First Time Bee Sting: What to Do and Potential Risks

[tgt]

Was stung by a bee for the first time today. What should I have done? Any consequences?

 

[Schrodinger's Dog]

Was stung by a bee for the first time today. What should I have done? Any consequences?

First thing to do would be to try and hook out the sting, it should have left part of it's abdomen in you. Once you've done this put a cold damp cloth over it (or an ice pack) and keep pressure on it. Hopefully if you've done this quickly the pain should be minimised.

 

[tgt]

First thing to do would be to try and hook out the sting, it should have left part of it's abdomen in you. Once you've done this put a cold damp cloth over it (or an ice pack) and keep pressure on it. Hopefully if you've done this quickly the pain should be minimised.

I couldn't see any part of the bee in my skin, just a red patch, with a tiny hole.

Is it true that the bee dies shortly afterwards?

Would I get any sideeffects from the sting?

 

[Schrodinger's Dog]

I couldn't see any part of the bee in my skin, just a red patch, with a tiny hole.

Is it true that the bee dies shortly afterwards?

Would I get any sideeffects from the sting?

Well it might be that the sting fell out or got knocked out, which probably means you got less of a dose. And if you aren't suffering a reaction by now you're unlikely to be allergic.

The bee loses part of it's abdomen as well as the stinger, so yes they do die.

Tough luck though, I've been stung by wasps and it's not pleasant.

 

[tgt]

What did I do that made it so angry? I think I knocked it accidently. What is it's purpose for stinging, given the consequence is so harsh. It's literally a suicide bomber type. It must be evolutionary advantageous. Why?

 

[Schrodinger's Dog]

What did I do that made it so angry? I think I knocked it accidently. What is it's purpose for stinging, given the consequence is so harsh. It's literally a suicide bomber type. It must be evolutionary advantageous. Why?

Because 1 or even 20 dead bees is better than having your nest ripped apart and mined for honey and the larvae, I suppose.

Bees aren't usually that aggressive, wasps are the ones you have to watch out for, although even then as long as you don't start waving your arms about like a lunatic they'll usually leave you alone. Waving your arms about to a wasp (or a bee for that matter) is akin to saying "I am a threat sting me".

 

[Jimmy Snyder]

What did I do that made it so angry? I think I knocked it accidently. What is it's purpose for stinging, given the consequence is so harsh. It's literally a suicide bomber type. It must be evolutionary advantageous. Why?

It probably wasn't angry, more likely it thought you were too close to the hive. If there is a hive nearby you may get stung again. Obviously, the advantage is to the hive, not to the individual bee. Human soldiers work on a similar principle but with important differences. I once stepped on a bee with bare feet and in this manner was literally stung by a dead bee.

edit: yeah, the bee was barefoot too ha ha.

 

[siddharth]

What did I do that made it so angry? I think I knocked it accidently. What is it's purpose for stinging, given the consequence is so harsh. It's literally a suicide bomber type. It must be evolutionary advantageous. Why?

Well, individual worker bees are sterile anyway. So, the fact that the stinger is attached to something and pumping poison even after the bee is dead, thus protecting the fertile queen bee, may be an advantage.

 

[George Jones]

Once when I was riding a motorcycle, I hit a bee. The stinger went right through my t-shirt and stung me in the chest.

 

[tgt]

It probably wasn't angry, more likely it thought you were too close to the hive. If there is a hive nearby you may get stung again. Obviously, the advantage is to the hive, not to the individual bee. Human soldiers work on a similar principle but with important differences. I once stepped on a bee with bare feet and in this manner was literally stung by a dead bee.

edit: yeah, the bee was barefoot too ha ha.

No hive where I was standing.

 

[tgt]

Once when I was riding a motorcycle, I hit a bee. The stinger went right through my t-shirt and stung me in the chest.

I assume no hive was present?

 

[George Jones]

I assume no hive was present?

Not that I noticed; I certainly didn't hit a hive!

 

[CINA]

Make sure your not allergic to bee stings since a reaction takes place only after the first.

 

[tribdog]

Just yesterday I came across a hive of killer bees. I was working and walked right up on it. Thankfully I saw it before I got too close. Everyone says bees won't bother you unless you make them mad, but do you know what makes killer bees mad? Your breath, dark colors, perfume, sudden movement, gravity, Mondays, American Idol, global warming, etc etc etc. they start out life grumpy and just get worse with age. I just watched a show on killerbees, not only do about five times more killerbees come out to defend their hive, they'll chase you over 1,000 feet away from the hive. We just had a guy get stung over a thousand times the other day. He had stings on his eyeball. And one last bit of trivia, do you know how they remove all those stingers? Duct tape.

 

[turbo]

Most bees, hornets, wasps, etc will not sting unless they feel threatened. Honeybees have a barbed stinger and when they withdraw, the stinger stays in you, with the attached venom sack, which can continue to pulse. This tears a hole in the bee's abdomen, which is fatal to the bee.

Other stinging insects (including other types of bees) can successfully withdraw their stingers, and are capable of stinging multiple times.

