EUREKA SPRINGS -- (Editor's note: This is the final part of a three-part series. The first two parts were published in the Sept. 11 and Sept. 18 Citizen. The first part covered habits of the brown recluse spider, bite symptoms, allopathic treatment and how to minimize chances of getting bitten. The second part addressed treating bites with a stun gun.)

Alternative remedy failure

For one man, DonE Allen, alternative remedies did not work on his recent brown recluse bite, and he suffered severe necrosis which required surgery.

Allen is a man who eats healthy, does not smoke and gets regular exercise by working outdoors as a gardener for the Eureka Springs Parks Department.

He did not know about the stun gun but said he tried several alternative remedies for a bite which occurred on his lower leg while gardening.

He waited several days to go to the doctor because he kept hoping the treatments would work.

The remedies

On the advice of several local friends who had used alternative remedies with success, he tried cayenne pepper, charcoal, plantain salve, lavender oil, Vitamin C and black salve, among others.

Interestingly, Boggus said she has also used cayenne pepper mixed in honey, but with success.

"You name it, I tried it," Allen said. "Nothing worked, and the wound kept getting larger and larger. My skin turned black and flesh began sloughing off."

Getting medical help

He said he went to three doctors for help, and they wouldn't help him. One sent him away with blood and pus running down his leg.

Allen eventually went to the Mercy Wound Care Center in Rogers, where they did help him. Dr. William Swindell treated the wound by cutting away the necrotic flesh, packing and bandaging it. Allen was given antibiotics. Eventually his bite began to heal, but not before he went through a horrible ordeal where for a time he couldn't walk.

"You have to debride the dead tissue," said Dr. Swindell. "Sometimes you have to keep working to get that out of there. There are different debriders, some enzymatic."

Allen said he told Dr. Swindell about all the alternative remedies he had used. The doctor was sympathetic and open-minded but used allopathic methods to treat the wound.

Secondary infection

Both Swindell and Abrams note that secondary infection from staph or other bacteria can cause major problems in brown recluse bites.

"There are all kinds of bacteria on the skin," Swindell said. "Anytime there's a break in the skin, bacteria can get inside."

He said with a recluse bite that necroses, the immune system is affected because the tissue is dead, so there's no blood flow to the area to heal it.

"Brown recluse bites don't typically cause a systemic reaction, but secondary infection -- staph -- can cause that."

That is what antibiotics treat, he said.

He said he does not use steroids. Some doctors will give steroids if there is severe swelling, but steroids can aggravate the risk of infection, he said.

There are so many factors in the severity and reaction of a patient to a brown recluse bite that what works for one person may not work for the next.

People are advised to get to a doctor well-versed in treating these bites if alternative treatments are not showing visible success within several hours or symptoms are worsening.

Plantain -- a common weed

Remedies include plantain (not the banana-like fruit), a "weed" that commonly grows in dirt driveways and at the edge of a lawn. Plantain has two forms: broadleaf and longleaf. It is well-known among herbal healers for all kinds of skin conditions. It is also used on rashes and other kinds of bites and stings.

According to one local practitioner, plantain should be mashed and applied directly to the bite, with a loose bandage over it, and changed several times a day. The plant draws the poison to the surface and prevents necrosis, helping the bite heal with only a small scar or even no scar.

Other remedies

Other remedies reported to this author to have worked on venomous bites (including snakebite) include cayenne pepper and honey, bentonite or montmorillonite clay, fresh garlic clove, MMS, colloidal silver, Miracle II, ice packs and homeopathic remedies.

Another doctor, Kenneth Burton, has reported success with using a nitroglycerine patch on brown recluse bites. His article can be found at geocities.com/Yosemite/Forest/2021/recluse/intro.html.

For more information on brown recluse bite treatments, including alternative remedies, these Web sites may be helpful: spiderbitetreatment.com and eytonsearth.org/brown-recluse-bite-clay.html

(Editor's note: For the author's own experiences with brown recluse bites and alternative treatments, see Kate Lucariello's blog, "Anomalies," on carrollconews.com.