Sting Reactions

[GRIZZLY]

Managed to get a sting on my upper eyelid yesterday by an errant bee.Hurt like hell and swelled immediately.Stopped hurting after 5 minutes and swelling gone this morning.My own fault for getting a bit too close to the front of the hive to see what was happening.Bees not usualy cranky but there was a touch of thunder in the air so they're forgiven.

[Trog]

Huge thunder cloud went past us yesterday but didn't drop any rain; however it was suffient warning not to go near the bees so we're doing them in a few minutes. Sweltering out there so going to be a hot job!

[Trog]

24C in the shade, considerably hotter in the apiary. Still, the girls weren't bad; some were even nice

Oh, this is the sting thread, isn't it? Well, got stung on each knee through 2 layers so a light dose. Hurt as much/little as it normally does. Got cream on each sting immediately and took an antihistamine tablet. Absolutely fine so far which, given last year's reaction, is very good news!

[lindsay s]

I’ve left clearing the supers a bit later than usual this year. Partly because of the good weather in the last two weeks and partly because I’m on holiday. I’m also looking after another two apiaries while their owners are away.
Yesterday I decided to clear the bees from two hives I have at a temporary apiary about ten miles from Kirkwall. When I arrived at the site and realised I had left my wellies at home I decided to carry on anyway (BAD MISTAKE!)
It was only a ten-minute job to swap over the queen excluders with crown boards and bee escapes. All was going well until I got stung just as I was closing up the last hive. A bee had crawled up the inside of my jeans and stung me on the knee and by the time I got back to my car I was starting to have a bad reaction.
I drove to the local shop and bought some antihistamine tablets and took two right away while explaining to the staff that my swollen face wasn’t a normal part of beekeeping. On the drive home I started feeling worse so I headed for the local hospital. On arrival at the hospital I was admitted right away and I was soon told I was in anaphylactic shock as a result of being stung.
My reactions to bee stings have been getting worse over the last few years and the doctor told me there’s a good chance that I’ve now become allergic to them. She also said that by taking the antihistamine right away I prevented my symptoms from becoming much more serious. After one injection and three hours of monitoring I was deemed fit enough to go home. I left hospital with a telling off for not seeking help right away and a prescription for two Epipens.
So much for the old wives tale that beekeepers build up immunity to stings and while it might be true for some of you it’s definitely not for me.
I was back at the bees today wearing maximum protection and with an Epipen in my pocket just in case. The feeding will be over in a few weeks time and the hives will be ready for winter.
I’ve just turned 50 and beekeeping is a hobby I’ve enjoyed for the last 33 years. I would like to carry on next year but when you work with bees there is always the risk of being stung. This is something I will have to consider over the next few months.
P.S. Before anybody suggests I get de-sensitised It’s not an option at the moment.

[Neils]

Sorry to hear it Lindsay. I've been stung a couple of times since with no reaction, but in comparison they were light stings so I'm not taking anything for granted on that front. I don't like using the thicker gloves, but it's better than getting stung and I always the epipen with me wen I go to the bees now.

[Trog]

Last year I was just beginning to work gentler bees with light plastic gloves (disposable surgical-type) with a view to working bare-handed but have, of course, had to go back to leather gloves. It's a pain having to remember to have an epipen and antihistamine tablets ready and I'll no longer work bees alone with nobody else around. If I'm checking the nucs and colonies without supers, I'll make sure my OH knows and keeps an eye out for my non-return at least. If checking the others it takes two of us to lift the supers anyway. I think it's fair to say the bees have not been opened up quite as often this year as they were last year but I've not become timid in handling them, which is something.

[Jon]

These threads make me nervous. Developing a reaction to stings would be my worst nightmare.
Good luck Lindsay. You sure the reaction wasn't made worse by neonicotinoids.

[nemphlar]

I'm sure I've mentioned this before. I was advised after being hospitalised that the reaction to stings would only get worse and that I should give up the hobby THat was 15 years ago 2piritin 1aspirin and a sting in early spring for afew years killed my reaction. I'm beginning to think I dreamt this, has no one ever tried or heard of this treatment. Doctors will always advise you to give up.

[Trog]

How often do you get stung after the spring treatment, Nemphlar, and do you react at all? My GP didn't advise me to give up - maybe she understood the 'addiction' to the wee beasties!

[Neils]

I now use these gloves: link.

There thicker then washing up gloves but the bees haven't managed to sting through them yet though a few have certainly tried. I feel they're a reasonable compromise between having that extra protection while still being able to feel something and without the other downsides to full on leather gloves. I just soak them in washing soda solution between inspections to get the propolis off though I'll probably get some very big nitrile ones to go over them.