Allergic reaction / desensitisation programme advice

[bellabee]

Hello,

I was looking for posts like this before but decided to ask again and see if I could get some more advice from you lovely people.

I have been stung only once before on the leg which turned into a small lump. Last evening a bee go into my hood and stung me on the ear, I got itchy hands and feet after five minutes and then itchy all over, then slowly turned red. My partner took me to A&E where they gave me antihistamine and watched me for six hours.

I have read about desensitisation programme, does anyone know anything about it?

Has anyone been in this situation before... Give up the bees? (Which I do not want to do)

Any help would be great.

Thank you

 

[drstitson]

yes. see your gp. tell him/her about your a&e visit. get a referral to local immunology dept for desensitisation.

BTW: it is >90% effective for bee sting allergy.

 

[psafloyd]

Do a search on desensitisation, Bellabee, and you'll find loads of threads.

Hello,

I was looking for posts like this before but decided to ask again and see if I could get some more advice from you lovely people.

I have been stung only once before on the leg which turned into a small lump. Last evening a bee go into my hood and stung me on the ear, I got itchy hands and feet after five minutes and then itchy all over, then slowly turned red. My partner took me to A&E where they gave me antihistamine and watched me for six hours.

I have read about desensitisation programme, does anyone know anything about it?

Has anyone been in this situation before... Give up the bees? (Which I do not want to do)

Any help would be great.

Thank you

 

[bellabee]

Thank you.

drstitson, wow that is a good rate (90%), I think the A&E department have refereed me, so I guess I will wait in the post. It would be a shame to give up bees just yet without trying something.

My partner did mention he would do most of the work and I could watch from a distance, I might even get an extra boiler suit under my smock to help.

We were in the brood box on a over cast day checking our brood pattern and Queen (as advised) hence our new RH is doing well and laying well, which is good. So won't, hopefully, have to be down there again for a while.

 

[bellabee]

psafloyd - thank you

 

[drstitson]

"I think the A&E department have refereed me"

extremely unlikely. hospitals rely on external rather than internal referrals for funding stream. they MAY have written to your GP to suggest but that'll be it.

approach your GP

 

[bellabee]

drstitson, ya I was just thinking about that, I think I remember them saying they would write. I will call Dr.s now and get an appointment.

Cheers

 

[Midland Beek]

I have been stung only once before on the leg which turned into a small lump. Last evening a bee go into my hood and stung me on the ear, I got itchy hands and feet after five minutes and then itchy all over, then slowly turned red. My partner took me to A&E where they gave me antihistamine and watched me for six hours.

Are not those reactions entirely within the normal range of reaction to bee sting? I mean, they are not even at the top end of that scale of 'normal reaction'.

There are lots of new beekeepers who have never met bee venom before and have no expectations of what reaction they should expect.

 

[bellabee]

Midland Beek, what should I expect? What is normal? Any insight would be helpful incase it happens again.

cheers

 

[drstitson]

"Are not those reactions entirely within the normal range of reaction to bee sting? "

midland beek - i am the first to downplay the severity of reactions and need for medical attention. HOWEVER the OP states "I got itchy hands and feet after five minutes and then itchy all over, then slowly turned red.". That is a systemic reaction NOT a severe local reaction. The next one could be worse (especially if first had little effect).

bellabee - a "normal" local reaction can range from pain for a few secs then nothing, to a small red patch for a day to a whole swollen red limb. What you had was a systemic reaction. if your first reaction was relatively minor and second worse i would seek out advice stat. the A&E visit with 6hr observation would suggest probable need for epipen Rx and referral to immunology.

 

[drstitson]

"I will call Dr.s now and get an appointment."

I'm afraid i don't see patients - not live ones anyway!!!!

 

[funfly]

Desensitisation to bee stings takes 3 years of treatment.

First injection is 10% of a single sting building up once a week to a 200% sting on week twelve.
It stays at 200% but next treatment is 4 weeks later then every 6 weeks for the rest of the term.

You would likely be given a blood test to measure your sensitive to bee venom before any treatment was offered.

Each treatment takes about 2hr as you checked before and monitored for an hour afterwards.

 

[bellabee]

drstitson, ah yes I did think it a little strange

"Are not those reactions entirely within the normal range of reaction to bee sting?"

