning after many years.

      What’s happening to you could be related to that bite, but it’s really difficult to say. Hopefully you have subscribed to responses on this post, because sometimes it can take a very long time before somebody else sees your comment and it relates to their own experiences. So stay tuned, somebody, somewhere may be able to throw some light on what is happening to you.

      Cheers, Bob

  • Trudy Stone September 29, 2015, 7:25 pm |

    When I was little my Dad was bitten by a Redback Spider. My Dad at the time was a strong, sporty Aussie man. He was working on the Valiant car, during our annual Gold Coast holiday. The spider was not very visible, that is why my father was bitten. Eventually, he found the Redback, yet it was plain black. He was a big strapping man, he was in a lot of pain and did have to go to the hospital to get the antivenom. His description of the bite was like yours. Like a white sweaty blister or spot, with the redness and burning. Please go to the hospital if you or anyone you know is bitten. Apply an ice pack. Do not mess around please seek medical attention.ASAP. Trudy.

    • BobinOz September 29, 2015, 11:31 pm |

      Sounds like your dad had a bad reaction to the bite, apparently that does happen sometimes. If the hospital decided to give him antivenom, then he was clearly in a bit of trouble.

      For some bites though, these reactions don’t happen and it’s probably not necessary to go to the hospital, but if anyone gets bitten and does have any concerns or worries, then the hospital is the place to go be.

      Thanks Trudy, Bob

  • Rachel Wilson August 10, 2015, 9:23 pm |

    Hi, I just yesturday got bitten by I think a redback. Felt a tickle like a bug in me but as my hands were full I carried on thinking I, ll just put these down so I can flick whatever it is off. By the time I wiped it nonchalantly away I slowly became aware if a little pain but no biggie, after I carried on cleaning the house about 10 mins into bite and I’m reaching for pain killers thinking its a weird muscular pin stabbing pain getting worse in kind of throbs. By the time my partner came home and about45 mins after the bite I was aware it was now a bite of some sort and presumed it was a green ant but they normally only deliver quick hideous punch then nothing so was starting to worry. Because I also suffer liver cirohsis I was more concerned re the venom on my liver so went to a and e. on the way the pain became INSANE!!!!! I’m not kidding , I have broken limbs , had fractures, fallen off countless horses but nothing compares to the pain I was experiencing. I have a high pain thres
    hold and it takes a lot for me to take anything but by the time we got to hospital I was screaming in agony ( very out of character). I think they gave me 5 lots of morphing but it wasn’t touching the pain just getting me very stoned but still in pain . The morphine tho seemed useless at the time I think calmed the body a tiny bit, enough to be able to get the strength for the next lot of throbbing and burning. Way into this nite mare at some point I was given anti venom which did nothing. But if offered it again under the same circumstances I’d still say yes because I suspect it may have slowed the pains rate of progression down. After that I was given a further 2 shots of morphine so , this happened at around 1 pm and I was given the antivenin at about 12midnite. I was transferred to another bigger hospital and there I think I was starting to kind of calm a bit tho still in enormous pain the throbbing had gone and I think the morphine kicked right in and put me to sleep for an ho
    ur or so .they had put a cream with a numbing agent on the bite sight wich worked a bit so I think that helped too. It’s Sunday nite now and I’m still feeling hideous because of all the pain killers and because I’m still in a substantial amount of pain but nothing like it was. We all presumed it was a red back but I didn’t see it or did I have beads of sweat I don’t think as I didn’t even look at the site that well, just saw redness like yours. I think the doctors should di this when they get bite victim… 1. If in agony give the patient something to calm them and the muscles. ( I found muscle pain really hard to deal with on top of stabbing pain plus one is so histerical in agony to different degrees that being calm I believe would enormously help the pain. )
    2. Maybe try antihistamines ( hospital strength ) before the morphine and or antivenin as I think Valium or the like, antihistamine , then if no good try the morphine and antivenin. It’s really quite frightening when you know you’ve had enough morphine to sink a ship and its barley touching the pain. Anyway I’m still a bit traumatised by it all and 24 hrs on and still can’t move my shoulder( bite site) without it throbbing a little and there’s still an ever present dull pain in the shoulder muscle. Hope that helps anyone else identify their bite.

