GIVEAWAY! Enter to win a tube of Stops the Sting! Entry details at the bottom of the post!
When I was about 11 my dad was stung by a Bald Face Hornet. It was a Saturday. He was mowing the lawn. Suddenly the mower engine stopped and my dad came rushing in the house. He showed my mom and me a large, red welt on his leg. The welt was getting larger and larger before our eyes.
My mom told him that she didn’t like the look of the sting and thought they should go to the doctors. My dad, never liking to fuss, argued a bit, but as the redness grew, he finally agreed, but said he wanted to take a shower first.
By the time he got out of the shower, his entire leg was swollen and red.
We rushed to the car and headed to the doctors. While in the car, you could visibly see the reaction moving through his body. My mom was running red lights and speeding through our small town. Looking back, we now see that we should have called 911, but when you’re in that kind of situation you don’t always think clearly.
When we got to the doctors, the reaction had reached his neck and he was having a hard time breathing. I remember the nurses bringing a stretcher to the car and wheeling my dad in. He looked as though his body had been dipped in boiling water.
There were doctors and nurses everywhere around my dad. They seemed to be injecting him with needles as fast as they could fill them. I saw someone wheel in a small cart with two paddles. I later learned that it was a defibrillator used to start someone’s heart after it has stopped beating.
A tube went down my dad’s throat and nurses and doctors were shouting orders and medication names.
I remember standing with my mom watching all of this go on. She was crying and wringing her hands, but I just stood there, too surprised to know what to feel.
Suddenly I heard one of the doctors say “He’s coming out of it.”
And slowly, like magic, the redness started to subside.
Once he was ok, I started to cry and shake. It was as if the release of all the stress came pouring out. I remember the reaction leaving his system was remarkably fast.
My dad had suffered a life threatening allergic reaction to an insect sting. It was a day I’ll never forget. It was a reminder of how tender life really is, that a tiny insect could cause so much damage.
After his reaction, he had to have allergy shots for over a year and couldn’t eat honey. Even though the insect was a hornet, his reaction was so bad, the doctors told him that he shouldn’t take any chances with any type of stinging insect. We were given an epinephrine pen and told that if he ever gets stung, to call 911 and administer the epi pen immediately.
This happened when I was 11. After that, I had a pretty big fear of bees, wasps, hornets, yellow jackets…pretty much anything capable of stinging. So when my husband Zach said he’d like to get into beekeeping I had more than my fair share of reserves, even though it was 20-some years later.
We did a lot of discussing, a lot of research and I told him that he could keep bees but I didn’t want anything to do with them. I would help process the honey and things like that, but he was going to be wearing the bee suit and working with the bees.
When the day came to go pick up our box of bees my anxiety levels were at an all-time high. We pulled up to the loading dock at Dadant and there were bees everywhere! Boxes upon boxes! There were also loose bees circling and swirling, buzzing the area.
Facing your fears was an understatement.
I tried to keep my cool around the Dadant workers. But inside I was pretty jumpy. My eyes were everywhere.
On the ride home, I was in a bit of a panic. There was a box of 10,000 bees in the back seat! 10,000! I freak out if a single bee flies in my window while I’m driving, and here we are volunteering to transport 10,000 bees with nothing but a bit of mesh protection. Did I mention there was 10,000?
After a while the soft humming in the backseat seemed less threatening. We had our friend Stacey with us and she was a constant assurance that the bees were doing interesting things, not planning an attack.
When we got home and carried out that first package installation, I was pretty light on my toes…let me tell you!
At one point a bee landed on me and I freaked.
“Ah! It’s on me.”
Stacey in her calm, sweet, yoga voice said “Yes, but it’s not going to sting you.”
And she was right. It just sat on my arm, beating its wings and eventually flew away leaving me unscathed.
After a while of working with the bees (from a distance) and seeing them in the yard pollinating and carrying out their business, I soon realized that the bees were quite docile.
Curiosity over came fear and I learned to love the bees. I always smile when I see one of our bees foraging around the yard. I help Zach with the hives and actually find that I prefer less bee suiting than more. The suit, for me, gets in the way and I can’t see what’s going on around me.
If I can recommend something to all of you reading this, is that if you are planning on getting bees, it might not be a bad idea to talk to you doctor about possible allergies. Get an allergy test and talk about procedure if you are stung. Reactions like my dad suffered are rare, but they do happen. It’s always better to error on the side of caution.
This Giveaway has Ended!!!
Enter to win a tube of Stops the Sting! Entry details below!
I’m so happy to be able to add a tube of Stops the Sting to our bee keeping supplies. I plan on taking the tube with me each time we inspect our hives, or pick up a package of bees. It’s super convenient to slip into your pocket just in case.
To learn more check out the video below.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M9qUAJRKREA
Or visit https://www.stopsthesting.com/media/
Here’s what one user had to say about the product.
Thank you so much for your product. Now, I am a believer and will not be caught without my Stops the Sting, and I highly recommend that everyone keeps a jar handy.” B Skaggs Venice, FL
For additional testimonials on how great Stops the Sting works, visit https://www.stopsthesting.com/testimonials/
To enter, leave a comment below telling us how many times you’ve been stung, or a few words about your experience with bee stings. The winner will be chosen randomly and announced on the Keeping Back Yard Bees Facebook Page on March 4th, 2016.
217 Comments
I have been stung many times and usually just handled it pretty well I thought! Then last summer..Just got new hives in April to begin my journey with beekeeping. I was totally cool..then one day it happened. I was stung three times and it was SO painful!! Now I am having to work on going out and working with the bees without being so nervous. A work in progress, lol But I am determined to forge ahead!
After getting my bees I went out one morning just to see them fly. Well, I happened to be in their line of flight. One flew right in my hair and got tangled. I must have looked pretty silly holding my hair out to the side trying to get bee unstuck, needless to say I got stung on the top of my head. Ouch! Just one of the hazards of the business of bees. Love them, stings and all.
I’ve only been stung once, as a child while climbing up our tree house. I grabbed a branch near the top to pull myself up and felt a stabbing pain in my hand. My brother also got stung that day for the first time and was highly allergic, like your father! His face swelled so big that I cried for him. Thankfully, I am not allergic, but would have appreciated Stops the Sting to end my pain.
I just started keeping bee’s this past spring and have been stung twice. thanks
Would love to win. My husband is startying beekeeping this spring with 2 hives.
I have never been stung but I am terrified that I will be !
I too have never been stung, but I saw my sister get attacked by a small nest of wasps. For whatever reason, I am super afraid of bees, but oddly have been finding myself intensely interested in beekeeping. I found the site via the 10 Ways to Prevent Bee Stings article, which was posted on Reddit, and am glad others share my fear and curiosity.
I’ve been stung twice. The first time was when I was a kid and a bee crawled up my pant leg as I was reading a book on the grass. The moment I started freaking out my mom pulled me inside and tried to figure out what her crying daughter was trying to tell her… so she ripped off my clothes and tended to the sting. There I stood in nothing but my underwear, ice on my inner thigh and my relatives swarming around me. I was so embarrassed I didn’t care about (or feel) the sting anymore. Second sting was last week on my hand, 30 years later. 🙂
I’ve only been stung a handful of times but it doesn’t get any easier!
Tim: Mom my football is stuck in the tree. (It was a very branchy tree)
Mom (me): Ugh! (climb tree about 20 feet up, knock ball loose, simultaneously hitting hive)
I didnt see them, but i heard them (and i jumped) and then i felt them…within seconds i was out of the tree and completely naked in the yard…they were stuck in my shirt, in my hair…everywhere. A total of 14 of the most painful stings i have ever felt. 4 were on my scalp and i think those were the worst.
Started actually keeping bees last April. Been stung about 15 times. First one was my fault. I did not pay attention to a bee stuck in the fold at my elbow and squeezed too hard. The most painful one I have had was on the under side of my bicep. Burned and itched like the dickens.
Over the years I have been stung many times in many ways. It is Always a Very painful experience!
I am learning the art of Beekeeping, because I LOVE fresh Honey.
