Sting appearance, normal?

[Moonshae]

I got my second recent sting yesterday. My first was on the knuckle of my right thumb, and the thumb swelled a bit, was itchy and sore for a few days, then got better. Inconvenient, but hardly a big deal.

Yesterday, as I was removing the frame hangars from one of my hives, one of the girls apparently liked them in there and decided to sting me for taking it out. I had my hive tool in my other hand, so I quickly scraped her and the stinger away.

My forearm has swollen today in a much greater area than my thumb did, and I'm a little concerned. I'd been stung as a child (spent summers practically barefoot with a yard of clover, with a next door neighbor beekeeper...enough said). The sting itself doesn't bother me too much, except that it is itchy as all heck. I don't remember ever having this type of reaction before, and since it appears to be substantially worse than the first one, I'm concerned that my reactions will get worse. Of course, the location could be all the difference, so that's why I'm turning to you folks. Whether I'm allergic or not, I'm still going to keep bees, but I'll just protect myself better in the future if I am.

Does this look like a "normal" reaction to one sting?

[bluegrass]

Get an epi pen to keep on hand and don't get stung for awhile. That is an allergic reaction to the venom. Your body is releasing histamine and dialating your capulary walls allowing fluid to flood the tissue. Best thing you can do for it now is take some benidril or some other histamine blocker and keep your arm above your heart. It will probably get worse over the next day and itch for several more.

[Moonshae]

I figured an Epi-Pen would be good to have anyway, just in case.

Please come and tell my girls to not sting me for a while, that I intend the best for them, even if I'm bumbling around. They don't seem to understand me when I tell them! :P

[Kathyp]

it's normal.  it's called a large reaction.  it will probably get worse before it gets better.  i have them too, but not on all stings.  next time you get a sting take 50mg of benadryl and also try the topical benadryl cream.  the oral dose will probably not do you any good now, but the cream will help.  you might also try ice.

[tillie]

I get those large local reactions too, but it doesn't bother me as much now that I know it will itch like crazy for about a week and then go away.  I have all kinds of strange things that happen after stings.  Sometimes the skin around the sting that was so swollen peels off as if I had been sunburned.

Every sting is different and for me it helps to get the stinger scraped out as soon as possible to lessen the reaction.

Linda T in Atlanta

[DayValleyDahlias]

My husband got his second sting one week after being stung in the nares which caused him to have near anaphylaxis.  We have an Epi-Pen adult and pediatric as well on hand here, along with benadryl strips ( which can melt under the tongue ) and capsules.  Anyhoo the second sting was on his wrist and boy did his arm swell up like a Popeye arm, all the way up to his mid bicep area and his elboe was so edematous it looked comical...Poor guy had to see the MD again as he also burned the heck on his inner arm with the smoker!

He is going to see an allergist to determine whether or not he can be desensitized to bee venom.