Mowing Well, it was bound to happen sooner or later..... and today it was my time

[bumperm]

used to bush hog powerline right of way for living, last yellow jacket encounter, cut off tractor jumped off, ran 1/4 mile through woods, 9 stings, 1 to jaw, broke eyeglasses frame slapping them away, 1 last one in shirt stung me on stomach, time to hunt new job

Two words: Cabbed tractor (with heater, air conditioning, stereo, and NO yellow jackets).

bumper

 

[j970]

wasn't an option

 

[Reverser]

If you want to be pro-active, buy some generic Zyrtec (generic= cetirizine) and keep it on your rig in the first aid kit (you do have one, don't you??).

Not only does it work significantly more quickly than Benadryl, it is also longer lasting and has a much higher competitiveness for histamine binding sites, meaning that it is more effective not only at stopping the reaction, but even reversing it.

Great info, thanks.

 

[Ed of all trades]

Think I will add mine. Last week I was bush hogging for a friend and backed into a tight spot and the next thing I knew there were yellow jackets all around me. I tried driving away as fast as I could, Hoped they would see the tires moving and leave me alone. No luck, the rear tires are covered by the fenders but I was't. They got me on the back of my right hand, my left wrist and on the rim of my right nostril. Trust me that one HURT. I came home as fast as I could and took 4 benidril and put dish soap on them. A couple day later I could not find the nest so I guess I got them too.

 

[PhysAssist]

Great info, thanks.

De nada!

 

[PhysAssist]

Think I will add mine. Last week I was bush hogging for a friend and backed into a tight spot and the next thing I knew there were yellow jackets all around me. I tried driving away as fast as I could, Hoped they would see the tires moving and leave me alone. No luck, the rear tires are covered by the fenders but I was't. They got me on the back of my right hand, my left wrist and on the rim of my right nostril. Trust me that one HURT. I came home as fast as I could and took 4 benidril and put dish soap on them. A couple day later I could not find the nest so I guess I got them too.

Yeouch, I bet they all hurt, but goodonya for getting the nest.

 

[AAR]

After reading the article on the Yellow Jackets I thought I would put in my two cents and one I've ran into the last couple years especially this July 2014. After being stung all of my life and never having an issue or allergic reaction ever. I have developed an allergy which causes anaphylactic shock within 5 to 10 minutes that started 4 years ago by 1 honey bee of all things. i have to hurry to the ER every time since .This July I was stung by 1 yellow jacket which sent me to the ER as fast as I could get there because it went to my heart. The normal reaction I've had in the last 4 years have been excessive swelling , severe pain ( feels like gasoline being poured through all of my veins) . I have had to seek a venom immunologist and have started taking antivenom which will continue for the next 3 years possible 5 years. Anyway I'm in Western North Carolina I have 50 acres . The main reason I am posting to this forum is in my entire life I have never seen this many Yellow Jackets bumble bees ,bald faced Hornets and European Hornets and more than a few japanese hornets that have moved in to my property and area. My neighbors and other people I talk to say the same thing. The only explanation I can get from discussing this with bee people including physicians is that the winner we had was not cold enough to kill off these things. I also would like to add and forgot to mention I have seen 3 velvet ants for the first time in my life which are really wasp without wings , according to what I have read these velvet ants in Texas are called cow killers. According to different articles if a cow gets into a nest of these velvet ants they will not survive. People who have been stung by a red velvet ant say its more painful than any Hornet. I have had to hire a company that specializes in removal and monthly treatment for these things as well as snakes. Which is also been more abundant this year than almost any year I can remember . I was told from three different extermination companies including a company in South Carolina that this year they had had more calls for bees wasps and snakes than any year since they have been in business. I would be interested in any of your responses as if you have witnessed the same in your area this year. Also as far as gasoline in a yellow jacket hole nest don't lite the gasoline after you pour it in the hole . It soaks in the ground and kills all of the nest . The professional foam stuff works good to. But the best trick I learned is to get a big piece of screen (tiny holes like a screen door) but metal. Put the screen over the whole then pour the gas through the screen and the Yellow Jackets can't come out. It is best to do this at night or even take brick or block and weight the screen down tight around the hole so they can't crawl between the dirt in the screen. Anyway all the friends I have that bush hog or run bulldozer equipment are telling me they have not only seen more Yellowjackets wasp Hornets but have been stung more this year than any year they can remember. Yes I carry an EpiPen everywhere I go , I pay someone to cut my grass and bush hog my fields until I get enough buildup in my system to stand another sting. Its still cheaper to pay someone else to do it than the $ 1,200.00 to 1,500.00 ER bill.

