About a week ago, a yellowjacket stung me twice on the ankle while I was mowing our lawn. Obviously, it hurt like hell when it first happened, a feeling akin to being stuck with a hot soldering iron. The initial pain subsided fairly quickly, going down to a persistent itch and a constant dull (but firm and distracting) pain. After I finished cutting the grass, I applied ice, which helped for a little while. Later that night, I applied some anti-itch creme and took some advil, and by the next morning, I had all but forgotten about it.
Then, after nearly a week, the sting locations started itching like mad. I’ve applied anti-itch creme again a couple of times, which seems to help temporarily. But the itching keeps coming back. I was going to try taking an internal anti-histamine last night, but I forgot to do it until too late, and that stuff usually puts me down pretty hard, so I was worried that I’d have a hard time getting up for work.
Does anybody have any advice?
20 Comments
You have to see a doctor. My mother-in-law had the EXACT same thing… it’s an infection, and you need antibiotics. It’s called cellulitis, and if you don’t take care of it now, it can turn into a nasty infection later.
I cut the bottom of my foot and let it go for about a month. Finally, I went to the doc, they gave me antibiotics which seems to fix it. But, about 2 days after I finished the antibiotics, the infection came back 100 times worse. Long story short: I lost the middle toe of my left foot due to it. I’m not saying you’ll lose a leg, but if you don’t get it looked at right now, you could be hospitalized for it.
I know it sounds like an old wives tale, but break open a cigarette and put the tobacco on the sting.
Um… I’m gonna say you should see the doc. =)
Check out webmd.com. I used it when i had poison oak and it helped dispell a lot of old wives tales everyone was telling me - like that if i touched the infected area and touched any other part of my body, it would spread.
Get thee to thy physician.
When things that should go away quickly don’t, it generally means infection, and infections aren’t to be trifled with. If nothing else, the peace of mind might make the itching seem less.
This could be an allergic reaction. See this site for information.
http://www.medicinenet.com/script/main/art.asp?articlekey=46827
After you got stung, all I know of what you needed to do was itch it a little. So the stuff the yellowjacket put in your leg could spread around your leg and not be all thik in one place and your own body could take cair of it easy. Then the next day you should of been Okey. You just have to take the pain and no drugs. After all antibiotics only get your own body to do out more to fight the antibiotics and other things wile it’s at it.
Advil they don’t even know what it all does or just how it works.
If you were allergic to it then I would go to the Doc. It looks like you should go now any way.
-Raymond Day
Daniel’s quite right that tobacco works. My father was stung several times back home (Mississippi), and that worked a charm. Problem is, that’s usually only good for the initial pain from a sting. It neutralizes the acid (see http://www.newton.dep.anl.gov/askasci/bio99/bio99482.htm). Once the sting has healed a bit, though, which it sounds like yours has, this remedy isn’t of much help.
There’s calamine lotion, which is good for those itching. It tends to work better for some reason on things like stings and poison ivy rashes, much better than the normal anti-itch creams. You may have a pink ankle for a while, but it might be worth it!
Also, you can go to a doctor, but all they’re going to do is what they usually do, automatically prescribe an antibiotic; that may help, but it’s probably not necessary. A lot of times, it’s just a “quick fix” for something that would naturally occur later (just like they’re discovering, for instance, that bronchitis suffers who take antibiotics only recover a few days sooner than those who don’t!).
I doubt it’s an infection. Infection is usually marked by visible factors, not felt ones when it comes to stings and rashes. I.e., your skin might have pus or a yellow or green tinge; scabs might be odd, black-rimmed; excessive bleeding; etcetera. If you aren’t showing signs of things like that, it’s likely not an infection, just a reaction.
While I’m not a professional, I would venture to guess this may be a partial allergic reaction. I’m slightly allergic to mosquito bites; it can take three to four weeks for them to go away because of this, with them itching like mad the whole time. Even so, I’m not allergic “enough” to need anything for this problem; it’s just an annoyance. Long(er)-term itching is usually a sign of a minor allergic reaction; the severity of the reaction can often stem from other factors, too, like stress, so if you’ve never had this occur like this in the past, don’t be too shocked. If I’ve been stressed a week prior to getting bitten by a mosquito, for instance, the reaction is always worse.
There’s also the fact that the stings are on your ankle, which isn’t necessarily the best place to have something like that. Location may have a lot to do with it, as much as anything.
