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Tx for only a few days won't cause adrenal or immunosuppression but perhaps goodbobby is the one who knows what Tx he has been prescribed.
 
Seemingly its a very cheap drug (see CKS link above).

Prescribing it would be massively cheaper than a course of desensitising injections. (Though, heaven forfend, that wouldn't play any part in clinical decision-making, would it?)



But taking a course of steroids whenever you get a sting, or having an injection (eventually) just every couple of years ... I know which option I'd be more worried about.
 
predisalone makes you grumpy??? now I know what my other halves problem was - nothing to do with the brain tumor just the madness pills the doctor was giving him! Thankfully one of the ones he strangely doesnt need any more.
 
Blimey
I did not think that my first question on this forum would open such a can of worms.
I may consider using my friends garden but only if I have a backup apiary site that i could use just in case things go wrong.
At least I have the winter to find somewhere as I was looking to start next year.
By the way how do you move a hive.
Is it a case of blocking them in after the days foraging in the evening,strapping the hive together and moving it complete even if it has supers on.
When a hive is moved to another location will the bees return to the old site or come back to the hive in its new location.
Thanks
 
Daveq
Yes, block up the entrance and strap it VERY well together and it can be moved. I state VERY due to a close shave when I moved one. I thought it was tightly strapped and it wasn't. I was lucky, none escaped but it was close and scarey.

The rule of 3 feet or three miles should be applied. I have moved mine slightly less than the 3 miles (about 2 miles) and they seemed happy with their new home, but I may have been lucky there as well.
 
Blimey
I did not think that my first question on this forum would open such a can of worms.
I may consider using my friends garden but only if I have a backup apiary site that i could use just in case things go wrong.
At least I have the winter to find somewhere as I was looking to start next year.
By the way how do you move a hive.
Is it a case of blocking them in after the days foraging in the evening,strapping the hive together and moving it complete even if it has supers on.
When a hive is moved to another location will the bees return to the old site or come back to the hive in its new location.
Thanks

The rule of thumb is that you can move a hive 3 feet (or less) or 3 miles (or more) - not in between.
But its a guide, not a law of nature.
There's a thread here somewhere about how you can get away with less than 3 miles if the environment is different as far as the bees are concerned.

The problem with moving them 100 yards is that they'll just go 'home' - back to their old site.
If you want to go 100 yards, you have to do it either a yard (or less) at a time, or take them more than "3 miles" away for a while (3 weeks/a month? - think of the flying life of a worker) before moving the 3 miles (or whatever) back to the new site.
And at the other end of the scale, you can get away with bigger/more frequent moves, if they are moving the hive backwards/forwards (re the entrance) rather than making a sidestep. The bees navigate down an approach path and are so precise that they will miss the hive if its been moved aside!

Have you joined a group, or signed up for a course? (Both essential IMHO if you have any thoughts of starting in a garden ...) The club may well have a site that your bees could go to for a holiday (an "out-apiary").
 
Thanks
For your answers.
I am going to join my local BKA and get on a course.
They run them after christmas.
Also if you purchase a nuc of bees from a local keeper should they also come from over three miles away.
 
...
Also if you purchase a nuc of bees from a local keeper should they also come from over three miles away.
It applies to the flying bees of any colony ... !

But as I indicated "3 miles" is a guideline. Over that no problem. Less than that and its not absolutely guaranteed that there will not be some returners.
But there are exceptions, like with a 'new' swarm, or during the winter (when the bees aren't active) ...
 
prednisalone

Tx for only a few days won't cause adrenal or immunosuppression but perhaps goodbobby is the one who knows what Tx he has been prescribed.
CORRECT Erichalfbee....I have been prescribed 25mg a day (a prescription of 5 days)to be taken ONLY in the event of a serious swelling and to cease as soon as the swelling abates. I think a Senior Consultant Immunologist has probably some considerable experience of bee-sting problems. Also I saw him privately so the earlier remark hinting about drug costs coming into play in his decision making is somewhat fatuous /FONT]!Al
 
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I think a Senior Consultant Immunologist has probably some considerable experience of bee-sting problems. Also I saw him privately so the earlier remark hinting about drug costs coming into play in his decision making is somewhat fatuous

Absolutely agree....it wasn't my remark.
People shy of steroids for some silly reason whereas properly prescribed and taken they are life savers
 
Nice discussion about steroids epipens and emergency first aid et al; but the OP just asked for some pointers on keeping bees in his back garden. I don't agree with the 'you're a total nutter for even thinking about it' line of thought but let's get back to listing the pro's and cons in an objective way so he can make a measured decision (obviously the apiguard has now worn off with the help of a BSG of courage best! - that's British standard gallon for you metric fans and not to be confused with the American type:))
 
How qualified are you to say he is dying?

