Home remedies for bee stings?

[Triplegreen500]

So, normally I don't react like this but DAMN, a couple of 'em really got their hooks in me today!

I was mowing (push) this morning, and it was an area I hadn't done in about 3 weeks - it's been hot, dry, and stuff hasn't been growing much. So I'm rolling along, and WHAPWHAPWHAP three spots on my left calf absolutely catch on FIRE. Turns out, there was a yellow jacket nest underground and apparently they didn't like the mower going over their front door.

I pumped an entire can of wasp and hornet killer through their front door. I'll finish mowing tomorrow.

The one on my ankle feels OK, but the one near my knee and the one mid-calf are STILL on fire nearly 12 hours after. No stingers, they're out. I hit them with Sting-Eze right afterwards, and a suction syringe to get the stuff out. Sprayed with calamine. Still hurts. Before dinner I packed them with some baking soda paste. Still hurt. It's local - no striations, no joint pain, nothing like that. Some small welts at the sites. I'm not worried about allergic reaction, I've never had that problem. But these buggers had some serious venom on their stingers and the spots burn like a sumbitch.

Anyone have any tried and true home remedies for stuff like this? If nothing else I'm gonna get a bag of frozen peas, and just numb the areas with cold....

 

[beanhead]

Try some Benadryl.

 

[1967coronet]

Been nailed by the little bastards myself a few times, allways used a baking soda paste if I was close to home.

2 cold beers help, hold one on the sting while drinking the other, then reload.

 

[Sahara]

Toothpaste works.

 

[5.7 hemi]

Mud works as well. But to really take care of the problem in the first place……WD-40 and a lighter.

 

[Fran Blacker]

Baking soda paste moistened with water. A smash yellow jacket release a scent and more come to investigate if nest is in the general area.

 

[sam dupont]

Spit and dirt to make mud. Been doing it since I was a kid, as dumb as it may sound

 

[ESOXER]

I usually take a benadryl or 2 and a nap, one of these times I might not wake up. Bourbon helps too, not with benadryl though lol

 

[tmaleck]

I use white vinegar, works well for me.

 

[Xp29h]

I’m not sure you can still get it but my grandmother always used Adolph’s meat tenderizer with water and it worked great. Nowadays where I’m in the woods a lot, I carry an after bite stick. Not a home remedy but works well. Seems to be ammonia based, so I wonder if regular ammonia and water would do the trick? I’ve also used something we have quite regularly now....good high percentage alcohol hand sanitizer. It’s a little slower to work but will help if you’ve got nothing else.

 

[Big Bad Dad]

When I was very young, I stepped in a yellow jacket nest and got badly lit up on my legs. My Grandmother sliced an onion and put slices on the stings to draw out the venom. I remember it seemed to work very well, and used the trick when an old girlfriend got stung several years ago.

 

[747mopar]

They don't phase me but I was always told that baking soda was the ticket?

 

[moparedtn]

I've been stung like 75 times by those little Satan's spawns in my life (the bastards are thick this
time of year in the south) and I'm allergic to 'em as a result.
There's even been some epic battles with 'em up here on the ridge in the past (the UT Entomology
Department came out one year to dig up a particularly epic-sized nest from my fence row - when
they hoisted it up on the tailgate, I was stunned at the size!).
I'm supposed to carry an epi-pen, but I've lapsed on that over time....
But I'm always on the lookout and when they're found, I get the exterminator out here and we go to
WAR - I'm not satisfied with "that ought to take care of them", I want them DESTROYED.

Oh, remedies for stings? Benedryl (mandatory in my case, lots of it) along with the baking soda trick.
I am interested in some of the other aids being mentioned here (onions @Big Bad Dad , etc.).
Thanks!

 

[ct71rr]

My grandmother would use the backing soda and water concoction when I was a kid. As I got older, Epipen. I have a pretty good allergy to them. The black and white ones, bald-faced hornets, are particularly bad for me.

 

[Triplegreen500]

well the spots are still sore today...tried the toothpaste idea when I got up and it appears to be making them feel better. That's the only stuff I have, from this list of great ideas (thanks everyone!), in the house.

As for the nest, like I said, I pumped a couple cans of spray killer (D-con?) into the hole yesterday. Checked on it yesterday afternoon and no activity. Gonna let them warm up a bit today into their normal active time, and check again - but it's only been 3 weeks since I mowed that area so it can't be that big of a nest, and I'm pretty sure I got 'em all.

 

[Big Bad Dad]

I had a big underground yellow jacket nest last year. This is the stuff that works. Still takes a few days and several applications, but brings out the big queen bees too! A bit expensive, but in the end, was worth it.

https://store.doyourownpestcontrol.com/delta-dust-bellow-duster

 

[Photon440]

I’m not sure you can still get it but my grandmother always used Adolph’s meat tenderizer with water and it worked great. Nowadays where I’m in the woods a lot, I carry an after bite stick. Not a home remedy but works well. Seems to be ammonia based, so I wonder if regular ammonia and water would do the trick? I’ve also used something we have quite regularly now....good high percentage alcohol hand sanitizer. It’s a little slower to work but will help if you’ve got nothing else.

Ammonia works by breaking down and neutralizing the bee venom, which is acid based.

 

[demonram]

I don’t know about older stings but tobacco works well on fresh stings. Used to carry beech nut in the trucks but cigarette tobacco works too. Just break it up spit in your hand and make a paste. It does draw it out. Was told by a doc onetime, it’s not always the venom, it’s what it was on prior to stinging you. Hope this helps.

 

[multimopes]

I was told about the Adolf's Meat Tenderizer working well also. While Scuba Diving in Florida in 1975 a fellow diver exhaled and sunk slightly while taking underwater pictures. Unfortunately, he put his hand directly on a sea urchin's pointy spines, which he said hurt like there was no tomorrow. It gave him a bad head ache as well. He came up and we called to fellow boaters for help and they told us about the Adolf's. By the way, I had a yellow jacket's nest in the ground of my lawn way back when and they got me several times. I didn't know they would nest in the ground like that at all. I got the bastards that night. I poured gasoline down the hole after dark and lit it off. All I can say that it was one of the most pleasurable fireworks display I ever saw as dozens came flying out on fire from the "Fire in the Hole" which also spewed a large flame up about 6 feet!

 

[Budnicks]

Lemon juice is supposed to work well too

I used it a couple of times
been so long
I don't remember the feeling, I don't want to be stung either
but it stuck with me, so maybe it worked