    • BobinOz August 10, 2015, 9:46 pm |

      Wow, sounds like you really have been suffering quite badly. As you can see, there have been a lot of comments here, from memory I think there’s only about two or three people who have had this kind of reaction.

      In fact people’s reactions to redback spider bites vary enormously and if you look at the links at the bottom of my above post, you will see mention of a couple of interviews with Prof Julian White.

      He is an expert in this sort of thing, and I asked him if some people are immune to their bite and if others are more disposed to a more severe reaction. You may want to read that article, he gave a very thorough and interesting answer.

      You will probably see that it may well have been a good idea to put down what you carry on and flick that critter off. Too late now, but live and learn.

      I truly hope you make a full recovery very soon, and you really do need to cut down on your morphine usage 🙂

      Cheers, Bob

  • Thomas Kent August 10, 2015, 1:10 pm |

    Thanks Bob. These funnelwebs were rather sluggish and didn’t look aggressive. I wouldn’t advise an inexperienced person to try catching one – I am an extremely patient stalker. Be careful spraying them! Some sources say that sprays can make them more aggressive. When spraying spiders I always used the strongest spray I can get with a mixture of ingredients. I think ticks are more of a danger to be honest. The St Andrews is always listed as non-dangerous, but apparently some people can have an allergic reaction similar to a bee sting. Again, coming from NZ, I had even less experience with nasty biteys than your English readers, as there are practically no noxious insects or spiders in NZ at all and of course no snakes. I never found them worrisome. The spider that always worried me the most was the black house spider, not found in NZ when I was young. This is because they are common up north way and they like living in furniture, also of course up north people wear little clothing indoors.. But as I say, a bite from one caused me no huge problem although now that I recall, it was extremely painful for about three hours and still tender the next day.

    In my experience, you don’t find cockroaches in cold environments and never in association with ants, the ants always displace the cockroaches. Coming from NZ, I had never seen a cockroach before I arrived in Sydney. In Auckland you can get big ant infestations. I have seen a few roaches in Melbourne in old wooden houses, but never at the plague levels you get in the older parts of Sydney, where you can find really big infestations.

    • BobinOz August 10, 2015, 9:36 pm |

      Yes, we get black house spiders here in Brisbane, but I very rarely see them. That’s the beauty of professional pest control. In fact I very rarely see any spiders in my house at all these days.

      I agree also that there are far fewer cockroaches in Victoria than there are in New South Wales or Queensland, but you will come across them from time to time. They really are one of the most unpleasant critters on the planet so it’s great to hear they get beaten up by ants on a regular basis 🙂

  • Thomas Kent August 8, 2015, 11:35 am |

    Ooh, in that first comment, the rot near my friend’s eye was 2 mm, not 2 cm! It healed up fine.

    • BobinOz August 8, 2015, 8:35 pm |

      Thanks for clearing that up, 2 cm was rather scary. Easily done, I’ve got a video on YouTube about a water scorpion which I described as Australia’s biggest bug at 50 cm long.

      Obviously I should have said 50 mm. Bit hard to change a video though, so I left it as is and it probably scares the pants off some people 🙂

  • Thomas Kent August 8, 2015, 11:33 am |

    Although I would very much echo Bob in telling my British friends to not worry at all about venomous animals in Australia, it so happens I have had encounters with redback and brown snakes and also with a number of poisonous spiders.

    When I was living in Lindfield, Sydney, right next to Ku-Ring-Gai national park, we saw funnelwebs quite commonly. People reported them in their swimming pools (funnelwebs love water). Several times I caught funnelwebs in the basement and took them to the park after catching them under glass jars. I also saw a few redbacks, which I sprayed, as they live in webs and you can’t catch them.

