CFS and Brown Recluse Spider Bite

I have the EBV/CFS and recently someone asked me if I ever told my doctor about my brown recluse spider bite (it happened about 10 years ago) and I said no, not my recent doctors. She had a friend whose doctor claimed that the cause of her illnesses, autoimmune diseases was from her brown recluse spider bite.  I have just started looking this up on the internet but wanted to post here because, frankly, this forum is more informative. I am wondering if anyone has heard of this. We have all heard of Lyme disease in connection, so it makes some sense. Thanks!

[kitonthemoon]

Brown recluse bite is very toxic, that much I know.  I was bitten 3 yrs ago..when I went to ER, the doc there said, unless I passed out, dead...he didn't think anything he could do for me.  (I had ME/CFS for 12 yrs at that point in time).   Come Monday morning, I went to my regular doc..and he gave me IV packed will every vitamin he had in his office, especially vitamin C, and B.(to flush the poison out).  The swelling, black and blue, slowly went away.  I doubt there's a connection between spider bite and ME/CFS...think I will check with my doctor and get back to you on this, that is, if you haven't found a satisfactory answer to it already by then.

Lyme doesn't cause ME/CFS, I don't believe (I could be wrong)...but it has many, many similiar symtoms (symptoms) to ME/CFS if left untreated.  It could also kick start your immune system and doesn't shut down.  I haven't read Lyme directly causes ME/CFS.   I only know that many people who were dx with ME/CFS, but in reality they had Lyme, or vice versa.  Again, I could be wrong here.

Kit

[lvfrogs]

Hi Kit,
I had to get a tetanus shot and antibiotics. It was about 10 years ago, very bad, got bit on the inside of my leg.
I just know that there is a connection between Lyme and CFS. I am still learning what I can about it and the connections/treatments etc.
Someone mentioned the spider bite to me and I thought I would throw it out here to see, thanks for answering!
Colleen

[wonko]

Lyme has many symptoms overlapping with both ME/CFS.  When Lyme is not caught in early stages, the prognosis and treatment become complicated.  Some never fully recover, and live with chronic symptoms.  My Lyme doctor became interested in Lyme because he discovered some years ago that many of his CFS/ME patients actually had Lyme disease.  It takes a skilled and caring doctor to arrive at a correct diagnosis for these conditions that can hide on ordinary tests.

The IDSA, which does not believe in chronic Lyme, supports that chronic Lyme patients either never had Lyme and really do have CFS and/or ME (or some other condition), or had Lyme at some point but go on to develop "Post Lyme Syndrome," which has no cure or treatment.  Either way, they deny the benefits of long-term treatment.

A good number of chronic Lyme patients had a fibro/CFS diagnosis before or after their Lyme diagnosis.  Of course, it's tough to get hard numbers about a disease that mainstream medicine denies to exist!

There is a documentary about Lyme disease called "Under Our Skin," and it's easy to find the trailer online.  In it, you'll see and hear from Lyme patients who were misdiagnosed with fibro/CFS/MS/lupus and more.  

[mahoganyblue]

I was bitten 8 years ago & I get these blisters every year around the time I orginally got bitten by brown recluse. It took a dr three years to figure out that it was an auto immune disease caused by bite. Steroids help but a little

[lvfrogs]

So sorry to hear this! I wish that none of these awful diseases exist. How are you doing?