1 post tagged “treatment for bee sting”

Bees are moneymakers for some people, but for others they are pure terror because of their feared stings. Bee stings can be annoying and painful, but they rarely cause any problems. The exception is if you are allergic to the venom, and then they can be fatal.
 

Bee stings are either annoyingly painful or deadly, depending on if the victim is allergic to the venom. The best way to reduce any reaction to bee venom is to remove the bee stinger as quickly as possible. If a bee sting victim has had any allergic reactions to bee stings in the past, consider the possibility of anaphylaxis, a life-threatening allergic reaction.

Remove the stinger as soon as possible by scraping it horizontally. This can easily be done with a credit card. Do not pull it out with the fingers, as this will squeeze the venom out of the sac and into the body.

Do not squeeze the stinger with your fingers or tweezers. The venom sac will still be attached, and if you squeeze it more venom will be injected.

Stings are not usually life-threatening, but they can be if you have an allergy to the bee's venom. Signs of allergic reaction include nausea, excessive swelling, trouble breathing, bluish face and lips, choking, shock, and unconsciousness. If someone is sensitive to bee stings or if someone receives multiple stings (which can create an allergic reaction even in non-allergic persons), call for emergency help immediately.

Non-allergic victims will almost always develop local reactions to bee stings. Redness, swelling, and pain are all common at the site of the bee sting. The pain will usually go away pretty quickly, but swelling may last for more than a day. Use an ice pack to reduce swelling at the site.

The first thing to do to treat a bee sting is to locate and remove the bee’s stinger from the skin. This is very important, because the stinger contains venom that will continue to be released, causing the bee sting to worsen. When the stinger is located, it should be scraped off horizontally with a clean finger nail or plastic card. If this doesn’t work, you can treat a bee sting by removing the stinger with tweezers. Pinch the area around the bee sting so that the stinger rises above the surface of the skin and pull it out with the tweezers.

Treat a bee sting by scraping the stinger away in a side-to-side motion with a credit card or fingernail, and then washing the area with soap and water. Pulling the stinger or using tweezers may push more venom into the skin. For any bug bite or sting, ice or a cold compress and over the counter pain-relieving creams or oral medications can help.

There are two commonly used sting remedies in the South. One is a baking soda and vinegar mix applied to the bee sting site. I've also seen a baking soda and water mixture used just as effectively, however vinegar seems to remove the sting from a variety of injuries. It is said to draw out poison. Another common remedy that works very effectively is to apply chewed tobacco to the bee sting once the stinger is removed. It sounds gross and it is gross, but it works effectively.