I must have mowed over a ground hornet nest. Two landed on my face but did not sting. One got me on the pinky finger. A nice burning sensation was immediate and I got out if there and fast.

I've been stung before and usually it burns for a minute or two and it's no longer noticeable. This time it ached and burned all night and it's still sore and itchy the next morning. What would cause it to last so long? The amount of venom? Type of insect? I've been stung a bunch of times and it's never been long lasting.

Over time the body can become more sensative to certain things. In your case you may be becoming allegic to stinging insects, over time, thr more you are stung the more sensative your body may become possibly leading to full anaphylaxis in the future. Again, this is just my tske on it. Maybe get checked out by an allergy specialist given your line of work, having an epi-pen nearby may be a good idea.

I believe the last time I got stung was in the summer of 2015.

We were still living in Richmond, and I was cutting the front yard.

I must have run over the hornets that was in the ground next to the brick retaining wall. I actually thought I had cleaned that nest out, comes to find out I was wrong.

One little ornery bugger got me on the right inner thigh inside of my shorts then he had the nerve to sting me on the right side of my belly.
That spare tire did not help in this case at all.

I have been stung in the past but this was ridiculous and the one on my inner thigh was right at the elastic line of my underoos. It seemed to last longer and then it began itching

I wouldn't have cared but I had my annual training coming up and it was going to be an all field exercise like we went through at the National Training Center in California.

I am fine with bees, wasp, hornets etc.. but fire ants are the dreaded enemy now.

I have never had to deal with them in my life but since we moved out to the county and got all this property they seem to be everywhere.

I will take a bee sting any day over getting ate up by fire ants. (I learned the hard way: Fire ants and flip flops do not work)

If it stings, bites, scratches, or itches we got it here on the ranch. I am always on the prowl for nighttime wasp killing raids.

Some stinging insects have really painful venom as opposed to others, but I don't know my bugs well enough to tell which ones are worse. Yellow jackets are mean as hell. In my experience the ground nesting wasps tend to be more aggressive.

My father in law was a military doc and ER doc for many years and always told us, apply cold to land based stings and heat to marine life stings. Around here the folk remedy is to apply chewing tobacco/snuff to the sting. We keep a can of Copenhagen in the fridge for such occasions and it seems to work.

More severe reactions can develop in an individual over time. We have acquaintances who have developed allergic reactions so severe that they need to keep an Epi pen handy during stinging season. The above advice to see an allergy specialist seems like a good idea.

Sorry you got stung.

I fare okay with wasps and bees, but when yellow jackets attack me, it is terrible. And seems they always fly for my face.

Your finger is more sensitive than other areas. More nerves = worse reaction to the sting.

quote:

Originally posted by Sunset_Va:
Sorry you got stung.

I fare okay with wasps and bees, but when yellow jackets attack me, it is terrible. And seems they always fly for my face.

They zero in on you by the carbon dioxide you exhale, thus many stings occur around the head/face

My grandfather always said to put some mud on it. And that did often work! Caused a cooling effect and as the mud dried it would pull the stinger out.
I have also learned that working some household ammonia into the affected spot often helps also.
The sooner the better on both methods.

quote:

Originally posted by Sunset_Va:
Sorry you got stung.

I fare okay with wasps and bees, but when yellow jackets attack me, it is terrible. And seems they always fly for my face.

every time I've mowed over a nest they attack my legs,


as far as the OP, wasp/bee/hornet stings hurt, but then go away for me, rarely feel them the next day,

yellow jacket stings will sting (feeling) a while then stop, but the next day or 2 it will itch like I have poison ivy or chiggers

Fun story. My worst stings came about when a bee nest was made in a tree low enough for my idiot Rottweiler to investigate. Of course stung once was not enough for him he had to attack the hive. So I let him out of the kennel covered with bees barking and going crazy. I had to brush the bees off him and was stung about 10 times. BTW, I found out I was no longer allergic to bee stings like I was when a child.

I've been tagged by scorpions three times. No wasp or bee sting comes close to those. The second time I got hit, it was 24 hours of limping with my left leg feeling like it had a bad sunburn and continuous electrical shock going through it. Gawd, that was bad. Last bee sting was in my neck while on my motorcycle. I was on the hwy and surrounded by cars. I had to just keep going until the next exit. I rode through a swarm once, but didn't get stung. There were about 100 bees on me when I stopped, but I was wearing full gear and those bees on me were dead or dying.

I got stung inside my upper lip a while back. The old bee in a beer can trick. My face swelled up like a pumpkin and it hurt like a sob. My upper lip swelled so bad I couldn't close my mouth. Scary as hell because the nearest emergency room is 25 min away. No difficulty breathing so I decided to ride it out at home and there is a fire station with EMT only a mile or so away. Lots of ice and benadryl, alternating tylenol and ibuprofen got me through the night.

I got a couple of the sting stick need applicators because if this.
I've decided these eastern freakin bugs are more aggressive and powerful than their southern counterparts.

I believe I mentioned here, earlier, how a neighbor "bagged" a paper wasp net that was in a tree right next to our patio.

Well, we've seen a lot of yellow jacket activity around some flowers to either side of the doorwall. In addition to the threat to us, they were chasing away bees.

Yesterday my wife tracked-down their nest. It was under the µBarn. Last night I eradicated it.

I leave most insects alone, but paper wasps, bald-faced hornets (which are really wasps), and yellow jacket wasps, when they build anywhere near the house, get eradicated.

2 Summers ago we were inundated by wasps/hornets. We couldn't sit on our deck without getting stung. We put 5 traps out and sprayed the area to no avail. This year I haven't seen any of these stinging bastards. It's been a great summer.
Mike

I had an interesting sting last month. Usually a sting is felt in one spot. This one felt lineal. I usually get a localized welt about the size of a pencil eraser in circumference. This one swelled up lineally and was much larger. It stayed swollen for a week and itched after a few days. I know it was a wasp because I found the nest right where I was working. I hate those buggers.

I used to work with a guy who had been getting stung all his life and never had a problem. Then one summer he got tagged several times over a few weeks, and finally got stung once more and collapsed. His wife got him to the hospital in time, but he nearly died from anaphylactic shock. Ever since then he carries injectors with him at all times. The doctor told him "If you get stung again, take this thing and jab yourself right through your clothes, you probably won't have time to take your jacket off."

Welcome to the fuckering.

I hate the little assholes.

quote:

Originally posted by Expert308:
I used to work with a guy who had been getting stung all his life and never had a problem. Then one summer he got tagged several times over a few weeks, and finally got stung once more and collapsed. His wife got him to the hospital in time, but he nearly died from anaphylactic shock. Ever since then he carries injectors with him at all times. The doctor told him "If you get stung again, take this thing and jab yourself right through your clothes, you probably won't have time to take your jacket off."

one of my neighbors was killed a couple years ago by yellow jackets,

he was trimming up some bushes in his back yard, and when he pulled the branches out he disturbed a nest,

he was supposedly not allergic,
he made it to the house and died before the ambulance could get to him,

If you happen to have any anbesol/benzocaine oral anesthetic, try dabbing some on the sting spot. Did that last time my roommate got stung a month ago and the relief was instant and complete.

Not sure if it'll work quite as well a day after, but it's worth a shot.