    When living in Bellingen, Central/Northern NSW (which is one of the wettest parts of Australia), a friend was bitten by a black house spider which was living in his couch. He was bitten near the eye. It caused necrosis near the eye – a piece of flesh about 2 cm in diameter rotted away and his eye was red and weeping for about a week. I also got a small bite from a black house spider, also in my couch, which caused a small local swelling only. The fang marks were quite clear.

    There were two spiders that made me nervous – St Andrews Cross spiders in the old stables, and also a very small numerous transparent brown spider with a rather lactrodectus appearance living under the sink. I sprayed the latter.

    I also got bitten by a spider that I have never seen anything on sites or in literature about. This was a rather large spider of very lactrodectus appearance. There was a colony of about half a dozen or more living in my shower which had high windows – in other words, they liked the light and the damp. They had a strandy kind of web. Their abdomens were maybe 1 cm in diameter, glossy black with no markings. I got bitten by one. It caused a large red lump about 1 cm across. This lasted maybe 2 days but I felt rather ill for maybe 4-5 days.

    If you want to avoid the creepy-crawlies try colder states like Victoria, which still has nice beaches. And NO COCKROACHES!!!

    • BobinOz August 8, 2015, 8:33 pm |

      Sounds like you have had quite a few run ins with our eight legged friends over the years Thomas, and you’ve got the scars to prove it. I am pleased to hear though that you haven’t resorted to stamping on these critters; despite your battles, you’re still happy to catch them in a jar where you can and relocate.

      Not sure I’d feel that comfortable doing that sort of thing with a funnel-web. I think I’ve possibly only ever seen one of those in my house in my whole time here, that was in the first five weeks of my arrival and I took no chances, took him out of the game with spray.

      The St Andrews Cross Spider isn’t too scary, I’ve just checked in my handy local critter Bible and it says its bite only causes mild local pain.

      I’m not buying your ‘no cockroaches in Victoria’ theory though; they are there, no doubt about that 🙂

    • ian October 10, 2015, 7:04 pm |

      The shower spider could be a Brown Cupboard Spider, Steatoda grossa. Very few spiders in Oz have significant bites, and these are like a mild version of a Redback bite. Just one thing – in my experience they like it pitch black (maybe it’s dark in the corner with the lights out. Check out on Google Images and you will soon see.

      • David January 1, 2017, 4:54 am |

        I wouldn’t mess around trying to relocate Sydney funnel webs. They are not likely to appreciate your kindness and if you get bitten by one of these aggressive little buggers, let there be no misunderstanding, it is a life threatening situation.

        • Pip January 1, 2017, 3:53 pm |

          Easy enough to move, just pour a capful of methylated spirits down the hole, they’ll come out a bit groggy, cover with a container and take to the local collection point for anti-venom manufacture. Just put some moist soil or a wet paper towel in to keep the moisture up. Better than the kids getting one hanging onto their shoes when playing in the garden, they can bite through some pretty strong materials.

  • Howard Dengate August 1, 2015, 3:28 pm |

    Thanks for this extremely useful website about redback spider bites, better than anything official and far more useful. Can I ask your contributors if anyone has had their redback spider bite become encysted so that 11 months later they are still having symptoms? And what have they done about it?

    I was bitten on the middle finger outermost joint 11 months ago and had the burning intense pain for a day or so, then a lump arose and over the next few months that finger’s nail became very distorted and irregular. Since then, whenever I get run down (eg after a long airline flight or after overwork) then I go through a cycle of severe headaches, malaise, fatigue that seems to run for 4-5 days and then go away. The site of the bite is raised, red and stinging again through this cycle. The recurrences seem to occur about once a month on average and are not going away as I hoped they might after nearly a year.

    Coincidentally or not, I have had developed severe plantar fasciitis through this time and very sore Achilles tendons and heels at the attachment point. I have noted other reports of foot problems so this may also be related.

    Any ideas for treatment would be appreciated.

