Perfume, the bee, the ant, me & A&E

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RosieMc

House Bee
Joined
Aug 4, 2009
Messages
232
Reaction score
3
Location
Preston uk
Hive Type
National
Number of Hives
3
I do hope you can help me

I have never reacted well to bee stings. Each time I got stung, the reaction was more severe. Last year, after spraying myself with (freebee tester) perfume when out shopping, I returned back home and thought I would check out my bees in my garden to see if they had swarmed during the warm weather. No, that was fine. I was stood approx 50 metres away from the calmest hive I have every had, when a few bees must have come out of their hive, had a sniff of the air and thought 'What is that dreadful smell'. They attacked my head and stung me good and proper.

15 mins later a curtain of heat swept down me from head to toe together with reddening itchy rash. I began scratching and itching like a mad woman. A few minutes after that began the most dreadful shaking. Uncontrollable. After being taken to A&E, administration of anti sickness (I vomited all over the A&E reception counter!), anti histamines, and saline drip, I was discharged. I have now completed a years course of bee venom desensitisation and no longer need an epipen.

The bees obviously did not like the smell of the perfume

This Monday gone, all dressed up for a Birthday lunch and spraying myself with a different perfume to the one above, I went into my kitchen to pick up my car keys when I felt the most painful stabbing sensation in my neck. It felt like a giant needle. Ouch I cried, but the pain continued. Fortunately I had a nurse friend with me who declared a large ant was on my neck and flicked it off. I do know that we have had problems with an ants nest in our kitchen and can only assume that judging by the description of it, it was possibly a queen. I took an antihistamine just in case I started itching as before. The ant had left a red area the size of a 10p coin with a oblong shaped hole in the middle.

10 mins went by and I began to feel ever so strange. Dizzy, disorientated. Then began the trembles I had experienced before. 'This is stupid' I thought, 'I can't possibly to to A &E and say I've been bitten by an ant!'. The trembling and shaking got worse and now effected my whole body. 'Dial 999' I told my friend. Thankfully I had an epipen and administered, or rather my friend administered as I was shaking that much I couldn't keep a steady hand to fire the pen! Quickly and ambulance car arrived and After the paramedic assessment and I was taken off to A&E where the symptoms subsided.

I am due to go to bee venom desensitisation clinic again this Wednesday and I am going to ask about ant bites/stings.

It would appear that both bees and ants DO NOT like perfumes. But has anyone done any research on this as to which ones? And why? And why isn't there a health warning on perfume bottles stating 'WARNING' may trigger insects to bite you!

I don't know if the ant bit me or stung, and cannot find anything on the web.
Bee venom is a mixture of different chemicals including mellatin, phospholipase A, and Hyaluronidase and their bite contains 2-heptanone , but I cannot find anything on ant bites and stings. Does anyone know?

I'm off to Minorca on 7th Oct where there are lots of creepy crawlies and I want to bee prepared!
 
Ants use is Formic acid (the active ingredient of MAQS). Have you used and had any reaction from MAQS?
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Formic_acid
https://www.google.co.uk/url?sa=t&r...Humans&usg=AFQjCNFLuYuhDDOwmsiR0S_R-FdtJkB2Ng

I have now completed a years course of bee venom desensitisation and no longer need an epipen.

Friends on a Bee venom immunotherapy course tell me they have to carry 2 epipens for the duration of the course which is 3 years, thereafter carrying epipens is optional - some people opt to carry them always and have their annual check up.

Just found these articles which gives a brief reference to Ants in this context:
https://www.google.co.uk/url?sa=t&r...739777&usg=AFQjCNFFhRR5Ai50jdoOY9p_GjT_l13LHA

https://www.google.co.uk/url?sa=t&r...-Sting&usg=AFQjCNHR_Y7XVfcEJZFOQwzhDBunFGvjuA
 
Last edited:
Sounds like a Hornet sting to me.....
SWMBO is undergoing Honey bee desensitisation at present.. six year program
Bracelet.. antihistamine and steroid and two Eppipen standard emergency pack goes everywhere!
Seems that desensitasion for honey bee is not a protection against other flying and stinging insects!

