Paper re allergy and immunotherapy

[Sutty]

Another article of interest, tis time in New Scientist magazine.
https://www.newscientist.com/article/dn16071-a-sting-a-day-keeps-the-allergy-away/

 

[Joseph]

I had my first ever systemic reaction in fifteen years of beekeeping to three or four stings at once yesterday, three on my hand, one on my lip when a colony got quite angry as the weather changed. I was wearing a suit and gloves, but they got in.

Breathing was laboured but not constricted, heart rate was racing and I was seeing stars with red all over my body with severe itching.
The ambulance thought I need to go to hospital for monitoring, but I opted not to go as things settled down and I'm okay today.

I've asked the GP for an EpiPen. Hopefully this was a one off..

 

[Sutty]

I had my first ever systemic reaction in fifteen years of beekeeping to three or four stings at once yesterday, three on my hand, one on my lip when a colony got quite angry as the weather changed. I was wearing a suit and gloves, but they got in.

Breathing was laboured but not constricted, heart rate was racing and I was seeing stars with red all over my body with severe itching.
The ambulance thought I need to go to hospital for monitoring, but I opted not to go as things settled down and I'm okay today.

I've asked the GP for an EpiPen. Hopefully this was a one off..

Sadly unlikely to be a one-off.
How you respond to that is up to you of course. If you continue an EpiPen should be a prerequisite, I'd want sensible & capable company too.

 

[einsteinagogo]

So best not to take antihistamines before inspecting?
Also best not to be female?

Interesting the quack advised me to take antihistamines before going to the bees! but then again he did also add, "you do this for a hobby, I would pick a new hobby", that was after an incident where I turned into a Klingon for a week! When took over total of 100+ stings to head and wrist! (when bees were not happy!)

that was over 10+ years ago... when I also mentioned NSAIDS (and he'd not heard of that research!)

and sods law, I always get stung on the days I forget to! and oddly these days no reaction! (not sure if that's good news or bad news!)

that's including wasps as well! (bad last year with wasp stings around the hives!)

 

[Sutty]

Interesting the quack advised me to take antihistamines before going to the bees! but then again he did also add, "you do this for a hobby, I would pick a new hobby", that was after an incident where I turned into a Klingon for a week! When took over total of 100+ stings to head and wrist! (when bees were not happy!)

that was over 10+ years ago... when I also mentioned NSAIDS (and he'd not heard of that research!)

and sods law, I always get stung on the days I forget to! and oddly these days no reaction! (not sure if that's good news or bad news!)

that's including wasps as well! (bad last year with wasp stings around the hives!)

Probably good if no reaction recently and ongoing stings.

 

[Sutty]

An association between antihistamine use and systemic reactions could be due to people having bigger reactions being more likely to take antihistamines, and then going on to have further exposure.
Most Drs would suggest antihistamines I suspect if you are likely to expose yourself to a known allergic antigen, they would also usually advise you to avoid it.

 

[polymath]

I had my first ever systemic reaction in fifteen years of beekeeping to three or four stings at once yesterday, three on my hand, one on my lip when a colony got quite angry as the weather changed. I was wearing a suit and gloves, but they got in.

Breathing was laboured but not constricted, heart rate was racing and I was seeing stars with red all over my body with severe itching.
The ambulance thought I need to go to hospital for monitoring, but I opted not to go as things settled down and I'm okay today.

I've asked the GP for an EpiPen. Hopefully this was a one off..

You need more than one, ideally one in the bee suit and one near by where your apiary is as you may need two pens to be injected.

 

[Sam G]

You need more than one, ideally one in the bee suit and one near by where your apiary is as you may need two pens to be injected.

I think you are prescribed 2 injectors as standard, I am at least

Joseph- i'm sorry this has happened to you, as someone who also had my first (extremely) severe reaction after beekeeping for a while, having had plenty of prior stings without a reaction, please, please, please don't continue under the assumption it's a one off. It almost definitely won't be now it's happened. Don't risk tending to hives alone and ask your GP to refer you to an NHS allergy clinic, you could qualify for immunotherapy - lots of threads about that on here which might give you some help and insight. It's a horrible feeling knowing what you love is now potentially a threat to your life, but if you get the correct medical help and are sensible, it's not impossible to carry on with it.

 

[Wilco]

Sadly unlikely to be a one-off.
How you respond to that is up to you of course. If you continue an EpiPen should be a prerequisite, I'd want sensible & capable company too.

Two epipens minimum. A single epipen is not sufficient to counter anaphylaxis as there's not enough adrenaline in them. Always expect to use two.

 

[deemann1]

As a beekeeper with severe and sudden anaphylaxis (I'm unconscious and breathing like a blocked drain within 90 seconds of a sting) over the last few months I've seen many contradicting research papers and have heard many immunology specialists give completely different opinions about the chances of becoming anaphylaxic and how long /how many stings it takes.
It was then pointed out by another medical practitioner that the reason for all this generalising is that the immune system itself is very unpredictable. Further add to this that every human has their own unpredictable immune system which will react slightly differently to everyone else's. No 2 immune systems are completely the same. For one person it might take 5 stings, for someone else, it might take 5000.

The only thing I've learnt for sure, is that if you read one 'proven' theory, you don't need to look far to find conflicting evidence in another!

So do you have to use an epipen every time you get stung ?
How do you protect yourself against getting stung

 

[Sam G]

So do you have to use an epipen every time you get stung ?
How do you protect yourself against getting stung

Since being diagnosed after my initial anaphylaxic reaction, i havent been stung again as I have taken as many precautions as possible to avoid it happening. I handed all beekeeping duties over to my husband and now just assist from a short distance away if necessary. I help verbally as much as possible without being hands on. In the past my husband would sometimes help me so he has some knowledge of what to do already. I invested in a specialist, extra thick protective beekeeping suit and gloves to give me extra protection while i'm outside with him and never go out to the hives without my husband. I always have my epipens in my suit pocket.
I am due to start immunotherapy the first week of July, but it's a long treatment process so for the rest of this year, my husband is in charge of the beekeeping.
My anaphylaxic reaction was so severe I was unconscious and in respiratory failure within 2 minutes of being stung. An ambulance was called by my son and a paramedic car was here in 6 minutes with an ambulance not far behind. I didn't regain consciousness for nearly 5 hours despite treatment and was in hospital for a couple of days.
No matter how stubborn I have been about keeping them, without the offer of immunotherapy/desensitisation treatment, I would, without question have given up beekeeping.

 

[Joseph]

I went to a lecture by an immunologist who did the allergy treatment at a local hospital. He said the using data provided by French beekeepers, statistically the most likely time for anaphylacsis in beekeepers was in their 15th year of beekeeping. (I wonder if it's a French thing)

Yup, spot on for me. I'm in my fifteenth season.