I hope you are not allergic to them!

Last summer, I was deadheading a huge 'Graham Thomas' rose close to a birdhouse. Little did I know wasps had moved into the birdhouse and set up a nest. They were not happy with me so close to the nest and stung me 5-6 times on the top of my head before I knew what happened. Hurt like a sonofagun......thought my head was on fire! After suffering through a whopping headache for a couple of hours, there were no ill-effects. But I dispatched the wasps and the nest pretty darn fast!

OUCH!!

Did the sting get anywhere the eyeball? If so, I'd rinse the eye thoroughly with saline just in case something got in there (never know - always better to be on the safe side).

I would go insane if a bug landed on my eye - ugh, and if I could feel it pinching my eye?!! LOL, I would have slapped my own face so hard it would have hurt more than any sting. Oh yuck - did it land on the eyeball or your eyelid? Sorry, just morbidly interested!

I also hope you are not allergic. I think I got stung once - I never saw anything actually land on me but suddenly had severe pain in my finger, and I think it was a sting. They do indeed hurt.

Most likely whatever your nemesis was it did not attack but just randomly landed there. I bump into bees and bugs all the time (or they bump into me) but luckily haven't been stung, other than that one time.

Dee

If it is any consolation, if it was a honeybee it died. The barb on the stinger that is imbedded in the sting-ee's skin takes the bees innards with it.

If it was a honeybee I agree it was an accident. They are not easily provoked. A wasp on the other hand.....don't you think if it was a wasp you'd have been stung more than once?

I had a honeybee fly into my hair and couldn't get out. In its desparation it stung me, though I kept my hands away. That's what you get working around bees without a veil.

Marie

"...The barb on the stinger that is imbedded in the sting-ee's skin takes the bees innards with it...."

the bee's INNARDS????

Ugh, Marie, did you have to put it that way, lol? Now I will definitely try to avoid being stung. I knew the stinger stayed, but the bee's innards.... blech!!

I will think twice tomorrow when I take my daily walk on the narrow garden path that is completely overgrown with agastache, which you can hear humming from twenty feet away. Usually I just squeeze by, thinking that the bees are MUCH more interested in the hyssop than in me, but now I will have innards on my mind...

:)
Dee

Thanks All!

First thing I did was run inside and look for a stinger. Since it was on the eyelid area I had to have my family look as I need glasses to see up close now and I could not see the eye well enough to see one. :c( No stinger was found. I wanted to look for the stinger first since I have seen on tv that the stinger not only has the venom sack attached, but it actually pulses!

I have no idea what it was. I heard a loud buzz, almost too loud to be a honey bee. As far as gauging the size by how it felt on my eyelids I would say that is impossible. I thought it was huge! LOL I must have had fast reflexes in closing the eye as I never saw it coming, only heard it.

This got me thinking though. I will not fear the bees that are on my plants at all, but I just stated making a dry stack rock wall the other day with a pallet of rocks that have been sitting for 3 years. I did not see any bee/wasp activity, but I am sure going to be on the lookout for some now while I take the rocks from the pallet.

The eye is all swollen. I put ice on it right away and left it on for hours. When I had the ice off for more that 30 seconds it started hurting just as bad as it did when I got stung. Took about 5 hours for it to stop hurting.

Try Benedryl if you get stung, helps with mild allergic reactions, although sounds like yours is a more severe.

Okay, this thread is getting grosser by the minute, lol! The stinger PULSES? Yuck. And Ken, you actually got stung on the EYE? I must have misread your original post - I thought you got stung on your HAND when you swatted the bug away. Ugh!

I second the Benedryl suggestion. Gee, I hope everything turns out okay for you and it stops hurting for good. And yes, I think bees on flowers are otherwise occupied, but you do have to watch for stinging insects in cavities (woodpiles, rock piles or walls, etc.) But I'm sure I don't have to tell you, lol - from now on you'll likely be more careful. I was never respectful of poison ivy until one year I actually had a reaction to it. Now I'm much more careful. Live and learn, I guess.

Feel better soon!
:)
Dee

only honey bees leave a stinger & other body parts, other bees can sting more then once because the stinger stays attached.
Sorry to hear you got stung, some hornets/wasps are aggressive.

OUCH! Hope you are doing better today.

I have gotten stung twice this year, which normally never happens. Lately I have noticed that there seem to be a lot of bees lying on the ground. It is like they can't lift off, and are left floundering around on the ground. I always try to save bees from birdbaths and such (though I take perverted pleasure out of killing wasps), and have helped many a bee find its way to a flower from the dirt this year. I wonder if any of you know why I am finding bees on the ground? Just temporary loss the energy?

Needless to say this is a bad situation, especially since I have the habit of going around the garden barefoot, lol.
CMK

I was stung on the tip of my nose. I didn't know skin could stretch as much as my face swelled. Googled bee stings and read that stings near the mouth etc could effect breathing.

It was a Sunday so I went to the emergency room - I looked so horrible that other patients suggested to the staff that they take me first. People would walk past and then walk backwards to take a second look. Turns out I'm allergic. I NEVER USED to be afraid of bees.

You guys that have had an allergic reaction to a sting should get an Epi-Pen ASAP and have it in a readily accessible place at all times. **IT CAN SAVE YOUR LIFE**.

From what I understand, each time a person gets stung the reaction gets worse - so the next time could be fatal.

Don't mean to be doom and gloom, but allergies to stings are nothing to fool around with.

Ask the M.D. for a Rx for Epi-Pen - they're not expensive and **CAN SAVE YOUR LIFE**.

Yup, you should be very careful with bee stings! I once cared for a child that was allergic to bee stings and was stung on her face. She turned out to be ok but her Mom was quick with the Epi pen.

