Stings, body locations, times of year and other factors that affect pain

[sandhya]

I thought I would start a track of posting regarding, stings, body locations of stings, times of year or other factors that make your stings react differently.


I can be stung on the head and have just a sore spot, this is all year.
however, if I get stung on the hand by a stinger, that is immedietly painful, I can expect a very painfull and swelling location, specially if it is my hand.
If my leg, not so much so.

Three days ago, I was stung in the  hand by not a bee, but a stinger left behind by a dead bee, near the hive, it was stuck in my palm...it was totally painful, immediatly...and I knew it was going to be a butte. My hand, top and bottom, swelled 5 hours later, and the skin remained tight and the hand huge  for 2 days.
My muscles in my arm and hand still hurt.

Today, same hand, I combed a bee out of my hair to keep it from stinging my scalp, and it stung the middle webbing of my fingers on the same hand I had stung 3 days earlier..this time it immediatly itched, and was only a small itchy feeling..

so....it seems I have reactions that react differently. Aparently by either the race of the bee, (these were at two different hive locations and races...) what they are polinating...and how much venum is in the sack.

What say you all?

[pdmattox]

The first times I got stung it felt like i had bruises where i got stung. The first sting to the eye was not as bad as one would think (just some serious watery eyes that squinted for 5 hours). Now there is not any reaction even with multiple stings in same area.

[DayValleyDahlias]

My first sting was under my bicep...it hurt for 2 hours...then kinda itched...on day 7/8 it screamed itch and got red locally with the redness traveling down to the elbow.  It freaked me out, I took benadryl and allegra-d...this was some weeks ago, I have a poc-type hard scar there now...12 days ago I was stung on the left middle finger...swelling redness and itch for 3 days, then nothing. I still have a red markwhere she got me.  I do not enjoy being stung.... :-\

[Michael Bush]

Stings are definitely not created equal.  One will be temporarily crippling and another will be gone in a few minutes.  There are the factors of what medications your taking (tylenol is reputed to create bad reactions), where you get stung, how deep the stinger is planted, how long it's in, what location you're stung (how much blood flow there is, lymph glands etc.) and how many stings in that location and how many stings that day.

[beekeeperookie]

Well if we start with the tally for this year it would be twice

1.  in the back (burned a little) then it for a few days
2.  in the neck (redness a little swelling) and itchy

Now when i was little to many times i gotten stung grandparents had a couple of apple trees and used to step on them all the time

[sean]

on average 2-3 stings per visit and 1 visit per week, sometimes more. The ones on the fingers tend to be very painful though, the other areas no biggie.

[Cindi]

What interesting accounts.  I think it depends on so many factors too.  I know that when I get stung, I don't even react in the slightest anymore.  As a matter of fact, after about 5 minutes, I couldn't even tell you were the stinger was inserted.  Now last year was a totally different story.  I always had itchiness and swelling for a couple of days, and the time that I got stung on the top of my lip, I thought that my entire groin area was going to never stop itching!!!!  The pharmacist thought that I had a bad case of the crabs when I went in and told him that I really needed to get something to stop the itching around my groin.  Gross.....but that is fact (I know someone else on this forum experienced this type of itchiness, first hand too  :evil:, I know, I remember you saying that.  That you were too embarassed to tell about it, well, not this girl. I am blatent and life is life  :-D  Have a wonderful day, great life, and have fun livin' this life we're livin'.  Cindi

[annette]

Well you may remember that I got a bee sting to my ankle about 2 weeks ago. At first I felt a bit lightheaded, then nothing. Got stung in the morning around 10:00am. I totally forgot about getting stung because there was no reaction except some redness in the area.

Well that afternoon about 4:00pm all of a sudden the ankle swells up, and stiffens and I cannot even walk. By the evening I was in the most incredible pain and could not sleep all night or go to work the next day.

A couple days later the itchiness starts and I was so surprised by how itchy this can get and you cannot even scratch the itchiness away, It just gets worse if you scratch.

Well, I do not get stung as much as most people on this forum because I totally suit up before visiting the bees,(except this time when my ankle was exposed) but now I have an understanding of a bad sting.

Take care and be safe from our little, feisty girls.
Annette

[wayne]

  A few weeks ago I was assisting on a cutout and got stung twice in the left hand while banding comb in frames. Both stings burned for a few seconds and then nothing.
  Two weeks ago I was working my own hive when I got stung twice on the right hand. This time the same reaction until about 4 hours later. Then the hand began to ache and became quite swollen.
  This hive is from a swarm from the same hive as the cutout. Same bee strain and everything. Very different reaction. On the later case I found 2 small pimple like spots near the sting sites a day later. After cleaning them and removing a stinger I had missed, the swelling started to receed.

