OWWWWWWW - attacked by wasps/hornets (spent the day in the hospital)

[Steve St.Laurent]

Yesterday I was outside weed wacking in the yard and got attacked by a swarm of yellow jackets. Ended up spending the rest of the day in the hospital getting pump full of drugs, steroids, etc. I got stung between 30 and 50 times - let me tell you, that hurts! Sam got to hear earfulls . The neighbors may have gotten a real show as I was running around the yard stripping off clothes - if anyone had gotten it on tape it would have made america's funniest videos I'm sure. Strange how we revert to pure instincts in cases like that - there was absolutely no thought at all, I was running on impulse. Wendy called nurse line to see what we could do to reduce the stinging and burning and they said to give me two benadryl and get to the closest ER ASAP. That even though I'm not allergic (that we know of) that it was WAY too much venom. It was nearly an hour by the time we got in there - they rushed me in past all the other patients waiting even without paperwork or anything and started working on me. I couldn't control my breathing and my blood pressure shot up to 158 over 95 - and hour later it was down to 130 over 70. Quite an exciting day to say the least and now I get to carry around those epi shots because there's a good chance that I am allergic now due to the dose I got. It still burns pretty bad and probably will for a few days yet. I was stung head to toe.



Got home and it was down to 58 out there (meaning they should be home and pretty dormant) - I declared war, first I drowned the entire area (it's a small circle surround by bricks that use to have a small tree/bush in it that I cut down - the stump is still there and tall grass grows in it) with wasp/hornet spray. Left that on there for about 5 minutes and then I soaked it with about 10 gallons of diesel (still have about 20 gallons left in cans from a bad fuel load I got a few years ago) and had a bon fire. There was a lot of snaps and pops and at least in my mind that was their little bodies going pop.



The pain got worse and worse for about 3 hours. I've had 3 stings at once before but that was NOTHING like this was. I hope I NEVER EVER have to experience that again! I have a completely different understanding of what it must be like for something caught in a swarm of killer bees. Sleeping was real tough last night.



I finished mowing the lawn today and was pretty terrified - a butterfly flew past me and I damn near jumped out of my skin. It's gonna take a bit to get over this one . I found another nest in the yard today too - going to take care of that one in a few hours.

 

[JoshPeters]

Wow Steve! Sorry to hear about that! I'm VERY happy to hear your ok now!



I had a BIG nest under my deck last year. I'm not deathly afraid of them, but I stay away. It ended up being my back door Defence mechanism. Finally I talked to my neighbor whom is a bee keeper and he came over with the ole wasp/hornet spray and his gear. I watched from inside and it was amaizing to see those little B@stards still try to sting him. He would just wait till they landed on his arm or something and swat them with his gloved hand. Now I watch for any sign of a nest and kill them early!



Josh

 

[mberry]

I got attacked by a swarm of bumble bee's when I was a kid. I was almost able to outrun them until I thought I had gone far enough. I hadn't. One got down the back of my shirt and one got me square in between the eyes. My face swelled up so much I could barely see. I'm not allergic to them either thank goodness. I have been stung so many times by so many things it's not funny.



I'm so glad you are alright and I feel the same way as you to this day when one comes close to my face. I can't stand things in my face. Glad you are ok!

 

[4xquadrod]

Ouch!, I can't imagine what that would feel like.

Steve

 

[AMink]

I've got stung 9-10 times once. Hurts like holy heck! Did the whole running through the woods thing until I thought I got away. I did, except for the few that were inside my shirt. To make matters worse, I had to go back near the nest to get all my work gear that was dropped. Glad you're ok, Steve. Thank God you weren't allergic.

 

[GFritsch]

My dad was cutting wood once with a handsaw and was attacked by bees from a low branch behind him that his head was brushing up against. Most of the little *******s were in his hair and got quite a few strikes before he was able to get them out and eventually had to head to the hospital where he was in bad shape.



Gee I thinkk about the times when a single bee gets into my clothing while riding the bike and the 2-3 bites before I can pull over and find the little bugger. :{



Glad your o. k.



Greg

 

[Rotty]

I feel for ya. When I was a small kid I was attacked by an entire hive of honey bees. I am luck as I never developed and allery from that.

