A stupid yellow jacket stung me about a half hour ago. I haven't been stung by a bee for probably twenty years or more, so who knows if I'm allergic or not? Or whether I'm more or less apt to be now, with the MS?

I figured, well, it's been a few minutes and I can still breathe, so I guess all is well. Then I cleverly did a little research and found out that an allergic reaction can present up to several hours after the sting, even a whole day! And guess what? Almost all of the symptoms are stuff I deal with all the time anyway. Dizziness? Tingly? Aaargh.

So now the rest of the day I'll be thinking, Does my throat feel funny? Stupid bee. Stupid me. *sigh*

Do you have any Benadryl? You could take one or two as a preventative. Those things really hurt, darn bees anyway.

Look for a change in color on your cheeks, itching/hives, shortness of breath, dizziness, nausea, swelling at the site, etc. Like Wiz said, take a few benadryl just to make sure if you want.

When I was a kid my mother would make us put mud on the sting and let it dry. Just another old wives tale? Some say baking soda paste, some say ice, I don't know what the medical peeps say these days other than use a credit card to remove the stinger and watch for signs and symptoms of allergic reaction.

When I came home from my festival a few weeks ago, we discovered a nest of yellow jackets under the front stairs. No stings, but the next day I got a can of that newfangled foaming wasp and hornet killer and had the old man flip the stairs and the landing and coat them with the foam. They left...

I was stung yesterday too....at first I just thought it was my usual junk
but soon found out I was stung a few times...ouch! I hope it feels better
now.

There's also a remedy you can get at the drug store.....I can't remember the specific name of it but it's an amonia stick that you dab on the area. It really worked for me. I stepped on a yellow jacket nest (that's how I learned they live in the ground!! ) and was stung multiple times on my legs and arms. My MIL brought it to me and it really worked. I'd never heard of using amonia. Hope you feel better and don't have a negative reaction.

Sox, I pushed the "thanks" button twice and it wouldn't let me thank you. So THANKS! (Now it probably will work)

Oweeeeee!!!!!!! Those yellow jackets are so persistent too.......hope you're both okay tonight!! Another home remedy is water and meat tenderizer paste. It really takes away the sting. If my memory serves me correctly (my ex was a bee keeper at one point until he developed an allergy) honeybees are the only ones that leave their stingers behind as the sting literally pulls their "behinds" out of their body and they die. All the rest can come back for more.

Ugh, I really dislike anything with a stinger that flies around

I heard that and I thought Oh great! So the huge bees - bumble bees, carpenter bees, they can keep on getting you. Lovely.



And those carpenter bees are just plain nasty. They hunt ya down. Way worse than yellow jacks and wasps and all. And YJs are bad enuf!


Feel ing okay B2Y? For 5 bucks, you can do a YJ/wasp trap - lowe's or home depot is where I got mine. Mine lasted about 2 months, time for a new one.

Once when I was on a river trip, one of those black and yellow fuzzy bees was flying around. I swung at it with my paddle and it came back after me and flew up my SHORTS and stung me twice before I was able to beat it to death inside my pants...

Just a mental picture for you all of a 6'2 wet woman trying to run a rapid while jumping around fighting a ferocious bee, who will NEVER swing at one of those again...