Medical Brown Recluse bite makes man walk again?

[Pythagorean]

coincidence or conceivable?

http://cbs13.com/local/Paraplegic.Man.Suffers.2.958151.html

 

[berkeman]

I'm guessing coincidence.

David's been relying on his wheelchair to get around. Then the spider bite. A Brown Recluse sent him to the hospital, then to rehab for eight months.

"I'm here for a spider bite. I didn't know I would end up walking," says David.

The bite was the reason he got sent to the hospital. Once there, they ran tests and started rehab for the partial paralization, and the rehab worked. Nice end to the story, for sure.

Is there some article that suggests a scientific explanation for why the spider bite may have had some effect other than giving him a reason to go to the hospital?

 

[Proton Soup]

maybe it was a radioactive spider?

 

[Pythagorean]

I'm guessing coincidence.



The bite was the reason he got sent to the hospital. Once there, they ran tests and started rehab for the partial paralization, and the rehab worked. Nice end to the story, for sure.

Is there some article that suggests a scientific explanation for why the spider bite may have had some effect other than giving him a reason to go to the hospital?

No, I was hoping there was a medical/biology guru here that could give some plausible explanations or tell us it was impossible.

My intuition is that it's just a coincidence based only on the bareness of the article. He might have just taken for granted that he was paralyzed.

 

[berkeman]

If it's real, there must be some follow-up articles. Are there no more articles or links? Sorry that I don't have time to search more on it -- important topic definitely.

 

[Pythagorean]

not finding anything, just reposts of the same article. The first article was last Friday so I'll wait and see what comes out tomorrow after the weekend.

 

[jim mcnamara]

Most of the effects secondary to Brown Recluse bites (Some other species as well) I find on a search are all negative. Some very negative, including mortality.

At this point I would second the motion: the spider bite was the motivation for going to rehab, which did have positive effects.

 

[Pythagorean]

The only update so far... he was arrested for an outstanding warrant for domestic violence.

 

[berkeman]

The only update so far... he was arrested for an outstanding warrant for domestic violence.

Oh crap. So much for your 15 minutes of fame. His daughters and the aisle thing probably not looking too good at the moment either. Sigh.

 

[dhb]

If it's real, there must be some follow-up articles. Are there no more articles or links? Sorry that I don't have time to search more on it -- important topic definitely.

Pretty sure the wheelchair lobby has already debunked this entire story as a hoax.

 

[russ_watters]

The article does not in any way imply that the bite caused the recovery. All it suggests the bite did was get him in front of a nurse who noticed his leg spasm.

I'd also call that luck, but not a coincidence. A coincidence implies the two events are unrelated. They are realted in that the bite caused him to go to the hospital and get examined.

In a similar stroke of luck, Natasha Richardson's death probably saved a little girl's life by educating her parents about her injury: http://www.cnn.com/2009/HEALTH/03/26/head.injury.emergency/index.html

 

[berkeman]

In a similar stroke of luck, Natasha Richardson's death probably saved a little girl's life by educating her parents about her injury: http://www.cnn.com/2009/HEALTH/03/26/head.injury.emergency/index.html

Thanks for the link, Russ. It has a good summary of the things to watch out for following a hit on the head. Yeah, 1-2 days later is not uncommon for the person to tank from a subdural hematoma.

In addition to the symptoms listed in that article, if you are able to take vitals on a person that you suspect of having a bleed in the brain, you can watch for signs of Cushing's Triad:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cushing's_triad

The signs are decreased heart rate, increased blood pressure, and irregular breathing. You might be able to trend the person and catch the problem before it gets far enough along to where they are starting to tank. This might have helped the parents in the article to gain a little more time, if they were able to keep checking her vitals periodically. Glad that she's okay now.

I worked on four head injury patients last weekend on an EMT shift. Sent two to the hospital in ambulances, and handed out two head injury forms (that list the signs and symptoms to look for) to two other patients. It was a pretty athletic event that I was working, but the number of injuries was still a bit unusual for it.