Bee Stings
Bee Stings
Ease the Zing from Winged Things
Whether you've been stung by a honeybee, hornet, wasp or yellow jacket (or bitten by a fire ant, which also belongs to the same venomous class of insects), in most cases the symptoms are pretty much the same: pain, redness, swelling and itching at the site.
Bee stings smart because the bee has injected venom into your skin. Only females sting, by the way, says insect expert May R. Berenbaum, Ph.D., head of the Department of Entomology at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign.
KAMIKAZE ATTACKS
The honeybee is the only one of these critters who commits suicide when she stings. That's because her stinger is barbed, and she can't extract it from your skin. So when she pulls away, she leaves behind her stinger--and also the stinger sac, which contains venom. The good news: She dies. The bad news: The stinger sac keeps pumping venom into your skin if you don't remove it, making the sting worse, says Saralyn R. Williams, M.D., a toxicologist and emergency physician at the San Diego Regional Poison Center.
All of the others--hornets, wasps and yellow jackets--are able to remove their stingers. The problem is, they don't die, so they can sting you repeatedly if you don't get away from them, says Dr. Williams.
TAKE THE STING OUT OF STINGS
"Once you've been stung, there's no antidote for bee venom and no way to draw the venom out of your skin," says Dr. Williams. "So what you're looking for are ways to relieve the symptoms." Here's what women doctors suggest for taking the sting out of stings.
First, remove the stinger. You must properly remove a honeybee's stinger and venom sac from your skin promptly. "If you get it out right away, very little venom will be released. But if you wait, you'll have a much worse reaction," says Leslie Boyer, M.D., medical director of the Arizona Poison and Drug Information Center in Tucson.
The best way to remove the stinger and sac? Use the back of your thumbnail or a credit card or a dull knife blade to scrape along your skin underneath the barb and flick it out, without squeezing the venom sac, suggests Dr. Williams
Don't use your fingers or tweezers to pinch the fuzzy part sticking out, says Dr. Williams. "That's the venom sac. If you squeeze it, you'll inject more venom into yourself."
Ice the sore spot. Put an ice cube on the sting site to keep the swelling and pain down. "Use ice on and off for about the first ten minutes--put it on for a few minutes, leave it off a few minutes, and so on," suggests Dr. Boyer. But don't leave ice on your skin for an hour at a time, or you'll freeze your skin and get frostbite.
Apply baking-soda paste. "Some people find relief by making a paste from baking soda and water and putting it on the sting," says Dr. Boyer.
When To See A Doctor
People who are allergic to bee venom can develop serious life-threatening reactions to a sting. "Their airways swell shut, which could be fatal," says Saralyn R. Williams, M.D., a toxicologist and emergency physician at the San Diego Regional Poison Center. If you're stung by a bee (or another winged venomous creature such as a hornet, wasp, yellow jacket or fire ant) and you develop hives that travel up your arm, leg or body, or if you start having trouble breathing, call your local emergency medical number or go to a hospital immediately. If you know that you're allergic to stings, says Constance Nichols, M.D., an emergency physician and associate residency director in the Department of Emergency Medicine at the University of Massachusetts Medical Center in Amherst, you should carry an Epipen--a prescription device that looks like a big Magic Marker--to quickly and easily inject yourself with a dose of epinephrine if you're stung. "Your physician will train you how to use it." "Keep one Epipen in your purse, briefcase or backpack, one in your car and one at home," says Dr. Nichols. And even if you use an Epipen, you still need to get emergency help, says Dr. Williams. "There may not be enough epinephrine in the pen to save your life--just enough to buy you time to get to the hospital." You should also get to a hospital if you've been badly stung by hundreds of bees, even if you're not allergic. And see a doctor if a sting becomes infected. If redness increases, if you start getting red streaks around the sting or if there is drainage or crusting from the sting, these are signs of infection.
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Comfort the sting with a compress. To ease soreness and itching, apply a compress made from a washcloth soaked in cool water. Or soak a mini-compress in Burow's Solution (available in drugstores as Domeboro Astringent Solution powder packets) and hold it on the itchy site, suggests Dr. Williams.
Soothe the itch. More itch relief can come from dabbing calamine lotion on the sting or from soaking in a soothing bath prepared with a powdered oatmeal, such as Aveeno, says Dr. Williams.
Go anti-itch with an antihistamine. Some people develop a severe local allergic reaction to a sting, which is very uncomfortable but not life-threatening, as long as it is contained to the sting site. "Instead of having an inch or two of swelling around the sting, these people might find that half of their arm is swollen," says Dr. Boyer. If you experience a lot of itching, and the sting is swelling rapidly, try taking one dose of an over-the-counter antihistamine, such as Benadryl (the active ingredient is diphenhydramine), she suggests.
Elevate the area. If a sting becomes so swollen that it actually aches, elevate the stung arm, leg or other body part so that gravity helps fluid leave the area, reducing swelling and the soreness that comes with it, says Constance Nichols, M.D., an emergency physician and associate residency director in the Department of Emergency Medicine at the University of Massachusetts Medical Center in Amherst.
