calling any one from missouri

[microchick]

Hi I8ybud and welcome from Macon county in northeast MO.

It's been a rough week here for me. On Monday, while working outside, I was stung on the little finger of my right hand by a wasp. I think it was a burrowing wasp as it had yellow legs and a black body. I was picking berries and didn't see it at all, but I sure felt it. The pain was horrible. I immediately went inside and gulped down two benedryl, flushed the wound with cold water and put an ice pack on my hand. Next morning my hand was swollen double, my little finger looked like a Jimmy Dean sausage and the itching was terrible. Not even Benedryl would relieve it. I was stung earlier in the season and it was fairly uneventful. My ankle swelled, it itched and that was the end of it. This time it was a lot different. By the second evening, my hand was fire engine red and hot to the touch. It wouldn't stop itching no matter what hydrocortison salve I smeared on or the benedryl I was downing every three hours, and I started to run a low grade fever. Great, cellulitis. Just what I need so I broke into my medicine cabinet (I'm a retired nurse so there is always a rabbit to be pulled out of the magic hat called the medicine cabinet) and started on Augmentin. Out of desperation I tried a homeopathic/herbal treatment for the intense itching and harvested some plantain and jewel weed from the pasture. steeped it in hot water, let it cool and plunged my hand into the 'tea'. Bingo! instant relief from the itching. Within 24 hours the redness was backing off, my temp went back to normal yesterday and today the swelling in my hand is minimal but the little finger is still swollen and blistered from the sting. My head is clearer so I caught it in time.

It was bad enough that it almost drove me to the ER, but I did not want to take the steroids that I was sure they would shoot into me, and yes, as you can tell, I do not like to go to the doctor unless I have my head under one arm and a foot on a banana peel.

Still I am now apprehensive about what will happen if I get stung again. I may be building up an allergy to them that would force me to carry an Epipen, but because I have an arrhythmia I don't think I would tollerate epinepherin. My dear husband was able to eliminate the nest once we found it and bless him, he took care of the chickens for me, but this whole week has been a loss. I woke up this morning and realized it is Friday but I don't remember Tuesday or Wednesday at all other than making the herbal tea to soak my hand in. Way too scarey.

So has anyone else been stung by a wasp and had this kind of reation to it? And just a word of warning to everyone to watch out for these wasps and be aware of where you step. I hate to think what it would feel like if anyone received multiple stings by any of them.

 

[katatonic123]

@microchick , what a week! I hope you recover completely very soon. That is scary to have that kind of reaction.

 

[microchick]

Thanks katatonic123 ( love your forum name) I'm feeling much better today. I had two blisters come up on the inside of my finger plus a rash at the base. The rash has dried up and one of the two blisters has reabsorbed. They scared me when they appeared because they were a deep purple/red in color, now they are just red, the last of the cellulitis I suspect. I had no idea a Wasp sting could do that but when you google it, you find that it is quite common. What's even more scarey is that I did nothing aggressive towards the wasps to warrent them stinging me. I never saw them or their nest. They just did it. I need to get out and pick and work in our blackberry arbor but frankly, I'm afraid to at this moment.

I'm wondering if the wet weather we have been having is a factor in them being so aggressive this summer, or making the fruit more of a temptation for them.

 

[Couchmo]

I'm just about to move from the Harrisburg, PA area to the Thayer, MO area. Closing on my new house is currently scheduled for either August 15 or the 25th.

My avatar is of the barn & a bit of the pasture my BFF & I recently purchased just 2 miles from our houses.

Next I'll be setting up the coop/tractor & run then comes the chickens. :cd

I've booked a room in Eldon, MO. for Oct 1-3rd to attend the Jacob's Cave Animal Swap this fall. Hope to be able to get some nice chicks there. :yiipchick

Any Ameraucana breeders planning to be there?

 

[microchick]

Welcome to Missouri! My Dad was born in Reading PA. Whow, you are really going to enjoy the culture shock!

Seriously though, you will love Missouri. The people are friendly beyond belief, we moved here from IL and even that short a distance move was enough for us to realize that we had finally come home.

 

[Couchmo]

Welcome to Missouri! My Dad was born in Reading PA. Whow, you are really going to enjoy the culture shock!

Seriously though, you will love Missouri. The people are friendly beyond belief, we moved here from IL and even that short a distance move was enough for us to realize that we had finally come home.

Thanks microchick! We've been visiting SE MO. about 2 weeks each month since March to visit my BFF's son. All the traveling was just getting to be too much and I decided that we might as well move out there. I have nothing holding me here in PA since my husband passed so what the heck. I have found the people there very friendly. I also like the more laid back lifestyle and lack of heavy traffic!

I can hardly wait!

 

[katatonic123]

Thanks @microchick. It's been my nickname online for almost 20 years.

 

[ocap]

Hi I8ybud and welcome from Macon county in northeast MO.

