pbh4
House Bee
- Joined
- Sep 2, 2010
- Messages
- 172
- Reaction score
- 1
- Location
- Hinckley, Leicestershire
- Hive Type
- National
- Number of Hives
- 0
What a 24 hours! Yesterday evening I went off to inspect my 5 colonies on two different sites. I have had little chance to visit them in the wet weather so I expected to find a few problems and there were indeed plenty!
I ended up going to my out-apiary, a remote allotment site, at about 9pm. By the time I got to my last colony, a P****s poly nuc split from one of my own hives in an AS, it was getting dark but as my plan was just to transfer them into a full sized BB and I thought it should be a quick job I carried on. Problem was they turned out to be queenless - even in the dying light I saw three beautiful big QCs - and they were really ratty. They went for me big time and because I was wearing a T-shirt under the bee suit I took about 20 stings to my forearms.
The first I knew there was something really wrong was when I noticed a tingling in both feet. Then I realised I was really sweaty - not just because it was hot. Then a general feeling of unwellness. I hastily covered the hives, grabbed my beekeeping equipment and rushed back to the car. By this time my vision was fading and I was feeling quite faint. I should have phoned 999 from the allotment but my mobile was safely inside the beesuit and there were still a hundred or so angry bees following me on the outside. I knew if I collapsed there I would not be found for possibly days so I decided to try to drive home - only a mile or so through town. The roads were very quiet. I suppose if I had passed out and crashed at least someone would have found me and called an ambulance and they might have put 2 and 2 together (unconscious man in bee suit with a dozen bees still buzzing round the car). It was crazy and irresponsible to drive in the state I was in, though in my defence, I was not exactly thinking straight, and in the event I make it home. As I pulled onto our drive I felt really nauseous. It took a massive effort to drag myself out of the car to the side door. I knew I had to get the bee suit off - still a handful of bees on the outside though they were calmer now - but I really did not know if I would have the strength to get out of the suit before I passed out so I rang the door bell so at least someone would find me on the floor! Even reaching for the bell took superhuman effort. I was mostly out of the suit when my wife arrived at the door. I just said "I have taken a lot of stings and I feel really unwell. I must have looked a sight because she took it really seriously.
My wife is a really wonderful, dedicated GP and you could not want any one better in an emergency. She tells me I was cold and clammy and had no peripheral pulse. She lay me on the kitchen floor and phoned 999 immediately. I heard her explain that this was a life threatening emergency but according to the 999 triage system I was low priority so they sent a paramedic car. By the time he arrived I was throwing up and shaking violently. He administered adrenaline and probably kept me alive. The ambulance finally arrived after an hour and a half. Hinckley only has one dedicated ambulance and they are just in the process of scrapping it so we will rely totally on the service from Leicester or Nuneaton. I dread to think how low the standards will get and how many will die.
I spent the night in the Leicester Royal Infirmary with a racing pulse and low blood pressure. I think I had three lots of adrenaline in total, along with steroids and chlorphenamine (Piriton). They monitored me on A&E until about 3:30 this morning when they decided I was stable enough to go to a ward. I was sent home this morning with an epipen and a referral to the allergy clinic.
I had a long discussion with an excellent A&E consultant at the ward round this morning. He does not think I had an anaphylactic response, to bee venom, rather a normal, though still potentially fatal, immune system response to a large dose of venom. If I had had those symptoms with a single sting it would have been anaphlaxis. Fortunately I never had any difficulty breathing though my tongue was a little bit swollen. The difference is, I can avoid 20 stings in the future (long sleeves!) but not the odd sting. This might not be the end of beekeeping for me though it is in the short term - until I have seen the allergy clinc!
The funny thing is that we are due to go to Italy for a holiday on a bee farm in 3 weeks time and I have not sorted out insurance yet! They don't actually keep bees at the farm because the farmers wife is allergic to bee stings (goats instead) so it might be okay.
Learn from my mistakes:
As I type this, the itching is starting. Arghh ... Picture from last night:
Paul
I ended up going to my out-apiary, a remote allotment site, at about 9pm. By the time I got to my last colony, a P****s poly nuc split from one of my own hives in an AS, it was getting dark but as my plan was just to transfer them into a full sized BB and I thought it should be a quick job I carried on. Problem was they turned out to be queenless - even in the dying light I saw three beautiful big QCs - and they were really ratty. They went for me big time and because I was wearing a T-shirt under the bee suit I took about 20 stings to my forearms.
The first I knew there was something really wrong was when I noticed a tingling in both feet. Then I realised I was really sweaty - not just because it was hot. Then a general feeling of unwellness. I hastily covered the hives, grabbed my beekeeping equipment and rushed back to the car. By this time my vision was fading and I was feeling quite faint. I should have phoned 999 from the allotment but my mobile was safely inside the beesuit and there were still a hundred or so angry bees following me on the outside. I knew if I collapsed there I would not be found for possibly days so I decided to try to drive home - only a mile or so through town. The roads were very quiet. I suppose if I had passed out and crashed at least someone would have found me and called an ambulance and they might have put 2 and 2 together (unconscious man in bee suit with a dozen bees still buzzing round the car). It was crazy and irresponsible to drive in the state I was in, though in my defence, I was not exactly thinking straight, and in the event I make it home. As I pulled onto our drive I felt really nauseous. It took a massive effort to drag myself out of the car to the side door. I knew I had to get the bee suit off - still a handful of bees on the outside though they were calmer now - but I really did not know if I would have the strength to get out of the suit before I passed out so I rang the door bell so at least someone would find me on the floor! Even reaching for the bell took superhuman effort. I was mostly out of the suit when my wife arrived at the door. I just said "I have taken a lot of stings and I feel really unwell. I must have looked a sight because she took it really seriously.
My wife is a really wonderful, dedicated GP and you could not want any one better in an emergency. She tells me I was cold and clammy and had no peripheral pulse. She lay me on the kitchen floor and phoned 999 immediately. I heard her explain that this was a life threatening emergency but according to the 999 triage system I was low priority so they sent a paramedic car. By the time he arrived I was throwing up and shaking violently. He administered adrenaline and probably kept me alive. The ambulance finally arrived after an hour and a half. Hinckley only has one dedicated ambulance and they are just in the process of scrapping it so we will rely totally on the service from Leicester or Nuneaton. I dread to think how low the standards will get and how many will die.
I spent the night in the Leicester Royal Infirmary with a racing pulse and low blood pressure. I think I had three lots of adrenaline in total, along with steroids and chlorphenamine (Piriton). They monitored me on A&E until about 3:30 this morning when they decided I was stable enough to go to a ward. I was sent home this morning with an epipen and a referral to the allergy clinic.
I had a long discussion with an excellent A&E consultant at the ward round this morning. He does not think I had an anaphylactic response, to bee venom, rather a normal, though still potentially fatal, immune system response to a large dose of venom. If I had had those symptoms with a single sting it would have been anaphlaxis. Fortunately I never had any difficulty breathing though my tongue was a little bit swollen. The difference is, I can avoid 20 stings in the future (long sleeves!) but not the odd sting. This might not be the end of beekeeping for me though it is in the short term - until I have seen the allergy clinc!
The funny thing is that we are due to go to Italy for a holiday on a bee farm in 3 weeks time and I have not sorted out insurance yet! They don't actually keep bees at the farm because the farmers wife is allergic to bee stings (goats instead) so it might be okay.
Learn from my mistakes:
- Don't inspect at dusk
- Wear long sleeves under suit
- Keep phone accessible
As I type this, the itching is starting. Arghh ... Picture from last night:
Paul
Most importantly, glad to hear you're ok though!
