Bee stings

[omnimirage]

It seems like most people deem bee stings to be quite a bad thing. If I express that I've been stung twenty or more times, people have told me to go see a doctor asap "just in case". People constantly say that, just because I'm not allergic now, doesn't mean I won't develop one and have an allergic reaction soon, that the more I'm stung the more likely I am to become allergic. Those who haven't been stung are often very fearful of bees because "they don't know if they're allergic or not".

Are bee stings more dangerous than I think? Is it risky to take someone who hasn't been stung by a bee before, over an hour away from a hospital? Should I get myself some sort of epipen? Or maybe some sort of lotion to put on fresh beestings?

[splitrock]

I have several grandkids that have never been stung and many hives on our acreage, so I keep an epi pen around.

[Michael Bush]

Do you have a lightning rod on your house?  Yes, lightning can kill you.  But not, it's not likely.  Yes, bee stings can kill you.  No, it's not likely.  I had bees in the yard when raising my five kids and I have bees in the yard now and five grandkids living with me.  My other house has bees in the yard and three more of my grandkids.  The grandkids have been stung by yellow jackets and paper wasps.  Only one of those grandkids has ever been stung by a honey bee.  I, of course, get stung all the time.  Only one of my kids got stung by bees as a kid and he got stung fairlyl regularly from running around barefoot and not paying attention.  None every had a bad reaction beyond the usual swelling and itching at the site.  But then we are living in an era where kids are so allergic that peanut butter is killing kids...

[bwallace23350]

I usually suit up but I have been stung each year of my beekeeping. I get at most a 15 minute reaction. I get worse reactions from wasps but don't get stung every year. I keep an epi pen on hand as a precaution. Mr. Bush is right something we are doing has increased allergies in the general population. There are several hypothesis about this and one of them is the hygiene hypothesis. It says we are just to clean but let it be known that people had died of allergic reactions to stings well before this started showing up. Still very uncommon though.

[Hops Brewster]

 "just because I'm not allergic now, doesn't mean I won't develop one and have an allergic reaction soon".   yes that is true.  But that is not to say that you will develop a honeybee sting allergy.   There are so many factors involved that it is nigh impossible to predict it. 

I have read that only 1 in 100 people are actually allergic to honeybee venom, yet many more than that will claim to be allergic when the topic of keeping bees comes up.   Another thing, a lot of people assume that the normal swelling and itching of a sting is an allergic reaction.   Physicians will prescribe allergy meds 'just in case' to help ward off malpractice suits, without actually conducting allergen tests.  Then the patient will naturally assume they are allergic, when they actually are not.

So, sure, you might develop an allergy, or at least a sensitivity.  On the other hand, you might not.  If I were taking odds, I would wager on the later.

[tjc1]

I had a couple of unpleasant reactions to stings my first year - not life threatening, but big swelling of limbs. I talked to the doc who recommended I get an epipen to have on hand, just in case. Sounded like a good idea, but was shocked when I went to the pharmacy to pick up the RX - had to buy a box of 2 - the only way they came - for over $200! Well, that really stung, I can tell you! Then, last year there was the big stink because they were charging  something like $400 APIECE!

Thankfully, I never had to use them, and it would seem that I am not likely to need to have one on hand.  If you are really allergic, you have to have one and I wouldn't for a minute argue otherwise, but it's a rather expensive precaution if there is not a strong indication for it.

[little john]

Expensive.  And - as you've never used those Epi-pens - do bear in mind that they have an expiry date.
LJ

[tjc1]

Yes, I meant to add, "and once they expired I didn't replace them"!

[little john]

Nothing less than a scandal.  The active product costs less than $1, and (say) the syringe & packaging another $1.  The rest is clear profit.

Single-dose ampoules can be purchased for $4 (and a working profit is being made at that price)  https://www.bemedsupply.com/product-p/1-561521.htm - so there's no reason why an auto-syringe should cost any more than 10.

LJ

[Van, Arkansas, USA]

{there's no reason why an auto-syringe should cost any more than 10.}

Hey LJ, the reason is greed, pure and simple.  You are so correct about cost, the epipens are adrenaline, easy to obtain and purify.

Hops has an excellent post, I believe the odds are 1:1000 though I have not studied in a while, so my numbers should be verified.

The concern is anaphylactic shock, it is deadly, in as little as 10 minutes, easily resolved with an epipen.  Anaphylactic shock takes 2 reactions: the first sting massive amounts of antibodies are produced on an algebra scale (1,2,3,4...) the second sting the antibodies increase by log scale ( 10, 100, 1000, 10,000....)  The body cannot handle the immune response on a log scale. The immune system is a very powerful system, capable of destroying bacteria by the billions, virus loads in inconceivable numbers, larger organisms such as Protozoa that can be seen with a magnifying glass, even detoxify deadly toxins produced by bacteria.  The immune system produces deadly chemicals to deal with invading organisms such as hydrogen peroxide.  However, the immune system can backfire to put it bluntly.  The immune system is complex, I over simplified to create understanding.

THE SINGLE MOST IMPORTANT  CHARACTERISTIC SIGN IS DIFFICULTY IN BREATHING.  When the air passage way becomes clogged by swelling tissue,  the person eventually cannot breath and suffocates.  If breathing becomes difficult, it is time to react, call 911, do not hesitate.
Blessings

[salvo]

Hi Folks,

Remember when the epi cost scandal was going on? A Senator's daughter is CEO of the company that makes it! So says CNN.

Read it and weep:

http://www.cnn.com/2016/08/24/politics/epipens-congress-response/index.html

Sal

[Van, Arkansas, USA]

Good article, I noticed in the article, Mylan, the company that makes epipen, their cost is only a few dollars per pen.  This echos exactly what lil John text.

[Acebird]

Good article, I noticed in the article, Mylan, the company that makes epipen, their cost is only a few dollars per pen.  This echos exactly what lil John text.

Yeah, and "we" (our elected idiots) just gave them a trillion dollar raise for their greed.