Yellow Jacket Attack
I'm taking a powder today, guys. Yesterday, I got stung by yellow jackets. The pain isn't as intense as yesterday, but I still feel bad.
Since I'd never been stung by yellow jackets before, I thought I'd share some of the information I learned.
Yellow jackets look very similar to honey bees. But they are far more vicious. I've spent many days gardening, surrounded by honey bees and have never been attacked.
Yellow jackets are territorial and will attack without provocation. Unlike bees, they do not lose their stinger and can sting you several times.
I was dragging brush to a burn pile when I walked near their nest inside a bunch of old logs. I thought at first ants had nailed me, but the pain kept growing---and spreading.
The whole time I walked very fast, back to the house that was several hundred yards away. (No running, since the terrain was too rugged.) Before I reached the back yard, I had torn off my t-shirt and found a yellow jacket tangled inside. As my final act of retribution, I smashed him.
I'm pretty sure he gave me the finger anyway.
Treatment: I've been stung by both black bumblebees and wasps but the pain and swelling subsided the same day. Not so with yellow jackets.
Yellow jackets and most wasps have alkaline venom requiring something acidic to cut the pain. Vinegar, lemons or limes will do the trick.
Bees have acidic venom which requires a base. Make a mud of baking soda and water and plaster the affected area.
Several sites I checked mixed the two up, so I stuck to the information from clinical sites that broke down each insect's biochemistry. Dry data, but this site is the most readable.
I took Benedryl but other than make me sleepy, did not help with the pain or swelling. I imagine I just have to live with it until it wears off.
It probably wouldn't have been so bad if there weren't three stings. I'm okay. Just in a bit of pain.
I could use some company in my misery. Anyone ever get stung by wasps or other insidious creature?
Comments
I haven't been stung by a yellow jacket, but I did have the displeasure of accidentally running over a fire ant mound- back in the day when I had both a husband and backyard - and those ants didn't take that mistake too well. They took to my ankle like devil hounds. No fun at all.
They're called FIRE ants for a reason. They burn like a son-of-a-gun!
Benadryl has helped me with fire ants.
Hang in there.
I did have a near escape with a wasp nest once. They'd take up residence in my gooseberry bush. I had the bright idea of smashing their nest with a long stick and briskly walking away.
My first thwack wasn't hard enough but several angry wasp 'scouts' surfaced. Luckily I was already behind a bush and running up the steps under cover.
When the scouts returned to their nests I tried again, with a more substantial thwack. A whole horde flew out and I barely made the house in time. Bernadette wasn't amused and we called the exterminator.
Hope you feel better soon.
You know, there are some life lessons I'd rather not learn.
I'm hoping mine doesn't last as long as yours did. I can't imagine dealing with this all week.
Are you insane? Or did you already get that lecture from Bernadette?
Over here we have chemicals. It is the only time I will resort to chemical warfare. I don't want to get that close to anything with a stinger.
One of my brothers is very allergic though and had to be taken to the emergency room. It's nothing that should be taken lightly.
Can I include an ex wife in that category?
I've been bitten by bees and wasps but, thankfully, never had a run in with yellow jackets. Got nailed by a snake once. My fault. I was by the lake where I wasn't supposed to be and I stepped on him. Never could decide which was worse - the bite or all shots they gave me after (to counter the venom).
Be sure to take precautions should you be stung again, they are known for causing severe reactions (even if you aren't prone to bug-bite reactions) with successive stings. (This time they swell, next time your airway restricts, etc.)
I'd have smashed him, too, and maybe have taken out his nest-mates to boot. :-)
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Linda: Ref: snake bit?
Knock on wood, I have not been snake bit...yet. You'll have to tell me that story in depth.
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EJ: We were at the furthest reaches of our property where we rarely go. I should've been more aware in unknown territory.
Ref: ...successive stings.
I didn't realize future stings could cause stronger reactions. Yikes. This episode was bad enough.
Greg destroyed the rest of them. We checked the nest later that day and not a single one came out.
I don't know if I'm allergic to wasps, but when one stung me on the cheek, my face puffed up so bad, my eye swelled shut.
I've never been stung multiple times at once, but I imagine that if I did, I'd have to go to the emergency room.
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Barbara: That has got to be scary. My brother has to keep epinephrin with him because he's allergic too. But he lives in the city and a colder climate so he doesn't worry about it much.
The next time you see your doc, you might want to mention it, just to have on hand.
Thank goodness it didn't get Sithboy. Children have got to be more vulnerable, I'm sure.
I do remember we had some anti-venom ampules that my Dad's employer had issued him with his first aid kit. They were plastic with a glass stopper you crushed and the medicine then released through a cotton swabber and you just dribbled it onto the sting site and it took care of the pain quickly. No idea what it was or the name but Dad got stung for years while out in the field reading Electric Meters and he used the stuff a often.
Hope today you feel better.
We generally leave them alone since they pollinate everything, but last fall we needed to do some heavy weeding, so once they all died we tore up their nest and they haven't been back
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Jackie: I remember hearing how linemen and meter readers were regularly given first aid kits and some even got poison ivy shots in case they got into it. Not sure I could do a job that kept me in constant peril. :)
I'm wary now.
PS I can't believe you call your twin a sloth. LOL!