# Bee stings all over, what to do?



## caters (Apr 17, 2017)

I continued writing chapter 8 of my story and Alma, who is only 5 years old at this point, got stung all over her body by bees. She smelled honey in a tree. Robin heard her say that she found honey. That is when Alma started getting stung. Her voice was almost breaking because of the pain of all those stings. Robin rescued her, but not before she got a lot of stings.

 Alma could not walk. She hurt all over from her forehead to her feet. So Robin gently carried her.

 Then Lisa started to panic about bee allergy.

 I did a bit of research on bee venom allergy and about 5% of all humans are allergic to bee venom. And these allergies vary from hives where you got stung(mild allergy) to not being able to breathe(Anaphylaxis).

 With an allergy test, if a prick of bee venom causes there to be a bump in the skin, that is a positive test. But how many of those really are true positives? I would say that the number of true positives is relatively low because venom naturally causes swelling regardless of whether it is just envenomation or envenomation + allergic reaction.

 Also, unlike a lot of other allergens, venom always causes itching and sometimes,(and I have heard that this is especially true for bees, wasps, and ants) pain. Other allergens only cause itching of the skin if the person either has an allergic reaction, or skin that gets irritated by that allergen with or without an allergy.

 There is a good chance that Alma will have just pain and itching from the stings and no allergy. But, if there is no hospital anywhere and you don't have an epipen(just in case the allergy is anaphylaxis), what would you do for a bad allergy? Would you give a natural allergy remedy or just wait it out?

 I remember a few years ago having a really bad nasal allergy to tree pollen(not anaphylaxis by all means, but still pretty bad). I was outside on a sunny afternoon in the summer. As soon as I got back inside, I had symptoms. I immediately had a bad nose itch and started sneezing a lot. The next day, my ears were pressurized and I didn't change distance to the ground enough to pressurize my ears. I still had a bad nose itch and a lot of sneezing. I felt a lot of mucus flowing down my throat. All this meant that I was allergic to tree pollen, at least that 1 time. A few days later I started coughing. Then my postnasal drip stopped a few days after that and my nose was still congested but it wasn't from an allergy. This meant that when I started getting that cough and the allergy symptoms migrated downwards, that sometime within those few days I caught a cold and only realized it after my allergy stopped. My body eventually killed off those hypersensitive T cells and I have not been allergic to tree pollen since.

 So yeah, I had an allergy for about a week and a cold for about another week.

 Alma's family is basically in a similar situation. Lisa is worried about Alma being allergic to bee venom and if Alma is allergic to bee venom, they will basically be in a situation of natural remedy or wait it out.

 I personally, would use a topical natural remedy for a skin allergy if I just couldn't handle it and I had no medical access or epipen. If it was not that bad, I would wait it out, hoping that my body kills off the hypersensitive T cells.

 So should Alma be given a natural skin allergy remedy if she happens to be allergic or should she just be given an anti-itch remedy and wait it out?


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## Jenwales (Apr 18, 2017)

They could probably tell by the synptoms if they were allergic? and if you are you can get a heart attack and die so I don't think waiting it out would be a good idea. I did some goggle searches and got some of this info. I think if it was me and I had a child I'd rush them to a hospital, judging by these links there's no other option. For the story is there a doctor close by, if not as the child is allergic they might die? I'm kinda interested to know what happens now! I hope she doesn't die can you tell us what happens next?
https://www.allergyuk.org/allergy-to-wasp-and-bee-stings/allergy-to-wasp-and-bee-stings
 outhttp://www.news-press.com/story/life/wellness/2014/08/05/q-know-allergic-bee-stings/13603007/

A pollen allergy is nothing, it's hayfever everyone can get and isn't life threatening but if you are allergic to bee stings that is life threatening


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## J Anfinson (Apr 19, 2017)

I'm not positive on this, but I've heard for years that if epinephrine isn't available then benadryl is the next best thing*. I'm not medically trained but you might look it up, or maybe someone around here with a medical background could verify or dismiss that.

*if choices are limited.


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## Theglasshouse (Apr 19, 2017)

They injected me for a bee sting when 5-7 years old, it was an emergency. To prevent it from happening or causing me to die they gave me injections but don't know what it was called. My aunt would administer it and she works doing blood tests. Some people are trained to take shots. I developed immunity but would never dare get stung by a bee again. I also had pets which helped boost immunity which helps according to research when living with one as a child. Could have caused asthma.


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