I also was stung by a hive of wasps as an adult in the face and mouth. Needless to say I absolutly hate wasp of all species..... :{

 

[Philip]

Glad to hear your all right now Steve.



I went threw this once with bumble bee's. They don't like a tractor without a muffler and a brush hog running.

 

[jwilliams3]

BZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZ :-laf

 

[C. Harlan]

I learned that if you can get close enough, 3M Brake Cleaner (odor free, and banned in CA) works great on those little pecker-weeds! I have an enormous nest under the shingles next door on the neighbors house, but he does nothing. . I took it upon myself to wage war, and so far I have killed 25+... still got quite a swarm to take care of, but I need to get more ammo... this time of the morning, they are dormant, and you can get the best of them!!



Glad to hear you're ok, Steve-O!!!



-Chris-

 

[DBogo]

brakleen works great on bees you spray them and they immediatly shrivel up and fall out of the air and they just die its great

 

[loncray]

Man - I also was attacked when I was a kid (about 5 years old) - glad to hear you're okay. That is some scary stuff.

 

[CSnyder]

Happy to hear you are ok Steve! You and I had similar experiences this weekend. I was at a buddies for his B-day party on Sunday and we were having just a few beers in the garage and I went out back to take a leak and looked up and directly in front of me inside his round metal pipe clothesline was a swarm of yellow jackets. One of them decided to sting me right in my cheek because he apparently didn't like the smoke coming off my cigarette dangling in my mouth. So I go back in the garage and tell all the guys(about 10) about what just happened and to be careful when you go out and fertilize the lawn. So the B-day boy gets an idea of using starting fluid to light up the clothesline and kill them. We all stand right up there to get a good look and he toasts the one end of the pipe and wouldn't you know it... the hornets come out the other end at Mach 10 speeds and about half the group got at least one or two stings while in their feeble attempts to run/stumble out of the way. It was quite a site! Hope you get to feeling better soon as the site doesn't run quite right without you. Chris

 

[GIT-R-DONE]

Wife got stung by a yellow jacket 2 months ago, allergic, hosptial trip and 10 days off work , and that just for ONE sting.



Glad to hear your ok Steve.

 

[klenger]

Glad you are OK. This could have been very serious (life threatening) and glad you got medical treatment right away. I've had wasp or hornet stings a couple of times (one at a time) and had to get medical treatment both times.

 

[nickleinonen]

i think i'd probably be dead if that happened to me. i am alergic to most all insects [mosqueto will give me a bump bigger than a quarter and around 1/8"-1/4" tall and burns for hours]

 

[Byershome]

Havin' babies, battling wasps/hornets... ... ... ... ... .



"Life is not a journey to the grave with the intention of arriving safely in a pretty and well preserved body, but rather to skid in broadside, thoroughly used up, totally worn out and loudly proclaiming "WOW, WHAT A RIDE!"



:-laf :-laf :-laf

 

[RustyJC]

As a little kid growing up, we were playing hide-and-seek behind a country church. I hid in a cedar bush by the back door - not knowing that a yellow jacket hive was in the bush. I have no idea how many times I was stung, but I thought I was a goner!



Glad you're relatively OK, Steve.



Rusty

 

[ToolManTimTaylor]

BZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZ :-laf

<EMBED SRC="http://www.bumblebee.com/images/jingle. wav" HEIGHT="25" WIDTH="100" AUTOSTART="TRUE"></EMBED> :-laf :-laf



Sorry Steve that sucks!! I know that burn and every day of summer I am a total freak. I will jump out of my shoes at the slightest hint of a wasp. Just the sound in a window will send me out of the room.



At the age of 8 I had crawled up into the treehouse I built. But first to get to the first step I had an old wine barrel that had to be slid under a certain spot to hop up onto the ladder. That wine barrel was just one huge nest of hornets. I remember running tward the house and my dad came running out to see what the screaming was and grabbed me and ran to the big horse water trough and threw me in. and right out into the car. I remember coming to in trhe hospital and not being able to see as my eyes were swollen shut to the point that light could not get thru at all. I was terrified. Heart racing for two days I was pumped up with all sorts of juice.

 

[Boomer II]

Try ammonia on the stings.