I got my first sting today as I was working with my bees. Happened about 15 minutes ago. Funny thing was that I was walking away careless talking and balled up my fist and it popped me in my thumb. Could not find the stinger must have been stuck in the glove. Anyway guess I am not allergic I can't even see where I was stung now.
Still here at over 30 minutes. I have to admit I was nervous about getting stung and possibly being allergic.
Quote from: bwallace23350 on May 02, 2016, 11:47:04 AM
Still here at over 30 minutes. I have to admit I was nervous about getting stung and possibly being allergic.
Only a small percent of the population is really allergic. I wasn't so bad eh?
Jim
It hurt less than a wasp. My hives are right beside my place of business and I was still able to load and lift with my hand and the pain lasted less than 5 minutes. Put nothing on it but washed it off. A bit over 2 hours later and I can't find the sting spot. I am not actually sure on the correct procedure of how to clean the sting site besides removing the stinger.
If you're ever stung on the ring finger remove the ring - you never know what it'll do.
The sting story I often tell is about being stung on the back of my hands. My right hand looked like it had been slammed with a sledge hammer. I had to look hard to find where I was stung on the left. After hundreds and hundreds of stings about the only swelling I get will be around the facial area.
for me its the tricep area on the underside of my arm......always hurts like the beejeezus and swells badly...and to some extent the arch of my foot...silly me walking through the grass around my hives barefooted...I know better and I STILL do it ;-P
Every where else its 10 minutes of pain and then 3 days of itching ;-P
Well I do not wear a wedding ring so I am good on that. But in all honesty I don't itch and cant tell where I was stung now. Guess I was lucky. Also not sure how much venom I got as it went through my glove. It has been over 5 hours and if it was not for coming back to this thread I could have easily forgotten it happened.
Hi bwallace,
Am learning about bee sting therapy, and so we learned about the shape of the stinger. The tip of it is not barbed, so if you got stung through the cloth, probably you just got the tip. With the tip you only get a little venom and since you yanked the glove off the stinger went with it.
According to my teacher that is what is referred to as a micro sting and is what would bee done in BVT. The stinger takes about 30 seconds to discharge the majority of the venom. If the stinger actually made it into the point where the barbs got a hook in, then they draw the stinger into the hole by a pumping action allowing lots of venom to be pumped in.
Not sure if the video that we watched is an actual demo of the action, or just a cartoon for teaching purposes, but what we saw was the opposite sides of the stinger slide back and forth so that when the side with a barb was in the wound, the other side pushed deeper into the wound using the original barb to hold it in place. Then when the second barb made it in further, it becomes the anchor while the original side thrusts in and so forth, to lodge the stinger in as deeply as possible.
It's actually a great way to get your initial sting because it was mild so if you were likely to be one of the rare PPL who have a large reaction, logic says that it probably would have not been a major reaction.
What is bee venom therapy? Micro sting sounds about right it is only just a touch sore to pressure on it after that it is identical to y other sting.
http://www.apitherapy.org/
http://www.apitherapy.org/about-apitherapy/what-is-apitherapy/
http://www.apitherapy.org/656/bee-venom-therapy-for-ms/
Hi Folks,
I've started supplying a couple of people with bees for BVT for Lyme disease. One lady picked up her first batch yesterday. I got this e-mail this morning.
Hi Sal,
Used 10 bees at 7 am ~ now that's a wake up call!
It worked out just fine.
Thanks so much again, it was a real pleasure to meet you.
Give Carla my info if you want, I'm always happy to share info to help. One hand washes the other as they say!
What a lousy weather forecast. So glad you were able to get bees when you did!
Grateful
Salvo
Thanks iddee
Quote from: iddee on May 02, 2016, 06:25:55 PM
http://www.apitherapy.org/
http://www.apitherapy.org/about-apitherapy/what-is-apitherapy/
http://www.apitherapy.org/656/bee-venom-therapy-for-ms/
Quote from: bwallace23350 on May 02, 2016, 06:20:56 PM
What is bee venom therapy? Micro sting sounds about right it is only just a touch sore to pressure on it after that it is identical to y other sting.
