A Woman Injected Crushed Black Widow To Get High, And It Was A Very Bad Trip

A woman who crushed up a whole black widow spider and injected it in an effort to get high in the 1990s ended up having a very bad time when the arachnid’s venom kicked in. The unpleasant trip saw her spend a few days in the intensive care unit (ICU) with breathing difficulties, muscle cramping, and possible anaphylaxis.

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The unusual case was reported by doctors in California in a 1996 correspondence in the Annals of Emergency Medicine, detailing the events following a 37-year-old woman’s decision to inject a mixture of crushed-up whole black widow spider and 10 milliliters of distilled water. 

She would later tell doctors that the injection was intended to get her high, but instead, she ended up at the emergency department with severe muscle cramps an hour later.

The cramping was the worst in her abdomen, thighs, and back, and came with an unsettling side order of headaches and anxiety. Upon examination, her heart rate and blood pressure were skyrocketing at 188 beats per minute and 188/108 mm Hg, respectively (a healthy blood pressure is around 120/80 mm Hg).

Her extreme pain was treated with morphine, but she soon began experiencing breathing difficulties and was subsequently admitted to the ICU, requiring several treatments to help her breathe over a few days. The corresponding doctors report that bronchial smooth muscle contraction was in part to blame for her breathing difficulty, possibly brought on by the large quantities of black widow venom that would’ve entered her system when she injected the crushed-up arachnid.

Black widow venom is 15 times more powerful than that of a rattlesnake, making it very dangerous, but these spiders only envenomate when threatened (which raises questions about all the penis bites). They are perfectly safe if left well alone, but if you grind one up and inject it, evidently, you’re going to have a bad time. 

Most healthy adults will feel unwell and experience some pain but eventually recover, like this trio of aspiring spider-men who tried to gain superpowers by goading a black widow into biting them. However, for young children, the elderly, or people with pre-existing conditions, the bite can sometimes prove fatal.

Doctors treating the woman who injected the crushed-up back widow concoction also theorized that a protein within the spider’s anatomy may have triggered an allergic reaction that could explain some of her severe symptoms. Whether it was the venom or something else isn’t known, but it may have triggered her pre-existing asthma, leading to considerable difficulty breathing.

Fortunately, the traumatic event had a happy ending as the woman recovered from her symptoms and was reportedly in good health during a check-up one month on. 

Humans and other animals have a rich history of seeking nirvana from natural products, but this case serves as a stark reminder that not all natural substances are meant for human experimentation. Black widow venom, in particular, is not to be messed with, and attempting to harness it for a high is evidently a shortcut to serious pain rather than enlightenment.

An earlier version of this article was published in April 2023.