Bee sting is a painful injury to the skin caused by venom from the stinger of an insect such as a bee, wasp, hornet or yellow jacket. Tupperware It usually lasts for a day or so. It can be very painful for some people, but it is not life-threatening and most reactions are mild.
Pain and itching from the sting are usually the first symptoms, followed by swelling around the sting site. The stinger is attached to the insect by a hair-like appendage called a barb. Some bugs, such as wasps and hornets, have retractable stingers, while others, like honey bees, leave their stinger in the skin.
In some cases, a person can develop an allergic reaction to the sting. The reaction can include redness, itching, swelling and sometimes hives or itchy blisters. Most people will get better within a few days, but some may have a more severe reaction that lasts for a week or more.
Severe allergic reactions (anaphylaxis) require medical help, often a trip to the emergency room or Poison Control Center. If you are allergic to bees, wasps or hornets, you should have an epinephrine auto-injector on hand at all times. You can get one at a pharmacy or doctor’s office and learn how to use it.
A stung area should be checked after several hours and rechecked every few hours to see if the stinger has been removed or is coming out. Symptoms should improve over the next 24 to 48 hours, and the sting should be less itchy or red. If it does not, then the stinger needs to be removed and checked for signs of infection.
The sting site should be cleaned well and treated with an over-the-counter antihistamine. This may be a cream or aerosol preparation. It is also important to keep the sting site cool.
An ice pack or cold compress can be used to reduce the pain and inflammation of a bee sting. The ice pack is best placed over the top of the sting site and gently applied to the skin. It should be cooled to about 10 degrees centigrade.
Other traditional first aid techniques, such as rubbing alcohol, ammonia or vinegar over the sting, are not effective at reducing the pain of a bee sting and may actually make it worse. A cold compress should be applied for 20 minutes three times a day, until the sting has healed.
Some people are stung multiple times, which can cause serious problems and even death. The stinger of some insects, such as bees and wasps, can sting many times before the victim is able to escape. The venom in these stings is more toxic than that of the other types.
The stinger of some insects, such bees and wasps, can be removed easily by scraping it with your fingernail or tweezers. However, the venom is still in the stinger and keeps pumping into your skin. This is why it is so important to remove the stinger as quickly as possible. Leaving it in for even 8 seconds can increase swelling by 30 percent!
