Fast wasp sting remedy needed!!

Argh. I just disturbed a paper wasp nest in my back yard & have been stung seven times. It hurts like holy fuck. I got my own back with carburetor cleaner & then retreated into the house & I am a bit shaken. (I was swarmed by bees when I was a kid so I’m a bit girly about wasps & bees.)

I’m applying ice to the ones I can reach. Anything else I can do? It feels like burns & I have big red lumps. I can’t get hold of my boyfriend for medical advice (if any is warranted.) I need to get to work as soon as my heart calms down, but would like these not to hurt all day.

Advice?

If you are experiencing a bad reaction to the stings (palpitations, breathing difficulties etc), any antihistamine (hayfever) tablets will help. You can get them into your system quicker by dissolving them under your tongue (or some of them are available in syrup form).

If it’s ‘just’ discomfort from the physical sting sites, I found that calamine lotion or witch hazel helped a lot (I got very badly stung last year by a swarm of wasps, I feel your pain.

Yeesh, I wish I could tell you that something would work well. I am prone to getting stung, myself. Have some aspirin. I used to think that if I powdered the aspirin, and applied it to the affected area like a poultice, that would help. Haven’t tried it, though.

Baking soda. Make a paste of it with a little water. It’s also good for insect bites. (This won’t affect the allergies, but it’s good for the pain.)

Good thing they were only paper wasps, origami stings aren’t as bad :smiley:

Speaking as one who is allergic to stings, I have to say you are lucky all you have is painful little red welts. What you are experiencing is allergy/immune system overdrive. Your body is overreacting to the venom by releasing buckets of histamine. This is what causes the itching & swelling. From your description, your reaction is not systemic but just local. That means you are just going to have to ride it out & consider it a lesson learned.

For those of us who have more serious (life threatening) reactions, carry an epi-pen for a quick injection of epinephrine. However the epi-pen also comes with dangers (it affects the heart IIRC).

If you are still alive, chances are you are not allergic enough to need to carry an epi-pen. To my knowledge there is nothing that will cause the red itching burning bumps to go away short of the normal healing process. A visit to a dermatologist for a steroid shot may speed that up.

In case I was unclear, the baking soda should be applied to the sting.

Thanks for fast replies, you guys! I found some wasp killer under the sink & blasted the whole can all over the little fuckers, which made me feel better. They are just all over my back yard now, so I’m keeping the dogs in…

I’ll pick up some allergy stuff on my way to work. Apart from feeling a bit nauseated, I’m fine…whattaya mean “little red welts” attrayant?! These things are the size of Buicks. I have one on my stomach that is huge. I don’t even have any freaking aspirin in the house, but I did splash some witch hazel about.

Owowow. Note to self: Pick up a flame thrower on the way home to work & get the rest of the nest tonight while they’re sleeping.

Don’t ask me why it works…But meat tenderizer, Lowrey’s type, not the waffled hammer type, applied in a topical paste, takes the sting right out of all types of bee and wasp stings.

Of course, the waffled hammer type, if applied with the proper force, would probably make you forget about the stings too.

I know meat tenderizer works great for jellyfish stings - any old brand will do, by the way - so you might try it on wasp stings. The reason I’ve always been told is that the poison causing the pain is protein based, and the meat tenderizer breaks down the protien sting, therefore disabling the poison. I’ve never read any supporting evidence, though, so any confirmation or debunking by any medically savvy Dopers would be welcome.