My doctor told me NOT to use MY Epipen on ANYONE even if i thought they were dying. His words not mine. So if thats what an expert has to say about them, who am i to argue.

That is different to what my doctor told me - so which "expert" is right.

If someone is in trouble, we call 999, are told emergency services are 10 mins away so we should use the epipen we would. What absolute nutters eh.
 
well, if I was in the situation where someone was dying, and the ambulance was on way, but going to be ages, I'd speak to paramedic for their advice, before using an epipen, just my 2p worth

That sounds like the words of a responsible person, not a nutter.

"good samaritan kills little timmy with epipen", yet anothe Daily Mail headline.

Did you know in some countries it is ILLEGAL to stand by and watch someone die if there is something you could possibly do to save their lives. What absolute nutters.
 
Oh FFS!!!!!

NO - Short pulse of steroids (even high dose) DOES NOT require steroid card carriage - that is for those on regular long term (even small) doses as the adrenal suppression is the problem.

YES - steroids may cause interesting psychiatric side effects. Not necessarily dose related or related to duration of treatment. different people respond differently. Some react to small doses. some go up bonkers, some down.

If one did take 25mg for 5 days for a sting most people would be a bit hyper and eat more than normal.

No significant long term problems with short pulses though.

BTW prednisolone is dirt cheap - until the pharmacist adds their mark up to the private 'scrip'.
 
{cross-posted - will try to deal with later - after the parent's Doctor's appointment}

Goodbobby, you have misunderstood me.

The NHS page I linked http://www.cks.nhs.uk/insect_bites_...rt_course_of_oral_prednisolone_adults#-260440 shows an "NHS cost" of no more than £1.84 per course of these pills.

From what I have seen myself, I know this to be a distinctly potent but unfortunately high-risk medication.
It is simply not in the same league as anything you are likely to have in the medicine cabinet.
And its something you should be particularly cautious about using repeatedly within months - so, how often might you be stung?
But it is 'cheap as chips'.

Please read the "Patient Information Leaflet" in your pack - its meant to be read by all patients - and you wouldn't want to only be reading it after you were 'in trouble' with a sting.
Please read it and consider all the warnings.

Particularly if you are paying for the treatment, I would urge you to make enquiries about safer alternatives - specifically including a desensitisation course.




Its not "some silly reason" to quote from the official authorisation notes for the drug.
Repeat link http://www.medicines.org.uk/EMC/medicine/19308/SPC/Deltacortril+Gastro-resistant+Tablets/
At section 4.4 you will find -
Patients/ and or carers should be warned that potentially severe psychiatric adverse reactions may occur with systemic steroids (see section 4.8). Symptoms typically emerge within a few days or weeks of starting the treatment. Risks may be higher with high doses/ systemic exposure (see also section 4.5 pharmacokinetic interactions that can increase the risk of side effects), although dose levels do not allow prediction of the onset, type, severity or duration of reactions.
That says you can get "severe psychiatric adverse reactions" within a few days of use, and that, contrary to Erichalfbee's previous assertion, the chance of these side-effects does not depend on the dosage level.
And it says that you should have been warned about them.

Were you, as a patient, given those warnings that you should have been given?

I'm *not* forcing *my* opinions on anyone.
I'm simply trying to help you by urging you to read and consider the warnings legally required to be supplied with your drug.
And to read them ASAP - certainly before you are stung again.

But even that is entirely up to you, and whether you can be bothered to take any interest in the potential side-effects of the drug that you have been given.


I do know and appreciate that this drug can indeed be a lifesaver.
And that it has a very nasty range of potential side-effects.
Such that I'm surprised it would be used, unless really needed as a lifesaver.
Here this drug seems to be recommended only "If generalized urticaria occurs, but the person is otherwise well" http://www.cks.nhs.uk/insect_bites_..._course_of_oral_prednisolone_adults#255093006
A bit of a sledgehammer for a skin rash? Does a rash need "a lifesaver"?


A desensitisation course simply does not seem to have a similar "downside risk", and would not require powerful drugs after each sting.
 
Absolutely agree....it wasn't my remark.
People shy of steroids for some silly reason whereas properly prescribed and taken they are life savers

Where used as lifesavers, many people would have no problem. But they are also used to treat chronic conditions and people like my other half are 'shy' of them because she has concerns over their long term use and doctors rarely explain the consequences or listen to those who don't accept their advice without asking for clarification of anything they do not understand.
 
hi dave i have 8 on a large flat garage roof no problem i would do what some else said have a back up plan just in case you get some feisty ones where they requeen then you have problems and you have to move them asap cheers countryman
 

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