Anything that has a Sting stopper would be incredible. Cant wait to try it
I usually get stung when bees crawl up pant leg. Don’t like getting stung but hear it is good to be stung on regular basis, to avoid developing allergy.
I have been stung about 5 – 10 times in my life.
I have been stung many times by bees, and they always make me feel numb and swell. I once stepped on a bee at the lake and couldn’t get my shoe back on. Bee stings are very painful and I try avoiding bees.
As a beginning beekeeper I have been stung several times. My five-year-old daughter wants to help with beekeeping and I think this would be peace of mind for when she gets stung.
We went out to dinner with my parents and my sister and her husband one evening to our favorite Mexican restaurant. The weather was nice, so we decided to sit on the patio and enjoy our dinner together with the nice breeze. About 5 seconds after settling into my cast iron chair, I felt a sharp pinch that felt like a needle going into my rear end. I thought I stood up and repositioned myself thinking that the cast iron might have caused the pinch. When I sat down again and felt at least a dozen small pinches that caused my left butt cheek to feel like it was on fire. Under my chair was a wasp nest. I shot up out of my chair like a NASA space rocket.
The restaurant was kind about and brought out ice and kept the pina coladas coming.
I’ve been stung once by a hornet and many times by ants
I have never been stung by a be but when iI was about 6 I was riding my bike through the woods by my house and ran over an old log. The front tire got caught in the rotting wood and broke open a yellow jackets nest. I was stung thousands of times. They crawled into my clothing and just kept stinging. A nice man rn in and retrieve my bike. I don’t know who it was but I will always be grateful.
I have been stung 3 times!
I’ve been stung a couple of times. Once was when I was driving. I had one up my pant leg. I’m grateful there were not alot of cars around at the time! Another time I was riding my friends motorcycle, with him on the back and one flew up into the helmet and stung me on the cheek. My cheek swelled up so bad. I was proud of myself for not panicking though. We could have easily gotten in to an accident.
In 1992 a wasp flew down from the top of my garage in LA and stung me right in the knuckle joint on my index finger. It was excruciating and though I had lots ad allergy shots as a kid and numerous allergies, I had no reaction. Long term though that joint almost 23 years later still aches.
I got stung on my foot by a Paper Wasp or more commonly called a Red Wasp here in KY when I was 18 years old, I ended up in hospital suffering from anaphylactic shock. I spent the night there and was told to avoid bees at all cost. After 35 years of fearing these little killers I decided to get tested and I am happy to say YAY, I can now raise my own bees. I plan on setting up my first BAR-TOP HIVE this year, and I can’t wait to finally produce my own honey to help my allergies. Plus I get to teach my nephew and nieces not to fear bees and how to raise and protect bees correctly. Thank you for your time and all the info.
I’ve only been stung a few times throughout my life, once while beekeeping. I usually only have a little red mark and bump pop up. It is painful, but if it happens during beekeeping I have to remind myself to stay calm and walk away from the hive for a few minutes.
My bees have been ordered!! I am excited but scared about bee stinging me. I remember being stung by bees and yellow jackets as a child. It was so scary!!! And painful!!
I’ve been stung many times as a child but a few years ago I managed to get a wasp in my tight medieval bodice. It got me several times and the area became very hard and hot. Only lasted a couple of days but it was sore. I seem to get more wasp stings than bee stings.
I’ve been stung about 8 times in my life. Never an anaphylactic reaction though! I do react strongly to black fly bites and deer fly bites though.
Well, i don’t want to need this product but if i get stung i would like to have it on hand. Thx
I was concerned about getting stung so I go to doctor to get allergic test which he asked what happen when I got stung. I told him that I have never been stung by a bee before and that was why I came to him before I got bees. He said will we won’t know till you get stung. Great I just paid you money for nothing and know I get sick with sweat bees so I have concern. He said if I really wanted honeybees is just go ahead take overcounter allergy pill before working with bees. I where all the gear and am really careful. My bees didn’t make it so I tried again which was good for almost a year then died again. I am going to try again this year third time a charm knock on wood. Less scared. Got stung on head only once burned painful swollen a little but I lived through it. Know a little more what to expect and thankful it was only one sting.
I have been stung only a few times due to not paying attention to ground bees while mowing.
I was stung a lot when I was young…our neighbors had raspberries and to eat them was to be stung, lol! It was worth it! I’m still a little nervous around bees and will run away from them like a chicken! This stuff looks great! Thanks so much!!
I have been stung when I was playing outside as a child , & by a hornet last summer,, not fun,,lol, but want to learn how to keep a backyard hive as the bees in our area are getting very scarce. I have some apprehension about this but am sure I can learn to overcome it, besides the flowers for the bees make it all worth it!!
When I was in grade school, we lived in a multi cul-de-sac type neighborhood and in the center of it all was the neighborhood pool. Our house, in my opinion, was in the best spot! We had “the hill” beside us. The one EVERYONE slid down on a piece of visqueen (sp?) my daddy supplied for all the kids… Aaand the one that led to the pool!… I would tip-toe RUUUN all the way down that dreaded hill FULL of clover! (Thumper woulda had a field day) I would finally hit concrete and start pulling stingers and counting stings… I’d jump in when I hit double digits. I had stuff to do! One day Mama told me the bees died when their stinger was left in me and they only stung me bc I stepped on them and it hurt them more than it did me. From then on, I carefully tip-toed slowly down the hillside I so vividly remember dubbing, “The Bees Dinnertable”. After that, I always helped Grandpa care for his bees. I was probably in the way but he would always welcome my “help”. #Simpler Times
My grandmother was HIGHLY allergic to bees, wasps – anything that would sting to the point of death. Her doctor told her if she got stung one more time – she might not live! I was shocked and kept the Benadryl around “just-in-case”. But then being her granddaughter, I wasn’t thinking that I might be allergic also and my mother being a nurse freaked out when I did get stung by a wasp. The pain on my arm was so intense where I got stung, nothing, NOTHING would make it go away. My mother gave me a Benadryl for “just-in-case” but then I couldn’t stay awake – good grief! I would have loved to have had a tube of Stops the Sting. This is the first that I have heard of the product and with Spring on its way, the wasps, bees and ants are already out and about – I live in Florida near a wooded area. It would be lovely to have the opportunity to win a Stops the Sting tube because the varmints ALWAYS find me! If this works I will be telling EVERYONE about your product!
Probably have been stung about 50 times! haha
I rarely am stung by bees, but do get bitten by mosquitoes or dear flies.
I’ve not been stung in recent years, but since my husband got into beekeeping, he has had his share! I would love to offer him stop the sting next time! Thank you for the opportunity.
I’ve been stung to many time to count, by bee, ants, wasp. The best thing I’ve used to relieve some of the pain is tobacco juice, but it is not consistently effective with all stings.
Probably stung 40 to 50 times… remember one day eating a banana near the hive and got rewarded with 6 stings in a matter of seconds. Little did I know at the time that the smell of banana is similar to the scent used to alert the hive of predators about.
The worst sting I had was on the roof of my mouth. That one ended in an ER visit. Needless to say, watch open cans of soda with bees around.
I usually get stung every other time when I am checking my bee hives. Same hive almost every time. Thinking about replacing the queen to see if that will make a difference. Do believe there is killer bee blood in that hive.
I’ve been stung 7 times in my life. The first was almost 36 years ago when I was 10, at the town pool. The other 6 were all last summer, after I became a beekeeper. I’d say 3 of those were 100% my fault, and 3 were from a stressed out hive all at once in the dearth. The funniest was getting stung in the tush while pulling honey supers (at dusk, like a doofus).
The pain doesn’t bother me nearly as much as the ITCHING!!! The itching and the swelling just kill me.
I have only been stung three times (events) in my life but, with one being multiple stings.
Ouch!
Ive been stung a few times, living in Vermont..A little swelling and a felling like an electric shock
I followed my Grandpa around when I was a youngster while he took care of his hives and I have always been fascinated by the colonies that I see around the area where I live, I was never stung when I was a kid , but I did get stung the first time when I was about thirty one and I had a moderate reaction to the bee sting and in the past several years I have been stung twice and have had about the same reaction, then last year I got stung behind the left ear and my whole face swelled and I had to do the Benadryl treatment, and I was stung 3 more times last year, so I have decided that I really need to by a suit because the reactions seem to be getting worse instead of better.
