A BEE thread....for those interested in beekeeping.

[Hatchery Hive]

Sooo, I had a scary close call last Saturday...

After working with my bees... and I pissing them off... (shaking them out if a medium super they refused to drawl out)
several of them attacked me on my bee suit. I was fine.. normally they give up once you walk away 15 ft or so...

However, Several of them were still on the back of my hood when I took of my bee suit over 100 yards away on my front porch...


Several of them stung me on the very top of my head... It turns out that this is the worst place to get hit...

I've been stung many times before and thought nothing of it...

Then my body started itching all over and by the minute the itching became exponentially MUCH worse....
With in 5 minutes all of my skin; every inch was on fire with intense itching...

I was in trouble...
Big trouble...

My wife and I look and looked, but could not find a single Benadryl in our house...

I was in danger....

I ran to my neighbors house with my lips and tongue swelling...
He had no Benadryl either.... aaaaaah!

He poured honey over the sting areas... an old bee keeper's trick...
It worked locally but my body was getting much worse.

Then as my speech started slurring he threw me into his car... we drove to the nearest gas station to get some Benadryl.

I had the cashier open the STUPID PACKAGING because my hands where swelling and I could not get to the pills.. It was maddening!
My knees where buckling and my eye dilated and my sight went white by the time he was able to get 2 out...

My neighbor kept me in his car watching my breathing warning me that if the Benadryl does not work we ARE GOING to the Hospital... I refused to go to the hospital an pay the thousands of dollars they would charge me for giving me the same Benadryl I just took...

The Benadryl started working... the full body itching ebbed... Thank GOD
he took me home and my wife put me in bed...

2 hours later I woke up covered head to toe in a rash and had to barf... and I took a 3rd Benadryl and crawled back into bed shivering like I had a fever.

I'm out of the worst of it... what a messed up day...
If I had not had such a long delay before I took Benadryl I am convinced that I would have been just fine.

Now, I am freaked out. I have to go to a Doctor to get tested for honey bee allergies and to get an EpiPen.
I will also have liquid Benadryl handy if this happens again...

It turns out that the only explanation which makes sense is that the bee must have injected me directly in one of my scalp's blood vessels for the poison to flood my blood stream and show up all over my body that instantly...

At least now you all know what Anaphylactic Shock feels like as it happens and will move fast if it happens to you...

 

[3goodeggs]

In early June my husband got stung on the top of the head by a paper wasp. I have benadryl and epi pens so I was prepared for emergencies, but it dropped him like a sack of rocks. I gave him 2 benadryl and hoped he would not throw them up.

I think if anything like that happens again to anyone I know, they will go directly to the hospital. We think the skull protects us ...and it does if the bees were throwing rocks, but our brain is right under that shell that does not swell, so if the brain starts to swell too... I should have known better. I had never seen him get so dangerously close to dying.
You were lucky.
I am glad you came out of that.

 

[CherMoz]

A good warning for all to hear!

 

[1muttsfan]

So glad to hear you are OK now. But I have to agree, too close a call. If this happens again you should take the Benedryl then head immediately to the hospital - even if you just sit outside until you feel better. The additional time it takes to transport someone in shock can be less than the time you have available.

 

[Hatchery Hive]

Bravo... well said...

By the way, I visited my doc...
Im waiting on my allergy sensitivity results from the blood test.
I now own 2 Epipens via prescription...

Epi pens are $400 for two without insurance... and for some a $250 co-pay....Yikes!

Some BEEK's suggested the epi pen website and I printed a coupon for the "zero balance".
Yesterday, I took it, with my prescription, and my insurance card to the pharmacy with much skepticism and they gave me a two pack without charge.

Attached is the offer :
http://e.mylanspecialty.com/US_DTC_E...2bcb41#Savings

My doc said that my symptoms and the timing of them pretty much confirms I'm not allergic and that I was in fact stung directly into a blood vessel. but we did the allergy test "just to be sure".

He also suggested I (and every bee keeper) build a small separate emergency kit with its own separate supply of Gel Cap Benadryl, liquid Benadryl, and the EpiPen... "That way no one in the house will clean out your Benadryl supply because they have the sniffles."

He said if those symptoms happen again to start treatment with two adult doses of the liquid Benadryl, if that does not work and you start to go into shock use the EpiPen and go to the hospital. The Gel Cap Benadryl is for a 3rd dose, 2- 3 hours later, if the initial Benadryl works and you don't need the EpiPen..

 

[3goodeggs]

Good information!
Be aware that the epi pen is only good for one year.
I will go get some liquid benedryl for both places. I have the tablets, but it makes sense that the liquid would be better when time is important.

I had been paying the 400 dollars every year, and then my doctor started sending all of my prescriptions electronically, so they went to my insurance company's pharmacy. It only cost 20 dollars that way, That was a nice surprise.

I am glad you are alright.

 

[1muttsfan]

Very good information.

 

[copper2]

I'm new to beekeeping, and got my package bees in May. They still haven't filled the first deep with brood nest and honey. There haven't been any honey flows( or none that I've seen) they have 2 or 3 frames of brood nest. Do they have nosema? Please help me I don't want my bees dying over winter

 

[mak1]

nosema is usually in the winter. Start feeding sugar syrup to the bees. You should buy a small jar of pro health and add it in the syrup. Search up how to make pollen patties or buy them and start putting them in.
You have to build lots of brood and lots of feed for the winter.

 

[3goodeggs]

I'm new to beekeeping, and got my package bees in May. They still haven't filled the first deep with brood nest and honey. There haven't been any honey flows( or none that I've seen) they have 2 or 3 frames of brood nest. Do they have nosema? Please help me I don't want my bees dying over winter

Our first year was slow. Feed them all year to get them started.
We didn't put the honey supers on until the brood box was getting full either. They have to draw out comb, and that takes energy as well.
We had one brood box the first year, two brood boxes per super the second year. After they have drawn out the wax in the combs, they can spend more energy making honey and you can add more supers. If you just uncap the honey and don't take the entire comb, it is easier for the bees.