I got stung by a bee right after Caleb's swimming lessons this morning. I had draped his towel across my arm as I walked toward the playground where he and Jacob were playing for a few minutes before we headed home. Suddenly I felt a sharp prick in my forearm right under the towel. I dropped it on the ground and checked my arm to see what it was. It looked like a tiny thorn or something stuck there, but I didn't examine it too closely. I wanted it out of my arm and off my finger. Then Caleb told me a bee had been buzzing around the towels during the lessons. I guess it landed on his. Thankfully he didn't get stung by it!
Three and a half hours later, it still hurts a lot and is still swelling. The wheal is now about 1 1/4 inches long and about 3/4 inch wide. How long before it starts going down again? How long before the pain goes away? I stopped at Walgreens on the way home to see what the pharmacy recommended putting on it. I bought a tube of hydrocortisone cream and applied it to the sting, but it didn't seem to be helping. I checked the internet for other remedies and found that a paste of meat tenderizer and water would be good for it since something in the tenderizer breaks down the bee's venom. I don't have that in my pantry or spice cabinet, so I checked for something else. I saw a recommendation for toothpaste, which I have on there now. It still hurts and is still swelling. And it keeps touching my shirt and sticking to it. I wonder if there's something else I could try. I wonder if my aloe vera plant would help.
Mama swears by tobacco. (On stings, not for anything else.) I guess I should've bought some Skoal or something when I was at Walgreens, but I just couldn't bring myself to do it. I may go back and buy some anyway.
Update: When I went to bed last night, my arm still hurt terribly and I had a 1-inch triangular-shaped red mark around the sting. (Actually it's shaped like a small car.) It looks like I have a strawberry or port wine stain birthmark. There's a small white raised bump in it where the stinger got me. I took a Benadryl and an ibuprofen to help me sleep.
When I woke up, the pain had subsided quite a bit, but I still have the red mark. And there's an itchy light pink rash (about 2x3 inches) around the mark. I slathered on some hydrocortisone cream and took my daily Claritin. It stopped itching for a while, but it's started back up again.
I hate when things like this happen so close to the weekend. You know, when you don't think you really need to go to the doctor, but sure as you don't, it's the weekend and you need to. There are always the quick-care clinics, but they're impersonal and they have a higher co-pay. I think I'll be fine, though. It's not life-threatening, just annoying.
2 comments:
awww, that stinks, ashley! i've never been stung and i hope to be able to say that for a very very very long time. go get you some tobacco!! hahaha!! put something in your bottom lip before you go in there so you'll look all classy & whatnot. hope you feel better!
The tobacco really works! I was playing in a softball tournament back in the 80's when we lived in Calhoun and you were in high school. In fact I think that you played too. Anyway, a wasp got inside my glove after the 1st inning and stung me between my little finger and ring finger on my left hand. Richard Horrell gave me some Skoal to hold between my fingers where I was stung. About an hour or two later, you couldn't tell that I had been stung. I was able to pitch 3 games that day! I do swear by using tobacco!!!
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