ok so today when I out my shoe on I felt something...took my shoe off, shook it...felt my foot and sock...nothing to explain what I felt so I put my shoe back on and went about my day. When things slowed down it started irritating me again so I took a look. It kind of looks like I have a splinter, dead center in the middle of the bottom of my foot. Only I took tweezers to it and there isn't anything to grab. It's kind of red around it, maybe the size of a dime, perhaps a bit smaller. I have to work tomorrow and I will be on my feet all day and I need it to go away! I'm wondering how to tell if it's a spider bite or a splinter or what...any advice?

It might be a spider bite. Then again...it might be a splinter.

The best thing I could suggest is to get a pan of very warm water and add some salt to it. If it's a spider bite, it'll help pull some of the toxin out of the bite and lessen the irritation.

If it's a splinter, there isn't much you can do if there is nothing to grab. You'll just have to wait until your body pushes it out on it's own.

My advice would be to just go ahead and amputate.

Sounds like your sock might have picked up a tiny shred of glass, or other nonbiological item, and it held until the pressure of your shoe shoved it in.
The shoe/foot help center, in most stores, has the little hollow circular spongy things that keep us from walking on tender spots. I used one today, and it did wonders!
Anyway, that's just to keep your pressure off of the tender spot until you identify/heal it.

Go to google.com, click images, and search spider bite.

Well, I know you won't want to hear this but, you'll probably have to dig in there just in case it's a splinter. I've had very small splinters that caused a great deal of irritation and I had to really dig in my skin to get it out. Dig until the little brown spot is gone. Then you know you got it.... Other than that, I have no other advice....I'm really sorry it's bothering you...

Actually, the salt thing is a really good idea...I would try that too...

k...so dig and soak.
And if it doesn't feel better tomorrow I'll buy one of those cushion things.
I feel like such a lame-O with this little tiny thing keeping me off of my feet!

and Lisa! OMG why would you do that to me???

Don't feel like a " lame-O ". Nothing is more irritating than having something in the bottom of your foot.

Amathyst....that Google search showed her pics of a bite from a Brown Recluse. Way to scare the bejeezus out of her...LMFAO

I wasn't trying to scare you. You need to know what it looks like so you know if you have a spider bite. Because if you do, then you need to go to the hospital if it's a poisonous bite. I'm sorry you're going through this.. :(

Well, she needs to know if that is what it is. I wasn't trying to scare her. WebMD.com may be an option too.

no worries hun, if it looked anything like those bites I would have gone to see the doc a long time ago!

Well..a lot of those bites that are shown are from a spider that she doesn't even need to worry about anyway, but I completely understand what you are saying. :-)

I just looked at the results of that search and some of them bites were probably a few days old. And some of them were fresh.

I just wanted to eliminate the possibility. Thank god that isn't what it is. Whew... I was worried when you said black spot, nothing to grab, and red all around it. But it could be a deep foreign object of some sort.

Wouldn't salt water burn??

Salt water would be itchy more than a burning sensation. I have had to do it a few times. It's not the most pleasant feeling, but it's nothing unbearable.

if it wasn't on your foot i'd suggest cuttin it open. i've had to pull wood, rocks, and glass out from under my skin

I do realize they do not have certain spiders in Alaska. lol.. But some of them could have been helpful. She doesn't think it's a bite so I'm relieved now.. lol

OUCH!

Never thought you didn't. :-)

Are there any doctors in da house?