Bee Sting Allergies? Me too, look what I got!

[RhainyC]

Ok so I am deathly allergic to bee stings (and fire ants and wasps) so I have been a prisoner in my home, from the time the weather warms, until the first hard frost every year. I hate being cooped up, so I finally got together and bought myself one of these:



The one I got actually has a zipper in the front and opens just like a jacket. I am so excited. I get to go outside safely this summer!!!

 

[gotmudd]

those set-ups are nice, except when ya get a critter unfriendly crawl up under your clothes, from what i see of that get up the only thing protected is your head and possibly your shoulders. only recommendation i have is to carry a couple of eppie pens with you when you feel the need to go outside. i myself am so allergic to the winged demons that when i got bit, yes bit because certain species of wasps bite before stinging, that i wound up in the hospital at the point of almost in convulsions. it was one of the bald faced varieties, black and white and about 2 1/2 inches long. thank god for friends,he had me at the hospital in under 6 min. couple years later i was hitch hiking down in texas and like a dumb ass i walked through a fire ant nest that almost cost me my leg, swelled up more than twice its size and turned black and purple, was so bad had to cut my tony lammas off. good luck with the set-up you have and remember the eppies

 

[rickcdewitt]

thats horrible you can't get out rhainy,i need an eppie pen for yellow jackets but i think my allergic reactions are getting lighter.i was stung while camping this weekend about two hours from the hospital and had my windpipe restrict slightly and felt my heart beat in almost all my joints.about time since the bastards have almost killed me a few times(for some reason i like to get caught out in the woods with no eppie pen).

the mosquitos were bad enough i would be tempted to wear one of those hoods anyway.

is the allergic reaction conditioning not an option? or is it too severe to be treated?

 

[RhainyC]

Oh the jacket isn't totally Buzzer proof but there is a very snug elastic bottom and cuffs on it. I will be adding a pair of pants bands and gloved cuffs to keep as *closed off* as possible...

And as mentioned if you live in an area that has Fire Ants, they have the exact same kind of venom that bees/wasps/hornets have so they are a danger as well, if you have bee sting allergy!

Rick, just a note here if you are anaphylactic, which is what it sounds like, the allergies don't get better...at least not from what the allergist and my docs have said over the years. My guess is that with the last sting, you may not have gotten hit with as much venom...but either way, keep that Epi handy!

I have 20 mins to be on advanced life support AFTER self injecting, or I am a deader....so I am doing what I can to make sure I don't get stung...If I have too close a call with the jacket and such..I will simply *whimper* go back to being a prisoner inside during the Buzzers' active months

 

[86ford]

you guys have my sympathy. i am not allergic to anything of that sort and get stung regularly through out the summer without a problem. geeze and some times i think i have it bad......

86

 

[Hahnsb2]

Do you really get stung often enough to need one of those? I can't even remember the last time I was stung by a bee/wasp/anything (must have been 10 years at least). Can't you just carry around the antibiotic stuff (I'm not allergic so excuse my ignorance)?

 

[Shran]

No, if you're allergic to that kind of stuff you just have a few minutes before your throat closes up. My fiancee is highly alergic to some trees and she carries it all the time just for that. It's just better to be safe than sorry in this case.

 

[rickcdewitt]

Rick, just a note here if you are anaphylactic, which is what it sounds like, the allergies don't get better...

i almost died and had a few serious encounters when i was young but it seems since becoming full grown that the stings(yellow jackets only by the way) don't close off my throat.i count myself lucky but keep the epi-pen and benadryl in my trucks first aid kit.

Do you really get stung often enough to need one of those?Can't you just carry around the antibiotic stuff (I'm not allergic so excuse my ignorance)?

i was stung in the arm while driving out to lake pillsbury this weekend,and have had them fly down my shirt while driving too.

the syringe(epi-pen) is artificial adrenalin or something like that not antibiotics but it goes bad so you have to stay on top of it.

EDIT: rhainy i hope you have a big screened porch and a house with lots of windows,being a country boy i don't know what i'de do couped up.if not i'de get on the hubbys ass about it

the bee jacket will let you garden or maybe even barbeque(damn meat bees) at least.good luck with it.

 

[351ranger]

I'm suppose to have an eppie pen but lost it and haven't carried one in years. Last time I got stung was the first time I was allergic. Been stung a million times but was told the more you get stung the more prone you are to getting alergic. Had to call 911 and they got there just in time. It was right before a ranger station get together as a matter of fact. Weird shit, I can't let a bug kill me after all the shit I've done!

 

[Original_Ranger84]

Dang, that sucks my dad is allergic like that to bee stings. I am thankfully only allergic to dandylion pollen I have been stung by a few bees and don't get reactions but dandylions will make me get a headache and plug my nose and make my eyes itch and water, It sucks because I have to mow and weed wack them around where I work so a simple benadril will keep me in the clear until the drowsy part sets in and I want to sleep rather then mow.

 

[Jspafford]

When I was young I was outside dumping a kiddie pool and within a second of the water hitting the dirt I had been stung by a mud dauber.