So there’s my story and I am sticking to it!
Blessings!
I’ve been stung about 6 times in my 54 years.
I was stung multiple times on my foot one day as a child when I was walking barefoot in our clover filled yard. Years later, someone yelped that a “bee” was on me. I looked down and saw I was being stung, but felt nothing! It has happened one other time, so I’m wondering if I developed some sort of immunity. Still, when I take up bee keeping this spring (many decades away from childhood!), I will be cautious and have an epi pen on hand, just in case, but hoping that Stops The Sting will be all I’ll ever need.
I’ve been stung more times than I can remember. The worst one was while mowing and a black hornet popped me on the collar bone… a short time later (same day) a big yellow stripes hornet got me on the stomach. Painful day and the yard didn’t get finished.
I’ve been stung many many times by both Honey bees and Wasp’s. The wasp’s were the big black nasty one’s and were all in my ears and my hair. I got stung all over both my ears, head and neck. I was in big big pain. I never bothered them they just attacked me for no known reason that I could tell. It took me a couple of days to get back to normal and after that encounter with those Wasp’s I stay away from them when I see still today. My ex father in law used to have hives of honey bee’s and I would sometimes stand away from the hives and watch him work with the bee’s. But one day he was working with them and I was standing there watching when all of a sudden I got stung by a whole swarm of them. So I took off and started running the whole time my ex father in law hollering, ” Stop” and they won’t get you, but that was too late I was gone like a rocket heading to the moon. I got stung so many times I had swollen body parts I didn’t know that a bee could sting you at. I learned to respect all bee’s , wasps as well as ground wasps, and hornets. I have always wanted to try having a couple of honey bee hives and have been reading up on working with bee’s and their hives. As they are here to help us and not to hurt us as we need the bee’s to survive here on earth.
I’m 58 and have only been stung once by a honey bee as a child while doing cartwheels in a field full of clover (duh!!). Recently, my husband began raising bees; we’re up to 10 hives. Hopefully my track record will continue.
My first sting experience was when I was a boy playing in a creek. I stirred up some hornets and got several stings on my legs. This put the fear of buzzing in me for quite some time. Fast-forward about 30 years and I have bees on my property that I actually paid a lot of money for and enjoy them tremendously. I am still sensitive to stings but have come to accept the infrequent minor pain as a fair trade-off for fresh, local honey and a exponentially more productive garden.
Grandma would chew up some tobacco from her Bull Durham pouch and put on a sting.
This sounds a lot better!!
I am a gardener and I get stung by ants constantly. It doesn’t really bother me but its kind of annoying the the little bumps are not pretty to look at. I’d love to give this stuff a try!
When I first started keeping bees I was stung more than 40 times when a hive toppled over. I had a class of Ag. students watching me work the hives, students ran from the bee yard and I received the stings.
It would have been great if I would have had Stop the Sting that day!!
I’ve only ever been stung once in my life. About forty years ago I was driving down the road with my window down and my elbow resting on the windows edge when i felt a sting on my back. It didn’t hurt much and when iI pulled my shirt off sure enough there was a bee in there. I figured that one was flying along when I went by and went down my t-shirt sleeve and around to my upper back and didn’t like being confined so it stung me. And that is the only time i’ve been stung. But bees can be a mild irritation to me when working around my yard especially when I’m spraying water around cleaning the deck. It seems to me they like to came and drink the fresh water that I have just sprayed. I pretty much ignore them unless they start getting to close then I just walk away and let them drink what they want and come back to it later. I’ve been wanting to start a hive for awhile and haven’t had the time. Now I have retired and have been looking into it and reading some about keeping bee’s and to see if I could keep bee’s according to local codes.
I have never been afraid of bees. Ever since I was little, I realized that they would only sting you if they are afraid. Wasps, however, Yikes! I elbowed a Wasp nest while I was walking along a creek in the mountains. It was an awful experience. I couldn’t even count the number of stings I got on that trip. I am still nervous around them!
I believe that I’ve only been stung maybe twice in my life, one of the times being when I actually stepped on a bee. I think felt worse for the squished fellow! I am very interested in keeping bees in the next few years and I would love to have this on hand at least for our three kids. Thank you!
Honeybee stings tend to refuse my inflammation and I tolerate the cons with calendula cream! It’s the red wasps (swelling) & horsefly bites (bruising) that torment me annually!
I was stung in the middle of my forehead during a hike. It swelled up pretty good but my Mom told me to take calcium/magnesium vitamins and whether or not they worked the swelling didn’t get beyond my forehead. I did look funny for a week until it went down so it wasn’t a severe reaction. I’ve gotten stung on the arm with just a little swelling. Like you, I’ve learned to enjoy the bees in the yard and just say a silent hello to them and they don’t feel threatened. I don’t keep bees but I encourage them with flowers. I’ve never seen this product but it looks like something to keep on hand for sure.
I’ve been stung too many times to count but receive quite a few stings doing removals out of structures. I’ve never used the product above but have heard good things about it. I usually prefer to use items that I can find readily around my yard/apiary to treat stings. I like to use a poultice of short or long leaf English plantain to treat insect stings. It relieves the stinging an burning within minutes and relieves swelling and redness around sting site. It can be found in most southeastern yard throughout spring/summer.
Over the years I have been stung a number of times. Thank God I am not allergic. My wife and oldest daughter are allergic and carry epi-pens. My worst time with stinging insects was when we got a hive a yellowjackets that decided to nest inside our house wall, on the second floor. The problem was they had found a way into the cold air return in our bedroom. I got sting a few times taping the vent off, so we could sleep. It wasn’t easy, because we heard the buzzing in the wall ALL NIGHT LONG. Needless to say the next day we called the exterminator and he came and used a shot device to reach the opening they were coming from and sprayed and sprayed, until the HUGE queen left the building. He gave me a small can to poke a hole in the wall and spray into the deadspace. I took a screwdriver and drove it into the plaster and put the tube in and SPRAYED until the buzzing slowed and eventually stopped. After that, we had that side of the house repaired and repainted to seal all the crevices where those nasty rascals found a way in. I would like to start beekeeping, and am doing my research to make the best of it. Good luck to all of the beekeepers out there, keep up the good work, because without bees we would have a hard time surviving.
I have gotten stung so many times by fire ants that I am convinced that they see me and immediately start marching across the yard in my direction. Once while cleaning my siding I stepped in several nests and had over 100 bites on my feet at one time. I would have loved to have had some of this Stop the Sting then and now in preparation for gardening.
Being an avid gardener I have been stung more times than I can remember. I usually get over it pretty quick but there are some bees that have left me giving them a wide berth to avoid them… even going so far as to leaving what I was doing & going to another part of the yard! And then there are the stinging ants!
I have been toying with the idea of beekeeping which is how I came to find your website. Still in the learning stage but more and more I think I will give it a try. My main concern is living in Michigan.
I never heard of this product and would love to give it a try and am sure I would be using it before spring gets going along too far.
I don’t do Facebook so is there another way to find out who won the giveaway?
I used to think that I was allergic to stings because my forearm swelled quite a bit when I was stung by a hornet long ago. Last year while riding a motorcycle, a bee went up my sleeve and stung me. Since I didn’t die from it, I’ve realized I’m NOT allergic. I’m a newbie just taking my first class on beekeeping tonight so I’d love to have a tube of this for my formative time in beekeeping!
I’ve been stung only twice! Comically, once on my bum as a kid, which was very uncomfortable. My little brother however, a nature-loving 6 year old, was stung 7 times last year ALONE! We have some fairly aggressive wasps in the area, and they seem to have it out for him…
As a kid I was stung a few times by the bees my dad was keeping and many times by wasps after I accidentally disturbed their nests. I’m looking to get bees myself in the next year so the sting stop would come in handy.
My husband is extremely allergic to bees,so we are always on high alert.Thanks so much for sharing.
