Necrotic bug bite--when to seek medical attention?

[MrsCobraBubbles]

Just curious - can something with venom that toxic bite you without you feeling it? I've had several wasp stings and man, the pain was excruciating. I've also been bitten by an ant and actually expected to see blood gushing, it hurt so much.

I guess so because both times I never felt anything. Maybe I got bit in my sleep?

 

[VandVsmama]

She did.

But not before asking on the Internet if one should consult with a doctor regarding a bite, skin infection, whatever you want to call it that looked like it was becoming necrotic with black tissue. For me, that would be a "OMG, I need to get medical attention NOW."

 

[MrsCobraBubbles]

I wrote this yesterday but didn’t post. Seeing your post about not feeling well I will now post.

How do you define necrotic? I think of it as dead tissue that has a putrid smell and sometimes needs to be debrieded.

I was thinking of MRSA as well. But where would you have picked that up? (Community acquired.)

I don’t want to scare you but are you aware that there are some skin rashes associated with Covid?

https://www.msn.com/en-us/health/me...vid-19-observed-by-dermatologists/ar-BB12W9Xg
https://www.google.com/amp/s/www.cl...-in-coronavirus-diagnosis.html?outputType=amp

The doctor didn't seem to suspect MRSA, he said it was most likely an insect bite that got infected. I told him I thought it was a spider bite and he didn't really comment on that.

The necrotic part that I'm describing is the black tissue and cavity under the surface of the skin. The first bite that I had years ago turned black under my skin in an area bout the circumference of a nickel, then I was left with a cavity that could fit the tip of my finger, but this happened under the surface of my skin and you could only tell the cavity was there by the blackness that lingered for a long time and if you felt it with your finger (sorry, gross!), my skin never broke open like it did this time. This time it was significantly smaller but looked about the same in that the tissue under my wound turned purple/black like I had a really deep bruise, but that went away quickly. I'm looking at it now and it still looks gross, but it's an open crater with a big scab inside and no more black stuff (I have no idea what happened to the black tissue because it was never exposed, it just kind of went away before the blister formed) and there is a sort of hole in the center of the scab. It's not weeping or anything like that, seems to be healing nicely and the edges of the crater are still a little red but not like before and there's no more swelling. I heard about the covid toes thing but I'm not reading about it because it will probably just freak me out, but from the little I've managed to pick up about it the black patches from Covid seem to be happening more on fingers and toes due to a circulation problem, this is on the underside of my forearm, by my elbow, exactly where I might have leaned on a spider or some other bug accidentally. I can't explain why i never felt anything though.

I actually googled what a MRSA rash looks like (and I'm kind of sorry that it did because it's awful) and it doesn't look like what is on my arm and like you said, my kids and I have all been home now with only each other for a month and a half so it's extremely unlikely that I would have been exposed to that. There is a possiblility of me being exposed to other people's germs because we live in a townhouse and we share an outer door with our neighbors but I always wash/sanitize my hands after touching the shared outer door so that is unlikely as well.

 

[MrsCobraBubbles]

It’s awful. My DH had a brown recluse spider bite that went into necrotizing fasciitis and nearly lost his leg as they could not stop the spread going up his leg. One last leg saving effort was doubling both antibiotics to measures that no one should be taking. The docs were in communication with other infectious disease doctors. Horrible. They saved his leg but his calf is bad and high risk of cellulitis in that leg. He’s had cellulitis bringing him to the edge of sepsis.

My dad had MRSA so bad that they were debrieding it every other day and he had a wound vac to help. Truly horrible experience.

Don’t wish any of that on anybody.

That is terrible. I'm so sorry.

 

[MrsCobraBubbles]

But not before asking on the Internet if one should consult with a doctor regarding a bite, skin infection, whatever you want to call it that looked like it was becoming necrotic with black tissue. For me, that would be a "OMG, I need to get medical attention NOW."

In my own defense, I've had a necrotic bite in the past and didn't seek medical help for that either and I was fine. It took a long time to heal, but it eventually did on it's own. And that bite was bigger than this one. This one just did some weird things on the surface of my skin that the last bite didn't do and with everything that's going on I got freaked out about seeking medical attention and thought maybe someone on the Dis had experienced a spider bite like this before. I'm glad someone mentioned the telehealth thing because I wasn't even thinking of that and I was nervous that I would have to go to an urgent care. With everything that is happening in the world right now there is no way I would step foot in an urgent care, doctor's office, or hospital unless I thought I was dying! When you weigh risk vs. benefits bear in mind that I live in Pennsylvania and I don't think many people die from insect bites here

 

[Pea-n-Me]

The doctor didn't seem to suspect MRSA, he said it was most likely an insect bite that got infected. I told him I thought it was a spider bite and he didn't really comment on that.

The necrotic part that I'm describing is the black tissue and cavity under the surface of the skin. The first bite that I had years ago turned black under my skin in an area bout the circumference of a nickel, then I was left with a cavity that could fit the tip of my finger, but this happened under the surface of my skin and you could only tell the cavity was there by the blackness that lingered for a long time and if you felt it with your finger (sorry, gross!), my skin never broke open like it did this time. This time it was significantly smaller but looked about the same in that the tissue under my wound turned purple/black like I had a really deep bruise, but that went away quickly. I'm looking at it now and it still looks gross, but it's an open crater with a big scab inside and no more black stuff (I have no idea what happened to the black tissue because it was never exposed, it just kind of went away before the blister formed) and there is a sort of hole in the center of the scab. It's not weeping or anything like that, seems to be healing nicely and the edges of the crater are still a little red but not like before and there's no more swelling. I heard about the covid toes thing but I'm not reading about it because it will probably just freak me out, but from the little I've managed to pick up about it the black patches from Covid seem to be happening more on fingers and toes due to a circulation problem, this is on the underside of my forearm, by my elbow, exactly where I might have leaned on a spider or some other bug accidentally. I can't explain why i never felt anything though.

I actually googled what a MRSA rash looks like (and I'm kind of sorry that it did because it's awful) and it doesn't look like what is on my arm and like you said, my kids and I have all been home now with only each other for a month and a half so it's extremely unlikely that I would have been exposed to that. There is a possiblility of me being exposed to other people's germs because we live in a townhouse and we share an outer door with our neighbors but I always wash/sanitize my hands after touching the shared outer door so that is unlikely as well.

It's not just the toes if you read the articles.

 

[MrsCobraBubbles]

It's not just the toes if you read the articles.

Ugh. I don't think I wanted to know that. now I'm going to want to read the articles and probably convince myself that I have it because I'm an anxious basket case.

 

[Pea-n-Me]

Ugh. I don't think I wanted to know that. now I'm going to want to read the articles and probably convince myself that I have it because I'm an anxious basket case.

It’s probably unlikely, too, but you should have that information. Did you tell the doctor you weren’t feeling well?

 

[MrsCobraBubbles]

It’s probably unlikely, too, but you should have that information. Did you tell the doctor you weren’t feeling well?

no, at the time I thought it was anemia and unrelated to the bite. Which it could still be. I've also been struggling with a sinus/ear infection for weeks which leaves me feeling pretty run down. I have chronic sinusitis and the doctors won't usually give me antibiotics for sinus infection unless I also have a fever or the infection is triggering my asthma. I'll call my PCP's office tomorrow about the ear infection because it's getting uncomfortable and I'll just mention everything to be sure.