Ok last week I took the first sting of the year and my hand looked like it would pop I was stung on the thumb the back of my hand was huge within a few hours.
Now I didn't take any allergy meds with this sting so that was without any meds just me seeing how big it would get natural.
Thing is I would love to work bees without gloves but if this is my reaction everytime there is no way I could do it so I need desensitization but how to do it.
Should I get stung once a week once a day or what and if so do I take meds to lower the reaction or just allow my body to handle it naturally did anyone else do this when they started.
Last year first sting I had a bad local reaction but later in the year took lot of sting doing removals but they where threw the suit and gloves so they were pretty much dry stings but I still felt them so I hoped they where building up my resistance to the bees.
Any thoughts would be appreciated.
how you react and if you develop any resistance is an individual thing. i have huge reactions when i am stung and they have not gotten better over the years. my husband has swelling the first couple of times he gets stung, but by the end of the year, he has almost no reaction. there are people who keep bees for years with no problem and then suddenly develop a full blown allergy.
with the reactions that you describe, I'd recommend that you at least keep benadryl on hand and perhaps consider asking your doc about epi pens. see what happens as time goes passes.
people often tell me that beekeeping would be easier if i didn't wear gloves. since i have always worn them, i don't find it to be an issue. if you need to wear gloves, you need to wear them.
I am (was?) hypersensitive to bee venom. The first time in recent years that I was stung, I had the throat closing, can't speak reaction. And I also had lots of swelling and itching at the site of the sting. There are two types of reaction..... local and systemic. The local reaction is the swelling, itching and pain at the site of the sting. It's not dangerous but is uncomfortable. The systemic reaction involving general itching, welts, throat constriction, etc, etc away from the site of the sting is very dangerous.
I was tested and was diagnosed as hypersensitive. I took a series of injections of bee venom. Now I have no reaction of either kind. There is no throat closing but also there is very minor and short term swelling at the site of the sting. I always wear a bee suit and gloves but I still get stung pretty often. And I'm on a once-a-month maintenance schedule of bee venom injections. Any beekeeper with systemic reactions should get venom injections, but I think even those with painful local reactions would benefit greatly from injections too.
My resistance ebbs across winter and I will usually have some swelling the first couple stings of the year. Then things get back to normal with a small amount of discomfort and no visible swelling. I swelled badly and was grossly disfigured about the face and neck the first time I opened and fooled with a colony. After the initial swelling went down, a sting a day that first summer pretty much handled it. Not so sure that is smart in this day and age. So many people seem to be affected negatively by so many things that we did routinely back when dinosaurs ruled the earth.
One thing on how I react is how well (long) I got stung and where. Fingers and back of the hands itch and may swell a little if they get the stinger in good. I tend to get stung on the back of the knee and top of the foot mostly and it just itches a little sometimes. I think that later in the year it ain't so bad.
How is the reaction if you get hit somewhere else? I generally have very little reaction, just a little redness and itching, but for some reason if I get it on the hand or wrist the swelling is MUCH worse. I got one two days ago and my wrist is still noticeably larger than the other. Maybe since our hands are usually held down, the fluid has nowhere to go so the effect is worse, at least for some of us.
Or we have more blood vessels or more nerve endings in the hand.
ive been stung more in the last two days than my whole life, 7 times, 1 in the face. the one on my ankle was so sore, felt like someone hit me with a hammer. i guess i might as well get used to it
sorry 8, just got one in the big toe lol
You just hived those bees. Leave them alone for a couple days. Sounds like both you and the bees need a break.
im just watching, not touching anything. mean little suckers
I used to swell up big too when stung. Hurt, then 2 days later itched like crazy. Not so much anymore, thankfully, went away after a few years. Either way, I don't tolerate mean bees in my yard.
Any sting that causes a reaction away from the sting site (such as hives) is one to get checked out ASAP. Kids can sometime have this and will grow out of it.
My reactions differ each time I'm popped. Sometimes nothing at all and others the whole shebang-itching, swelling, scratchy throat. I keep a bottle of liquid benadryl with me all the time and have an epipen at the house. Try taking something like a claritin or other antihistamine before you get into your hives and it should help tremendously.
Disclaimer:I'm not a doctor, havent stayed at a Holiday Inn express lately, but I do have a friend named Hardwood!
the Claritin that K9 mentioned helps a lot. you can find it in generic form and i often find it in the dollar store. it doesn't make you sleepy!!
Any suggestions on how to convence myself to make a bee sting me other than a shot of wiskey.
I tell myself I am going to do this every year but it ends up alway I will do it tomorrow or I have to do something this week so I can't just take the sting.
Like right now I would say I need to make frame or hive this weekend so I need my hands good.
Anyone got any tips on motivation or just a good place to sting yourself and if I am doing it to build up resistance how long would you leave the poison sack in I have left them a long time before minute or so I start to feel it pumping by then.