The wost sting pain I ever came across was at the tip of my small finger from a small wasp. I’ve had many on arms, back and legs but they were no match.
I have been stung only once in my 45 years on this planet. I was about 6 years old and was riding along on our family tractor with my older brother when we went too close to a hedgerow and disturbed a bee hive. That sting was a long while ago, but I still remember it like it was yesterday. I love gardening and I think bees are truely wonderful, beautiful little critters. Not only do I appreciate how hard they work to help humans to feed themselves but I can think of few things that makes me happier than to hear the buzz of a bee working from flower to flower, on a warm sunny day.
My biggest fear about bees isn’t much for myself, but 1) one of my siblings IS allergic and 2) that I would take adequate care of the bees.
My biggest fear about bees isn’t much for myself, but 1) one of my siblings IS allergic and 2) that I would take adequate care of the bees.
My issue and need of this product would be for hornets & wasps, that I’ve been having increasingly more sever reaction to over the years; First stung by a yellow jacket behind my knee 2nd grade, next stepped on a hornet aged 20, and repeatedly stung on a wrist by another creature, that caused some heart & breathing trouble for a little bit. Bees have been nice around me.
I’ve been stung 5 times in my lifetime. The fifth one sent me to Urgent Care. You’re definitely right right about not thinking clearly, and I didn’t cal 9-1-1 either. My husband drove me but I waited for him to get home first. I’m getting allergy shots so I can keep bees again, but I will still have to carry EpiPens for the rest of my life. (I think Epi is short for epidermal not epidural.)
No stings yet because I am just starting bees this spring. Would be nice to have something handy for that first time! 🙂
The only experience I have with bees is getting stung on the lip as a child. We were at the lake and I had set my soda can down on the picnic table. When I picked it back up and took a drink, a bee stung my lip and flew out of the can!
I have been stung by wasps before, but that was my fault for climbing in a tree where they had built a nest and I didn’t know it.
We are looking at setting up a hive or two on our little 3 acre place in rural Missouri, but haven’t jumped yet.
I have never been stung by a bee but I have been stung by a wasp and it was very painful.
Having been raised working in honeybees with my Dad, I’ll never forget the worst sting I ever received. I was 17 years old and full of pep, All excited about pitching for our baseball team against our biggest rival, I got little out of the preacher’s message that Sunday morning. We got in from church and while Mom was fixing lunch my Dad and I strolled down to our 8 hives bee yard to check out the bees. As I had done hundreds of times I squatted down next to the entrance to one of the hives studiously watching the honeybees laboring away. Without any warning, one of the honeybees sitting at the entrance suddenly made a straight line direct hit on the end of my nose! I jumped straight up in pain and realized that a multitude of her pals had joined the fight. Being the athletic type, I foolishly thought I could outrun them. Sprinting past my Dad, the barn, across the pasture, jumping a fence and long legging it across the lawn to within 20 feet of the house, I thought that I had finally won the race to safety. But to no avail! Just as I made my last evasive step around the corner of the house I slipped and fell on the only rock in the yard. OUCH!!! Finally getting into the house, Mom and Dad starting checking me over and took me to the local hospital emergency room. Both eyes swelled shut, my nose and face also was swollen from the sting PLUS ten stitches in my lacerated knee from the rock. Needless to say, I didn’t get to play baseball that day or several days to come. Lesson learned: honeybees do not like the smell of Bryll Cream hair tonic all us men used back in the ’60s. I can look back and laugh about it now but it sure did hurt then!
I had the misfortune of running over a beehive with a lawnmower.
I have only been a beek for a year now, but loving every minute of it….Have been stung only 4 times, but each reaction was exponentially worse than the last…not so much the pain as the amount of swelling and the ITCH that goes along with it…I hope I am not one of those who must abandon the hobby due to allergies…would love to try this product in the event I am stung again (ha ha…like THAT won’t happen!)
How would that work for someone that is allergic to the sting?
I wish I had this product when I was a teenager – my family was just about to leave on vacation, but had a few chores to finish. My job was to trim some tall grass near the garden. I went to work with the clippers, but in just a minute a huge bumblebee came storming angrily out of the tall grass, and stung me on my ring finger! I yelled and dropped the clippers! Needless to say, my parents were less than pleased at the delay in leaving – we had a 2-day drive ahead of us- and I spent a good part of it with my finger soaking in a solution of baking soda and water, to bring the swelling down! There was also a time when I was biking to work, and a wasp got inside my shirt – stung me 5 times before I could squash it! so anything that helps ease the sting would be wonderful!
Wasps and Hornets seem to have placed a hobos “Safe Place to Stop” sign on our property line.
I used to be a novice beekeeper, and I was working with my first hive. I was inexperienced, and I did sonmething to really upset the bees, and they starting attacking me, and even with a beekeepers suit on, I was probably stung at least 20 times. I had to take benadryl for it, and probably should have went to the Doctor, but I started feeling better later on.
I lost my hives to wax moths, and I could never afford to replace them. I am also disabled now, and I don’t know if I could physically manage it now, but I still wish i could have at least one hive, maybe a top bar hive. I miss it, and we miss the fresh honey.
Only becoming a beekeeper last year I was stung twice after robbing to taste goldenrod honey. Lesson learned.
I have been stung many times by bees. When i was a kid, I often helped my grandpa rob his bee hives. He did not “suitup” when he worked his hives, he said it wasnt necessary.
It was the middle of the night last summer. I was in my darkened room waking up from a deep sleep when I felt something tickling my forehead. I thought it was my long hair so I reach up in the dark to push the hair back. Something stung me on the forehead, the venom made my heart beat fast and I felt a surge of adrenaline. It was dark so I didn’t know what kind of bee stung me. I woke up my husband and asked if he could help as my heart was giving me trouble. We sat downstairs for ten minutes or so. Once I felt stable I went back to my bedroom and turned on the light. There was no way I was going to get back to sleep unless I found the bee. I looked everywhere. I pulled off all the blankets on my bed. I shook everything out. I couldn’t find it anywhere; I wondered where the heck it could bee (ha! ha!). I picked up my pillow to check under it and quickly dropped it again as I got stung a second time by this fellow (right on the fleshy part between my thumb and index finger this time). I asked my husband to find the little guy at this point. As it turned out, the bee had crawled into my pillowcase after stinging me the first time. My husband was wearing work-gloves so he was able to get him without any more problems. It was the biggest hornet I have ever seen. I wonder if “Stop the Sting” would have eased my level of pain that night. My husband and I have two relatively young hives and last summer we extracted a little over 100 lbs of honey. We love our honeybees. 🙂
I always loved tending to my garden until one day while I was pulling weeds I came across a bees nest and got stung 5 x. It wasn’t a good experience.
Only stung a few times and I know that wasps hurt the worst.
I have been stun where yellow jackets managed to et in our old farm house and were on my pillow and stun me, I have been stun other times too, wasp & yellow jackets the worse. My brother-in-law and father in law were very allergic to bees, whole face would swell up.
Stung once when a child, a few years ago by a Paper wasp when one of my horses bothered their nest. Another time weeding my garden by a ground hornet. Just this week in my house stepped on a Paper wasp while barefooted going to feed my fish. Last night going to feed said fish again, sat on a hornet in my chair! Burns like crazy
Ive only been stung a few times but this would come in handy for the next time.
Several years ago I was cutting grass when I got in a yellow jackets nest & was stung 17 times. I had to go to one of my neighbors house who was severely allergic to bee sting & get a epi pen from him because I started feeling like someone was tightening something around my chest. so after that every time got stung I would use the epi pen then one time I was out of the epi pen & got stung while out in the pasture working & knew I didn,t have time to get to the hospital so we tried something we had read about using electricity . we removed the sparkplug from the chainsaw & using a piece of telephone wire I held the end of the wire close to the sting while someone pulled the cranking cord . I did not swell ,itch or have any kind of reaction to the stings . so now I keep a coil of phonewire hanging under the hood of my truck incase I ever need it again.
I haven’t been stung yet, but I am starting my first hive this spring so I am sure it is coming!!! I hope I win as I think I can put this to good use!!!
Thanks for sharing your story!!
