The Brown Recluse Spider - One Cause for Arachnophobia

I am terrified of spiders. I didn't always feel this way bout the eight-legged creatures. I even had my very own pet tarantula when I was ten years old. I named him Jaime. Ok, very odd name for a spider, but he was my pet and I carried him with me everywhere I went, crawling up one arm, over my head, and down the other arm. Now, thirty-six years later I can't even fathom the idea of having Jaime crawl all over me let alone sit in a cage. And here I live in the country, frequently yelling out for my husband, son, or daughter to come and kill a spider. So what happened? Where did this fear come from?

I was cutting the grass about a year after moving to Florida when I was bit on the far right knuckle on my right hand by a spider I didn't recognize, yet didn't get a very good look at either. It hurt badly enough for me to slap it away suddenly, then rub my hand. I didn't think much of it again until a couple hours later when I began to make dinner. My hand was so swelled up and stiff that I couldn't move it. The next morning it felt as if it was broken. The pain was absolute, and there was a bubbly type of rash forming on the spot where I had been bitten. I still figured it would be fine by the next day, but I made a doctor's appointment just in case. The following morning the bubbly rash was a dark brown, seeping mess, and a red line was running from the wound, around my wrist, and was heading up my arm. I also had no use of my right hand as it had doubled in size.

The doctor confirmed it was the bite of a Brown Recluse. She gave me two highly potent shots of antibiotics and prescriptions for more antibiotics and pain. Within two days my hand was back to normal other than a permanent scar where the skin had rotted away. From that moment on, as far as I was concerned, all spiders have the ability to maim a person like a Recluse. Even Jaime.