Two days ago, on Sunday afternoon, I was stung by a bee just above my eyebrow. I never actually saw the insect, just a buzzing shape blocking my vision for a moment; a friend who was there claimed it was a bee, but her english isn’t great and I didn’t ask her to describe the insect in detail. I’m in Georgia; it could have easily been a yellowjacket. My friend immediately began trying to remove the stinger, thought she got it out about two minutes later and then got me an ice pack. She was very good to me and I’m glad she was there. The pain was already minimal for a bee sting; more throbbing like I bumped my head than stinging like a needle, and I kept the ice pack on it for the next half hour before going about my business mostly unaffected.
Yesterday the area around my eye felt like a bruise and was slightly swollen but generally my complaint was very minor so I left it alone and had a great day.
This morning, I woke up to even less pain than yesterday, but now my eyebrow and in particular my eyelid is so swollen I’m having significant trouble seeing. I’ve been stung by hymenopterans many times before and had no unusually adverse reaction. I have never encountered mention of bee stings (or other insect stings or bites) normally getting worse days later; I am seriously considering going to the emergency room, except of course I know all about what emergency rooms are like and if I put everything on hold and drive three miles and wait three hours and bill my insurance three thousand dollars to have a doctor tell me I’ll be fine tomorrow I’m going to feel really, really stupid.
Can anyone tell me how common delayed reactions like this are and how seriously they should be taken?
This seems to be looking for medical adivce and I would say that if it seems to be getting worse two days later you ought to see a doctor. Rather than the ER, I would suggest looking for an urgent care clinic which would likely have less of a wait and only charge your insurance hundreds of dollars.
i am under the impression that if there was a stinger, then it was a (honey) bee. They leave stingers as they cannot remove them, they actually die in the process as the stinger is, I believe, attached to the abdomen or some such body part.
I have been stung by many yellow jackets (wasps, i believe). They leave no stinger as it is attached to their hindquarters and i believe it has no barbs , so they remove it and live to sting another day. My immediate pain cure is vinegar (or a baking soda paste).
My wife was stung by a wasp a couple of weeks ago. On the lower lip. Swelled up like all get out, and in an hour she had these giant jowls. Swelling eased off after 24 hours or so, but it was good for a laugh.
A couple of days ago, I woke up at 6AM and sat down on my swivel chair in the dark right on top of an extremely large wasp. Needless to say, it stung me in the butt. Hurt like blazes.
Here’s a photo of the beast. I regret to say I killed him. You can see the stinger on his butt.
Wasps and bees are closely related and the stinger is attached to the tip of the abdomen (it is a modification of the ovipositor, that females use to lay their eggs). The difference is, quite correctly, that a bee’s stinger has barbs and a wasp’s doesn’t.
However bees don’t die after one sting, usually - only when they sting animals like us with tough, elastic skin.
To the OP: I usually have delayed reactions like this to honeybee stings (I have 20 years of experience with skin issues, many of involving swelling of the face - no anaphylaxis yet), so wouldn’t personally be worried. I would see your doctor when you can rather than going to the ER - unless the swelling increases even more or other parts of your face start to be affected.
For me, honeybee stings aren’t painful for more than a few minutes, but are intensely itchy starting 24-48 hours after the sting, and with increasing swelling and redness for up to four days. I usually have a big, hard, bright-red lump for a week or more. Wasp stings (yellow jackets, etc) are quite painful for about 10 minutes and only a little swollen/itchy for a couple days.
Have you done anything to reduce the swelling and inflammation? I would take some Claritin or Benadryl and continue to put cold compresses on the area.