Bee venom therapy is something I had heard about for years but not known about. I have a sister with MS and a close buddy, so when our club had a guest speaker and his wife come to give a talk on it I was thrilled. This speaker had MS symptoms where he lost use of one side of his body. At some point he was at his Doctor's, and the Doc told him about a former patient that he had seen recently. The previous last time he saw his patient he was in a wheelchair, but this time he saw him he was in the lineup area for a bike road race. He couldn't believe that the guy was out of the wheelchair let alone on a bike in a race. The patient told him that he discovered bee sting therapy and no more MS symptoms. So the guy and his wife told us beeks the history of Bee venom therapy and then showed us how she stings her husband periodically and then he is asymptomatic.
The venom has strong antibiotics in it and the irritation of the sting stimulates acupuncture points so that the body sends in repair teams ;) to fix the failing body parts. it's also useful for arthritis and parkenson's and a number of other issues.
It's not difficult to do but requires being shown. In Taiwan and various places in Europe it and other therapies are very popular.
The guy I learned from is the one in the yellow tee shirt http://apitherapy.com/about-us/dr-stefan-stangacius-curriculum-vitae/
Quote from: salvo on May 02, 2016, 10:32:04 PM
Hi Folks,
I've started supplying a couple of people with bees for BVT for Lyme disease. One lady picked up her first batch yesterday. I got this e-mail this morning.
Hi Sal,
Used 10 bees at 7 am ~ now that's a wake up call!
It worked out just fine.
Thanks so much again, it was a real pleasure to meet you.
Give Carla my info if you want, I'm always happy to share info to help. One hand washes the other as they say!
What a lousy weather forecast. So glad you were able to get bees when you did!
Grateful
Salvo
Salvo, I would like more details maybe in a separate thread, so that PPL will know and be able to search it more easily.
During my first attempt at beekeeping a few years ago my first sting (as a keeper) was through my glove in the first segment of my middle finger. The stinger must have hit the nerve. My finger ached for 3 weeks, no swelling, just constant pain. I've never experienced anything like it before or since.
I had many stings as a kid, honey bees, red wasps (used to rob red wasp nests and use the larva for fish bait), yellowjackets and hornets. The ache in my finger was similar to a hornet...
Congrats on your 1st (non-eventful sting)! I used to stress out about excessive stings when I first started doing bee removals ("is it too much venom or do I have heat exhaustion...oh nevermind, it's both!" :cool:
Did 2 jobs on Fri/Sat and took a total of 14 stings. Didn't suit up; just wore a t-shirt, long pants and baseball cap w/Alexander veil (was working in the sun...90 degrees and humid...both long jobs; wearing a jacket would have been no fun). Even took one to the front of the neck. After being stung so many times it doesn't even phase me anymore, and I hardly react now.
Just work smoothly and gently, and when you have a mean hive, suit up! Try to smoke your gloves too. I usually smoke myself before I start inspections or a removal.
I've only been stung twice. Once was on the middle joint of my middle finger, and the next day on the furthest joint of my index finger on the same hand. Fingers and hand swelled up to twice their normal size for a few days - it was super uncomfortable. Both stings were on my first and second try at going gloveless - has scared me off ditching the gloves, and they're staying on for a while longer! Really hoping my next few stings illicit a milder reaction
PhilK how long have you been keeping bees?
Quote from: bwallace23350 on May 03, 2016, 10:17:52 AM
PhilK how long have you been keeping bees?
My question exactily. :grin:
Jim
I took one to the cheekbone last week and still have a little knot. The worst ones for me have been fingers at the knuckles and inside the arms. Ouch. I work them without gloves and have only taken a couple hits to the hand while working. 5 years now.
The trick to not getter my stung on the hands is to smoke your hands up real good.
Jim
Quote from: MangoBee on May 02, 2016, 11:19:05 PM
Congrats on your 1st (non-eventful sting)! I used to stress out about excessive stings when I first started doing bee removals ("is it too much venom or do I have heat exhaustion...oh nevermind, it's both!" :cool:
Did 2 jobs on Fri/Sat and took a total of 14 stings. Didn't suit up; just wore a t-shirt, long pants and baseball cap w/Alexander veil (was working in the sun...90 degrees and humid...both long jobs; wearing a jacket would have been no fun). Even took one to the front of the neck. After being stung so many times it doesn't even phase me anymore, and I hardly react now.
Just work smoothly and gently, and when you have a mean hive, suit up! Try to smoke your gloves too. I usually smoke myself before I start inspections or a removal.
I guess if you asked me, would I prefer 6-8 hours in a jacket, blazing heat and humidity in close quarters, or to be stung 14 times, I would choose the heat. But that just shows ya how people are different. :)
Quote from: sawdstmakr on May 03, 2016, 03:11:49 PM
The trick to not getter my stung on the hands is to smoke your hands up real good.
Also to look where your grabbing and not rush things. I've gotten a couple of stings on my fingertips because of that.
Quote from: bwallace23350 on May 03, 2016, 10:17:52 AM
PhilK how long have you been keeping bees?
Only since November 2015. Last time I got stung by a bee was probably 2004 then I got two stings basically on the knuckles within two days! I assume this is why I swelled up really bad. I also get a decent swelling with green ant stings sometimes so maybe it's just the reaction I'll always get - hopefully not a precursor to anything worse!
Green ants? You guys down under have all kinds of unusual critters, don't you?
Quote from: PhilK on May 03, 2016, 08:48:33 PM
Quote from: bwallace23350 on May 03, 2016, 10:17:52 AM
PhilK how long have you been keeping bees?
Only since November 2015. Last time I got stung by a bee was probably 2004 then I got two stings basically on the knuckles within two days! I assume this is why I swelled up really bad. I also get a decent swelling with green ant stings sometimes so maybe it's just the reaction I'll always get - hopefully not a precursor to anything worse!
Swelling on the first sting is actually a good sign. Sometimes people do not react the first time because the body does not know how to react and then have severe attacks on the second sting.
Jim
Swelling on the first sting is actually a good sign. Sometimes people do not react the first time because the body does not know how to react and then have severe attacks on the second sting.
Jim
This is depressing because I had no reaction what so ever. I do get some swelling from wasp stings though
Okay, but you didn't really get stung. The stinger barb wasn't under your skin and the stinger wasn't pumping venom into you. I've been stung through gloves and could feel it, but it was definitely different from when I've had to scrape the stinger out.
Thought I'd revive an oldish thread to complain that I just took a sting on the inside of my left nostril. And. I thought I had scraped it out but I hadn't. So I'm pretty snotty and teary, and expecting to look funny in a few minutes.
Pollen was coming in, though, so there's probably some broodrearing going on. All good!
The worst part of getting stung in the nose is having to ask you buddy to pick it out. :shocked:
Jim
Ha. I fixed my bee suit problem and got an ultra breeze. Now I am cool and have on a suit. Win win for me.
Only got my first bees 6 weeks ago, have been stung a few times over the years but hadn't had one for 5-6 years.
When I went to pick up my second hive the weather was far from ideal, overcast and very windy, we walked over to the yard to see how co-operative the bees would be when we started opening hives and without even a warning head butt I got hit between the eyes while standing 10y off to the side.
Very little pain or even itching had a small lump that looked like a mozzie bit for a couple of days.
Did a cut out on a tree yesterday, quite warm and my gloves were soaked with sweat, felt 2 stings through the gloves when I managed to crush bees trying to remove pieces of tree. Middle finger must have copped about 3 as it is itchy this morning in a few places and very minor swelling, the other finger I know copped a sting just has a minor itch.
Wife received a sting just above the eye Christmas eve, not to painful and no obvious immediate response, woke up Christmas day and her eye was swollen, completely closed, stayed like that for 36hrs.
Have had a few stings from the large red bull ants we have locally the past few months. Very intense pain and I come up with a large red welt at least 2" around the bite. They are the most painful sting Ive had and we have plenty of bitty things in Aus most of which have had a chew on me at some stage.
If I was to rate the red bull ant sting as a 10 then a green ant would be about 5/6 and a bee 2 or 3 at most.
Glad we don't have ants like that. My aunt has a niece though who is deathly allergic to fire ant bites though. First and only person I know of who is allergic to that but then again I heard of a person telling us about someone who was severely allergic to bananas.