As winter is almost through we prepaired the bees this weekend for the spring. Its already 28deg C plus and no more frosts.
My 12 year old boy was all dressed up and learning howto with a local bee wise and I was clearing the weeds. I ended up with 5 hits with no worries as I have been hit many times before.
3 hrs latter im in hospital with my arm swallen from my fingers to my chest being pumped full of drugs
now I find i have become alergic
Wow, after messing with them for a long time ??? Thats not good.
I'm told that's how it goes though. Allergies to bee venom just show up. I hope I don't develop an allergy to them. I like them.
It's when that reaction takes place in your throat that it becomes really dangerous.
Check with the doc to see if you need to carry an Epi Pen. Michelle just got her new one...they are only good for a year and are kinda pricey, but sure better than the alternative :o. Her reactions just started a few years ago, but her older brother has been carrying a pen for years. You can also get just the bottle and a syringe cheaper, but I liked the idea of one quick jab and no loose parts or measuring. Wasps and bees have different venom and so different reactions, she got stung recently by a wasp and I had her stay low and checked on her often, no reaction.
How is your honeybee population down there? Ours have been decimated :(.
There was an interesting show on PBS the other day about bee sting therapy. A bee sting therapist would hold what looked like a honey bee against an arthritic finger and let it sting the area, showed the stinger and sac pulled out of the bee and pumping venom (i guess it is venom) into the joint.
The people being stung said it really helps.
I guess getting stung in the hand takes your mind of of your foot!
Jon
thanks for the advice.
im back to normal (if I ever was) now and await the docs apointment.
problem with me are the other medications im on so they cant just pump the normal remedies into me. If I have a problem with them I will need to wear a braclet to let the medics do the right thing.
Its a combination of diabetics, kidney and heart problems and drugs but thats life!!!
I enjoy the bees its normally most relaxing and gratifying with the wax for wood polishing and the bush honey we get is one of the best in the area.
I like wining prices at the local ag shows.
arthur
I'm sure your doctor will know better, but watch the use of Epinepherine with heart conditions...glad the reaction is over.
Captain
Youre lucky to bee alive Arthur . I know of 2 locals that died from honey bee stings . Hey if anyone is interested on rfd tv on late friday or saturday nights is a great show on bee keeping . Glad you recovered Arthur
A local honey producer has hives in a corner of the last field of hay we're working on and they're mean. When I mowed it the other night I could see them swarm out of the hives as I approached with the tractor but by the fourth round I was far anough away that they didn't care anymore. I didn't get stung but they did bounce off me a couple times. Last night baling was a different story ::) The old square baler decided to throw a fit too close to the bees and we were still 100' away. They didn't bother us until we were off the machines and working on them. I got stung twice and my help each got stung a couple times before we could get loaded up and get farther away. These are a much larger bee than our wild ones and much more agressive. They also have a brighter color. More yellow than orange like the wild ones. No allergic reactions but now that I've read the post about arthritis treatments I'm realizing that after the sting on the back of my neck last night it isn't stiff like it's been for the past week or so ???
I helped a buddy harvest honey once.
He only had bees for a couple of years and figured it was too painful.
I did not get stung but had a couple of them attack. They would fly in
my face and bounce off my forehead. I beleive they were trying to tell me
to get out of their house!
Bees aren't too smart when it comes to taking detours. If you stand in front of their hive they will lose it and start stacking up behind you. I've done it for fun. Just stand in their line of flight and they don't know to go around you. In a few seconds you will have a million bees milling around in the flight path behind you saying to each other "What the Hey!". :D
Hence the term "beeline" eh, Tom? ;)
Glad you got the reaction cleared up, Arthur. Sting reactions can be really serious. They can even make yer toes turn up and sprout tags, and nasty stuff like that. You gotta be careful now, and keep your kit with you.
Glad you qualified that "back to normal" statement, too. ;) :D :D :D
"Glad you qualified that "back to normal" statement, too"
Now I talked with you quite a while in Ohio ay Sawlex..........And am sure you (as many of us) dont qualify ;) :D :D :D :D
Glad your back in fighting form :)
Glad feeling you're better too Arthur, but I'll leave the 'normal' comments to others who know you better. :D
I nearly had a similar episode over the weekend, I was helping a widow lady up the road a piece by bsuh-hogging her back 40 and hit a nest of hornets. Like Tom said, they stacked up behind me too, but I do believe they were tryin' ta say more than "What the Hey!" .... :o
I think some them musta had a heck of a headache tryin' ta git to me through the cab. :D
I'll certainly go along with the 'not too bright' sentiment. They don't give up very easy either.
