The night before last I was clearing palm fronds from Arica Palms when I felt what felt like a liquid lightning strike on the back of my left hand. I never saw the critter, but we do have occasional paper wasps around. I've been stung by wasps plenty of times in my life and it's just been a raised delta. I immediately went in the house and applied After Bite. I'm pretty sure it's just an ammonia roller pen. Yesterday when I woke up, my hand was a little swollen. Today my had is fully swollen and about twice it's normal thickness. I don't like benadryl because it will make me fidgety. Should I start to get concerned? It's never happened like this. There was only one puncture wound.

Perhaps a spider bite. You might want to google spider bite pics and see if they apply. Then seek medical attention if it looks that way.

Youngest daughter has asthma and reactive, so she carries a pen.

You should consult an allergy doctor and maybe get a scrip for an Epi pen.

You may be alergic to a specific wasp or it could have been a spider, centipede or something other than a wasp.

Typically, the "danger" is within minutes or a few hours, but if you are concerned, you may want to be seen.

Get it looked at. You could also have an infection at the bite site. Those infections can get out of control quickly, and cause real problems.

OF all the times i have been stung by both Wasp's and yellow jackets, my hand only swelled up twice, and both times it was my right hand.

I didn't take any over the counter meds, and I think I just iced my hand for a couple of days.

I would monitor your hand and possibly see a doctor if the swelling doesn't go down.

I never did but I have been accused (quite a few times) of being a bit hard headed. ( to be polite about it)

Also, the last time I was stung and my hand swelled up I did some googlefu and went to Oregon Health and Science webpage:

They state that:

Severe pain or burning at the site lasts 1 to 2 hours. Normal swelling from venom can increase for 48 hours after the sting. The redness can last 3 days. The swelling can last 7 days.

I think its time for the Doc in a box. Potential for infection. Serious allergic reaction would have happened more rapidly.

Good Luck,

RMD

Sure you didn't brush one of these guys?

They're big in Florida.

BTDT, got the t-shirt. Puss caterpillars suck big time.

Hope that was not your case.

RMD

Wow on the catipillars! I don't think it was one of them. Thanks for the input. My wrist is starting to swell, so I buckled down and took a benadryl. If it does not go down by the time the wife comes home I'll go to the doc in the box. The bitch is, Wednsday is yard waste pick up day, they usually come about 7 am. I made sure I carried it all out front, I have about a 10 by 6 by 3 foot high pile and today looks like one of those Wednesdays that they skip us!

If you got stung a couple of days ago and the swelling is continuing to progress rather than go away, you need to get some medical attention. I would think any poison, that might cause swelling, would have been fully dissipated at this point. Go, now or very soon.

Swelling went down slightly by evening yesterday, so I did not end up going in. Today, swelling is drastically reduced. I even have knuckles now! The whole back of my hand is sore though and itches like the devil. I'm starting to doubt it was a wasp. Might have been one of them caterpillar creatures.

Sounds like you're in the clear; on a side note, if you were dangerously allergic to bee/wasp venom, anaphylaxis would manifest itself with 15 minutes or so. Epi-pens won't do much good for the type of reaction you suffered.

I'd bet it was a Saddlebacked caterpillar. Very common in Florida.

Sting feels like hot metal.

Andrew

Don't screw around.
Go to the ER ASAP.