General Chat

I have an Afterbite for Insect Bites and Stings pen. This is just a liquid solution of which the main ingredient is ammonia. I bit smelly but very effective.

I always seem to be the one singled out to get bitten when there are insects about, so keep it with me at all times. :-D

shut yer face Frederick - said she in a most ladylike manner :-D

Hi Ann, you say that the skin around the bite fell off, I warned you
sometime ago that the plastic surgery you had wouldn't last. ;-) ;-) ;-)


F.

Savlon bite relief is quite good on mossie bites, not tried on wasp/bee stings though. I also keep Anthisan cream in which is good.

I was surprised to read when checking on the net that you treat bee and wasp stings the same as I always thought one was acid and one alkaline. Most sites I read played that down because nothing can get to where the poison is under the skin. However I am sure that using the dolly blue bag when I was a child did alleviate the pain. auto suggestion??? :-S

We were on our honeymoon when I got stung by a hornet.. my wrist bled from the sting and my arm did swell up and my hand right down to my knuckles.... and that is when I found out how dopey I was after being given antihistamine tablets to take.

Just wanted to sleep........ zzz


Persie

Persie - a fair sized hole indeed - how very dare you :-D :-D

thanks Ann - I did vinegar, ice and Savlon bite relief gel in that order - then all the skin around the site of the bite fell off - yuk

I can still feel where it stung me and occasionally it makes me wince as if it's starting up again

It does sound like a masonry bee rather than a wasp.

Just a bit of info from the net.

Bee venom is acidic as it contains the highly acidic peptide melittin, and these interventions are often recommended to neutralize the venom; however, neutralizing a sting is unlikely to be effective as the venom is injected under the skin and deep into the tissues, where a topically applied alkali is unable to reach, so neutralization is unlikely to occur.[7] In any case, the amount of venom injected is typically very small (between 5 and 50 micrograms of fluid) and placing large amounts of alkali near the sting site is unlikely to produce a perfectly neutral pH to stop the pain.[7] Many people do claim benefit from these home remedies but it is doubtful they have any real physical effect on how much a sting hurts or continues hurting. The effect is probably related to rubbing the area or the mind perceiving benefit.[7] Furthermore, none of these interventions have been proven to be effective in scientific studies and a randomized trial of aspirin paste and topical ice packs showed that aspirin was not effective in reducing the duration of swelling or pain in bee and wasp stings, and significantly increased the duration of redness.[6] The study concluded that ice alone is better treatment for bee and wasp stings than aspirin.[6]

The sting may be painful for a few hours. Swelling and itching may persist for a week. The area should not be scratched as it will only increase the itching and swelling. If a reaction persists for over a week or covers an area greater than 7–10 cm (3 or 4 inches), medical attention should be sought. Doctors often recommend a tetanus immunization. For about 2 percent of people, a hypersensitivity can develop after being stung, creating a more severe reaction when stung again later. This sensitisation may happen after a single sting, or after a series of stings where they reacted normally. A highly allergic person may suffer anaphylactic shock from certain proteins in the venom, which can be life-threatening and requires emergency treatment.[9] People known to be highly allergic may carry around epinephrine in the form of a self-injectable EpiPen for the treatment of an anaphylactic shock.

I am sure that you would know by now if you are allergic. :-)

Hope the pain eases soon. I can remember whenb a child eating an apple in town and something made my chin itch, I scrathed and it stung.
Daughter got stung on her foot by a bee when about 8 walking bare foot in grass with clovers.

Think you were very lucky Ann if the sting affected you that much it didn't make you go into shock hope it feels better soon.
We had friends who kept bees and if a swarm decided to fly off they had to chase it usually on foot over fields jumping over fences until it landed then they would catch them with a large net and take them back :-D

oops Ann I read that incorrectly.. " bent down to look at the spot where I was stung...."

thought you meant your body had a fair sized hole ... :LOL...

Persie

well I live to fight another day!! all the skin fell off around the site of the sting - I am still aware of the sting but it's much better than yesterday - thanks all - ben down to check the spot where I was stung and there is a fair sized hole in the garden where they lived - until I zapped with an aerosol can of Wasp Nest Destroyer!!!

A few years ago, my OH phoned me from his car which had just pulled into our drive.
He asked me to close all the windows as his car was surrounded in a huge swarm honey bees
I ran upstairs and did what he said ,and saw the most amazing sight.
It was like a cartoon sketch.
Hundreds of honey bees were swarming about but, suddenly made a "bee line" and every one of them collected themselves in a large ball on a small ornamental tree. ( it took less than a minute)

It hung about 6inches off the ground and was a cause for concern... little children dogs were particulary interested!
The ball of bees stayed unmoving for about 3 or 4 days until a bee keeper was found to take it.... the WHOLE ball was taken as one.

He said that the original colony had become too big, this swarm had broken away and were looking for a new nest site.

In my part of the world a wasp nest is called a bike.
I had one destroyed last week.
They were nesting in a cavity inside a garden wall.

I paid the counciil up front for the job, but they asked me first to double check that they were definitely wasps and not masonry bees as my £49 fee would not be refunded if they were.
No, definitely wasps!


As luck would have it, there are masonry bees in the other side of the garden.... they dont live in nests and I'm told that they dont sting!

Good Morning Ann, hope your feeling better Sunshine, and if you are not then get off to the Docs <3 <3 <3

If you are stung, spray the affected area with WD 40. I've tried it, it works too.

See Ann - they're not all evil!! :-D

Though I do detest the picnic wasp and the alcoholic wasp - that haunts pub gardens :-|

I found one of those paper wasps nests hanging from the roof of my shed - beauiful it was

The paper wasp nests were extremely delicate, and beautiful - about 2 - 3 cm across.

Have to admit to getting the mortar wasp in my house wall removed :-(

Ann it sounds like Mortar when we dug down was quite disappointed there was no honey lol! But Mortars don't do honey :-(

Maggie those are amazing pics.
Do you realise that you can buy artificial wasp nests and hang them in the garden to keep other wasps from building a nest in your garden?