

Avoid wearing bright colors, scented perfume, or hair sprays.Here are a few things to keep in mind if you know you or your child will be outside and around bees or wasps. The best way to avoid complications from a sting is to avoid being stung in the first place. The swelling caused by a local reaction may decrease within a few hours, but it can take a few days to fully resolve. Individuals and parents should know it’s rare for infection to develop after a sting, especially within the first few days. This swelling, along with the area feeling warm and tender, can sometimes be confused for infection-also known as cellulitis. In fact, a sting on the hand can result in the hand swelling up to twice the normal size. The level of swelling caused by a sting can often be startling. An antihistamine taken orally or applied as a cream can help alleviate itching and swelling.ĭepending on the location of the sting, elevating the area can also reduce swelling. Once the stinger is out, a cool compress can help alleviate pain (just don’t dunk the whole area in ice). Avoid using tweezers or anything else that could puncture or squeeze the venom sack and make symptoms worse. So the sooner you can remove it and the stinger, the sooner you can stop the flow of toxins.Ī blunt object such as a credit card or butter knife gently scraped across the affected area is the best way to get rid of the stinger. In many cases, the bee also leaves behind the venom sack, which continues to pump venom as long as it stays intact. Wasps, on the other hand, have a smooth stinger that can sting multiple times without becoming detached from the insect.įollowing a honeybee sting, the stinger should be removed as quickly as possible. After a sting, honeybees leave a barbed stinger behind (and the honeybee dies). Remove the stinger with a dull-edged objectīee stings and wasp stings are relatively similar, with one big exception. Most of these visits are for local reactions that you can treat at home by following these steps.ġ. Up to 1 million people go to the Emergency Department for bee stings every year. If there’s no sign of a generalized allergic reaction, follow these 3 steps Patients and parents should note-a more severe local reaction (greater pain or more extreme swelling) is not an indicator of increased risk for a generalized reaction, nor is receiving multiple stings. Use the auto-injector at the first sign of an allergic reaction.
#TREATING A BUMBLE BEE STING HOW TO#
An auto-injector is a portable device that injects you when you push it against your skin-you don’t have to know how to “give a shot.” Epinephrine (adrenaline) is a drug that treats allergic reactions and can be life-saving.

People who know they’re allergic should always have access to an epinephrine auto-injector. Fortunately, this first reaction is less likely to be one of the fatal ones. However, sometimes people who never had an allergic reaction on previous stings have a generalized allergic reaction to their next sting. People who had a generalized allergic response in the past will very likely have one again after another sting.
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While most aren’t necessarily dangerous, they also aren’t particularly effective. In reality, these home remedies have no real scientific or medical basis. From meat tenderizer or tobacco juice to vinegar or baking soda, there’s no shortage of “cures” out there and people who swear by them. What’s the best way to treat a bee or wasp sting? It seems every family has their own secret remedy.
