Hello Kathy,

No, anti-inflammatory drugs do NOT make stings worse.

However, most beekeepers develop some immunity to stings each year, and
generally, the more times one gets stung, the more immunity the body develops.

The problem is that anti-inflammatory drugs negate that immunity that one has
developed each year, and that person has to start all over to re-develop it.

The sting you got is PERFECTLY NORMAL - red, swollen, sore, and hard, It will
disappear in a few days and then it will itch like mad for 2-3 days.  All
perfectly
normal.  Often, beginners, scared, visit an allergist about these things, and
90% of the time the allergist tells them to STOP beekeeping.  This is because
99% of ALL allergists don't known the first thing about honey bee stings!  Of
course, they had to learn about them to pass an allergist test in school, but
they did not pay much attention because they wanted to go where the MONEY is
- treating HAY FEVER.

A personal story:  I started raising bees in June 1933, and became highly
skilled
because of my interest in Science (retired atomic nuclear physicist), and did
not get stung very much even though I had 60 colonies in 1963, thirty years
later.  One
day, I had a bad situation in my apiary and got about 50-60 stings.  In a few
minutes, I became a little short of breath, so I went to the local hospital,
who gave me a shot of adrenaline and told me to STOP beekeeping.  Shortly
after, I was told about the two Ph.D. and M.D. scientists, Golden and
Valentine, at Johns Hopkins University who did NOTHING except research on bee
and wasp stings.  JH is only 45 miles from my house, so I went to see them.
They simply told me that I was not getting ENOUGH STINGS, and what happened
to me was normal.  Their prescription was "get stung almost every day
including the winter".  I have been doing that the past 40 years, rarely wear
a veil, work my bees in shorts and no shirt in the hot summer, and I never
swell or itch unless I am stung in the eyelid, inside my ear, or my lip.

You said you liked my PINK PAGES.  You will NEVER become a beekeeper if you
wear gloves.  Gloves make bees sting you.  Work bare-handed, get a few stings
(that will
teach you what you are doing wrong), and you will develop some immunity to
stings
depending on how many you get.  By the Way, our BEE INSPECTORS are prohibited
from wearing gloves, because of transfer of disease; and most bee inspectors
are
sting immune because they get stung on their hands almost every day.

Even though I don't wear a veil very often, I am foolish and wrong.  I tell
all students to ignore what I do, but do what I say - WEAR A VEIL!  But get
rid of those gloves!

Almost forgot - The pain of a bee sting which is intense for perhaps 1 minute
is
just as bad when you have been stung thousands of times as the first sting,
but that
is a small price to pay for all the hours of pleasure that I receive from
daily trying
to learn more about bees, savoring my success, and finding the JOYS OF
BEEKEEPING.

I hope I have helped.

George Imirie
Certified EAS Master Beekeeper