Have you ever been stung by Bees/wasps or the like?

katlupe said:
I was digging in a compost pile to fill my wheelbarrow and dug into a yellow jacket ground nest........ohhhhh, got stung about 3 or 4 times! Quickly picked plantain that grows all over the yard and paths. Then tear it to juice it up real fast and put that on the sting spots. It works on just about any type of sting or bite. I also got stung by a wasp in my friend's deck and I did the same thing while she wondered if I had gone crazy or what.
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This absolutely does work. Learn what Plantain leaves look like. Tear it, chew it or roll it between your palms. Get the juice on the bite or sting and it will draw the toxins out. It's also takes the pain and swelling out. Just make sure the stinger is not in the wound.
 

C50 said:
Me too.
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I was reading an article that claimed that the more times a person is stung, the more severe and serious a single sting will be, leading one to become immunocompromised to the point of your body no longer being able to compensate and process the toxins, yet for me its as if I have become immune.
 
Aunt Marg said:
I was reading an article that claimed that the more times a person is stung, the more severe and serious a single sting will be, leading one to become immunocompromised to the point of your body no longer being able to compensate and process the toxins, yet for me its as if I have become immune.
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It depends on what stings me but my bodies reaction hasn't changed any, so don't see a change in my immunity, thankfully.

Once I was stung 53 or 58 times by Yellow Jackets, cant remember which exactly. I was running a dozer and pushed into a nest in a dirt pile, all I was wearing were shorts and work boots and they had a lot of target area to sting. I remember how much fun my kids had counting the stings!

These days I probably get stung 5 or 6 times a years. Hate it every time!
 
C50 said:
It depends on what stings me but my bodies reaction hasn't changed any, so don't see a change in my immunity, thankfully.

Once I was stung 53 or 58 times by Yellow Jackets, cant remember which exactly. I was running a dozer and pushed into a nest in a dirt pile, all I was wearing were shorts and work boots and they had a lot of target area to sting. I remember how much fun my kids had counting the stings!

These days I probably get stung 5 or 6 times a years. Hate it every time!
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Those like yourself and my husband who seem to be able to absorb multiple attacks, are truly blessed with extraordinary immune systems.

I haven't been stung for two seasons now, which comes as a warm-welcome to me, but there must be something I emit that signals wasps and bees and such to sting me, because I always afford them a wide berth.
 
I must be the friend of all stingy and bitey insects. All except the small black ants the build nests under the pavers in the back yard. They have a tendency to crawl over the feet and up the trouser leg to deliver a nip that causes no lasting reaction. If it happens too often I decide to reduce the ant population using some Ant Rid. Hate doing that but when I have a lot of guests we eat outside. Can't have them under attack from tiny ants.

Other than a few pesky ants, I have had no serious stings from bees or wasps. I just stand still if one is flying nearby. I'm wondering whether they can sense fear or aggression. That said, I've not had the problem of wasp nests or bee hives close to our house.
 
I only remember being stung on one occasion while growing up, as a young teen. When we lived outside of DC I would collect bottles with redemption value outside of a nearby race track. Must have stepped too near to a nest as several flew around me. I ran like hell toward a creek but got hit twice on either side of one ankle. The offending foot perhaps.

As a gardening adult I see many bees and all are welcome but I now bait and kill Yellow Jacket hornets. They are a menace when we eat outside otherwise. Once while sprucing up the garden last minute before guests I was just deadheading and grabbing dead foliage when I disturbed one of their ground nests. I got stung a few times so I bought a spray canister of a pesticide intended for them and declared war. Sprayed them good just after dark. Then came back the next day and dig it up.

More recently I discovered carpenter bees don’t just do damage to wood. While weeding near the base of a pampas grass relative I got bit few times by these big bees. More painful than the stings I’ve gotten. I wasn’t as intent on wiping them out but did use some of the remaining insecticide to get them to relocate. It was too close to a pathway to leave them there once they showed their true colors.
 
No, I've been lucky they leave me alone. If not, I smacked them before they get too close.

Unfortunately, we didn't know a hive had showed up in the roof's heave. One came through the window slats and stung our son while he slept. He got hit on the top lip.

He was very swollen and in pain. It was just a few days before his birthday and him getting sick and requiring to go to A&E. We thought it was just a reaction to the sting but it turned out to be worst. Sorry!
 
I was stung by a bumblebee once while dangling my hand out a car window. It swelled up badly and hurt a lot for a couple of days. I was about 13 when it happened.

For the past five years we've had wasps every summer build nests beneath our roof eaves. They are often in the yard, buzzing around. But, for some unknown reason they don't bother me. I grew to like them. Wasps are bug predators. We've had lots of flies over the years in our backyard. But, with the wasps around they are gone all summer. Which means we can occasionally have lunch outside without being bothered by the flies. The wasps do not come around us when we eat, either.
 
As a K12 child, I lived in 4 places in the northwest Sacramento urban area where summers are hot and every home had grassy sprinkler watered lawns. Pre-school kids quickly learn playing, running about on lawns can be dangerous if there are any white clover flowers.

We older kids with mean juvenile intent would sometimes amuse ourselves watching groups of younger children running about barefoot on grassy lawns with sprinklers spraying whence suddenly a little tyke might in an instant stop with mouth wide open but without yet any sound, then a delayed loud screaming cry that would bring local mothers outside to investigate.

I tend to love most bees, butterflies, and dragonflies. Haven't been bitten since I was a child despite as a photographer often being in vast fields of wildflowers. From May 2023, with myriad bees enjoying one of Earth's wonderful treasures...

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I've told my story about stings earlier in this thread. This isn't about stings. After my teen years, I've lived in natural surroundings most of my life. I've lived in our 8-acre clearing in what's essentially a conifer forest for the last 40 years. I've observed a lot of things.

This morning, when I went out of the house, there was a wee skiff of snow (about 3/8-inch deep), on our deck. As I was about to go down the steps into the yard, I happened to glance at a horizontal portion of the deck's railing. And at that moment, what I saw was a wasp dive into the shallow snow on it and stay there.

I'd stepped out to drive my pickup into the car port. I also split a bit of wood, and carried that back to the house. Before going in, I looked where the wasp had dived, it was still there. Dead. The minuscule event simply seemed like suicide. 🤔Puzzling but interesting.
 
As a kid I was in Boy Scout camp and out on a group hike. While crossing a small gorge on a fallen tree trunk l was stung by a Yellow Jacket. Not a big deal, but I could think of a better place to get stung.
 

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