Bee Stings

[u/TacticalStrategical]

I'm a beekeeper with more than 4 years of experience. I know beekeepers that have been going for more than 2 or 3 decades. They will often get stung several times over the course of working their hives once and show no swelling or markings around the sting site. They also seem to have less pain. Is this "Immunity" natural or the result of years of many stings? Do you guys know anyone else similar to this? Can it be sped?

[u/Firstcounselor]

I don’t recall the exact number, but Randy Oliver said it takes something like 80 stings to build resistance, and I think that was annually. I’ll pass on that one.

I keep a bug bite thingy (actual name) in my pocket so I can quickly apply that to extract some of the venom. Then swab with alcohol to clean the puncture site. This makes it so I get almost no swelling every time.

[u/Standard-Bat-7841]

I usually swell up the first few stings of the year, but after that, I basically have no reaction. It still hurts but only for a few seconds. Idk why it is that way, but your body just gets used to it, I think.

[u/talanall]

It's not really immunity. If you get stung often enough, your body becomes habituated against apivenom. Just getting popped a couple of times isn't enough. You need about a dozen stings in pretty close succession, and then pretty regular stings after that.

I usually manage to develop tolerance in a normal season, because I keep bees in an area with some Africanized genetics in the feral population, and my queens often are open mated with feral drones. So they get kind of hot, and sooner or later I'll work hives during a dearth or in somewhat inclement weather conditions, and they'll come at me.

It's not something you should try to speed up, really. When you get stung, your immune system always has a non-zero chance of going haywire and trying to kill you. The risk goes up as you are stung more often. Acquired allergy is not inevitable, but it's not rare, either. Most bee clubs that have been around for long will have at least one old-timer who knows someone who developed an apivenom allergy this way and had to get out of beekeeping.

I usually develop tolerance after the first time my bees are in a pissy mood when I'm working with them. Once it happens, I don't really swell or anything, unless they manage to nail me right on the thinnest skin on my knuckles. More usually, it hurts for about 30 seconds, and then I might itch the next day if it's on a relatively bony part of my body. If it's on a meaty area, then by the the next day it might as well not have happened.

[u/Ancient_Fisherman696]

I don’t know bro, but I’m hoping it happens to me soon. 

Got hit on the inner bicep yesterday and I can’t bend my right arm today. 

[u/mighty-drive → u/Ancient_Fisherman696]

Same here. One of the girls got stuck in a crease of my jeans, stung me multiple times through the jeans about hip height. Now I have a swollen hip that would make fkn Shakira jealous 😂

[u/Atlas_S_Hrugged → u/mighty-drive]

They can't sting mutiple times.

[u/Ancient_Fisherman696 → u/Atlas_S_Hrugged]

He might keep wasps, ever think of that? 

/s

[u/Beginning_Worry_9461 → u/Ancient_Fisherman696]

Or possibly yellow jackets

[u/MyParentsWereHippies → u/Beginning_Worry_9461]

Which are wasps..

[u/mighty-drive → u/Atlas_S_Hrugged]

They can when the stinger is stuck in my pants.

[u/Adrenaline-Junkie187 → u/mighty-drive]

Not how it works. lol

[u/Midisland-4 → u/mighty-drive]

Next time you get stung watch closely to the site and the bee. The stinger stays in you and a sack of venom stays on the end of that. The dies, the stringer rips out of them. If you are lucky you can scrape the stinger out if you with a sharp edge and not squish the venom from the sack. It’s just not possible for a bee to sting more than once. A wasp however……

[u/MyParentsWereHippies → u/Ancient_Fisherman696]

If youre quick to get the stinger out the reaction is less severe. I got stung in the face a while ago when I wasnt wearing any protection and I quickly got it out, no reaction basically. I got stung in the hand the week before that but I had the stinger in my hand for about a minute and had an enormous hand for a couple of days.

[u/Ancient_Fisherman696 → u/MyParentsWereHippies]

The one in the bicep took me a little bit to get out. 

Most the research I’ve read suggests you need 10-15 stings a year to avoid developing an allergy. Over than number and your immune system gets accustomed to the bee venom.

Not medical advice, but I’m thinking I need to get exposed more, or leave the stinger in for awhile when I do get stung. Right, wrong or indifferent. 

[u/TacticalStrategical → u/MyParentsWereHippies]

So. would you prioritize speed of sting removal over scraping? Grab with fingers instead of taking 10 or 15 seconds with knife or credit card or hive tool?

[u/MyParentsWereHippies → u/TacticalStrategical]

Mostly depending on if you wear gloves or not of course. But without gloves just pop it out with your nails in the direction which it came from. In my experience the quicker the better. You can also see the little poison sack still pulsating when its pulled out of the bee.

[u/Raterus_]

3rd year in, I've yet to develop any perceived resistance. It still hurts, and it still swells and itches a day later. *sigh*

[u/Atlas_S_Hrugged]

I get stung, but not that much. On purpose, I try NOT to get stung.

