Re: Bee\'s versus my BX22!
I ended up at the doctor yesterday with a severe but delayed allergic reaction to bee stings.
Last week I was digging and clearing brush out of my creek when something bit me above the right knee. Really painful. Never saw what it was. The next day I discovered that there was a bee's nest under my wooden plank bridge. Maybe they were yellow jackets or hornets ... I don't know the difference. But they weren't wasps. I had stirred them up while pounding down nails in the planks. They came after me and I got about 2 bites on the lower legs.
Max, my stickaholic german shepard, of course has to come over to the bridge to investigate. He gets covered by the bees and I have to drag him into the creek to splash them off. Get bit on the lower legs 2 or 3 more times.
The first 24 hours the sting spots swell and are painful. Then, they become swollen and very itchy for about 3 days. Two days ago I start to get hives and swellings all over my body, from feet to neck--all itchy. Benedryl has no effect. Yesterday, I wake up with swollen hands and face, and feel nauseous, very weak, and have difficulty swallowing. Now some of the hives are very painful (burning), others itchy, and still others painful and itchy at the same time.
Off to the doctor. Doc thinks it was a serious delayed allergic reaction to the bites. Not anaphylactic shock; that happens within 30 minutes of the bites and will kill you shortly after. Gives me a prescription for cortisone steroid. The hives and swelling seem to be diminishing today.
The worse news. Doc thinks this exposure may have sensitized me to bee venom and that the next sting episode may bring on anaphylactic shock. Prescribes me an epipen for autoinjection and gives me a video on how to use it. Strongly recommends I see an allergist to determine whether in fact I am now allergic to bee venom. Yikes and yuck!
Last summer I was felled for a month with erlichiosis, a tick disease. I'm beginning to dislike bugs.