what do i do?
Unless you’re allergic, you don’t have to do anything. Wasp and hornet stings don’t leave behind a stinger like bee stings do. If you want to alleviate the pain, there are various things you can try, such as vinegar or an ice pack. Various OTC antihistamines may be effective in reducing itchign and swelling, as well.
If your post is so brief because the sting is giving you respiratory distress, or making your fingers too swollen to type, you call 911 (or whatever your emergency service access is) now, or request any individual in your vicinity to do so with extreme urgency.
Otherwise, general principles of treating one or two isolated stings from such insects consists of icing the area, and taking the painkiller of your choice, such as acetaminophen or ibuprofen. There are no studies showing that dousing it with either meat tenderizer, baking soda, vinegar, or cortisone cream actually work. Nor have doses of antihistamines been shown to be effective in treating stings in non-allergic people.
From eMedicine.com[:
And the University of Maryland Medice:
and
So, there seems to be some disagreement within the medical community on this topic.
They’re recommended on theoretical grounds. They haven’t yet been shown to actually be of benefit though.
I’m an advocate of evidence based medicine, which is defined as an approach to practising medicine in which the clinician is aware of the evidence in support of clinical practice, and the strength of that evidence.
With all due respect, Q, Q the M said non-allergic people, and you are quoting treatment for allergic reactions. Also, he said “studies,” and you are quoting authoritative advice but not studies.
I guess these treatments are benign even if they’re not beneficial. Might have some placebo effect at least.
My grandmother used… used snuff. Did it work?
Hellifiremember…its been 45 years.
Actually, bee, hornet and wasp venom (and that of most hymenoptera, I believe) contains histamine (per my first cite, which you apparently did not read), so there may be a benefit even in the absence of an endogenous allergic response. I agree with Qadgop, however, that no studies (at least that I can find) have been done to support this, but neither do any refute it. There’s plenty of unscientific anecdotal evidence that antihistamines may provide some relief from some symptoms, but whether this is a placebo effect or a real benefit seems to be unknown. I’m surprised no research has been done in this area.
Precisely, CookingWithGas.
As the emedicine cite points out, diphenhydramine is used to combat localized and generalized reactions typical of patients exhibiting an allergic reaction to the venom. I excluded those types in my statement.
Want to take a benadryl tablet? Go right ahead. It might help, at least to help you sleep better, and is unlikely to harm. But ice and analgesics are still the best treatment choices for those suffering from bee stings who are not exhibiting allergic reactions.
And frankly, if I had a wasp sting which swelled significantly at all, I’d probably take a benadryl tablet my own self.
A day care worker once used tobacco on my wasp sting. Took the pain away immediately.
Don’t know the medical reasons or not behind that, but I always think of tobacco first.
Dunno if I should have done it or not, but I have used tobacco on a wasp sting too (broke open a cigarette, wet a little clump of tobacco, and placed it on the sting). And yes, it did take away the pain immediately. Which made me very happy.
Although not allergic, I have very sensitive skin (red hair, pale skin…celtic heritage, dontcha know). The tobacco killed the pain and took away any swelling at the site of the sting. For some reason, I cannot take benadryl. I have had reactions to both oral and topical in the past, which is strange indeed (maybe Qadgop can shed some light on that one?).
Any harm in the tobacco thing?
Or you could be like me and get stung at least once every year for nine years.
As a pest control technician, it’s one of the hazards of the job, but I’ve observed that my reaction to the sting has become progressively less severe. I guess I’ve developed some type of immunity through repeated administrations of venom.
Not that that makes getting stung any more of a treat…
That’s good for you, but my understanding is that ANYONE getting a sting (I got a nasty yellowjacket sting on my shoulder IN MY CAR while merging onto a busy interstate 2 years ago) is potentially susceptible to sudden (unprecendented) anaphylactic shock. I killed the little f*cker, by the way.
You can be stung a million times and get over it. A million ONE, and you’re having trouble breathing and swelling up. I don’t mean to be alarmist, but folks should realize that a sting is a possibly serious thing and to let someone else nearby know that they’ve been stung right away.
My wife, a sushi gourmand and omnivore, recently developed a previously unkown (to her) reaction to bivalves. Oysters, clams, mussels, etc. give her the symptoms of sudden-onset nasty stomach flu.
She’s done fine with all of these little critters in the past. Shrimp, crab, lobster, etc. are no problem.
I’ll wait for QtM’s stamp of approval on this post - he’s the expert - but I’ve read that any sting CAN suddenly be a serious thing. A spider bite, on the other hand, is ALWAYS a serious thing. Necrosis, and all…
I got stung last year by a wasp. I didn’t do anything. I was fine. It was just a bit itchy.
My family has always put ammonia (diluted, of course) on wasp stings.
Works like magic.
Earlier today I caught a Cow Killer Ant. It’s still downstairs in a plastic baggie. This thread makes me think I should go ahead and get rid of it. I’ve read that their stings, along with the Tarantula Hawk, are the most painful insect stings in North America.
It’s odd that one person has mentioned vinegar (an acid) and one ammonia (an alkili). Unless I’ve got my old chemistry lessons very wrong, if these are both intended to treat inflammation caused by the pH value of the sting, then we’ve got a problem because they’d have opposite effects and at least one must do more harm than good. Does a wasp sting irritate partially because of pH value, or is there some other reason that, respectively, vinegar or ammomia might prove a good treatment for stings?
Dan