I’ve only ever been stung once when I was pretty young, but I don’t keep bees yet so that’s might change!
I don’t know how many times I’ve been stung, since these incidents happened when I was a child, but from my memory, it seems like it was quite a few times. Once, I will never forget: I was running around barefoot in my grown-up sister’s lush, soft, St. Augustine-grass backyard and STEPPED on a wasp! I remember it burned like fire for about an hour, and all she had was ice to put on it. But, I lived through it, obviously!
Maybe we’re lucky, but since my wife and I started keeping bees here in the Black Hills of South Dakota last Spring, we have found them to be far more docile than we ever imagined. We got a package of the Carniolan variety, primarily because they are considered so gentle and cold hardy, and we have yet to be stung even one time. They seem almost like pets now.
I worked outdoors all my life and have been stung by bees many many times. I am not really affected by the sting that much but it does hurt.
nine times in one day and I wasn’t even near my hive !
4 times, but I’m still not scared… very much
A get a few, 1 to 3, stings each summer. So far other than the initial irritation, the sting subsides within a few hours. I am interested in if these will “add up” over time so that I have a more serious reaction. The “epie-pen trainers” suggest this can occur.
We are preparing to get our first hives. I am a little anxious for our grandkids and the fact the my father used to have severe allergic reactions. I am actually less nervous than my husband around them though.
So many I can’t estimate
This bee sting experience goes back to my childhood. I’ve always loved to go barefoot. We were living in England & it was a beautiful sunny, warm day. There was clover all over the place. I wanted to go barefoot & begged my mom to let me. I finally wore her down & she said “OK but if you step on a bee don’t come running to me.” Well, as usual I stepped on a bee. So I went to my best friend Cindy’s house & her mom pulled the stinger out & put wet tobacco on it. She & my mom were very good friends. Mom decided to walk over to visit with Coty & there I was sitting on the back patio with the wet tobacco on my stung foot. Mom asked “why didn’t you come to me?” And I reminded her she told me not to come running to her! I don’t think she expected me to take her literally but what do you expect from a 7 year old!
I have been stung enough to have become a little sensitive to their sting. I carry a bee sting kit, but have not needed to use it and never slowed me down from working our churches hives and extraction house. Though I’m rarely stung by honeybees anymore, their cousins the Yellow Jackets have a real angry issue. I’m planning to go to Arizona soon and I’m wondering what to carry and have with me while hiking in case I run across the Africanized Bees. I thought a good pair of running shoes would be a good idea, Ha, Ha. Since retirement I like doing my biology hobby of collecting items to make microscope slides to study the small world of nature. So I have a bad habit of sticking my curious nose where I probably I shouldn’t. Thanks for your great articles. I learn something every time I read one.
Usually I just have a local reaction but one time we were called to get a swarm and somehow bees made it under my veil and i was stung about 10 times on my head. I told my husband I didn’t feel right so we left to go to the ER but first stopped for some Benadryl. I had broken out in hives on my abdomen. By the time I was seen at the ER the Benadryl had taken effect and I was just told to keep taking it and come back in if I couldn’t breathe. Everything was fine although I slept a lot.
Still learning about bees before taking the plunge.
I have never been stung by a bee and only once by a wasp. When I see a bee on a flower i like to go up to them and touch them and have yet to be stung. I am seriously considering getting into back yard bee keeping
Thanks for the information on “Stops the Sting.” As a beginning beekeeper I know that bee stings come with the territory, but this product will definitely help assuage my stinging fears.
My worst sting as a child was from a Wasp. Those scare me even to this day. But bees make me happy to see hanging out around us.
I have been stung three time in my life as far as I can remember
Hello- Love all the information on your site!I I have always had a big fear of Bee’s and getting stung. I am not allergic to Bee’s as far as I know but when I do get stung I tend to swell up pretty good at the sting spot. Once while we were on a trip to Alaska driving I had my arm on the window the was rolled down. A bee flew in my sleeve and stung me a few time over in the upper tummy area. I was on the side of the road whipping my shirt off trying to get the stinging to stop. There was the bee stuck in my top. My belly swelled pretty bad and boy did it itch! I normally don’t have anything specific to put on a sting so this would be great to have on hand for those moments. Thanks for the chance to win something cool and helpful! One day I would love to get into having a Bee farm of some sort– nothing big just to help out in a small way- Bee’s are so important to the human race I wish we all would have a little bee farm in our yards it would be so helpful!
Since childhood I’ve been stung probably a dozen times. The most recent one this summer. Yes, it hurts a bit, but even as a kid, I think because my grandparents/parents didn’t make a big deal of it, there was never a sense of panic or fear of bees.
I started keeping bees a year ago and got stung 5 times over the summer. I wish I had your product to try! I look at it as part of the job. They don’t mean to hurt me but I figure I did something wrong to upset them. I can see that this is definitely a learn as you go process!
Sounds like every bug out bag and get home bag should have a tube of this.
i’ve only been stung once…never again!
Haven’t been stung since I was a child, but we’re getting bees this year so it’s bound to happen!
Bees don’t like it when bang the side of their hive with the handle of a push mower. They will sting you.
Wasp are what bother my. I swell up so bad, one time I had to have my wedding ring cut off.
Stung just a few times while tending my hives. Only one occassion I received a dozen per wrist whilst capturing a swarm. My mistake was wearing gloves… Second swarm no gloves, no stings…
All the best,
Brett
Once or twice, when I was just a little girl.
I have had bees for five years. In that time I have been stung numerous times. Most times just once or twice, though a couple of times it was profusely. I usually apply a paste of baking soda as soon as possible or even a dab of hand sanitizer helps sometimes.
My mother kept bees during my Junior High and High School years, and they thought I smelled like a bear. They attacked me 50 yards or more from the hives. However, that all pales to insignificance compared to being attacked, at age 5, by a nest of bumblebees which my dad mowed into with a sickle mower on his tractor. I was watching him mow from the “safety” of the manure spreader wagon. I got about 16 stings on my head and neck before dad scooped me up like a football and ran with me under his arm all the way back to the house. I didn’t need medical intervention, but with eyes swollen shut, I looked like I lost a bad fight. Sure could have used some Stop The Sting that day!
Been stung its no fun, need this product in the first aid bag
Having grown up in the country, surprisingly, I’ve only been stung once. I was 4 years old and it was my own fault because I was trying to play with the bee and probably just annoyed it. I remember it vividly because that night was also the first time I saw “The Wizard of Oz.” The flying monkeys totally freaked me out, so it was a huge day for a 4-year-old. However, it didn’t change my love of bees in the least. I just don’t try to play with them anymore.
I’ve been stung several times, the last time being early fall; I was stung maybe 6-10 times to my face and ear by a swarm of yellow jackets. At first I thought it was a rock hitting me, boy was I wrong. I rushed inside and ended up pulling one or two out of my hair. A Benadryl and ice pack later, I had to wait for the pain to go down.
I have been stung countless times usually just trying to clean around the house but I seem to always disturb a wasp nest accidentally, usually under the flood lights cause they must like the heat it gives off. I would have to say that being stung by Mud Wasps would be the worst pain I’ve encountered. Their nests were in the ground on a hiking trail that my friends and I were walking on and one of us must have either disturbed one of the nests with our foot or gotten too close to one while we were walking. Not a fun time but it definitely makes me more smarter for the outdoors when I go camping or hiking now and to watch out every step I make
I’m somewhat allergic to bee stings. I’ve had the side of my face swell up from a sting on my ear lobe, and one even went up my nostril and left the stinger in my nose. It took several minutes to find my surgical forceps and remove it; my eyes were tiny slits for a couple of days. I’ve been stung on my wrists, causing swelling from the knuckles to my elbow which lasted a few days. But, the satisfaction of working with my bees is worth the stings. All hobbies have drawbacks…
I started keeping bees last year and have been stung two times-
I have been stung multiple times over the years but the worse one was when my brother led me into a yellow jacket hive. 14 stings. 5 of them on my tushie!
I am new to beekeeping and am getting my first colony this spring. I can only remember being stung once when I was 5 or so. At that time my aunt told my mom to use a mixture of baking soda and water to relieve the pain. She did and after the poultice dried only the redness remained from the sting.
