Experience been stung by a wasp

Discussion in 'Health & Fitness' started by timojin, Aug 13, 2015.

  1. timojin Valued Senior Member

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    Can anyone been stung by a wasp, then after swelling have taken place . run cold water in the swollen area. or run warm water in the swollen area . experience the different sensation.
     
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  3. exchemist Valued Senior Member

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    No I've never tried this, since to my knowledge running water over the sting is not part of any of the commonly recommended treatments. Is there an interesting difference between hot and cold water? If so, what?
     
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  5. timojin Valued Senior Member

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    Running cold water the sensation of pain is enormous , exposing to warm water is very soothing

    By the way have you looked by any chance what are the chemicals in the wasp or bees poison ?
     
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  7. exchemist Valued Senior Member

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    Too complicated to allow easy answers………….: http://www.compoundchem.com/2014/08/28/insectvenoms/
     
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  8. spidergoat pubic diorama Valued Senior Member

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    I just got stung last month by a weird species of black and white wasp, right in the face below my lower lip. It didn't hurt that much, and when I thought the worst was over, the whole right side of my face swelled up an inch thick and got numb, all the way down to my throat.

    I took some funny selfies.
     
  9. timojin Valued Senior Member

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    Show your face . I got stung on about 8 places . I was attempting to remove a nest . I used the spray but it did not work well so I flooded the nes with large amount of water ( flooding them out ) it worked better by flooding them out .
    The worse sting and painful was on my thumb and my ankle , they did swell big from the thumb my whole hand puffed up .
    So I am curious as to what poison they carry , because in diferent of the body I had different degree in swelling, I suppose also within the wasp family different individuals carry different poison .
    Si thanks retired chemist ( exchemist ) for the site.
     
  10. Dr_Toad It's green! Valued Senior Member

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    My thanks, too. Good site.

    When I was about 6 I was stung by yellowjackets. I don't remember how many, but the ones that really hurt were right at the corner of my eye, ear, mouth and under a fingernail.

    Bumblebees hurt worse...
     
  11. timojin Valued Senior Member

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    Bumblebees , might have a large volume of poilon ?
     
  12. Dr_Toad It's green! Valued Senior Member

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    They're about 5 times bigger than a honeybee, and the venom might be different as well.
     
  13. exchemist Valued Senior Member

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    What Americans call yellowjackets is what we European call just wasps - even though there are lots of others as well in Europe too. I suppose it is because these are the ones that cause the nuisance, foraging for food on dinner plates etc. I was under the impression that most bumblebees either do not sting or are reluctant to do so. At any rate I have never heard of anyone being stung by them. Maybe I am lulled in a false sense of security by their furry and benignly rounded appearance - whereas wasps look and behave like military helicopters…....
     
  14. Dr_Toad It's green! Valued Senior Member

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    The sort that got me was a subterranean nester. I was walking barefoot and stepped on her as she was coming out. I thought I'd stepped on an ember or something.
     
  15. Stoniphi obscurely fossiliferous Valued Senior Member

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    Yeah, the European Yellow-jackets like to nest in the ground, more so than the domestic US Yellow-jackets, though those are bigger and pack more of a wallop. A bumble bee dropped into the back of my T shirt when I was a child swinging on a back yard swing set. Stung me 5 times before I got off the swing and got her out. That kind of swelling could well indicate an allergy Spidey, might be wise to get that checked out. I carry an Epi - pen these days, though I have been considering taking the shot series to eliminate that allergy.
     
  16. spidergoat pubic diorama Valued Senior Member

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    I exaggerated a bit, it only swelled up like a half an inch. I didn't die though, and I'm fine now. It was kind of fun.
     
  17. exchemist Valued Senior Member

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    They will nest anywhere under cover. The roof spaces of houses are especially popular. Some nests are the size of a football and contain several thousand wasps. The queens like to hibernate indoors too. I almost always find one drowsy queen, some time during each winter, in the curtains of our sitting room. I never have the heart to kill her - just put her outside somewhere and let nature take its course.

    I have once seen wasps mating, in October I think. The male seemed to have a sort of pincer contraption on the end of his abdomen for grasping the female. As I recall, the queen buzzed in a sort of pretend-complaining, half-hearted way throughout the process.
     
  18. Stoniphi obscurely fossiliferous Valued Senior Member

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    When I was a kid, I got stung on my hand by a honey bee. My hand swelled up to a sphere, my fingers were like sausages so tight I couldn't move them, my arm swelled up right to my shoulder, looked like a giant sausage. The doctors told me that - if I got stung again - I could well die from that. Like I said though, these days they have clinics that are supposed to be able to eliminate some allergies like that. Until I get there though, I keep that Epi-pen close at hand.
     
  19. iceaura Valued Senior Member

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    Bumblebees when feeling disturbed raise the volume of their buzz somehow - the teddy bear affect thereby much diminished. Your subconscious brain knows what that sound means: a million years of co-evolution have established the ground rules for bee/primate relations.

    I and many others have as a child petted fuzzy cute bumblebees that were busy in a flower - they don't feel threatened by much when away from their hive. The bigger the bee, the less threat it feels and the more charming the experience. That said, I know one person who did that too close to the hive and was stung - and according to them and everyone else with comparison experience a bumblebee sting packs a wallop. Wasps are worse overall, but only because they usually attack in numbers and can jab more than once each; honeybees are worse if they swarm you, because there are so many; but single jab to single jab a bumblebee gets the blue ribbon for memorable effect among all my sources. Maybe it is the sense of betrayal - the black and white hornets with the big tree nests would presumably hit harder, but one is ready for pain from those guys; at any rate the comparison shoppers tell me no.

    This guy differs, but he seems to be European - their bumblebees are different species: http://www.bumblebee.org/bodySting.htm

    The insect Americans are usually calling a "yellowjacket" these days - the yellow and black wasp-thing that lands on your sugar drink can - is a European import that got to my area within my lifetime. In my childhood they did not yet exist. Some call them "German hornets", as identified by soldiers returned from being stationed in Germany during and after WWII.

    Idaho isn't NA entire, but here: http://extension.uidaho.edu/clearwa...ackets-Bald-Faced-Hornets-and-Paper-Wasps.pdf
     
    Last edited: Aug 25, 2015
  20. timojin Valued Senior Member

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    My several experience with wasps , they attack if you get close to the hive or disturb the hive , but if they are working for food ( in a garbage container ) you can mangle with the garbage were they are present , they don't attack it is like ( we eat so you can eat.
     
  21. Dr_Toad It's green! Valued Senior Member

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    Other's experiences may have been with different kinds of wasp as well.

    Bees do what you describe, and we have several species of both bees and wasps here, as well as hornets. Some of them aren't nice at all. Where do you live?
     
  22. timojin Valued Senior Member

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    Chicago.
     
  23. Stoniphi obscurely fossiliferous Valued Senior Member

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    The American Yellow-jackets have been displaced to a certain extent by the invasive European Yellow-jackets. While the natives are not all gone, they have become pretty rare as the smaller and more numerous European variety can fit themselves and their hives into smaller places. The Bald Faced hornets have surely increased in numbers around here in response to the huge number of deer carcasses due to road kills. Their grey footballs are everywhere any more. Both Yellow-jackets and bald faced hornets will sometimes attack unprovoked, though the bald faced hornets take the cake for packing a punch IMHO. As Yellow-jackets will build their hives in the ground they can give the unwary a real surprise when 3500 angry ladies with stingers boil out the ground after a stray footfall......
     
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