A woman who thought she had a painful spot on her hand was shocked when doctors eventually found it was a venomous spider bite.
Crystal Rudd, 28, first noticed the painful pimple on her finger on March 25 and tried to pop it with a sterilised pin.
When the pain did not go away she went to A&E and was sent away with antibiotics and told to take antihistamines.
However the swelling continued and the redness in her hand was beginning to spread to her arm when her husband, Stephen, took her back to hospital.
Doctors performed a number of tests and finally revealed she had been bitten by a false widow spider, the most venomous arachnid in the UK.
Crystal said: “The pain began to become excruciating, it began to grow bigger and bigger.
"I was prescribed stronger antibiotics but the pain was so bad I couldn't bend my knuckles properly and it was too painful to look after my children.
"I had to ask my eldest - who is eight- to help me get dressed because I couldn't move my hand.
"The pain was down to my elbow, it was all around my forearm like it felt bruised and tender like I pulled a muscle.
"My finger where I was bit, it was angry red and very tight it felt like my finger was going to split open.
"It felt like my finger was going to explode."
Luckily while she was sitting in the ward waiting for help a doctor walked by and recognised the injury as a spider bite.
Crystal was rushed for surgery on April 3 where doctors cut her finger open to clean and remove the infection around the knuckle joint.
Today she still does not have full mobility of her hand but the pain has gone.
She added: “I wanted the pain to stop and I felt I wanted to cut my finger off to help as it was so tight and swollen.
"On the ward I had a doctor speak to me and he said 'that looks like a false widow spider bite'. He said he doesn't mess about and gets things done.
"He said I would have an operation, they wanted to cut from my knuckle to just past the bite to clean it and remove the infection and around the knuckle joint.
“When back on the ward I felt relief and I was glad it was done and the pain in my arm, elbow had gone.
"The next day …a nurse removed the bandage to have a look and change the dressing, I saw my finger. I felt sick and was shocked how bad it looked.
"I wouldn't want anyone to have to go through what I did being in that pain, not being able to get dressed, cook, I wasn't able to mother my children.
"I went to A&E very early on when I noticed in two days but some people may not and go for even longer than I did.
"People need to be vigilant."