Check out http://www.texaschildrenshospital.org/Parents/TipsArticles/ArticleDisplay.aspx?aid=826, as it can tell you some helpful things. Provided that the swelling has gone down in the right time frame (at most, in a week’s time), you should be fine. Actually, having something itch isn’t necessarily a bad sign. It might be a sign that the skin is healing now that the stinger is gone.
While using the calamine lotion, try taking a small dose of Benadryl (there’s a special kind for allergies, too, which you may look into). It’s not as strong as a lot of things, especially when taking a children’s dose, but it’s great to calm the body’s system, while not totally knocking you out if you don’t take much.
Another Site That Might Help You:
- WebMD on Stings: http://my.webmd.com/content/pages/10/1625_50517.htm
I hope I’ve helped you!
The actual sting locations aren’t showing any signs of active infection. There are small scabs there (which probably would be smaller if I hadn’t scratched them so much), but that’s it. But every once in a while, the skin in the surrounding areas develops a really annoying itch.
But the really odd thing is that it didn’t do this for nearly a week after the initial stings. For at least five or six days, it wasn’t bothering me at all. I think I’m going to try taking a Benadryl tonight before I go to bed.
Go to the hospital?
It’s not cellulitus. I know. I’ve been there. If it were, you’d have a high fever, severe pain in the leg, slight red “stripes” running up your leg from the infection point, and no itching.
Bananna peels really work, insect bites to bee stings. No Kidding.
no advice, but I do hope you feel better.
I’m way late on this suggestion, but your story reminds me of a time my wife had a nasty case of poison ivy. There’s a connection because both your case and hers involve a histamine reaction.
Nothing topically applied worked, but what finally took away the swelling and itching within an hour or two was a poison ivy extract. Sounds nuts? Absolutely true.
What does this have to do with you? I’d suggest visiting your local natural foods coop or whatever and asking for a bee (yellowjacket) sting extract. If they have it, I’ll wager it will clear things up quickly.
i think you should get a good mate to suck on your foot to rid you of all the poison
How’s it? Update us. With all that advice, you won’t need a mother! But I am one so here’s my nickels worth. The health food store- go there. Ask, seek, persist. There are nifty homeopathic remedies for everything! Buy a Boerick and Taffel book there if that is their brand and look up all your symptoms- mark up the book and find what will work best according to what is going on. I bet you are experiencing symptoms that you don’t even relate to the bite [if it was a yellowjacket- sting if it was a bee].
A few days ago, I scratched the scabs off and started applying antibiotic creme. It’s looking much better now. Before, there was a purplish mottled area around the bites. There’s still a tiny amount of discoloration (more pinkish now), but the itching seems to be gone, and the sting points seem to be healing more normally, now.
My family always used Adolph’s Meat Tenderizer mixed with enough water right after getting stung. However, I got stung at a church work day recently, and one of my church members did the tobacco thing that Daniel (comment #2) said. He moistened the tobacco, put it on the sting, and believe it or not, it worked!
Geren–RE: Cellulitis. I had cellulitis (according to the doctor) without the fever and red stripes. My foot just swelled. Amoxicillin or Augmentin knocked it right out though.
Same thing happened with my daughter. Her foot was stung and I couldn’t find a stinger. Ice and elevation and the symptoms abated. One week later, after a couple of hours in the pool, the sting site started itching again. I had her put her foot up on an ice pack again whilst I researched online. Best remedy so far….ICE. Foot was still itching. Next best remedy….baking soda TOOTHPASTE. The toothpaste worked immediately. We will call the doctor next week if symptoms persist. Good luck!
I am going through this right now. I was stung about twenty times last Sunday. Yesterday afternoon (Friday), I realized that I was scratching one arm with some of the more potent stings. Last night I took Benadryl to sleep.
Every time I scratch a particular area of stings, then stop, I notice that other areas of stings, especially on the other arm, start itching. It’s almost as though scratching releases histamines which cause other areas to be overloaded.
I used Calamine lotion last night to sleep. I think it helped. My sheets are sort of pink now.
This morning, I noticed a reddish, splotchy area circling around some of the more itchy stings. I am guessing that this is causes by the release of histamines when I scratch.
I’m trying the baking soda toothpaste right now. This feels sort of minty fresh, but I wonder if it only works with the stings that still have an open sore? Also, the spots that I missed with the toothpaste start to itch after awhile, so I can find them readily. Isn’t that nice?
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