Did not seem too normal to me unfortunately, I have a GP appointment Monday and a referral to immunology too, with the hope of getting on the programme my friend mentioned:

http://www.insectstings.co.uk/immunotherapy.shtml

Does anyone know why the reactions get worse time after time?

Thanks for your help

 

[bellabee]

funfly, thanks - have you done it?

Say in the article here:

http://www.insectstings.co.uk/immunotherapy.shtml

The types of programme:

* Rush Immunotherapy - a rapid form of treatment with injections every few hours for typically 3 to 5 days at the end of which the patient becomes desensitized

* Standard Immunotherapy - typically this is between 10 and 15 weeks with an injection offered to the patient each week

* Slow Immunotherapy - typically this happens in the event that the patient suffers a systemic response during treatment. The allergist will typically halve the next dose and then continue at a less aggressive rate than the standard immunotherapy.

I guess I am hoping for the standard 10 - 15 weeks

 

[bellabee]

drstitson, I have an appointment for Monday 10:10am and don't plan to open the hive for another week or so, thank you for your concern

What is your job?

x

 

[Adam]

I have been stung only once before on the leg which turned into a small lump. Last evening a bee go into my hood and stung me on the ear, I got itchy hands and feet after five minutes and then itchy all over, then slowly turned red. My partner took me to A&E where they gave me antihistamine and watched me for six hours.

You haven't been taking either Ibuprofen or Diclofenac have you? (both Non-steroidal Anti-inflamatory Drugs "NSAIDS" or beta blockers? I had a noticeable reaction, itchy feet, ringing in my ears and gross swelling following a bee sting, and had to have a RAST test, despite being totally immune normally. It only dawned on my later I'd had a recent bad back and taken both Ibuprofen and Diclofenac for at least a week, although I'd finished the course at least a week or two before the sting/reaction.

Adam

 

[Swarm]

Does anyone know why the reactions get worse time after time?

They don't necessarily get worse each time, I still get varying degrees of reaction. Stung on the head ....ow!! that's it. Stung on the shin ... swollen, sore and itchy for at least a week.

 

[drstitson]

"They don't necessarily get worse each time"

They do if you are unfortunate and are becoming sensitisied to them.

""Does anyone know why the reactions get worse time after time?""

if sensitive each exposure reinforces the last (like childhood vaccination programme - 3 doses of DTP to get immunity)

bellabee: pathologist

 

[Steve Dyer]

"They don't necessarily get worse each time"

They do if you are unfortunate and are becoming sensitisied to them.

""Does anyone know why the reactions get worse time after time?""

if sensitive each exposure reinforces the last (like childhood vaccination programme - 3 doses of DTP to get immunity)

bellabee: pathologist

I've said this before on some other thread. First I am not a doctor, equally I am not a pathologist either

1. If you think you are allergic, or becoming so, get an epipen - my doctor gave me two and suggested if necessary using both, one a little later than the other. If you have a serious reaction or anaphylactic shock you have very little time - perhaps four minutes. So (a) use epipen (b) Have a mobile phone with nearby savvy person on speed dial. (c) Have txt template of your current location.

2. If you go to A&E keep your beesuit on - their reaction is much faster!

3. Your reaction to a sting or stings is likely to be much worse if you are scared and panicing. If you are under unexpectedly heavy attack it pays to get away (walk) and think calming thoughts and breath steadily.

4. Reaction to bee stings varies from local to systemic, and your early (first) reactions are likely to be more painful and widespread than later ones.

5. I suspect that sometimes sting venom gets into the bloodstream and produces a wider reaction than when it is confined to a small area, but this isn't the same as a systemic reaction which is characterised by tinglings, itchings and rashes on disparate parts of the body which happen pretty quickly (minutes).

6. Allergic reactions can get worse over time, but the treatment for allergies is to give you regular small doses of venom, so the opposite can also occur. Clearly the advantage of treatment is that you take the venom under controlled circumstances.

7. Once your allergy is under control it's not a bad thing to get stung fairly regularly - reactions are always worse after a long period wthout a sting - note what your first sting of the season is like.

8. Really serious genuine allergic reactions are rare, and many give up beekeeping because the standard reaction to a bee sting can be scary. My neighbour got his first sting as a tiny dab on the chin and the left side of his head swelled up like a second head. However he is still happily beekeeping.

Hope this summary is useful.

Steve

 

[drstitson]

"First I am not a doctor, equally I am not a pathologist either "

you can't be one without the other!!!!!!