Are Bee stings hurting more this year ?

[sipa]

Don't know about anyone else, but both my partner and I both think our stings are hurting a lot more this year, or is it my imagination ?

 

[itma]

Not for me.

If your reaction is changing, be sure to always take your mobile with you to the bees - and have it in an outside pocket!

 

[madasafish]

Less.

They hurt like **** for 10 minutes , but no longer swell up and fade within 30 minutes.. Having been stung on the nose for the first time ever - 100 meters from our Assoc apiary - I was surprised how little reaction I had. Gone in under an hour.

 

[DarynWebb]

I've found they seem to hurt less

 

[drstitson]

Less - although not been stang off of a bee yet this year.

But the pappataci bites are another story.....lower legs nicely swollen with weepy wounds. awful itching at night.

 

[sipa]

Hmnn..
just been stung on the upper chest, not reacting well !

Got little lumps appearing on arms and hands, hands are itching like blazes.
Taken an antihistamine, I know it's too late but hey what the heck !

I've got an epipen for just in case, so I'll keep it handy for the next few hours.

Got to go and get my hands into something cold

 

[Vramin]

I bought a little device that sucks the venom out. It's called Aspivenin. If you use it immediately following the sting you'll see a little drop of fluid being drawn out. Blood serum i guess, but hopefully some of the venom too. I used to swell up quite badly, but if I use this pump quickly enough I react far less.

You must not use an epipen unless prescribed by the doctor having been diagnosed as reacting with anaphylactic shock in the past, and being certain that you are experiencing it. It can be very dangerous to use it otherwise. A dose of adrenaline can cause heart problems and even lead to a heart attack in certain people. DO NOT self medicate with an epipen unless you've had advice from the doctor.

 

[Queens59]

Not hurting more - but reacting as badly as I did in my first year. I had stopped reacting other than for 1/2-1hr...now back to swelling and infection...boo-hiss

 

[Insy]

Well my fat fingers always manages to squash bees and get stung in process, little red at times but apart form that I'm okay.
Am waiting for the day i get a bad reaction tho.

 

[Suzi Q]

Less - although not been stang off of a bee yet this year.

But the pappataci bites are another story.....lower legs nicely swollen with weepy wounds. awful itching at night.

Go on then, what are pappataci bites? Italian sandflies? Mossies?
There is a little speckled fly on our allotments, not mossies, I always come up in a hot and swollen lump, could they be pappataci flies?!

 

[andybeehive]

Not reacted much to stings at the time, if fact got stung and did not even know till I found the bee hanging from my fore arm.... However, I have come up in lumps 12-24 hours later which did not seem to happen last year!!

The horse flies around the apiary are 10x worse than the bees....

 

[alldigging]

Only had the first one of the season yesterday. My fault, I squished a bee.

 

[madasafish]

I regret to say I am well on my way to my annual average of around 55.. 6 stings on the ankles yesterday from a hive I AM going to RE-Queen..I've got the queen laying just now but as we are in a big nectar flow I'm waiting.

 

[einsteinagogo]

it's odd this year, I got stung on the temple (forehead), my own fault (watching the hive without a bee suit!), it was very painful at the point of being stung, (I could see stinger in my temple) but within 30mins, any pain had gone, had a slight swelling for a week.

a few weeks later (also my fault, cutting grass around the hive, not in full bee suit), I got stung in the groin, again I didn't even notice the sting, I was wearing very thin summer trousers, within 10mins the pain had gone, but it swelled up next day to quite a large area (no larger than my hand), was warm, red and, hard to touch and itched for days!!!

I'm not sure these class as bad reactions, from what I hear from others.

Just need to respect the girls better, and not be b***** stupid!

 

[drstitson]

Pappataci are sandflies - nasty quiet buggers. not at all likely on a UK allotment!

 

[Roola]

My initial pain is quite low, the day after reaction is a different story! I get proper local swelling, hot, mega itchy and a little blister at sting site. Normally lasts for 48 hours! Really hope this subsides with stings... was my third this year.

 

[Bucks_Boy]

Don't know about anyone else, but both my partner and I both think our stings are hurting a lot more this year, or is it my imagination ?

Are you just getting better ? had my first proper sting of the year last week, I had forgotten the feeling..

 

[Davidrf]

Stings

I'm like Roola: ho, what's a little old sting -only smarts a bit. Two days later, significant swelling. Yesterday was ironic. Recovered a primary swarm from 15 feet up and hived without a hitch. As it cooled down in the evening went up to the vegetable garden to pick broad beans and got stung twice on one hand by marauding loners. Kept swelling hand well concealed today when in hospital for day surgery to remove an implanted ECG recorder. Had to ask for paracetamol for the throbbing hand when being discharged, not the wound in my chest!

 

[Terry G]

Had my first sting ever last week, on the tip of my finger. One of Beauhawk's feral swarm brutes I have to say, not one of my own sweet and gentle creatures. Hurt quite a lot but after a dab of hydrocortisone cream it was like I'd never been stung. Incidentally, if you look closely at Beauhawk's bees they appear to be wearing wife-beater vests, and have tiny tattoos. Probably Northerners down here for the fine weather ;-)

 

[enrico]

It took me 28 years to stop swelling up after stings, it used to last 24 hours, now goes in a couple of hours......hooray!