Any suggestions on how to relieves stings? I knew I should have put on my gloves!
I have taken homeopathic Belladona and Apis mellifica, but my hand is still swollen red and feels bruised.
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Simplest solution I know and it works well. Cut a fresh juicey onion in half and apply directly onto the sting. Don’t know the science behind it but it works almost instantly. Also good for ant bites too!
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Thanks villageeliot for your suggestion. I’m going to bed with loads of Aloe vera cactus juice smeared on my hand. I’ll let you guys know if it works
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Much of what I know about the outdoors, I learned from bees. Bees cover lavender in bloom. It is their medicine.
I use lavender oil, “neet” (undiluted), on my stings. It reduced the swelling and pain within minutes.
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Wow!
My fear answered right here!
That’s the only thing I’m nerves about as I swell up pretty good when stung!
Thx for the tips!
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All this talk about “my sting! It hurts!!”
…and not one expression of concern for the poor bee that willing offered his life defending his hive and his 2.1million family members he left behind.
A moment of silence, please, for the late Mr. Buzzy.
(insert awkward silence here, punctuated by random buzzing from nearby hives)
Thank you. And now, back to the remedies!!
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I find toothpaste works well, and I always keep some generic anti-inflammatory on hand in case I get a dozen or more sting (a tricky job such as removing a hive from a roof etc).
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I haven’t found much to relieve the pain, but I always take an antihistamine after a sting to prevent the swelling from getting too bad. If its any consolation, I have found that the more I get stung the less it seems to hurt.
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Hi…I got quite a few stings last year when we stupidly tried to put the extracted frames back on the colony! Don’t do it! Especially don’t do it without your beesuit on! The bees were out in a whoosh…all over us…lots got into my hair and I got stung…so did OH. We certainly learnt our lesson…RESPECT for the bees. I had learnt previously to apply heat…held my hand under the hot tap…used the shower and a hairdryer on my head…it worked …got the pain under control and the itching stopped for about 4 hours at a time…so was able to sleep. I don’t swell much as I take antihistamines all the time…OH gets a bigger swelling…this year he has had a few stings from working near a defensive colony…but little swelling. Hope that helps someone.
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You have to laugh it off, its very funny NOW. But not then, sometimes you just have to run for cover… 
they really don’t like it when they are robbed of their stores.
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Yes we did laugh after we had recovered…how stupid we were and we won’t do anything like it again. Yet yesterday in our best hive…we took it all apart…moved frames in and out…separated the brood boxes. Took queen cells out…picked up the queen and moved her. All with out smoke and the bees were accepted it all. Love those bees. We now have 2 nucs with queen cells in them and are hopefully cooking a few more queen cells in our cell starter. One of these colonies…if they survive is destined for our first Flow hive!
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Bee Venom is Acidic. If you quickly scrape the stinger off with thumbnail before it pumps lots of Venom into the wound then some Alkaline solution would be effective.
If I find the need to use something after a particularly painful sting in the wrong location, I will personally use
Bicarb of Soda, (Baking Soda in US English)
Salt
Colloidal Silver, only enough to make a paste
As the liquid I have heard others use Vinegar, or the juice of an onion
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This is a great topic! It should generate a lot of different responses.
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Rum. Applied internally. In repeated doses until desired numbness is achieved.
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I have always found some good old fashioned screaming and yelling helps
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Mythbusters actually proved that swearing increases your pain threshold… so seriously… swear and scream away. lol
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- Dry tobacco and spit worked up into a gooey glob make a proper poultice for treating stings. (Kentucky-fried wisdom)
- Recent studies on bee stings has shown that the speed of removal, by any method, is more important in limiting the amount of poison received after a sting.
- Mix baking soda with water; apply paste and let dry. This pulls out venom if applied immediately and works quickly to relieve pain and reduce swelling.
- If it is a wasp or bee sting, you can mix mud and water together and apply it to the sting.
- Do not itch it even if it does get itchy. It will just make it worse.
Guess I’m one of the lucky ones, bee stings don’t bother me, I usually go ouch and a few seconds later pain gone and no swelling.
The first thing I learnt at beekeeping school was to smoke the area that was stung (after removing the sting of course), take an antihistamine, and rub on some cortisone cream for the itching. But then I read in another forum that plantain was really good to put on stings, and it was a weed that we all have in our gardens. One of our customers recommended it and showed me which one it was, and I haven’t looked back since. Remove the sting, pick a plantain leaf (Plantago lanceolata), cash it to release its juices, and rub it on the area that was stung. It calms it down almost immediately. And as soon as you start feeling itchy or sore again, rub some more plantain, it will make it go away for a few hours. The other day I opened a hive with no gloves on (I hate the dammed things!!) and a bee got me in my thumb. I pulled the stinger out, got some plantain, crushed it and wrapped it around my thumb, and put my gloves on, and that held the plantain into place while I did my inspections with no problems. Magic…
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I’ve heard about a lot of Home Remedies but I find that they basically… don’t work…
even tried Honey on the sting… 
I don’t swell up much but the pain will be there for an hour to 1.5hrs,
but I have found one pretty good one where I get instant relief…
**
Betadine
**
flick out the stinger as fast as possible and splash on the betadine asap all over that area…
no need to thank me, I like to help
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