Mr. Anderson

Today while doing some cleaning outside I disturbed what was probably a wasp. It landed on the back of my neck and stung me. I barely felt it, and reached around to brush off whatever it was. The little bugger was too quick for me, though, and zapped my finger too. That one hurt a bit, but only in an uncomfortable way. After I smacked the wasp away, I quickly went through a train of thought along these lines. Took about five-ten seconds

Ow, stupid bug, that hurt. Guess it stung me. It felt kinda big when I tried to flick it away, long and thin like. That makes it a wasp, I bet. Yeah, I saw a few on the porch a few minutes ago. I wonder where it went? Ow, my finger is getting a bit sore now. Wasps have a venom, right, that's why it hurts. Good thing I'm not allergic. Now, where did that little fucker go so I can squ- I just got stung. Crap. *panic* *run inside*

I got inside and was kinda panicy for a few minutes. I ran to the sink and washed off my finger and kept moving around the kitchen kind of randomly for about five minutes before I calmed down enough to find an ice pack and an anti-hystamine. Certainly not logical behavior, especially for something hurt less than a paper cut.

Is it possible that my reaction was instinctual? I meet with random injuries on a not altogether infrequent basis, and I'm pretty darn calm the vast majority of the time when it happens, even if its something quite a bit worse (cutting my finger to the bone with a knife, for example. I just bled alot, put pressure on it, and found someone to help me out before I got dizzy... can't stand the sight of blood too well). I would imagine a panic/flee reaction to a sting could be pretty helpful. Unknowingly angering a nest of bees, or ants, or variations thereof that are more serious and possibly life threatening and getting stung a few times might not hurt enough to make a person take flight. If anything, I'd think after getting hurt, tending to the wound would be a logical first priority, especially if it wasn't caused by anything readily visible, like a bug.

Does anyone have any input or anecdotal evidence? It makes sense to me; I just thought of going back outside to finish cleaning and my stomach sorta did that funny little anxious thing.

epepke

I don't know about that. But wasp venom has a brew of neurotoxins in it. I was stung by a wasp once a long time ago, and I can remember being disoriented for a few minutes. I haven't had the same reaction from fire ant bites or spider bites.

john_v_h

Perhaps you are allergic, after all. Anxiety is a possible symptom of anaphylaxis.

Whatever you do, resist the impulse to smash the wasp. Yellow-jackets, for instance, are driven to an attack frenzy by the odor of crushed compatriots.

doc_simon

I'm intrigued now! Do wasp stings actually hurt much then? I don't think I've ever been stung - or at least can't remember. I always get into a panicy flap when wasps come for my beer or something. Does this mean I should be less worried about being stung than I presumed?

blues runner

If you're allergic, you'd be in a horrid condition by now, especially given the neurotoxins and other unknowns that cause adverse reactions in allergic individuals. If indeed it was a wasp, it should just progress to a localized, slightly raised, smooth and extremely hot area surrounding the sting. However, make sure it wasn't a bee or something else and left a stinger before anything else. Stingers have to be removed.

I understand your anxiety; I think that's normal. I would have done pretty much the exact same thing. Take some aspirin, wrap the finger tightly but not so tightly that it throbs, and take it easy today.

By the way, you mentioned your stomach doing that "funny little nervous thing" like butterflies or something? I live that way. Chronic anxiety. Sucks.

JD

Phineas Flapdoodle

Less worried? Hmmm... probably not.

Anaphylactic shock typically causes the bronchial tubes and throat (basically the "windpipe") to swell, and that results in difficulty breathing. Severe cases, which are not all that uncommon, do result in an early demise, if not treated with an injection of epinephrine; a quick intra-muscular shot is all that is, and relatively painless. If you've never been stung before, as I have by quite a few species (one poster mentioned yellowjackets, they hurt like hell) one should pay attention to whether or not the 'stinger' remains in the skin. With most wasp stings, the stinger does not remain in, and the insect is free to fly off and sting someone else (or you again) ...typically, most bees that leave their stinger in the stung person or animal, do die very soon after the attack, because they also leave a sizable "chunk" of their "ass-end" with their stinger, and often still attached to the stinger. eg. yellowjackets and some species of honeybee, do die very, very soon after one sting. ahhh, they're useless males anyway. I'm not at all knowledgeable as to what species leave neurotoxins and which don't, so...

Overall, one should just be careful of that first sting. It might be wise to have an urgent care or emergency hospital room, nearby. The number of people that die from bee stings each year, might surprise most folks.

best regards,
Phineas

Plognark

Trust me, they fucking hurt. :down:

markfiend

Having been stung by both a wasp and a honeybee, I can easily say that I "prefer" a wasp sting.

My bee-sting experience (aged about 14) was odd in comparison to the OP in that I completely failed to panic. I calmly walked into the kitchen, got the stinger out (I'd heard that it's a bad idea to use tweezers as there's likely to still be poison in the "chunk of the ass-end" (as phineasf puts it) that tweezers can squeeze into you through the still-attached stinger. IIRC i used a spoon to kind of hook it out.) and then ran my hand under cold water for about 10 minutes.

I remember that my main emotional reaction was being upset at having inadvertently caused the death of the bee!

Physically, my hand swelled up amazingly big. (The sting was right in the centre of the palm of my hand.) If you've ever seen the Tom and Jerry cartoons where Jerry hits Tom's hand with a hammer you'll know what I mean.

premjan

Aren't ants derived from wasps? But they don't have stings.

dr_zukov

Actually the males of honey-bees do not have stings. The worker bees, which have stings, are all infertile females. They are usually the only ones that sting. The queen bee does have a sting (slightly larger and curved), but only uses it when fighting other queen bees.

I tell you, it's always the women-folk... :Cheeky: