Facial stings

antaro · June 30, 2011, 11:46:45 PM

After lending my veil to a friend in need, I proceeded to get stung slightly above the upper lip. No swelling for the first 12(ish) hours and treated it with a bit of benadryl and some baking soda/water mixture. All was well until I woke up this morning. My upper lip has swollen a large amount (to comic proportions) and it appears to have gotten worse throughout the day. No difficulties breathing or anything like that, just a terrible swollen lip. I have been dosing with 50mg of benadryl every 4 hours with little help to be found.

Any tips to get this swelling down? Magic medication?
Haven't seen a doctor as I am assuming they would have little for me.

Thanks in advance!

AllenF · June 30, 2011, 11:48:57 PM

Scratching always makes me feel better. :-D

Benadryl should work.

G3farms · June 30, 2011, 11:52:25 PM

For a better diagnosis we will need to see a full facial picture :-D

antaro · July 01, 2011, 12:00:52 AM

Ha! My wife took some, but it will be a cold day before they are posted on the 'net!

L Daxon · July 01, 2011, 12:46:44 AM

Putting ice on right after the sting helps me keep the swelling down, though I have been stung enough this year I hardly swell much any more. Used to swell pretty bad. I don't know if it is too late for you to get any good out of ice now or not.

Bee Brothers Apiary · July 01, 2011, 02:20:44 AM

red lipstick helps :-D

jaseemtp · July 01, 2011, 03:15:18 AM

Sorry antaro not much you can do but deal with it. I was careless with a swarm and was stung twice on the upper lip, not only did it hurt like mad, but my lip stayed swollen for two or three days. It seemed during the day when I was talking alot the swelling went down and when I woke up it was swollen back up.

danno · July 01, 2011, 09:16:24 AM

ever consider a career as a clown? Also some women pay big bucks for the Angelina look

BeeMaster2 · July 01, 2011, 01:20:47 PM

Try using Hydrocortizone 10 with the benadryl. After I took 7 stings to my right hand one day, my wife asked our Pharmacyst and She said to use both because they both work on differend parts of the swelling. By the next morning the swelling had started to go down and now I use both right away and it really helps. Until they start working you are just going to have to pucker up. :)
Jim

Bee-Bop · July 01, 2011, 01:40:28 PM

Never a lender, or a borrower be !!

Bee-Bop

antaro · July 02, 2011, 03:09:37 AM

Well, for the record the swelling is down about 85% today. But only after I took 60mg of prednisone that I had in the ol' medicine cabinet.
The drug (which is a pretty nasty one for the record) did it's job.

Live and learn. And don't lend the veil.
Thanks for making me laugh, kids!

mikecva · July 02, 2011, 08:55:20 AM

Sorry for the late reply but sleeping on an angle would have helped some with the nightly increase in swelling. What I have done in the past is: as soon as I am blessed with a kiss from one of my girls, I grab some fresh grass and rub it in the sting site. This seams to help. -Mike

gardeningfireman · July 02, 2011, 04:38:33 PM

Big lips? The better to kiss with!

Bee Brothers Apiary · August 17, 2011, 12:01:25 AM

Quote from: antaro on June 30, 2011, 11:46:45 PM
...Any tips...

why are your bees seemingly so defensive?
do they typically boil up at you when you work them?
if you had no veil, why did you work them anyway?
how often do you disturb them? and why?

no after the fact remedy sorry, is what it is.
i do have a few suggestions, fwiw.

-requeen if you can never work them without protective gear
-use bare hands for a better grip to reduce agitation.
-throw out the smoker and carry honey.
-pop the lid gently, open it so the lid hides you from the bees, allow the cover to block site of you for about 10 seconds, put cover down, slowly pour a thin line of honey on top of all the top frames, wait 2 minutes.
- once they form two lines on all the honey, work them at your leisure.

i'll put my honey up against anyones smokers, any bees, any weather, any time...dropped the smoker and the suit of armor a decade ago. still use both on cut-outs (38 this year), but not the smoke so much anymore.

good luck!

Kathyp · August 17, 2011, 12:08:56 AM

the benadryl works best when taken right away. after the swelling starts, it's not as much help i don't think. ice, anti-inflammatory like motrin or aspirin, and patience :-)

i know a lot of people do it, but i don't think it's ever a good idea to work bees without face protection. airway stings or stings to the eyeballs can land you in the ER even if you don't have bad reactions to stings most of the time. not to mention how you look after.... :evil:

scrapiron · August 17, 2011, 08:25:50 AM

Uploaded with ImageShack.us

This is me last week. I got a bee under my veil, and as I pulled it off she stung me on the tip of my nose. Like you said, nothing for about 12 hours, then this!

gardeningfireman · August 17, 2011, 09:32:33 AM

You look like you just got out of the ring after a round with Mike Tyson!!!

Tommyt · August 17, 2011, 10:45:26 AM

Quote from: gardeningfireman on August 17, 2011, 09:32:33 AM
You look like you just got out of the ring after a round with Mike Tyson!!!

NOPE no teeth marks or missing ear parts :lau:
Maybe Alli in his hay day
......like a butterfly ...sting like a Bee

tommyt

Kathyp · August 17, 2011, 11:02:30 AM

that's outstanding....and you are brave to post it!

are you sure you are not keeping bees so that you don't have to fess up to your wife getting after you with the frying pan? :evil:

D Coates · August 17, 2011, 04:21:15 PM

Those nose stings hurt me the most of all. I've had 3 and I'm always amazed how fast I realize I've been stung and how fast I get the stinger out. The are times I don't even realize I've been stung on the forearms until I get home. I don't even use a hive tool for fear of moving too fast and cutting my nose. I swell up but hats off to you scrapiron, you make me look like I'm faking it.