    • BobinOz August 2, 2015, 8:32 pm |

      Well, I had a touch of plantar fasciitis a couple of months ago, so I know how painful that can be. Nobody has specifically use the term ‘encysted’, but quite a few people have mentioned recurring problems that have been going on for more than a year. I know there are a lot of comments here, but if you check somewhere above you will find at least two or three people for whom a redback bite has created ongoing problems.

      If you search this page for the word ‘feet’, it does get quite a few mentions, so foot pain has been reported before. Other than that, hopefully somebody else will see your comment and if they have had a similar experience as yours, I’m sure they will let you know.

      Hope this all clears up soon for you, it’s not much fun when things like this go on and on. Cheers, Bob

    • Kelly July 9, 2017, 12:07 pm |

      Howard I know this post is two years old but if you get this notification can you please reply and can we somehow exchange details and get in touch? I am having a similar experience to what you describe and I would really like to discuss this with you. Thanks!

  • Rani June 21, 2015, 3:50 pm |

    Thanks Bob. I found this website particularly useful. I got bitten by a redback spider on the back of my hand yesterday while out in the garden. My symptoms were almost exactly the same as yours. After about two hours of increasing pain I rang Poisons Info (13 11 26 in Vic) and they suggested that it didn’t sound serious and that the best thing would be to mange the pain by taking panadol (I took Mersyndol) and applying an ice pack. More than 24 hours later the intense burning pain has subsided to a medium burning sensation and my wrist joint is particularly sore. I’m hoping that the pain completely subsides within the next day or so.

    • BobinOz June 23, 2015, 1:03 am |

      Yes, that was about what happened to me, seems we have both been lucky judging by the stories of many others here. Let’s hope there’s not a next time, but if there is, I would certainly like to be as lucky again.

      Cheers, Bob

  • Mark June 11, 2015, 7:31 pm |

    That previous post was from first thing this morning. I called Healthline and they encouraged me to go to ED within 4 hours. I did so. They discharged me and said i probably needed pain relief greater than 30mg codeine though didn’t prescribe me anything more than Panadeine Forte. Given the pain and sweating had spread to my lower legs and feet I had obviously copped a pretty nasty dose of poison. Its now 72 hours since the bite and I’m not enjoying the pain and discomfort. Sadly there is little that can be done! Like most just have to ride it out!

    • BobinOz June 12, 2015, 9:14 pm |

      Sounds like you have had a fair old dose of venom pumped in by that little critter, but if there’s anything positive you can take from this it is that at least you did not suffer a major reaction or anaphylactic shock. All you have to do now is wait for the pain to subside, I hope it goes away quickly 🙂

  • Mark June 8, 2015, 8:16 pm |

    Just bitten an hour ago on my hand. Massive red back came out of my jumper. Lots of aching pain up my arm and in lymph nodes. Feel a bit light headed and feelings of anxiety. Put ice pack on. Typing with left hand 😛

    • BobinOz June 9, 2015, 8:55 pm |

      Feeling lightheaded and anxious = see the doctor or go to emergency in my book, but how did it work out for you? How are you feeling today? Hope you are making a full recovery.

    • Mark June 11, 2015, 7:29 pm |

      Still here. Stinging/burning sensation still there around the bite. Also localised sweating which is just a weird feeling. Feeling really flat still and some throbbing up my arm. Im on a course and there is a Cardiologist and another Doctor on the same course so figure that if there was a major problem they would look after me. Its now just over 48 hours after initial bite so hoping tomorrow things will be on the up. If not might book into the Doc.