It's been a rough week here for me. On Monday, while working outside, I was stung on the little finger of my right hand by a wasp. I think it was a burrowing wasp as it had yellow legs and a black body. I was picking berries and didn't see it at all, but I sure felt it. The pain was horrible. I immediately went inside and gulped down two benedryl, flushed the wound with cold water and put an ice pack on my hand. Next morning my hand was swollen double, my little finger looked like a Jimmy Dean sausage and the itching was terrible. Not even Benedryl would relieve it. I was stung earlier in the season and it was fairly uneventful. My ankle swelled, it itched and that was the end of it. This time it was a lot different. By the second evening, my hand was fire engine red and hot to the touch. It wouldn't stop itching no matter what hydrocortison salve I smeared on or the benedryl I was downing every three hours, and I started to run a low grade fever. Great, cellulitis. Just what I need so I broke into my medicine cabinet (I'm a retired nurse so there is always a rabbit to be pulled out of the magic hat called the medicine cabinet) and started on Augmentin. Out of desperation I tried a homeopathic/herbal treatment for the intense itching and harvested some plantain and jewel weed from the pasture. steeped it in hot water, let it cool and plunged my hand into the 'tea'. Bingo! instant relief from the itching. Within 24 hours the redness was backing off, my temp went back to normal yesterday and today the swelling in my hand is minimal but the little finger is still swollen and blistered from the sting. My head is clearer so I caught it in time.

It was bad enough that it almost drove me to the ER, but I did not want to take the steroids that I was sure they would shoot into me, and yes, as you can tell, I do not like to go to the doctor unless I have my head under one arm and a foot on a banana peel.

Still I am now apprehensive about what will happen if I get stung again. I may be building up an allergy to them that would force me to carry an Epipen, but because I have an arrhythmia I don't think I would tollerate epinepherin. My dear husband was able to eliminate the nest once we found it and bless him, he took care of the chickens for me, but this whole week has been a loss. I woke up this morning and realized it is Friday but I don't remember Tuesday or Wednesday at all other than making the herbal tea to soak my hand in. Way too scarey.

So has anyone else been stung by a wasp and had this kind of reation to it? And just a word of warning to everyone to watch out for these wasps and be aware of where you step. I hate to think what it would feel like if anyone received multiple stings by any of them.

my wife got stung early this week, might have been the same day, worst reaction I have seen but not as bad as yours, fourth case of wasp sting at the urgent care that day, the Dr. gave her a steroid, I sprayed the nest and found an underground bumble bee nest near the house.

could you take pictures of plantain and jewel weed? we don't know what to look for but I have been mowing the weeds every day this summer, we must have every weed that grows in MO.

I have been stung regularly and each time my reaction is worse than before, reminds me of the creature in the last book in the Bible that stings and the reaction is so bad that the person wants to die.

Welcome to all the new folks on this thread, nice to see the new chicken members around KC.

 

[microchick]

No problem Ocap. Here is plantain:




And here is Jewel Weed:



I had a neighbor call it jewel weed but it is actually called smart weed or Arkansas Pink Weed. This one is just everywhere on our farm and our neighbor took us on a walk through his yard and pointed out all the medicinal wild plants that he had and their uses. He broke this plant at the stem and used the sap to stop insect bite itching. My thoughts were if it stops insect bites such as mosquitos, maybe it would work on wasp stings also. I just used the leaves and flower heads in the 'tea' that I brewed along with the plantain leaves. Plantain is really an interesting plant. You can use the leaves in a mixed salad (the younger the leaves the better) and it is a favorite ingredient in an 'amish' salve that I can buy at the local Amish General Store. You can also use the leaves as a poultice which I did also. Just put the leaves in water, bring it up to a boil, remove it from the heat and let it steep as you would tea. I then used a piece of gauze to wrap the leaves in and apply it to the area you want to treat.

Of course make sure you don't have an allergy to either of these plants.

Both appear in a MO.gov publication called: http://mdc.mo.gov/discover-nature/how/cooking/wild-edibles-missouri

The publication is out of print but you should be able to download it from the site.

Today is day 5 of my adventure with this particular sting and my hand is back to normal size and appearance but my little finger is still swollen, itchy and blistered this morning.

Glad your wife is ok. The steroid thing is why I refused to go in and opted to treat my sting myself. I've taken a lot of steroids due to atipical rheumatoid arthritis and my Lyme disease and as a medical professional I know the damage they can do in the long run to you bones, not to mention the weight gain a person can get from them.

I'm betting real money the wet spring and summer is playing a big part in these critters being around in abundance. And yes, from what I have read, that is the nature of wasp stings is that each one you get is a little worse than the one before. That scares me.

 

[ChickenCanoe]

Yeah, that second picture is smartweed. I've been battling it for several years and I'm losing. It has taken over most of the back half of the property where the chickens pasture and that is one of the last things they want to eat.
It thrives where soil is compacted, crowding everything else out. Kind of like a shorter version of invasive Japanese Honeysuckle.
I think I've stumbled onto a control of sorts.
I was so desperate to get it under control that I was actually considering moving away from organics and using roundup, ground clear or brush killer.
I also found an organic ground clear called Burnout by Bonide.
I had also heard that vinegar can kill weeds.
I decided to do a test. I sprayed three swaths about 50' long through a stand of smartweed. I used Burnout, Roundup and plain white vinegar.
I mixed the first two at the highest recommended concentrations. The Burnout was $24 for a quart that made a gallon. The Roundup would come out to about $5 a gallon at the rate I diluted. Vinegar is $2.50 a gallon.
Within a few hours the vinegar was really working. The next day, the vinegar swath was virtually dead. The Burnout swath was almost as dead (at 10 times the cost). The Roundup swath was barely wilted. It took close to a week for the Roundup to have anywhere near the effect as the other two - and it isn't organic.