The only bee I have ever been stung by was a couple bumblebees. Once while mowing the lawn and one other time one got in my pants leg. Other than that, I’ve only been stung by yellow jackets after someone I was with decided to shove a stick into a holl in the ground.
I have never been stung by a bee. I was stung once by a wasp. Ouch!!! My brother in-law is DEATHLY afraid of being stung, and won’t step out of the back side of our house, even though our bee hives are one the far end of the acre of land. Maybe he’ll consider venturing outside after reading this article.
I’ve been stung a handful of times helping out around the yard. All I’m going to say is OUCH!
I too was scared of bees, bit something in me wanted so badly to be a beekeeper. So I signed up. Got my box of 10,000 bees, and fell in love. I was doing it! I wasn’t afraid! And then I was stung….twice. An error on my part as I was standing where I should not have been. And then my husband was stung…..and had a reaction. So now, we have a healthy respect for our gentle ladies…….and an epi pen on hand. They are magical creatures that we love and will not be getting rid of ever! Our little garden and trees are grateful for all they do and we are fascinated every day watching them.
Bee stings are causes of Bee Stung and can Bee Painful, So Bee Careful around Bees and carry Stop the Sting.
I’ve been stung only once. It was great. It was in the car on the way to Bear Lake and I got stung because my husband wouldn’t open the window so the bee could fly out. My lower arm where I had been stung was so swollen it looked like I had a Popeye arm. So the next day, I’m driving home from work and I’m sitting at a stoplight, turned on the AC and opened the vent and a freaking bee comes flying out right at my face, and I’m SCREAMING, my arms flailing…The best part though is that the people in the van next to me at the stoplight were laughing hysterically ’cause they saw the whole thing….
I was extremely allergic to bee/wasp stings as a child. My mother had two pills (one epinefrine and I don’t know the other) and a needle kit (this was before epipens) that we kept on hand in the house in case I was stung. My reaction was not so bad as your dad’s, but if stung on head or torso swelling could keep me from breathing. Interestingly, I learned how to deal with bees and be calm around them because of my allergy. I try to educate people who swat at wasps and bees, because their actions are more likely to get somebody stung — and I don’t want it to be me! The last time I was stung was when I was digging up a clump of iris at my mom’s in a field that had been a garden area 10 years prior. I put a shovel into a nest of ground dwelling hornets. Scary.
I’ve been keeping bees 2 years and have been stung about 5 times. The worst was in the head, went away fast mostly itched.
– Dan
I get stung every year while gardening. It is usually not a big bother unless the sting is from a nasty honet.
We have been beekeeping for about 4 years now. I have only been stung once. After an installation, leaving the bee yard, hood down, got me right under the eye. Ouch!!
I have been stung three times in threes years. All three times I got in a hurry. Causing bees to get excited. Worse sting was between thumb and fore finger. Swelled up for four days and constant pain. Tried over the counters but o prevail.
I have been stung alot of times by hornets and wasps. I work in the service industry cleaning windows and no matter how much we take precautions to look for them, we seem to miss seeing them and end up getting stung. My reaction isn’t s bad as your dad’s, but I itch and redness is worse than most and lays for days. When bitten by mosquitoes, I swell, and get splotchy and itch like fricken crazy. The splotchyness and itches lasts for almost a week. Really thinking this product would help, but like most I am skeptical .
When I was three or four years old, my brother and I were playing outside of our Western PA home. We had plenty of woods surrounding the house and my brother was looking to build a tree house.
I wandered back to the house and suddenly I was in a lot of pain. Things were flying around me and I couldn’t get away from them.
My brother ran up to see what was the matter and then ran to the house to get Mom. I had stepped in hive of Yellow Jackets.
Mom got us both in the car. Of course I was crying and in a lot of pain and with Mom rushing me to the hospital, I was scared. The funny thing I remember is being disturbed the she was breaking the speed limit. Our Buick would emit a noise when you went over 55. Mom even sped past a cop saying, “He can give me a ticket at the hospital! ” He never did follow us though.
We arrived, medicine was administered and I had 12 stings around my neck. Luckily, I wasn’t allergic, but the normal reaction was quite bad enough.
Now this spring, almost 50 years later, I will start keeping bees. Maybe I should pick up Stops The Sting!
very interesting approach. a necessary first aid tool for all first aid kits.
I have 2 hives, so I have been stung several times. I still don’t like it! Always amazed when beekeepers get stung and they don’t react. Curious about trying Stops the Sting for the pain and swelling.
I really haven’t been stung too many times over the years. Occaisonally I step on one while hanging out clothes. Sometimes I get a wasp sting but that seldom happens anymore.
fire ants are my nemesis. I don’t know that they’re on me until I get the sting, and the sting seems to last forever.
sign me up. i had a bad reaction to yellow jacket stings ( 7) – back in 2008.
I am starting bee keeping this spring.
We have a problem with yellow jackets nesting in our lawn, more than one of us have been victims of these aggressive wasp they have chased right into our house leaving multiple stings. My daughter is more sensitive than the rest of us and she gets huge red swollen angry welts where she has been stung and it takes days and loads of antihistamines before they resolve.
Im a newbee getting my bees in May Not been stung yet … But Im sure I will My Grand Daughters will be helpers would love to have a tube on hand
I keep bees and have been stung many times, and use baking soda. Did not know about this product, I would like to try stop the sting. Thank you.
I grew up on Guam with HUGE bees! One time, a bee stung my cheek and my whole eye became swollen! Not fun!
I have been stung about 20 times as I am a beekeeper. The one I remember is when I got stung about three times when in the hive (which is unusual). I ended up having a fever that night and the sweats. My immune system went totally wacky and I went to the doctor the next day. What I didn’t know at that time is that I had Lyme. The bee sting threw body into chaos and really, that’s how I found out I had Lyme so it wasn’t a bad thing for me to be stung.
I’ve been stung by those really big hornets, yellow jackets, paper wasps mainly yellow jackets over many years. I’m glad I’m not allergic because I step on a bee almost every summer since I don’t like to wear shoes.
Fortunately I have been stung only a few times. I try to respect the bees space as much as possible and move very slowly.
I get stung six or seven times each summer. Sometimes three at a time. I’m a big guy – 6’11”, 375 lbs. When the bees get upset, I am the first moving thing they see and head for – I may be a bee magnet. I have been trying to raise a single hive for personal use in eastern Montana for three or four years now. I haven’t had much luck overwintering them. I realize spending $120 for bees and getting $50 worth of honey doesn’t make much sense, but I have a plan for this coming winter that I think will work. Getting stung on top of trying to keep the bees alive is like adding insult to injury or in this case, adding injury to insult.
I’ve been stung many times and it’s still no fun. Luckily no major reactions so far.
I don’t recall ever being stung but in my medical records it says I’m allergic. My kids have mostly been stung (I have 9) and as a paramedic I’m well aware of the dangers. Being in the south we have major issues with fire ants and anything that can help with that pain is something I want around. We are also going to start hives next summer 🙂
Never been stung by our own bees, but I’ve been stung I don’t know how many times when we’re camping. I have a light allergy to bees, which makes it scary each time, to see how bad it’s going to be this time. Thankfully, it doesn’t appear that my kids have inherited that allergy! I used to keep Sting Kill on hand, but I’d like to try this product.
I just saw this and hope it isn’t too late! I got stung by something unknown when I was 9. We think it was a yellow jacket. All I remember is my hand hurting so bad and swelling up really big. My mom took me to the fire station about a block away and I remember them putting some kind of gel on the sting. We want bees but not at our current property. Meanwhile we read and learn for one day.
I remember stepping on a bee in the yard as a kid and it stinging the bottom of my foot. I jumped around on one foot trying to get back to the house. I wore shoes for a while after that because I didn’t want stung again
Over the years I’ve been stung several times. Used to be allergic to stings and blow up. Now its just mild swelling at the spot – not fun by any means.
As a child I was stung well over a dozen times. Can’t remember the last time I was stung though. Many years ago.
