I was reading the thread about bee stings and epi pens in GQ, and it got me thinking about how many times I’ve actually been stung over my lifetime. I know it’s not often, that’s for sure. I’ve been stung once in the past 10 years, and maybe once in the 10 years before that. I guess I was stung a little more frequently when I was a kid/teenager, including one day as a camp counselor where I was stung twice within an hour.
How often have you been stung?
I’ve only been stung twice:
When I was about 5 or 6, I got stung while out in the yard. I never saw what got me, but I’m guessing a wasp or yellowjacket, as it didn’t leave behind a stinger.
As an adult, about 15 years ago, I was mowing the lawn when I disturbed a yellowjacket. I saw him on my ankle for a moment, and then he stung me and flew off.
every 2-3 years. I think I’ve been stung about a dozen times or so in my life.
and it’s always yellowjackets. Ill-tempered shits.
I’ve been half-stung once. A bee got stuck in my sock and couldn’t get the stinger all the way though.
I would guess somewhere around 10 occasions, more or less. One of them involved over a dozen stings at once, though–from yellow jackets. (On other occasion that could have involved a lot more stings than that I lucked out–I moved something without realizing that there were yellow jackets nesting in the ground under it, a metric shit-ton of them flew out, but it was night and almost all of them went for the spotlight on the opposite side, only a couple of them getting me.)
I got stung ONCE on the bottom of my foot when I was five. Mom had to fight like hell for me to be still long enough so she could get the stinger out. Pretty sure this traumatic event is what caused me to be phobic of anything that can fly and sting.
It’s strange. I’m not afraid of pain. I’ve sat through two tattoos in sensitive areas with out issue. Yet, when a wasp flies anywhere near me, I go into panic mode.
How bad do stings really hurt anyway?
When I was younger I was stung at least a half dozen times by honeybees and bumblebees (I’ve stepped on a couple bumbles in my bare feet). Oddly enough for someone as allergic as myself, I had a less than average reaction to the venom.
It’s been decades since I’ve gotten stung, though. Would be happy to extend the sting-free zone to the rest of my life.
10-15 occasions, although one occasions stands out. I was about 14 years old, my dirt bike front tire went into a hole and tumbled me off. The “hole” was inhabited by a yellowjacket nest. Was stung upward of 50 times. Although not allergic, an emergency room trip was required.
I don’t know: 4 times? 6 times?
My last sting was on the inside of my mouth about 20 years ago when a bee or wasp got into my beer bottle.
Ouch.
Probably a dozen times?
When I was a kid we spent the summers at the local outdoor pool and with the water, grass, Kool-Aid and bare feet there were a lot of bees and bee stings. Someone would always be running up the hill to the cars and would fall down in a heap as they caught a bee under their foot.
A few years ago I put up a little pool in my back yard and got stung two different times going the 10’ from the pool to the deck, because my lawn was full of clover and bees.
Hurts like a bitch, but not for very long.
Only once in the past 20 years or so. I’m sure I’ve gotten stung a time or three as a child, but I don’t remember exactly how many: There’s only one instance as a child that I have anything resembling a specific memory of, but I doubt it was my first.
I’m working on the same time-line. And it’s those yellow-jackets. I just got stung by 3 of them last month. 2 of them itched for a week and the other one was a glancing blow.
I hope I don’t ever have an experience such as Leaffan’s 
As a child, it seemed like something horrible. As an adult? Meh. A mild annoyance. Hurts for a few minutes like a needle prick, burns slightly, and leaves behind an area that is feaverish for a few days afterwards. As best as I can remember, “packsaddles” and (once, a very small one) assassin bugs hurt more.
(That’s for the standard bees/wasps found in the US. Never experienced on of these, for example.)
Probably a dozen times. I’m allergic, but not epi-pen allergic. However, my doctor says take Benadryl ASAP when I get stung, and it’ll prevent me from getting to the epi-pen state. Right now, I get a huge red and purple area around the sting, that hurts and itches, and lasts for over a week-- albeit, if I’m taking Benadryl and putting hydrocortisone creme on it, it lasts about half as long.
Same here. I was 5 or 6 and sitting on the edge of a swimming pool and a bee landed on my shoulder and stung, for no apparent reason. Lifelong phobia ensues.
Altho, in recent years I have grown to appreciate honey bees by gaining a better understanding of them. I am even able to watch them working the flowers in our yard up close. Still, I get surprised occasionally and revert back to panicking, especially with larger species like hornets and bumblebees.
Yellow jacket stings at least four times I recall when I was a kid, probably about that many times more later in life. They aren’t that bad. When I was around 6 or 7 I literally stepped in a hornet’s nest and was stung on the leg 4 or 5 times. That really hurt, the stings swelled up and were pretty bad, I was really scared, I was quite scared of all bees for some years after that. I still get a little worried about getting too close to any bees.
It happened to me fairly often while growing up, probably a couple times a year from age 6 on, but only once or twice total since graduating from high school.
I can only remember maybe 2 times. One was on the neck while riding a motorcycle. That hurt pretty bad.
Only ever been stung by honeybees from that list, and those fairly often.
Mostly in the last few years, since I got into beekeeping. Funny that.
I’ve been stung about four times. The last was a wasp sting on the scapha of my ear. I still get a random pain from that sting area when it’s really hot outside. Weird. The worst was the time a wood asp fell down my dress when I was in Kindergarten. I was screaming and thrashing around and everyone was saying “well, she just wants attention” Which I did. Because there was a huge fuzzy caterpillar stinging the bejeezus out of me. Finally, my grandmother took off my dress and saw the thing and the damage that sucker did.