It hurt like a mofo, but then I began to have a hard time breathing. I ended up getting rushed to the urgent care because my throat was swelling.

They gave me a shot and I was fine, but then they did an allergy test to see what I was allergic too. It was only that type of bee. I was then given an orange kit with a shot, a tourniquet, and some other stuff.

That was all back in elementary school, but after a few years I never got the kit when it expired.

A couple years back I got stung and my hand swole up for a couple days, but that was it. I really should get another kit.

EDIT: I am also becoming allergic to something in the air. When I mow grass I get stuffy, sneezy, watery eyes, etc.

Clariton does NOTHING for me, benedryl works, but I am not worth a crap for about an hour.

 

[RhainyC]

Rick, yep we are working on that screened in porch thing! I'm a country (horsewoman) at heart and it does drive me bonkers having to stay inside. But the cost of the stupid jackets is not cheap...so I have simply not been really able to afford one til this year.

As for the extreme of my allergy, I literally have 20 minutes to be on Advanced Life Support _AFTER_ using my Epi-Pen or I am dead according to the last docs who treated me when I was last stung about 20 years ago. My eyes swelled closed, my throat closed down and my whole body was blowing up like a ballooon. Not fun at all.

Hahns, just to clarify, where we live there are TONS of yellow jackets. They get in the car, in the house and even in the store I work in. As for regular honey bees, they don't worry me very much, as they are not aggressive like the yellow jackets are here. Our area is heavily wooded to one side, and there is a lot of wild land in our county that hasn't been developed. If I lived in a city of any size, it might not be as big an issue, but with the woods, beaches and such in my county...I have to be really careful daily during the warm months.

I have been stung a total of 4 times so far, each sting had a stronger reaction than the one before it. First was at about 7 years old, the next at about 9-10, the third at 19 years old and the last one at about 26 years old. That last one was the one where the doctor nearly lost me on the table because it took a while to get me into the ER, not realizing how anaphylactic I had become.

I am thankful for the jacket. Hubby and I looked at rubber palmed gardening gloves today, but all they had were size small...NOT gonna fit this woman's hands ROFL. So we may have to order those online as well. They are the safest by far as the stingers have a really tough time getting through both the rubber and the canvas. I do plan on ordering boot bands and sleeve covers as well I think, just to be safe as possible.

Anyone who has even a slight allergy to bee stings (or similar) Please, Please PLEASE, get and carry an up to date Epi-Pen! I nearly died that last sting because I had failed to keep one with me at all times.

 

[exbass94]

Last summer I found out I was allergic to bees. I was at my crappy landscaping job about to water some potted plants when all of a sudden I felt about 4 or 5 stings on my legs. There was a yellow jacket nest in the ground right where I was standing. I ran away and the bastards chased me and stung me about 2 more times. A few minutes later I started to get itchy and got hives. I hopped in my car and raced home (I lived about 2 miles away) and had my mom take me to the hospital. I didn't have any trouble breathing, but I sure was uncomfortable and extremely itchy. I had to lay on a hospital bed for a few hours with an IV in my arm until the hives finally went down. I have a few Epi-pens now, but never carry them with me and I haven't been stung since.

 

[Simple_serf]

I work at a farm with bees (we have about 26 hives now). I have never been stung. When I asked my doctor about this the last time I went to see him (I've never been stung, I'm 23, and I work with bees), his response was "Be brave."....Ok, then.....*%#@ing cheap ass insurance....

We have mostly Russians, and we now have one Italian hive. One of these hives is extremely aggressive, which isn't a normal trait of Russians. They are disease resistant, though, which is important these days.

www.betterbee.com has some good protective equipment. If you are going to be using the equipment often, get good stuff. Also, remember that instinct is to go twards the head/eyes of the intruder, be it bees, wasps, or hornets. I prefer to use heavy clothes with a pair of coveralls over those, and a veil. Problem is, if it's hot, all those clothes make you sweat and smell bad, and then THAT pisses off the bees.

 

[RhainyC]

I work at a farm with bees (we have about 26 hives now). I have never been stung. When I asked my doctor about this the last time I went to see him (I've never been stung, I'm 23, and I work with bees)
(snipped for bandwidth )
If you are going to be using the equipment often, get good stuff. Also, remember that instinct is to go twards the head/eyes of the intruder, be it bees, wasps, or hornets.

Serf, I am glad you Haven't been stung. It also goes to show that you probably understand the reason I have no real problem with honey bees overall. I am very careful with them, but they tend to land then fly off, I think because the sting kills them, whereas the Yellow Jackets don't die when they sting and can actually sting continually.

I bought my jacket/veil combo through Dadant.com (I think that's how it's spelled) and they have professional beekeepers Protective Clothing. As I mentioned it was not cheap! It has snug elastic at wrist and waist, and has all the flaps where the zippers are, velcroed as well. It appears to be a very nice heavy poly/cotton blend with the Nylon netting, and metal hoops in the veil. From all I can tell it is a really nice product and will last me many years with good care.

I do understand about disease resistance being important in honey bees, we are having the Colony Collapse here in Washington State now...our beekeepers are getting really worried about it.