I got stung this year for the first time also, picking up a potted plant, felt something crawl onto my thumb, saw a flash of yellow, and then dropped the plant all over the driveway when it stung me!

Within an hour it had stopped hurting and it didn't swell much. I'm guessing a yellow jacket. At least I know I'm not allergic now! :D

Ken,

I'm truly hoping that your eye is better. Definitely not something nice to go through.

I got stung a couple of years ago by hornets which had made a nest close to a leaf mold pile. I was retrieving some leaf mold when I stepped into their nest. The end result was 14 stings on my legs from the knees to the ankles. Couldn't walk for two days...

I can only imagine how painful it must have been around the eye. Again, I hope that you are recovering well. :O)

Ouch! The face sounds like a very painful spot to get stung!

I've never been stung in the gardens, but I've been stung twice out in the wild back area. Both time I was cutting down invasive plants, and stumbled across Yellow Jacket nests. They get angry when you disturb their nests!

2 years ago I was chopping out Barberry, which is punishment enough, and handling the prickly branches I didn't even notice the Yellow Jackets stinging the tops of my hands through the Mud gloves. The right hand was worse and swelled up like a balloon. Benadryl helped to reduce the swelling.

The other time they stung my arms and legs 4-5 times - it was a bit painful but fortunately not much swelling.

I second the Epi Pin suggestion. It is cheap insurance. I'd rather have one and not need it, than need it and not have it.

Hope your eye is better! Stings hurt. I have been stung by a wasp once. I sat down on a chair and didn't notice he was already sitting there. Got me on my back. It wasn't bad at all where he got me, but on the eye...Yow!

Mom was stung by a wasp on her throat and swelled similarly to the ER story above. I think anywhere on your head is rough.

I had never heard of this before either...hpwever, my poor 5 year old was out playing in the yard earlier inhe summer and one of the big huge bees stung her.
She said she was coming around the corning and it just flew right into her face, getting tangled into her hair.
She started screaming trying to get it away from her face, and it stung her on the cheek.

She hasn't been back outside by herself all summer...and if she even sees a bee it's back in the house she comes!
I feel so bad for her, no amount of talking to her has calmed her nerves about bees.

Thanks everyone. All is back to normal, took about 30 hours or so.

Cannadoit, sorry to hear your daughter is still afraid to go out! I remember getting stung when I was young and being afraid to go out for a bit.

Ken

I'm not discouraging anyone from getting an epi-pen, but let's distinguish between a local reaction and systemic reaction to bee stings. Local swelling, itching, burning where one is stung is a healthy immune system's response: the body's cells are releasing histimines. Get stinger out, if there's one, take some benedryl or any anti-histimine, and ice it.

Now,if your throat begins to feel tight and you have difficulty breathing, you are having a systemic reaction so get the epi-pen out and get to the hospital. If the limb where you are stung swells up to twice its normal size, I'd take the anti-histimine first, observe carefully, and go to the doctor. The doctor can help you decide whether you should keep an epi-pen on hand.

Not everyone's allergic reactions get worse when they are stung. I've been several times by my bees (always my fault) and the reaction is the same; it has never gotten more serious.

But something different must have stung me the other day because my hand was twice as big as normal. There was no visible site of a sting. After a couple of doses of anti-histimine it rapidly improved.

Marie

You're right Idabean - BUT how can one "get the Epi-Pen out and get to a hospital" if one does not have the Epi-Pen?

Someone above said it well - an Epi-Pen is cheap insurance, better to have one and never use it than need it and not have it. :0)

logic, smogic! I was presuming the stingee already knew she was allergic and already has the pen.
Common sense tells me if there's trouble developing breathing call 911 and see if you can get to the benedryl!

Did someone say you need a prescription for an epi-pen? Does the dr. do an allergy test or rely on the pt's reporting, assuming the patient doesn't come in through the emergency department?

My goodness, I bet we are scaring the bees out of people! I work with two hives and well over 120,000 bees. If I get stung it is always my hurrying and carelessness. But accidents happen. I'm far more scared of wasps which have chased me, too, across the yard into my house. They are nasty b....ds.

Idabean is correct. Since an Epipen is a syringe, it is doctor prescribed. Allergic reactions almost always get worse with repeated exposure. The first time you're stung, it is highly unlikely that you will experience a life threatening reaction but it will be apparent that you have a sensitivity beyond the nornal response.

You do need to be tested to ensure that an Epipen is warranted.

Eigdeh, glad you're ok.
i would have been terrified.

Yep, Epi-Pen is prescription only. I wouldn't say "testing" is in order, though. I had a systemic reaction to a shot once and ended up in the E.R. Doc gave me a Rx for Epi-Pen, no "testing" was done to demonstrate that my symptoms were due to an adverse reaction. I also have a severe allergy to cashews - again, no testing was ever done, but it's OBVIOUS I have an immediate, strong adverse reaction to cashews - lips swell to gargantuan size (man, that HURTS), and my throat starts to swell/close up.

Anyway, we can needlessly debate the technicalities of what symptoms warrant getting an Epi-Pen 'till the bees fly back to the hive - in a nutshell, if one thinks there is a problem with stings (or anything else for that matter), talk to the doctor to see if an Epi-Pen is warranted :0)

Agree that we're scaring people about bees LOL! Bees have never bothered me, I've never been stung, they couldn't care less about me when they have all those luscious flowers to collect from! Agree wasps are scarier - I back away if wasps/hornet comes near me.

IdaBean: "Logic/smogic" - LOL!!

You called me on that one. Have my "nitpicky technicality" hat on of late because I'm studying for a credentialing exam - you know, where one minute, easily overlooked detail in the whole described scenario can change the treatment recommendation - BAH! Sorry if I've irritated anyone by my replies....

Well, everyone, I think we got the message out- at least on this forum.
Marie