It was actually pretty funny, a real exersize in futility all round, they was landin' on the outside tryin' ta sting the window, and Deputy Dog was on the inside tryin' ta bite them through da window. :D
I have seen on some TV shows that beesting therapy also works wonders on people who
struggle with Multiple Sclerosis. People who are wheel chair bound have been able to function somewhat normally again for a few weeks after receiving the therapy. Problem is, the effects wear
off after a while and it has to be done again. Admitted, it is still in the experimental stage and I am certain that more research work needs to be done.
PEW
??? ??? ???Is it the bee sting or the poison which is the therapy ??? ??? ???
if its the sting then why have the possible reaction with the poison.
if its the poison why have the pain of the sting. Id prefer to take my poison in liquid with liquid.
arthur
As a kid I was stung dozens of times by just about everything in these parts that can sting you. Never an allergic reaction.
In 1981 I stepped in a nest of ground wasps and got three stings on my neck. It was a pain ( :D), but I wasn't worried about it. Barb wanted me to go to the hospital because her father has a life-threatening allergy to bee-stings. I compromised and said we'd head for home and wait until she was sure I wasn't going to flop over and die.
I was sitting there, feeling bored and a little silly, when she asked me how many stings I got. "Three", I said. "Well I see 5", she replied. Then, "Wait, there's another one -- and another one's coming up." And then my lips started to go numb.
When I got out of the emergency room the ER nurse told me I'd had a precipitous drop in my blood pressure. Potentially as deadly as a constricted throat. So after a night in the hospital I started carrying an epiniphrine kit. My doctor told me there was no way to know what would happen if I got another sting -- it could be a lot worse, or there could be no reaction at all.
After carrying that kit for 12 years (replacing the syringe every year) I finally got stung by a ground wasp again. I took an antihistamine and had the kit out and Barb ready to inject me. I waited to see what would happen, and ... nothing. I've been stung several times since, and never a reaction. I don't take stings lightly anymore, though.
Quote from: Weekend_Sawyer on August 01, 2005, 02:57:31 PM
There was an interesting show on PBS the other day about bee sting therapy. A bee sting therapist would hold what looked like a honey bee against an arthritic finger and let it sting the area, showed the stinger and sac pulled out of the bee and pumping venom (i guess it is venom) into the joint.
Jon
Barb's has arthritis in her knees and her Naturopath told her about this therapy. He didn't promote it -- just informed her about it and said that it wasn't always effective. She eventually tried it. Weekly sessions with the venom injected at various points around the knee. One very weak dose the first time, to check for allergic reactions, and then a gradual increase in strength and number -- peaking at a dozen injections per knee.
I worked! Unfortunately the effects only lasted for about a year after the injections stopped. It's a very painful process --the discomfort lasts for 3 or 4 days. Clothing in contact with the injection sites really aggravates the pain.
Barb decided the pain of the treatement outweighed the benefits so she's gone to alternative treatments.
Quote from: Arthur Dyason on August 03, 2005, 03:54:26 AM
??? ??? ???Is it the bee sting or the poison which is the therapy ??? ??? ???
if its the sting then why have the possible reaction with the poison.
if its the poison why have the pain of the sting. Id prefer to take my poison in liquid with liquid.
arthur
It's the venom that's the treatment, but the venom is what causes the pain
and the possible reaction. you can't win.
No you sure can't, :D It's just one big vicious cycle. :)
My wife reacts to bee stings,we have had some fast rides to town.Her blood pressure was dangerously low once.She has the Epi-pen.Apparently she are not allergic to all kinds of bees as some times shw will not have much reaction and other times it is very bad.She went to see a diff doc last week,after a sting and her pen was out dated and he said that she can go to an allergist and get tested to find out what venum she is allergic to and get desentisized.That is the first we had heard about that,Doc said it was time consuming but works.Anybody been through that?
Quoteget tested to find out what venum she is allergic to and get desentisized.That is the first we had heard about that,Doc said it was time consuming but works.Anybody been through that?
Not allergic myself, but my cousin had very bad reactions to beestings when she was younger. But over the years and a few emergency room visits she seemed to develop a resistance to them and now she only has a normal reaction. Maybe if they know the toxin they can simulate this with controlled doses?
Worth investigating if it's something you can build a resistance to with a few shots ?
Ian
She has an appointment with the allergist next week,we will see what he says.The only time that I have ever hit a woman was one time on the way to the emergency room when she startet to pass out.We were raceing twards town and I reached over and backhanded her across the chest to keep her awake! That is about as scared as I have ever been.
Ive had all sorts of tests the last 6 weeks and have good news that my kidney pain was only an infection not stones.
However my bee sting is a different matter. The test show that I am now extreamly sensitive to bee venom. The next may or maynot kill me.