Perfume.. do bees sence the beekeepers small and get defensive towards others... I wonder?

Yeghes da
 
Bumble Bee
Have you used and had any reaction from MAQS?

I haven't used MAQS strips yet, so do not know if I would react
Thank you for the links which I have read through
 
Definitely not a spider. Two people witnessed the little blighter on my neck and they both said it was a large ant
 
I do know that we have had problems with an ants nest in our kitchen and can only assume that judging by the description of it, it was possibly a queen.

Preventing an ant problem all starts with simple hygiene. Storing food in sealed containers and wiping down surfaces will go a long way to keeping your home or business ant free. If caught early, ant issues can be dealt with quickly and easily.

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/201...vading-the-uk-as-warm-climate-creates-perfec/

Giant flying ants invading the UK as warm climate creates 'perfect' breeding conditions
 
About the only time you find a queen ant out of its nest is on a mating flight when it has wings. Once mated it sheds its wings. I have handled queen ants loads of times and as far as I know they don't tend to bite or sting humans. You have most likely been stung by a black near native honey bee. Most non beekeepers rarely recognise a honeybee when they see one. Hornets unlikely as far north as Preston.
 
About the only time you find a queen ant out of its nest is on a mating flight when it has wings. Once mated it sheds its wings. I have handled queen ants loads of times and as far as I know they don't tend to bite or sting humans. You have most likely been stung by a black near native honey bee. Most non beekeepers rarely recognise a honeybee when they see one. Hornets unlikely as far north as Preston.

thank you MasterBK

We have had swarms of flying ants in our kitchen. Quickly killed off with sprays of Mrs Muscle -

On the 26th September just gone we didn't have any flying ants about, probably too late anyway. The nasty little beasty didn't have any wings, was in three sections and really did look like a large ant according to my 2 friends. I didn't see it as one of my friends flicked it off my neck whilst I was screaming out in pain, and was said to 'crunch' slightly. When I looked at my neck later there was a hole in my neck where it had bitten/stung, surrounded by a circular red area as if I had been bitten, so didn't look like a
puncture mark from a stinger.

The doc in A&E said that she had never heard of anyone being bitten by an ant with such a reaction as I had before. Yes, I had been bitten by ants in the greenhouse on my legs and usually only get itching for a few days. I don't want to look a complete pillock when I go to my bee venom desensitisation course on Wednesday

I still can't find the answer as to whether ants bite formic acid, or is formic acid only from their sting. I so wish I had the noggin to have taken a photo.
 
Sounds like a Hornet sting to me.....
SWMBO is undergoing Honey bee desensitisation at present.. six year program
Bracelet.. antihistamine and steroid and two Eppipen standard emergency pack goes everywhere!
Seems that desensitasion for honey bee is not a protection against other flying and stinging insects!

Perfume.. do bees sence the beekeepers small and get defensive towards others... I wonder?

Yeghes da
I am not the sharpest tool in the box, but by god almighty above i know the visual difference between a Hornet and a Ant.:eek:
 
I'm pretty sure ants can't sting but some squirt formic acid from their abdomen. They definitely do bite though.
 
Greetings,
Tin hat time ! but here goes, the sting sounds like a scorpion, having been got twice by the little blighters I have an idea of the painful sensation, both mine were in my foot and it was painful all day,
 
Greetings,
Tin hat time ! but here goes, the sting sounds like a scorpion, having been got twice by the little blighters I have an idea of the painful sensation, both mine were in my foot and it was painful all day,

I was thinking more along the lines of a Black mamba as we do not have Scorpions over here.:rolleyes:
 
I'm sure I read a headline this week in one of the rags that said we do! (Not joking)


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
 
Harmless though.

They are still scorpions, and they are here.

Depends on how you class harmless, about as harmless as a bee I suppose.

It is a mildly venomous, harmless scorpion, which will rarely use its stinger. The sting is like a bee sting to humans.
 
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