I’ve never been stung in my 34 years on earth. I’m about to start beekeeping (3 of 8 beginners classes down!) and I’m equally terrified and excited.
I’m a 5+ year beekeeper…try to keep stings to less than 1/season.
Oddly, I have never been stung by a bee. They rest on me all the time (omg, they tickle!), but have never stung. Wasps, on the other hand? I’ve lost count. We had an old wood stove/fireplace combo where I grew up and my dad took out the wood stove, leaving the hole in the chimney covered with plastic. We had a ridiculous amount of wasps in there and always, ALWAYS, at Christmas. I got stung so badly on my hand once that it swelled up and I couldn’t even make a fist. That was the first year I went after a wasp with a hot frying pan, though. 😉 I have some paper wasps in my yard now and we have a truce – so long as they don’t get aggressive, neither do I. Never know from year to year though.
Last year, I couldn’t sleep, so I got up in the middle of the night and sat in my chair and sat right on a wasp. As I stood, I quickly put my hand on my bum and my hand was stung too. I spent the night holding a cold pack with my stung hand to my bum. It was miserable.
I have only been stung once, fortunately. It happened when I sat on the bee (accidentally!) so, I can’t really blame the bee.
Never been stung and don’t live in fear of it, but I still wince at the thought.
I’m just a two-year beekeeper this will be my third summer, but I have been stung a number of times so far as I learn how to handle the boxes and maybe crush a few B’s here and there unintentionally. Usually if that happens I may get stung sometime shortly thereafter. I’ve also intentionally stung myself on my hands and my knees which I have found greatly alleviates my arthritis and creaking knees for months at a time. I don’t wear gloves when I work with my BS because I need to be able to feel what’s going on and I’m still a little dizzy when I feel a bunch of bees buzzing around my fingers but they never bitten me when I’m simply working like that. It never ceases to amaze me that they allow me to move things around and interrupt their day so that I can watch what they’re doing gather honey and take care of them I love my bees
Love bees, yellow jackets not so much (I do know they fill a need in nature). We get a lot of yellow jackets in our neighborhood and I get nabbed every so often, mainly while grilling.
Nothing stops the fun quicker than a sting
I am 53 years old and I have only been stong 3 times in my whole life. I think if you stay calm around bees they are calm.
Bees are safe at this house. I have always loved to watch them on the hive. Good stuff.
Got stung on the tip of my nose once by a BumbleBee <not the tuna (;
NOT FUN
We really need the bees for pollination… but we don't have to suffer stinging pains !
I just purchased my first bee hive and will be picking up my package of bees in May. I figure I will be purchasing a few tubes of Stops the Sting before to long. I wish I had it this last summer when I was stung by 3 yellowjackets at one time. I was in misery a couple of days. My husband who is extremely afraid of anything that stings, will have his very own tube.
would love to win a tube! we have many flowers and a big garden with many bees .It would be wonderful to have this on hand! TY
I’ve been stung a few times in my life but the worst stings came from the ground hornets. The sting was fiery, intense and lasted for days. My Grandfather and my brother are both severely allergic to bee stings. So far I am not. Would love to try this stuff out.
I’ve been stuck twice. Once when I was little I got stung by a wasp that was flying around the clothesline that went the length of our house and my grandma’s (It was a duplex). I remember thinking it was a fly and I swatted at it and then it stung me. I took off running and crying into the house. I had been scared to death of anything that could sting me for years; until my dad moved up here and brought his bees with him. The second time I was stung was while my dad and I were mowing and neither of us saw a hornets nest in one of my trees. I felt something hit the top of my head and I thought he had hit a rock with the mower and it hit me. Then he grabbed the top of his head and came running over to where I was. We looked around and found the hornets nest. We avoided that area all summer and had a patch of really tall grass there until fall.
I’m learning more and more about bees though and after I get some things taken care of around the yard and inside the house I want to get my own bees. I like bees, it’s the other stinging insects I don’t like. I’ve let bees land on my arms before and I talk softly to them until they fly away. I can’t wait to have my own.
In my early years I was stung right between my knuckles on my left hand mading my hand swell up. This didn’t stop me from enjoying bees, every chance I could feed them out of my soda, I would. If you know bees, if there is one more will come. Seeing them come and go also gave me a sense that with hard work comes a great reward.
I have only been stung a few times if my 60 years of living in this earth but a friend if mine who raised bees for a few years was stung and like the previous story he was unaware that he had an allergy . My friend came into work one afternoon shift to relieve me and he looked like he had gone fifty rounds with a famous unnamed boxer , his face was so swollen that I don’t know how he could see and was pretty much in recognizable . He had an epi pen on hand just in case of such an emergency and a trip to outpatients and he was OK but the swelling although subsided it took a few days . He still kept bee keeping for awhile but his doctor said it would be advisable if he stopped as his tolerance was getting worse for stings rather than better. My friend gave up his bees but it was with great reluctance as really enjoyed them and called them his stress releiver.
I found out that I am not allergic to hornet stings while working about an hour and a half North of the major centre where I live (Saskatoon). I was working for my dad, doing some survey work out in the bush and I put the leg of the tripod through a rotten log. It took a few minutes for me to realize I had stirred up a nest! They didn’t attack, just flew around me for a few minutes while I hollered at my dad to finish taking the reading we needed. I figured it was better to finish it then rather than have to go back! (WRONG) Anyway I managed to escape unscathed, except for one little one that got into the tongue of my boot and stung me on the top of my foot (you know that really soft part at the front of the ankle? Yeah.) Anyway I asked my dad if I’d ever been tested for allergies and he told me that we’d find out right away! Good thing I’m not allergic! I’ve also been stung by wasps two or three times but it wasn’t nearly as dramatic a story! I have been thinking about starting to keep bees for a year or two now that my wife and I live on 15 acres. She has concerns about our little ones getting stung, but we are doing research before we rule it out! I will certainly be reading more of your posts!! Thank you,
I have been stung more than 50 times. I am a hobby beekeeper. I have been stung more than 50 times. I am a hobby beekeeper. Every sting was my fault, while learning.
Hi:
I am a new beekeeper and excited to get started this spring. I have been preparing my yard with fruit/nut trees wild flowers and plants that will keep my bees happy. The one thing I am not looking forward to is getting stung, I have been stung in the past and a normal reaction to the stings, I do know that immediate attention to a sting is best but if I scratch the area I know it will swell, So having your product on hand will be a very smart investment.
We had a nest of yellow jackets last year that got after my daughter. It was very scary. We are super careful now.
I’ve been stung a few times, twice by hornets (once on a hand and once on a foot) and once by a nest of bees in the ground that I didn’t see. I used to have a great fear of bees, but not anymore. Though I can’t say I’ll go out of my way to be best friends with yellow jackets and hornets. 🙂
I grew up and currently live in South Texas, so fire ant bites are just part of life. I couldn’t even begin to count them. If your product works, I’ll be your best customer because every member of my family will have some.
As for bees, I have only been stung once when I was young. I am considering keeping bees and hope your product will work as stated. If so, thanks in advance because I’ll be your biggest fan.
I got stung in my right trigger-finger by a honey bee when I was about 7 years old and in 2014 I got stung by several black hornets. I was moving a stack of patio cushions which disturbed their hive.. My Dad and older brother kept bees and chased swarms all over Erie County. Dad got stung several times during the years but the one in 1961 almost did him in. He too started to swell and had increasing trouble breathing. The shot in the doctor’s office cured him real quick. From that point on, he carried his pen wherever he went.
Bees are so interesting and I’m grateful for their honey, but not their sting! Thank you for a chance at relief when it happens!
I have wanted to start keeping bees but, I, too, am afraid of those tiny pollinators. I’m afraid of being stung, as my grandmother was deadly allergic to bees, wasps, hornets, and almost died when several yellow jackets stung her around her ears and on her neck.
This product appears to be something someone like me should have in our medicine cabinet.
Great story! Thanks.
I’m sorry I missed the drawing for the Stops the Sting. I’ve been keeping bees for only a couple years and have been stung many times. Each time seems to feel worse than the previous time. I would love to have something that helped alleviate the pain. Suggestions?