 

[DarkBlack]

My area is swarmed this year by European wasps in numbers I've never seen before. And now that I think about it, the yellow jackets are up too.
The paper wasps, bald faced hornets, bumblebees, and honeybees seem about normal. Seems like the undesirables are booming.

 

[oldpilgrim]

I don't see anything different in my part of New England.

 

[PhysAssist]

I don't see anything different in my part of New England.

We have not actually had a bad year, but unfortunately, last week I had a bad day...

On Thursday evening, I was moving rocks from a rock pile along our driveway into our utility tralier just before it was time to take my sunglasses off (getting toward dusk), when all of a sudden, I felt that sharp burning stinging stabbing sensation on my left thumb.

I immediately knew what had stung me and did a quick trot-walk away from the immediate vicinity, stopping about 50-60 feet away to take a look at my hand...

Oh snap, it wasn't far enough, and sure enough, they stung me twice more once on my left elbow, and once on my back by my left shoulder blade.

This startled me and started me running, however since my knee replacement in September 2013, I haven't really run much, and my foot sometimes drags a little, so unfortunately my foot caught on the unpacked new gravel we had been spreading and tripped me.

I fell landing first on my left palm and then rolled onto my left side, scraping the skin off my left forearm and doing a faceplant which bent my glasses and forced them to cut the bridge of my nose, broke my nose, scraped my forehead, and bruised some of my ribs.

My wife was heading up toward me on our tractor, and she picked me up (I rode on the front blade of our ROBB with it rolled facing up... ).

We got in the house and she went to get the Zyrtec and Prednisone, to try to stop the anaphylactic reaction which was racing along, while I started to wash the gravel and dirt out my cuts and abrasions.

As I had previously said, the last time I was stung was in 2012, andxthat time, I was able to get the liquid zyrtec and prednisone in pretty quickly, so I didn't have the full-blown reaction, which I had last had in 1978.

This time, I was not to be quite so lucky.

I took 20 mg of zyrtec, but instead of the liquid I would have chosen, my wife had brought me the tablets- the importance of this is that it limited how quickly the medicine could be absorbed and dispersed through my system.

I started to feel the world going away as my vision tunneled down, my ears started to ring, my mouth got a tinny taste, and I broke a cold sweat all over my body so I told my wife I thought that it would be best if I lay down right there in the kitchen, and she helped me down.

I did my best to control my breathing and take deep breaths, but I knew I was in some trouble when I couldn't get up enough air movement to cpear my throat without causong wheezing, so I told my wife I thought we might need to call 911, which she did.

She then brought me the prednisone and I sat up to take it, but that made me start to fade out all over again.

As we waited, she says that my eyes rolled back in my head, I went unconscious, and started to twitch like I might be getting ready to have a seizure...

She checked my breathing, and found I was still moving air and had a pulse, althought she also said I had turned inrpto basically one large beet red hive.

After a minute or two, I regained consciousness and Pat says she was very relieved when I started to talk again.

Shortly after that, the ambulance arrived, and although I was already breathing more easily, and feeling better again, they put an IV in and gave me another 150 mg of steroids on the IV, along with 50mg of benadryl.

We went to the ER and they listened to my lungs, got an X-Ray of my chest, and a CT of my head and neck, confirming that I broke my nose, but was otherwise intact except for bruising my rib, and then sent me home after a couple of hours....

The only reason that I am posting this is to make it clear that I was stupidly cocky about not having had a sting and/or anaphylaxis and almost died as a result of not having kept an epi-pen easily available at home, using the excuse that I was tired of paying for them and having them expire.

I have learned my lesson, and here it is...

If you or one of your family is allergic to bee, wasp, hornet, ant, or any other thing that can sting or bite, or peanuts, or anything else you can eat and get anaphylaxis from,

KEEP AN EPI-PEN IN YOUR HOUSE!

The cost of not doing so could be so much more than the cost of an expiring medicine, it could be a life!

That's all my update to "Well, it was bound to happen sooner or later..."

Thomas

PS: The injuries shown in these pictures (and my very painful brusied ribs) are nothing compared with the possibility of dying.