Around the third week of July this year (2009), I was bitten by something
on my back, under or through my shirt, while in my neighbor's garage. The bites were very small, about 12 in number, and clustered in an area about 1" diameter. Within a couple of days, they had swelled together into one very painful, angry-looking welt. At this point I began putting oil of oregano on it, which seemed to help somewhat with the pain. Still, it was a full two weeks before the swelling and pain had subsided enough to stop using the oil of oregano.
A couple of days later, I became aware of some pain deep in my armpit, but could not locate the source. After about 5 days, a very swollen lymph node could finally be felt. Again, I used the oil of oregano; after another 5 days or so, the swelling and pain were gone. I felt this was somehow connected with the bite(s), but thought this was the end of it.
Just a couple of days later, a sharp pain came up in my hip, making it difficult to move my leg. At the same time, I felt sharp, specific pain in my lungs. It felt like pleurisy (inflammation of the lining of the lungs) which I have had several times before. Nothing I did seemed to help the hip, nor the lungs.
A couple of weeks later, still experiencing the hip and lung pain, which were now magnified, I began having chills and a fever. I thought I had the flu.
Two weeks later with the pain still there and the chills and fever undiminished, I went to the doctor. After many tests, a round of antibiotics and steroids, a bone scan and two CT scans, all we knew for certain was what I did
not have: cancer, autoimmunne disease, flu, bacterial infection, and some viruses.
Then, my right wrist and ankle became painful and started to swell. They were both warm to the touch with a slight redness. At the same time, my vagina became very inflamed and painful. A few days later, I began to develop mouth ulcers. None of the other symptoms had improved at all.
A visit with the naturopath who performed an EDS revealed black widow venom and a virus, parainfluenza type 3. The naturopath thought perhaps the spider carried the virus, or the virus entered my body through the bite. It is now Oct. 7, and I am still experiencing all the symptoms mentioned in this post. In the last three days, I have begun taking epsom salt or Dead Sea salt baths twice a day. This has relieved a lot of the swelling in my wrist and ankle, though not as much in the vagina yet.
Has anyone ever experienced anything like this? Do you have any suggestions for me? Any help would be very appreciated. As you can imagine, 7 weeks of severe pain, fever and chills has left me rather spent.
