What about ASA? Same pathways involved?
I presume you mean Aspirin or salicylic acid, when you write ASA. Although the mind boggles when you look at this:
However, assuming you mean salicylates, yes, they are COX inhibitors, and even more so, they bond covalently to COX and block it permanently. When aspirin gets inside a platelet, its COX activity is inhibited for the lifetime of that platelet, which is why it is promoted for prevention of thrombo-embolic disease such as heart attacks and some types of stroke.
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Iâve sure got a lot of permanently blocked platelets then. Took a sting right between the eyebrows some years ago; my head rather looked like futball with a face painted on it. Thanks for the great info.
I take naproxen for all the aches and pains fire fighters deal with. That now explains the extreme swelling. Never happened before. Thanks @Dawn.
Randy
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Glad to help, Randy. Might be worth skipping the naproxen for half a day before beekeeping, if you can stand the aches and pains.
I am sure everyone has heard the old school treatment of putting wet tobacco on a sting wether bee or wasp. My momma did it when I was a kid and it seemed to work well ( I was always getting into wasp nests climbing trees). So is there a pharmacological rational for that?
Nope, not that I know of. Sorry. Bit of Mommaâs spit cures all kinds of things though! 
Although maybe she didnât chew the tobacco.
I think there is something to the tobacco treatment.
Since bee venom is acidic (ph of 5.0-5.5) and Nicotine is basic (ph of 8.2) and is in a partially unionized state and therefore readily absorbed through the skin and especially mucous membranes. So it is logical that applying a poltice of tobacco over a fresh sting would allow the nicotine to absorb into the subcutaneous tissues where the venom is injected and neutralize the melittin.
As I recall from experiences in my youth, mom would cover the tobacco with a bandaid so it would stay on. I recall the pain going away fast and do not remember any lingering pain or swelling like my two stings did a few weeks ago.
I got stung on my wrist area and one of fingers when installing my packages and though the initial stings werenât too bad, for the next 5-6 days they swelled and felt like I had been hit with rock.
I donât smoke but I have me some cigars on hand now!
My husband now believes in the pH theory. He let me try some toothpaste on a bad sting he got, and it actually relieved it pretty quickly.
Interesting! I guess basic chemical would do the same thing as long as it was unionized. I think that is a pretty basic (pun intended) requirement for skin absorption.
Please help with this question if you can. I was stung on a finger joint (little finger ) through gloves about six weeks ago. I waited for the inflammation to go down as with all the other stings I have had in the last three years of beekeeping but it didnât, instead the tip of my finger on the same side as the sting went and stayed numb. The stinger has apparently stayed in there and worked itself further in. Having now had an ultrasound that has located a foreign body very close to a nerve , my question is, would there be enough venom in a single sting to kill off a nerve fibre, or is it more likely to be the pressure from the little localised sac that has formed around the sting? I donât think GPs know much about bee venom and I have been referred to a hand surgeon. If the nerve is already dead, I donât want a surgeon going in there and messing around.
Thanks, emugirl.
Take this with all the experience I have in the medical field but my gut feeling is that its a pressure problem. I had the same happen on my wrist this season and it turned into a lump about a quarter of an inch across. Pressure on nerves can do strange things.
Now to send you my consultation bill, just after I get my medical qualifications 
Cheers
Rob
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I tried this and I believe it works. DD wonât believe me 
I know, but it seems to do the trick. 
Maybe not for everyone.
Last time I was stung I put liquid betadine all over it and I had no further swelling than was there and only a slight ich next day, swelling all gone.
No beer, wine or G&T involved.
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Well that definitely takes all the âfunâ out of getting stung 
Cheers
Rob
I believe that you believe it, and for you, that is all that really matters! 
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