[JP]

From late February-September, I get stung on a regular basis. Paticularly, March-August. Some are worst than others. Like MB said it depends on how many, location, and if I am able to get the stinger out quickly. Some will feel warm to the touch for a couple of days, but most don't amount to much. My wife was stung about 3 weeks ago and her reaction lasted approx. 1 and a half weeks. I think it lasted so long because she is diabetic.

[rdy-b]

pepole always ask about stings- after a sesion of working bees I cant say how many times i got stung that time but i can always rember the last place on my body that got stung.so i guese the last sting hurts the most ;)

[newbee07]

i had gotten stung under the bicep and about 2 das later it looked as if someone had filled my arm with cotton. I also have been noticing tat i am geting more allergic to the stings it seems like to me. My stomach cramps and i hae to go sometimes after a sting if it is bad for a day or so. :shock: So i went to the doc and he gave me an epipen just in case i have a realy bad day and can't seem to breath anymore. I was telling everyone that if this keeps on my honey will just be worth more because i'm not quitting my bees because thats my favorite.

[Kris^]

Most stings on my body (arm, legs, torso) have little effect anymore, maybe some redness and warm feeling for a while.  A sting in the hand might make the finger tender and puffy a little bit, just enough to make the skin tight when I bend it.  A hit to the head, however, causes a lot of swelling.  For instance, I got stung above the hairline on my scalp once and the right side of my head, from my eye to my jaw, got swollen.  Now this year, though, I've gotten stung on my left earlobe, and it resulted in only a some puffiness, redness and heat on the lobe itself and going down the side of my neck a little.  It lasted for about a day.  The light reaction might be because I took benedryl and prednisone right after getting hit.  I was hosting a cook-out party that afternoon and did NOT want to be a pumpkinhead!

-- Kris
 

[Bennettoid]

I find that the amount of discomfort I feel due to honey bee stings is directly proportionate to the amount of bourbon I have consumed.

My son took a hit from a paper wasp yesterday. Poor kid. We did the plantain poultice bit and he actually seems better today.

He has his own hive, so he handles the stings better than most 9 year olds.

[ZuniBee]

I rarely get stung working the bees. Only if I pick up some comb and a bee is still there or something like that. I did get stung hiving the swarm last week. My foot swelled up pretty big for a day. Yesterday evening I was putting sugar syrup on the hives wearing shorts, t-shirt and bee gloves. Everything went fine adding syrup to the top feeders. Then I went to a nuc with an entrance feeder. I pulled it out of the entrance and there were bees all over it. Don't know why I did it but I shook them off the feeder. Talk about instant attack. I ran half way back to the house and then stopped. When I stopped I was stung in the back of the head, under my bicep, and on the left arm. As I took off running again tearing off one glove then another then my shirt I got stung on the arm again. Finally I stopped and they were gone. The stings on the arm hurt a little and had red spots and nothing else. The one on the back of my head hurt and I have a knot. Stings are directly related to how I handle the bees. One mistake and bam!

[Moonshae]

A sting in the hand might make the finger tender and puffy a little bit, just enough to make the skin tight when I bend it.

Got stung on my thumb on Saturday, right on the knuckle. Still slightly sore, tight, and swollen, but definitely better than yesterday. Was sore well down below the next knuckle and into my hand, though. The stinger stayed in for quite a while, because I was trying to dislodge the bee, who didn't seem able to detach herself. Then I got the stinger out, probably after all the venom got pumped into me.

[Holycow]

Howdy,
When I started beekeeping I just used a mosquito net veil. I figured beekeepers got stung alot.. so I should get used to it.
I was stung at least 5 times during each situation  2 or 3 situations a week for a while when I'd collect swarms or mess around with my bees at home. Now I rarely wear a veil and VERY rarely am stung ~perhaps once every 3 months or so. I guess I've just become better at it.
Stings  have a sharp pain almost like a rubber band smacking the area, but the pain begins to drop within 30 seconds.. then within 5 minutes the pain goes away. A bump will remain at the spot for about a week. If I mess with the area,  it will start to itch.
Was stung by a paper wasp not too long ago.. diffrent feeling entirely. The pain lasted about two hours and I couldn't ignore it. 5 min after honey bee stings I have forgotten about them.
 Last year I was bitten by a Black Widow Spider after shimmeying around in a houses crawlspace. Felt like 3 HB stings in the exact same spot, but the pain was constant for 5 hours. Also a bit of nausea and some really crazy dreams .. the area swelled up for 3 days and emitted an amazing amount of heat. Within one week simptoms had gone. Left a mark where the fangs had gone into my thigh but never showed other signs like a "typical" spider bite.
My two cents.
--Jeff