Problem is I take alpha and beta blockers for my heart and beater blockers and the magic Epi-pen dont like each other. Causes extreame blood pressure which can end in stroke or heart failure.
My option is high dose of fexofenadine hydrochloride giving a 15 to 20 minute window to get to hospital. I now carry these all the time and if I know that today may have bees doctor advises to take one before leaving home.
So if you are on beta blockers beware of the bee sting. At least left those around you know. You dont need the help of a kind first aider with their magic pen just to have a realy bad day.
arthur
My daughter is in her first weeks as a school nurse. The other day a little boy came in with a wasp sting. He was listed as being allergic to bee stings, but the parents hadn't supplied Amy with the shots he used. Amy called the mother, gave him some benedrill, and all was fine.
Sometime later that day the same boy came back in. "I got stung again."
"What in the world were you doing?" my daughter asked.
"Well, I had to show the other kids where those wasps were, didn't I?" :D :D
I'm lucky they don't bother me. even when they are flying around my office :D
I have a hive that moved in the end wall of trailer this year and they found a way into the inside somewhere. Once in a while I come in the office and one or two will be flying around
I've got a hive of bumble bees between the soffet and the studding in the wall of the shed. It is behind my fire extinguisher and right beside the front door. Talk about some frantic buzzing when the front door closes. ;D They come in from the outside by crawling under the siding and walking 10 feet from there over to the hive. Now why would those critters walk so far away from the entrance to make the hive? Oh well -30 Celcius will slow them up and calm them down this winter. ;D
The bees themselves havent bothered me. The day before the doc told me of the results I was making yet another gate. As we are on a farm and try to feed ourselves we have plenty of flowers, one reason for the bees.
I had bees buzin all around me with no concerns at all.
I just dont know if I am supposed to become paranoid or not???
arthur
Actually had a very thirsty bee around lunch time, kept flying into my cup to sip up the left over drops.
Was really harmless and really wanted the drinks so I took the chance to do some up close studying of it, it didn't mind at all and flew off full.
It was really kinda cool! 8)
Furby
they are fasinating to study. All of the self watering systems we have get heavy visits from the bees. We have 12 hives of european honey bees and twenty or more native ones. The native bees have NO sting and produce superior honey but a hive is ony 20% of the size of the european bees.
I guess we will slowly change now to native ones although you dont get the same buzz from chasing a swarm.
arthur
"You dont need the help of a kind first aider with their magic pen just to have a realy bad day."
Some people might not be aware (I didn't realize this myself until a few years ago) that an epi-pen is a prescription device from a doctor. You don't just go down to the drugstore and buy one off the shelf if you're allergic to bee stings.
You can't carry one in a first aid kit for "general" use like a bandaid. Also, you can't use one person's epi-pen on somebody else. They could have a dangereous reaction to an epi-pen prescribed for somebody else. Also, as one poster said, they are only good for a year then the prescription needs to be refilled.
We have a parttime firefighter on our crew that carries one with him everywhere he goes, even while fighting fires. So it's not something that will limit your activities. You just have to remember to carry it with you all the time and to let people you are with know about it and how to use it on you, in case you can't do it yourself. A dangerous reaction to a bee sting can be instantaneous. But the epi-pen also works within seconds to counter the venom.
I read this topic Saturday. I've never been allergic to any thing. Sunday afternoon I got stung and just figured "..good enough, time for a beer ;D " But my heart started pounding and I started to itch different places Then my eyelids and lips swoll up and then my tongue so I started for the hospital. 5 miles down a rough dirt road to the state road ....it's real hard to drive when you need both hands to scratch ;D The chest pain started when I was still on the dirt road. By the time I got to the ER I could barely talk. They gave me a benydryl shot right away and epinephrine a while later when the chest pain didn't quit.
Full body hives is quite the experience :o
I still don't feel great but the hives are calming down. Guess I will have to learn more about this and the epi-pen.
Thanks to the FF for saving my life !!!!!!!!!!
Thank God you were close enough. Time to start carrying a kit with you.
The guys thinning say the white faced hornets (those big black b****ds) have been real whicked this year. And most nests have been above eye level so they come dive bombing you from high up in the nest. :o
August and September is worst here because they are rearing their grubs.
Be careful around old log piles for yellow jackets too.
Thanks , Jeff
If it wasn't for what I read here, I would have just "toughed it out ". I never knew that some one can become allergic overnight :o
SD...it probably was a white face hornet but I didn't stick around to see ;D
I am glad your all right
Glad to hear you came through it, Bunny.
Things learned here are very valuable.
sprucebunny
doc recommended I carry with me any of the 'fexofenadine hydrochloride' pills at full strength. doesnt fix the problem just gives you an extra 15 to 20 minutes to get help.
arthur