I’ve only been stung once in the pinky finger, but boy did it hurt! This ointment would be great to have on hand.
I am in an area of Texas with many many fire ants everywhere on our land. I am high level allergic to shellfish and now carry an epipen with me everywhere i am interested in getting into bee keeping and would love to have a tube stop the sting handy. Enjoying the web sight articles!! Thank you
I was stung by a honey bee when I was about 5 years old. We were watching the Wizard of Oz and I went outside without my shoes and stepped on a bee. It hurt a lot and my mother put ice on it and it was better in the morning. I was also stung about 4 times by bumble bees. they had built a nest in our garden shed and I found out when I went to get my riding mower and they attacked. My son was with me and I grabbed him and ran into the house. He was crying as my wife got ice for me. He continued to cry and I told him it was ok, that I grabbed him to get him away from the bees. He told me his neck hurt and I took off his shirt and he had several stings too. With a little ice, we were both ok. My wife and I are planning on buying 20 acres of land in the fall here in Michigan and there is an old apple orchard on it. We thought having some hives would increase a pretty meager apple harvest.
My mother, who is 94, & I were watering the flowers in the back yard last fall & some water got into a ground bee entrance that we didn’t even know was there. I gotta tell you, they do NOT like that! They started PORING out of that quarter sized hole!! I yelled at mom to run in the house & I took off running to the front of the house hoping to attract their attention. II did draw most of them to follow me, but a couple stung mom at least twice on her ear & the right side of her face! I only got stung on the forearm but my poor mother’s face swelled up from right under her eye to the bottom of her neck & stayed that way for 3 DAYS!
I felt terrible!! I know my arm was throbbing with pain for 2 days & the swelling didn’t go down untill after the 3rd day. Mom had to be rushed to the Dr.’s office for a SHOT!
If you see bees coming & going in a hole in your yard, LEAVE IT ALONE!!
I’m trying to win this bee ointment. Can’t find an entry form.
Ditto!
Love bees
I’ve been stung only 3 or 4 times in my life. Painful at the moment but never had a severe reaction.
Luckily, I haven’t been stung yet but would like something to help with the sting if it does occur. Thank you
I’m a 5th year beekeeper, so not sure how many stings I’ve had. Some are worse than others. One time I was stung In between the thumb and pointing finger, in the skin between the two. My whole arm swelled up too my elbow.
My husband had a very bad allergic reaction to yellow jacket sting even after being stung several times during his lifetime and no problem , then he was hit about 4 or 5 times in the same week and went into shock turned blue and heart stopped , twice , on the way to the E.R. needless to say they saved him but he was so swollen and purple his own mother didn’t know him .
I don’t get stung by bees much, but one day I was riding my motorcycle and the bee and I sort of ran into each other. It hit me in the cheek , I was stung right away. I could feel the venom go into my cheek, boy did that hurt. I also felt bad because I knew the little guy would be taking his last ride. They are such marvelous little wonders, nothing like them. Heres to keeping the little guys flying, Kelly.
Really the only time I’ve been stung was when I was a little girl. We were at my grandparents & all of the adults (except for my grandmother & my aunt) had gone deer & dove hunting for a few days. So, one of those days, my two cousins & I were outside playing tag & we were chasing each other around this HUGE shrub/bush that grew in front of the window in front of the house (there was a space between the house & the bush that was large enough for us to run through there very easily). Unbeknownst to us, there was a monster wasp nest in that bush. Well, the last one around the bush (before the stinging began), my cousin Brande (pronounced Brandy) slid partially into the bush & knocked the nest down. Then, when my other cousin & I flew through there…………POW! BAM! STING STING STING STING………We were stung SO many times that it felt like we were literally on fire! Since there was no phone & no car at my grandparents’ house at that time (because the adults had taken them hunting), my grandmother reached into her healing knowledge (she was a badass at medicinal herbs, plants, & anything else she got her hands on) & made up a paste of my grandfather’s pipe tobacco & something else (no idea what) & plastered us all over with it. She then wrapped us in plastic wrap & made us lie down for a while. She then made some kind of herb/plant tea (it was HORRIBLE! ha ha) & made us drink every drop of it. As soon as that tea was gone, the pain & stinging stopped. It was amazing. After what seemed like an eternity, she unwrapped us, rinsed us off in cool water, checked to make sure we didn’t have any stingers in us (we didn’t), then put some sort of salve she’d made up all over the stings. The only adverse effects we suffered, other than the fire like pain of the stings themselves, was a little bit of swelling…a very teeny bit…..a fact we found hilarious as we looked at each other & cracked up laughing. Needless to say, I’ve been terrified of bees. wasps, etc ever since then. If I catch one near me, I start thrashing around, waving my arms, running & screaming like someone is trying to kill me. It’s a bit embarrassing to say the least. Now, however, as I get more & more into the homesteading, off-grid, natural lifestyle, I want to overcome that fear & get into beekeeping to do my part to help save our rapidly declining bee population. HELP!
Love the bees! Walked on but never stung.
Watching my husband and son in our apiary, I believe the answer to fewer stings is moving slowly and calmly. That really cuts down on the stings. Having ” Stop the Sting” ready is necessary for those inevitable sting moments..
We were living at a campsite while we were waiting for our rental condo to be finished with cleaning and maintenance. I was stung on the leg by a bee (not sure what kind). My leg started to swell, became extremely hot and eventually, I was unable to bend my leg due to swelling. The friend who I was camping was a nurse and did not seem alarmed. When my leg became so swollen I could barely bend it, I took myself the ER where I was administered a steroid and was told I had cellulitis. I seem to have the same reaction every time I am stung by a bee, black fly, deer fly or other insects. Although I do not have life threatening symptoms, I have unpleasant allergic reactions. My husband is about to embark in bee keeping. I am feeling a little anxious about all those critters being in our yard, and about helping him in his new venture. Guess I need a little bit of courage and PRAYER!!! LOL Virginia
I have always avoided being stung and avoided bees since I stepped on one as a child. This year however, I decided to apply for an assistant beekeeping position at a local farm. Since then, I have been stung multiple times without a reaction until we got in our first nucs of the season. Not sure why, but these “new-bees” packed one heck of a punch and I had to go on steroids to reduce the swelling the one sting had produced. I finally got that under control and then a swarm turned up on the farm and I was called into action again and gained even more stings in the effort to capture those bees. It is not the pain or the swelling that I mind so much, but the itching is about to make me crazy. Antihistamines, topical ointments and even prescription steroids don’t knock it out. I would love to find something that will stop the itching and let me sleep, because not working with the bees now is not an option as I have grown to love my part-time job! Ii would be great to have a product like Stops the Sting in my tool box so that I can apply it right away.
1St year as beekeeper so far haven’t been stung by them but in past at least 5 times
WARNING! To new Beeks:
If you keep bees you will get stung! And when you get stung it will be painful. I have been stung at least twenty times this year and a few times while wearing protective equipment. Oh well, it is worth it!
I kept a hive when I lived in Wyoming and don’t recall many stings. I would take the boys out to check the hive in t-shirt and shorts.
Last year I started a new hive in New Mexico and everything was great until fall. They became more aggressive as fall started and I was stung a couple of times. Time to be a little more careful!
So I’ve never been stung. But I am terrified because I an allergic to wasps. I bought a house that had hives abd equipment just left so I am trying to work with the one hive that was alive. Bought a suit and smoker. I am going to give it a try!
My husband and I are planning to keep bees, starting this spring. Thanks for the pespective. Although my Grandpa had “tame bees”, I never helped with them, so I’m a little uneasy about having the bees around the farm all the time. I’ll take a deep breath….
Iv been stung 5 times and I’m scared of them now… but still don’t want to give them up yet
i am sorry for your dad
i am sorry for your dad it suks
Loved the story of overcoming my fear of bee’s
Been stung 3x so far this year but it’s only my first year keeping. It is worth it! My reactions last a few days. The itchiness is the worst! Lol
Hi was stung on my nose twice and only saw 1 sting took 2 zerox tablets ans some soov on the sting then when to bed was having trouble breathing through my nose