ID, Beavo, both have good questions. I was not taking any meds at the time, prescriptive or over the counter such as Benadryl, Advil. Now the food, I do not recall.
I will add one factor that have had an impact. During the 1990-2000 years. I was working with radiation. My hands could not be protected from beta particles and gamma radiation. I can tell you my Geiger counter max out. No complaints, the radiation at the time, was the only way to sequence DNA. We needed to sequence the DNA of disease causing organisms such as Lyme disease, Borrelia burgdorferi. I worked with Dr. Burgdorfer as well as others, my absolute pleasure.
The specific effects of radiation is unknown. Yes we know it kills, but we do not know exactly how much or exactly the damage done as there is no testing of humans for trails. The hands do not possess bone marrow, the bones are solid in the hands, so empathsis was on protecting the body, not so much the hands. I should add my ankle sting, about same time, days, was incredibly painful, swollen and I could not put any weight on that foot for 8 hours and of course no radiation exposure was ever directed at feet. So go figure????
Now I am not saying radiation is cause of my sting reactions, no one knows for certain and I have no complaints, folks were sick and dying of Lyme disease. I would do it all over again. It is kind of weird that my body reacted, then quit reacting. Maybe be as simple as ID stated, the food I ate, who can tell. The outcome is good, today if I get stung, I get over it fast.
My main point with this topic is simple: things can change for the better. Encouragement!!
Blessings