Thoughts of LoWriter

Bees make me swell up like a mellon and I don't like it. I'd join you in punching them in the face.

I have to say I am glad I didn't join you in this particular adventure. I have never been stung by a bee (knock on wood) and hope I never am. I too would join you in punching bees, as long as they did not sting me when I punch them...

i am also unsure if i've been stung. there was an incident a few years ago while washing vehicles at my old house, but it was more of a huge pinch than a sting. i dont remember it swelling or being affected thereafter either. so who knows? Lo, i'm glad you now know you're not deathly allergic to the little buzzers.

btw, bees are pretty cool. do some research on them, or read the book i reviewed on my blog. i have a greater respect for them now. ;o)

Just saw this story today. Not quite bees, but be glad you don't live in Alabama...

oh and btw, you aren't allergic to bees until your second sting. So even if you are stung once and are fine, you may have an extreme reaction the second time. I don't know why this is tho...

Actually it is the other way around. The first sting is usually the worst because the body hasn't started building immunity towards the venom yet. A common treatment for allergic reactions is a small shot of venom to build immunity.

Ok, so me being me I had to look it up and here is what I found:

If you are known to be allergic to insect stings, then the next sting is 60% likely to be similar or worse than the previous sting.

In fact, most people with bee sting allergies do not experience a severe reaction with their first sting. Multiple stings increase the risk of an allergic reaction, but just one sting will cause serious symptoms for someone who is severely allergic.

However it does appear to be true that to build up immunity to bee stings you can be injected with the toxin. Or, if you are in a profession like beekeeper, be stung multiple times over the course of a few weeks.

Not to get into a pissing match here but there are a number of contrary studies. I'm sure we could go on all day and find just as many for or against.
Here is one (Title - Long-term outcomes of allergy to insect stings in children) from Johns Hopkins that states that kids that had a systemic skin reaction that didn't receive VIT (venom immunotherapy) were only 17% likely to have a worse reaction. And those with an initial moderate to severe reaction were only 32% likely.

It is quite possible that the studies didn't use the same insects and that the severity varies by species. Granted 60% and 32% are quite a ways off, I think we can all agree that stings are bad and that we should avoid it. Although, I am ok with others putting themselves in danger to gather honey because it is seriously good on toast. Mmmm, I want some toast.

Apparently, I didn't link the study correctly. It is about halfway down on the page and is titled Long-term outcomes of allergy to insect stings in children. https://www.aaaai.org/aadmc/ate/category.asp?cat=9885

It's probably the comments. I am not sure why they don't allow links, but I will try to figure it out.

I had toast with honey on it last night, and it was seriously awesome.

Well, I have to say that it was a fun 20 minutes or so waiting to see if I was allergic (because some in my extended family are). I'm hoping to go another 26 years before I have another one, so hopefully if I am allergic to the second sting, it will all be all right. If the second sting is not as bad, then I give it a whoo hoo because I personally am getting sick and tired of having a stupid bump on my leg.

I looked up bee stings on wikipedia, but all I found out was that more bees come because of the smell of a dying bee, which I already knew. I did not know they smelled like dirty socks when they die. And, in fact, none of that may be accurate because it is on wikipedia, after all.

Also, the mammoth nests from jeremy's comment scare the hell out of me. It makes me want to go check all the barns to make sure they're not growing a supernest in there.

Ah jibbly jibbly.

there seem to be lots of studies and you never know, the 'being stung a second time' may be an old wives tale that just gets repeated and told as fact a lot. we may never know, without lots of our own studies, which will involve bees and means I won't be involved. so i'll go with what you said :-)

They smell like old socks? ewww.... that's gross.

and here's to another 26 years sting free - at least! I'll salute another 126 years sting free... I may still be alive then - you never know with all the advances in medical science! We can overpopulate the earth when we are old!! :-)