  • Lisa April 17, 2015, 1:04 am |

    November 2007 i was bitten by a redback On the shoulderblade. Luckily i felt the sting flicked the little bugger saw it land and immediately caught it. The immediate reaction is more of a sting. Within 20 mins i felt enormous pressure around my chest, and a constricting in every one of my muscles, my heart was racing and the bite site was throbbing and sweating. Not knowing side effects husband madly googling as i spoke with nurse on call it was agreed off to the hospital with the spider in a jar still alive.
    Taking a redback into emergency gets you a front row seat i found out. Ecg was performed and pain medication given. Antivenom was discussed but i felt like i could take the pain and ride it out. 6 hours later i was leaving the hospital. Sore but feeling better. Next morning i woke with sore feet. Walking was painful, my heels felt as though i were walking on the bones this lasted for more than 4 days. The sting site was red for weeks. And the racing heart still happened from time to time. For a girl who would be that one the mozzies loved to feast on at a bbq and bear the red welts all over her body, i will say from that day on i am someone who has no reaction and is no longer attractive to mosquitos So its a great repellant. It has been 8 years since then and i am now back on the hunt to chase down long term effects of a bite to a torso as my immune system has been attacking itself. Being forced to create a timeline of events to trace the immune problem signs. I had completely forgotten about the redback bite until this timeline was put together but it is seeming more significant being a year before any symptoms of immune problems. If anybody else has experienced a redback bite and suffers from autoimmune, systemic or connective tissue diseases and may have never thought to link them, i would love to hear about it. Most people and research seems to focus on limb bites, with little or no long term compromises to your system. I noticed when i read this blog that my reaction to the bite was different to a lot of people so it plays on my mind that a spider so venomous can not leave permanent damage if they hit near major organs or close to a spinal cord. If it turns mozzies off for years, it must alter your chemistry. What are your thoughts?

    • BobinOz April 17, 2015, 3:18 am |

      Hi Lisa

      We’ve had lots of people here tell us about their redback spider bites and the reactions they’ve had. Quite a few people have mentioned painful feet and from memory, I’m sure we have had one or two talk about long term effects, where they believe that years after the bite they are still having problems that they associate with the bite.

      There are a lot of comments here, but it may be worth you scanning through them to try and find those cases, you may pick up some clues. If you find any comments that interest you, I’d be happy to try and contact the posters to see if they would be okay to talk to you direct to discuss it further.

      As you say though, if it has stopped mozzies wanting your blood, it seems reasonable to assume your blood has changed. It’s then reasonable to wonder whether that has changed your immune system.

      It may also be an idea to see if your doctor can refer you to a specialist, you may already be going down that track. I know Professor Julian White in Adelaide is one of the top guys in this field, I interviewed him, there’s a link to that in the above post.

      Good luck, I hope you find answers. Bob

  • Andrew Smith April 16, 2015, 10:18 pm |

    I think I may have been bitten by a red back this afternoon.
    I had put on leather gloves to go and pull out Bathurst burrs.
    At some stage I noticed a bit of a prickle. I just thought that one of the spikes had penetrated the glove and got me. But it got a bit more irritating over time. Then I realized that it was part that was well covered by leather and not likely to have been penetrated by a spike.
    OK so I kept pulling out the weeds and slowly it turned to some serious pain.
    That was about 5 hours ago and for perhaps 4 hours it just kept getting more and more painful.
    But it seems to have turned the corner now and the pain is lessening somewhat.
    It is only really affecting a fairly small area. Perhaps a cm in diameter or so. It does hurt a bit like someone pushing a hot nail into the joint.
    There is no obvious signs of a puncture wound. And there is not a lot of swelling either.
    But it is all quite red.
    Not particularly sore under pressure. But it hurts just sitting still and the surface is sore to a light touch.
    Of course it might be something else. But we do have redbacks living in the area where the gloves are stored. And there aren’t a lot of other spiders in that area either.
    It seems that the redbacks chase the others away.
    Anyway I was already going to see the doc in the morning so I will mention it if there is anything that seems to be getting worse by then.
    Having accidentally grabbed snakes a couple of times, without being bitten, amongst other things, I suppose one’s luck has to run out some time.

    • BobinOz April 17, 2015, 2:17 am |

      Yes, it may well have been a redback. If you had localised sticky sweating at the area that would be another sign, but a dead redback in your glove would be the clincher.

      Whatever got you, sounds like you’re getting over it. You really should stop grabbing snakes though 🙂

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