The Wonder of Wasps

[WildCard]

I hate those flying stingers on wings like a cat hates water. And I always seem to get the ones that chase me all the way back into the house. Then they sit on the porch rail just waiting on me to come back out.

Bastards....

Anyway, I was curious about some new symptoms that cropped up when I got stung several times yesterday.

I was repainting wooden benchs at our shooting range when four red wasps decided they didn't like the color I was painting on "their" benches. Much cursing, hollering, and general temper throwing ensued.

I was stung four times; once on the arm, twice on my rear, once on the back of my neck.

Normally, I'd just swell a bit and itch for a while. This time though, my hands started to itch, then my arms, then down my legs and down to my feet. My chest got tight and started coughing because it felt like I had something caught in my throat.

I have never been highly allergic to wasp stings other than some spectacular swelling in the local area. Did I truly have some sort of allergic reaction, or was it something else?

Either way, once I started itching and coughing, I was sent to our medical staff and was given a Benadril.

 

[Oberon]

You need to see a medic and get an Epi-Pen... that's an epinephrine self-injector that will save your life if you start to have a severe allergic reaction. Go into anaphylactic shock and you can be dead in minutes. Oral Benadryl won't get in your system fast enough to help.

That coughing symptom is due to swelling in your throat. It can get severe enough to suffocate you. Though the progression of symptoms in response to stings over time can be unpredictable, it tends to get worse.

I hate to be a little ray of sunshine here, but I thought I should warn you.

 

[Oberon]

 

[Chaotic Harmony]

Well, it's probably that you were stung more than once that caused the severe reaction. So you ended up with more of their venom (or whatever the evil bastards sting you with) in your system. I'd go back to the medics and let them know all of your current symptoms just to be on the safe side.

 

[Blackmail!]

Should you have been really "highly allergic" to wasp's venom, you would be dead right now after 4 stings.

Your reaction seems to remain within normal parameters even if it looks more impressive than usual, especially after four consecutive stings. But could you specify the wasp's specie, just to be sure?

Most bees (even our friendly honey bees) have a more potent venom than wasps, with one single exception, Vespa mandarinia.
Usually, ten consecutive stings are enough to kill any human adult in good health, even if they're not allergic to it.

 

[Amethyst]

Real life doctors are going to help you out the most in this situation, rather than people on forums.

Plus, I really want wasps to be extinct...I see no purpose to them existing at all as any part of food chain or whatever...they're just a nuisance.

 

[Oberon]

Plus, I really want wasps to be extinct...I see no purpose to them existing at all as any part of food chain or whatever...they're just a nuisance.

You should see the mud-daubers hunting down the cabbage loopers in my garden... they look like little Apache helicopters coming in for the kill. One sting, then they grab up the little green worm and fly away with it.

 

[kyuuei]

I believe that if you're stung enough times you can become allergic to them. I think I remember hearing that on Billy the Exterminator.

 

[Chaotic Harmony]

I believe that if you're stung enough times you can become allergic to them. I think I remember hearing that on Billy the Exterminator.

Billy the Exterminator is pretty bad ass.... I am ashamed to admit... I seem to be a little bit addicted to his show.

 

[WildCard]

Ah, that's what I figured. I did (was required actually) go to the medic today and he explained that with each sting, even a mildly allergic person can get worse. They did some family history and I have a grandmother on both sides who is deathly allergic to stings.

They decided to play it safe and give me an epipen, especially when I'm out and about where wasps are concerned.

So now I keep one of those wonderful epipens in my pocket since my superiors seem to think repainting wasp infested benchs are "fun".

EDIT: Actually, I wound up getting stung again today, and I was grateful that I was sent to the medic. The reaction I got this time was much worse. Not lethal, but it was scary.

 

[Bamboo]

I thought that with bees, at least, most people build an immunity to them which increases with repeated contact - such as bee keepers who get stung often and then stop showing effects like swelling.

Clearly, in some people the effect is reversed and people are very allergic, but I'm just wondering.

Are wasps different?

 

[Blackmail!]

Are wasps different?

No.

As a matter of fact, some insects we classify as "solitary wasps" are in fact genetically closer to our domestic bees.
Basically, they're all within the same clade.

 

[Lark]

Aye, I hate wasps with an unholy vengence and want to see them driven to extinction. They're totally and utterly evil, I dont know what we're doing to the planet to kill all the bees but we should do it slightly differently so it kills the wasps instead.

There's horror movies and books about them being used as biological weapons. I'm sure they could be. Consequentially being WMDs the next world disarmament talks should deal with how to eradicate the wasps altogether.

 

[Salomé]

Wasps are very useful and much maligned.

Unlike Catholics.

 

[Amethyst]

You should see the mud-daubers hunting down the cabbage loopers in my garden... they look like little Apache helicopters coming in for the kill. One sting, then they grab up the little green worm and fly away with it.

Huh...I assumed they served no purpose...I must just be thinking about the paper wasps...or yellow jackets. They're body patterns just scream 'Asshole!'

 

[Oberon]

Yellowjackets, paper wasps, and hornets are all predators and all beneficial because of the great number of pest insects they consume.

That doesn't keep me from despising the painful little bastards, though I will pursue a live-and-let-live approach if they have nested in an area where I don't have to encounter them.

 

[Amethyst]

Yellowjackets, paper wasps, and hornets are all predators and all beneficial because of the great number of pest insects they consume.

That doesn't keep me from despising the painful little bastards, though I will pursue a live-and-let-live approach if they have nested in an area where I don't have to encounter them.

They seem to live off of us, it seems. All I see around dumpsters are yellow jackets, they've become lazy and has made it scarier to take out the trash. I have a deep-seeded fear of these creatures.

 

[Tiltyred]

I thought we were going to be talking about White Anglo Saxon Protestants.

The first time I got stung, it just itched/hurt. The second time, my arm swelled up like a football. Supposedly it progresses like that, the more you're stung, the worse the reaction.

I've heard that bees are getting more aggressive.

 

[Blackmail!]

I've been stung countless times by wasps and bees (When you're a botanist, those things do happen), and the reaction never got worse. On the contrary, I'd say that the last time I was stung by a wasp, the experience was barely more annoying than a mosquitoe's bite. But wasps are easier to elude than moquitoes: when you know them, it's easy not to attract their attention. I have even fed some on my bare hands, and they never became aggressive.

Of course, their reaction towards men also depends of the specie you're facing. Once again, you just have to know them well. Common European wasps (Polistes sp.) are easy to manipulate, while hornets (Vespa sp.), on the other hand, can be very mischevious...

 

[WildCard]

Hrrm, well, Blackmail, I'm a woman, so I guess wasps are just destined to hate me XD