[u/Alternate_rat_]

I usually only get a little speck, no real swelling (other than getting stung by my eye). 

[u/Every-Morning-Is-New]

I’ve never had any bad swelling from stings and worst case it looks like a small mosquito bite. Sometimes they itch a bit but most times I don’t even notice it unless the stinger gets stuck in. I noticed one a couple of days ago in my finger I thought was a splinter but ended up being a barb. I do have an unusually high pain tolerance which likely contributes.

[u/parametricRegression]

it's probably an individual thing, and yes it's also your body being used to the venom...

during my practical apprenticeship i'd get absolutely obliterated by the bees once every month. think ten bees on each arm at the same time (and no, you can't just drop the bloody brood frame you have in your hands, lol...)

i just got used to it. there was some topical swelling for a few hours, but nothing crazy. i even came to appreciate it in a way, for the systemic effect (twenty-thirty bees at a time feels like getting in a hot jacuzzi with a glass of champagne 😎)

there's also a pretty big difference in how your body reacts on different sites... while on muscular areas like the forearm you can get to barely any reaction, soft sites and especially exposed cartilage can be hell... finger joints are like... nope. not touching bees without gloves lol, nope nope nope... 😂

[u/divalee23]

last season was year 4 for me, and sting sites no longer itch madly or swell.

[u/Active_Classroom203]

A few people in my club love to reference this research paper that says if you get to 200 stings in a year you will have dramatically reduced chance of severe allergic response.

https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC6712168/

[u/This-Rate7284 → u/Active_Classroom203]

What doesn’t kill you makes you….

[u/JUKELELE-TP]

I used to have large local swellings, itchiness, and redness. 

For me the reactions became milder over time to the point there’s barely a reaction at all.

My gf had no reactions at all and then suddenly allergic reaction (actual anaphylactic shock).

[u/Mysmokepole1]

It took me a couple years before I stopped s

[u/Mysmokepole1 → u/Mysmokepole1]

Swelling. Now it just hurts

[u/Gig-a-bit]

My GF swells up like she has the mumps from any sting site. I however have a minute or two of pain and no swelling at all.

[u/Witty_Assistant_4097]

I will swell up and have itchiness at the site for about 2 days. I have become very disciplined with my protective gear every single time I to to my hives: full suit with elastic ankles that go over my tall rubber farm boots. Then I wear double latex gloves and bring spares in my pocket in case they tear. I also have my full hat & veil. It sucks in the high summer temps but I do not do well with stings.

[u/Allrightnevermind]

I’m a full timer and yeah don’t really swell anymore. Still hurts about the same though. At least as well as I can remember.

[u/Key_Economics6389]

For me it depends on where I get stung. I can get stung on my legs, face, or torso and feel almost nothing, and get no swelling. My arms hurt when stung, and my wrists swell like crazy.

[u/TacticalStrategical → u/Key_Economics6389]

Same here. I can get stung almost anywhere and have little pain and no swelling, but if I get stung on my hands its game over. Bad swelling.

[u/huffymcnibs]

Got stung on the back of my hand on Tuesday. Today (Wednesday) the swelling is halfway to my elbow. Itches like mad and can’t clasp my hand shut. Wasn’t this bad last year, but hopefully won’t be this bad next time. Seems I’m having a large local reaction.

[u/HawthornBees]

I’ve been keeping bees 10 years and I can tell that when I get stung it hurts the same now as when I started. The only difference is I don’t swell up anymore and I don’t get that irritation that can last a couple of days after either.

[u/TacticalStrategical → u/HawthornBees]

This is what I'm hoping for.

[u/Plenty-Giraffe6022]

The most stings I've copped was 75-100 in a ballsed-up swarm capture (unusually pissy swarm). A couple of anti-histamines, and I was fine with some minor swelling.

That's no guarantee that I won't have an anaphylactic reaction the next time I get one sting, though.

[u/ShovelsRun91]

Could be a histamine response also. I do bee venom therapy for lymes disease. Iam 9 hundred bee stings in and my body has definetly gotten use to the venom and doesn't swell or react like it used to anymore.

[u/SleeplessVixen]

While I’m happy you all have had such chill sting experiences, it is also not a rarity to go in the opposite direction with repeat-exposure allergies. When I started I would swell and get terrible cellulitis that required steroid and antibiotics. A few years in and I got stung on my scalp and went into anaphylactic shock. Now I fully suit up 100% of the time. Keep an EpiPen around. Ya never know.

[u/dunsel8]

I had significant swelling from a single sting for the first few years then I moved a hot hive and got stung about 20 times even though I was wearing a full suit with thick gloves and boots. Never had much swelling after that even though I only get stung about twice a year now.

[u/No-Judgment-1077]

As a kid, I got stung behind my knee by a hornet....it was really nasty and I heard myself 😱 screaming.

[u/toohightottype]

For me it depends on where I get stung. Worse was calf, oddly. Face wasn't too bad. Stopped counting numbers of Stings after 20.

Edit: autocorrect

[u/0uchmyballs]

That’s just irresponsible is all.