 

[Jimmy Snyder]

Everyone says bees won't bother you unless you make them mad, but do you know what makes killer bees mad? Your breath, dark colors, perfume, sudden movement, gravity, Mondays, American Idol, global warming, etc etc etc. they start out life grumpy and just get worse with age.

What can you expect, they're Socialists.

 

[Danger]

Tgt, a bee stinger is an adapted ovipositor. It's barbed so as to stick in the victim. If it doesn't stick, then the bee will survive; if it does, the whole unit (including the independent muscles that pump the poison sac) gets ripped out of the bee's body when it flies off.
Reactions to a sting vary with the individual. They don't bother me at all. The effect on me is the same as if I'd touched a nettle; there's just a mild itch. It's a little more intense than a mosquito bite, but not enough to be bothersome. Some other people need to have an epi-pen on hand at all times because a single sting can kill them.
Since you don't seem to have been particularly bothered by the experience, there isn't anything that you should have done. A bit of camomile lotion or baking soda paste can ease the itch (or pain, if you felt any), but it will go away by itself if you leave it alone.

 

[Gokul43201]

What can you expect, they're Socialists.

But how can people argue for capitalism, calling it a fundamental characteristic of human nature when socialism is clearly fundamental to the nature of beeing itself?

 

[Jimmy Snyder]

But how can people argue for capitalism, calling it a fundamental characteristic of human nature when socialism is clearly fundamental to the nature of beeing itself?

I think it has been well proven that Socialism won't fly.

 

[Schrodinger's Dog]

I think it has been well proven that Socialism won't fly.

Well on its own, no, people aren't ready for it. And I doubt they will ever be thus it's important to have balance between socialism and conservatism. It's a sort of fantasy government, given most people were capable of observing its principals. As history shows though the worst transgressors of socialist ideals were the governments themselves.

 

[Gokul43201]

I think it has been well proven that Socialism won't fly.

And capitalist pigs have wings?

 

[Schrodinger's Dog]

And capitalist pigs have wings?

They seem to fly everywhere, so it must be true?

 

[Jimmy Snyder]

And capitalist pigs have wings?

Has the time come for us to speak of such things?

 

[edward]

Whatever your political/social preference is, don't pull the stinger out by squeezing it. Scrape it out with the edge of a knife blade. Someone mentioned hooking it out, I imagine they mean getting it out any way you can without squeezing it.

 

[tribdog]

Be careful Gokul and jimmy, bad puns make killer bees maddest of all.

 

[Moonbear]

Whatever your political/social preference is, don't pull the stinger out by squeezing it. Scrape it out with the edge of a knife blade. Someone mentioned hooking it out, I imagine they mean getting it out any way you can without squeezing it.

Just to point out why this is important, if you grab it and pull it out (like with tweezers or pinched between fingers), you'll basically be injecting the rest of the contents of the little sac attached to the stinger so you'll get more of a dose than if you just left it bee (sorry, couldn't resist ). So, gently scrape it up to lift it out without squeezing.

Anyway, if you can see a stinger, there's nothing to scrape out.

I got stung once walking through grass in sandals...not sure I stepped ON the bee, but apparently close enough...got stung on the side of the foot. I'm EXTREMELY careful around bees now (not that I wasn't before, but even more so now)...my entire foot and ankle swelled up, and that's the first sting I ever got. You're not supposed to get an allergic reaction if it's the first sting, but considering that reaction, I don't want to know what happens with the second. Then again, my grandmother would always get a lot of swelling from bee stings like that, and it never got worse like allergic reactions might, just very painful. My dad, on the other hand, would go into anaphylactic shock from bee stings and needed to get an epinephrine shot within minutes of a sting...the time it took from sting to difficulty breathing got shorter with every sting too.

 

[Cyrus]

Go see a doctor right away you might have AIDS or possibly cancer!

 

[lisab]

Moonbear, that sounds frightening. Maybe you were stung as a toddler...?

Last time I was stung, it was from a wasp. I sat on it. I jumped up and it flew off, rather pissed off and indignant I imagine, since wasps don't die after stinging.

I took some Benadryl, which seemed to help. Holding an ice cube on it helped a lot, and it also amused my daughter, who walked in on me as I stood in my bathroom holding an ice cube on my @ss.

 

[renigade666]

Who was the member of PF who had a bad bee's nest in their yard?

I remember a few months ago reading about his on-going battle with that nest, but do not recall it ever being settled.

After reading this thread, it got me thinking about what happened to it :)

 

[Moonbear]

Moonbear, that sounds frightening. Maybe you were stung as a toddler...?

Nope, one and only one sting in my life...had been really lucky until then. The sting itself didn't even hurt much...when I first felt it, I thought it was a mosquito or fly that bit me until I saw the bee. Since I was at a picnic, there was plenty of ice, so as soon as it started to swell, I got it iced down, and I thought it would just be a little bump until it kept swelling. The spot where I actually got stung never did hurt much, but then my ankle was really aching from the swelling later. I took benedryl when I got home too...I don't know if it helped the swelling much, but it helped me fall asleep so I didn't care, and by the next day the swelling was going back down. If I'm someplace where there are a lot of bees (like parks), I just make sure I tell someone I'm with about that in case I get stung again and have a more severe reaction.